150 Best Travel Quotes and Captions (Inspirational, Short and Funny)

We have been travelling together since our first trip to Portugal in 2010, through working holidays in Australia and Canada and on to more countries than we can count. Whenever we need a little boost of wanderlust, these are the travel quotes we come back to.

We have only included quotes we could trace to a real person or book, and where a famous quote is often credited to the wrong person, we tell you. You’ll also find over 100 travel captions for Instagram further down: short ones, funny ones, couple and solo travel captions.

Famous travel quotes

• “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
• “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tzu
• “To travel is to live.” Hans Christian Andersen
• “Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.” Seneca
• “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Marcel Proust (commonly quoted version)
• “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley
• “Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien
• “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Gustave Flaubert
• “The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” G.K. Chesterton
• “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” Martin Buber
• “Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.” David McCullough Jr.
• “No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” Lin Yutang
• “I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Robert Louis Stevenson
• “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau
• “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” Henry Miller
• “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” Freya Stark
• “The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.” Samuel Johnson
• “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay.” Anthony Bourdain
• “A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tzu
• “Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Short travel quotes

• “Wherever you go, there you are.” Jon Kabat-Zinn
• “Adventure is worthwhile in itself.” Amelia Earhart
• “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” Helen Keller
• “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” Confucius
• “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag
• “Oh, the places you’ll go!” Dr Seuss
• “Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures.” Lovelle Drachman
• “Jobs fill your pocket, but adventures fill your soul.” Jaime Lyn Beatty
• “Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times.” Asian proverb
• “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” Author unknown
• “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” Author unknown
• “Collect moments, not things.” Author unknown

Adventure and wanderlust quotes

• “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” André Gide
• “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” Michael Altshuler
• “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” Tim Cahill
• “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Neale Donald Walsch
• “The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.” John Muir
• “Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.” Walt Whitman
• “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” Ursula K. Le Guin
• “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” Anna Quindlen
• “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less travelled by.” Robert Frost
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” H. Jackson Brown Jr. (see below)

Famous travel quotes often credited to the wrong person

These are all over Pinterest with famous names attached, but the evidence says otherwise. They are still lovely quotes, just make sure you credit them correctly.

• “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” Usually credited to Saint Augustine, but there is no record of it in his writings.
• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do…” Usually credited to Mark Twain, but it first appears in a book by H. Jackson Brown Jr., who credited his mother.
• “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” Often credited to Chief Seattle, but there is no evidence he said it.
• “Live life with no excuses, travel with no regrets.” Often credited to Oscar Wilde, but there is no record of him saying it.
• “Once a year, go somewhere you’ve never been before.” Often credited to the Dalai Lama, with no clear source.
• “Travel brings power and love back into your life.” Often credited to Rumi, but it does not appear in standard translations of his work.

Our own travel quotes

A few lines of our own that we wrote over the years. Feel free to use them (a little credit to Sunset Travellers is always appreciated).

• “Travel makes us realise what we want to do in life and where we want to go.” Sunset Travellers
• “Travel with a partner merges your experiences and divides your problems.” Sunset Travellers
• “Take a moment, look where you are in your life and imagine where you could be.” Sunset Travellers
• “A small step forward is better than no step at all.” Sunset Travellers

Short travel captions for Instagram

• Wander often, wonder always.
• Passport ready.
• Next stop: everywhere.
• Out of office.
• Catch flights, not feelings.
• Adventure awaits.
• Travel more, worry less.
• Making memories around the world.
• Jet lag is my love language.
• Life is short, the world is wide.
• Making memories, not plans.
• Wanderlust and city dust.
• New city, new me.
• Exploring is my cardio.
• Find me where the Wi-Fi is weak.
• Take the scenic route.
• Living my best travel life.
• Say yes to new adventures.
• Travel is my therapy.
• Born to travel, forced to work.

Wanderlust captions

• Wanderlust: a strong desire to explore the world.
• Let’s wander where the Wi-Fi is weak.
• My heart is in a hundred places.
• Stamp collector.
• Chasing horizons.
• The world is my office.
• I need a vacation from my vacation.
• Lost in the right direction.
• Go where you feel most alive.
• Not all classrooms have four walls.
• Wherever you go, become a part of the place.
• Adventure is calling, and I must go.
• Life happens outside your comfort zone.
• Today’s office view.
• Fernweh: an ache for distant places.

Funny travel captions

• I’m not lost, I’m exploring.
• Travel tip: always pack snacks.
• My bank account says stay home. My heart says book it.
• I need six months of holiday, twice a year.
• Professional tourist.
• Jet lag, but make it fashion.
• Checked bag: overweight. Me: also overweight. Worth it.
• Travelling: when spending money makes you richer.
• I just want to travel and eat. Is that too much to ask?
• Running on airport coffee and adrenaline.
• Do I look like I’m on holiday? Good.
• Escape the ordinary. Also the office.
• I’m on a first-name basis with airport security.
• Wanderlust is not a phase.
• Overpacked as usual.

Couple travel captions

We have travelled the world as a couple, so these are close to our hearts. For more, see our tongue-in-cheek case for travelling as a couple.

• Exploring the world with my favourite person.
• Partners in travel.
• Two passports, one adventure.
• You, me and the open road.
• Travel buddy for life.
• Our love story has a lot of stamps.
• Wherever you go, I’m coming too.
• Adventure is better together.
• Same seat, different country.
• Love in every time zone.

Solo travel captions

• Solo, not lonely.
• Table for one, world for me.
• Me, myself and my passport.
• Solo trip, full heart.
• Brave enough to go alone.
• Travelling solo and loving it.
• My own itinerary, my own rules.
• Finding myself, one city at a time.
• Went alone, came back more me.
• Solo travel is the best teacher.

Passport and packing captions

• Packed and ready.
• Suitcase full of dreams.
• Passport, check. Adventure, check.
• Bags packed, let’s go.
• Another stamp, another story.
• Packing light, dreaming big.
• My passport is my favourite accessory.
• Ready, set, jet.
• Packing cubes are my love language.
• Where to next?

Coming home captions

• Home is where the adventure ends, for now.
• Back home, already planning the next one.
• Post-travel blues.
• Unpacking the memories.
• There’s no place like home. Except everywhere else.
• Home sweet home, until next time.
• Jet lagged and grateful.
• Left a piece of my heart there.
• The best part of leaving is coming home.
• Already missing it.

Travel captions with emojis

• Wanderlust 🌍
• Stamp hunting 🛂✈️
• Adventure time 🗺️
• Beach bound 🏝️
• City break 🏙️
• Road trip 🚗
• Mountain escape 🏔️
• Sunset chaser 🌅
• Foodie travels 🍜
• Next stop 📍

What is the most famous travel quote?

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page” is probably the most shared, though there is no evidence Saint Augustine actually said it. Of the quotes we can trace, Mark Twain’s “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness” and Lao Tzu’s “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” are the classics.

What is a good short travel quote?

Hans Christian Andersen’s “To travel is to live” is hard to beat. For a caption, “Wander often, wonder always” and “Collect moments, not things” are two favourites.

Which travel quote is your favourite? Let us know in the comments, and safe travels.

Steve and Sabina

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