Fantasy Places in Books that I would like to Vacation

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Fantasy Places in Books that I would like to Vacation (instead of Books I Read on Vacation) 

I decided to do the fantasy places in books that I would like to take a vacation in instead of books I read on vacation.  I don't really go on vacation too often. The original prompt was submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer.  

1. The Discworld from The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett- 

I love when I can recommend a book for one of these from the Discworld series. In this book, one of the characters, Twoflower, is a tourist traveling around the Discworld to see everything and has come to see Ankh-Morpork at the beginning of the book. This is the first book in the Discworld series and the first in the Wizards/Rincewind subseries. It introduces characters such as Rincewind, the Luggage, and Great A'Tuin, the giant turtle carrying the Discworld on its back. I highly recommend the Discworld series, though it is a daunting one. It has forty-one books in total, along with many companion books. There are many ways to get into it. If anyone is interested, I can give you some ideas for that. 

2. The Land of Stories from The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer- 

My favorite series is The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. It is the series I have read the most because I reread it every year in July. This year the first book celebrated its tenth anniversary back in July. The 10th Anniversary Edition comes out today, which I have shown a picture of along with the original cover. I can go on and on about my love of this series. The world of The Land of Stories is one made up of classic fairy tales. Ever since I was a child, I have been obsessed with these stories, and I love how Chris has taken them in his books. This series, along with the prequel series A Tale of Magic, are some of my all-time favorite books. I would love to be able to journey into them for a vacation. Though if I did that, I don’t believe I would ever leave. 

3. Ingary from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones- 

Howl’s Moving Castle is my favorite book I love the world, characters, and atmosphere that Diana has created through this book. Her writing style is one of my absolute favorites and I cannot get enough of it. I read the book for the first time in 2020 and fell in love with it instantly. Then, I read it again this year and knew that it was definitely my favorite book. Howl and Sophie are such a great pair. I love their banter and relationship throughout the entire book. Also, their part in the rest of the series is great. Ingary is a place that I would love to see for myself, especially Howl’s place. 

4. The Shire from The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien- 

I would love to be able to vacation in The Shire and in other parts of Middle Earth, depending on the time period. The Shire would be the best, though, because of how peaceful and calm it all is. I could imagine staying in a Hobbit hole and just enjoying a peaceful filled day with Bilbo Baggins. Also, I would like to see Rivendell and the elves. 

5. Santorini, Greece from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares- 

This and the following answer are the only places on this list that are real places from fictional books that I would like to go to. I remember my dream of wanting to go to Santorini starting back in eighth grade when I first read, the first four books in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. Then, I saw the movie and I was hooked. Santorini just looks so beautiful and I believe that it would be one of the best places to vacation. I can just imagine the adventures that I could take there. It would also be a wonderful place to write and draw inspiration from. 

6. Neushwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany from The Land of Stories: A Grimm Warning by Chris Colfer- 
I wanted to also mention what is called the Fairy Tale castle in this list. This is another of the real places that I would love to be to go to sometime in the future, if I ever get over to Europe. Like I said about Santorini, I can just imagine the inspirations that I could draw from seeing such a sight in person. It would be incredible to see such a beauty in real life. 

7. Wonderland from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and the many retelling I have read over the years- 

One of the fantasy places that I have wanted to travel into most of my life was always Wonderland. I’m a lover of retellings and some of my favorites are always the ones dealing with Wonderland. There are so many great examples that I would love to see for myself. I love the zany characters and world. It would be the dream to have tea with the Hatter and March Hare, meeting the Cheshire Cat, and figure out all kinds of riddles. 

8. Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling- 

Hogwarts is another fantasy place that I would love to be able to go to. Especially, at Christmastime. It would be magical (sorry for the pun) but really it would be. Harry Potter will always be one of my favorite series no matter what. The Wizarding World is one that I love with all my heart. 

9. Oz from the Oz series by L. Frank Baum- 

Last year, I finished all of the Oz books that L. Frank Baum wrote in his Oz series. I did not love all of the books in these, one I even disliked quite a bit. One thing that I can say though is that I fell in love with the world of Oz and am so glad that I read all of his Oz books. It was a lot of fun reading those books and seeing the world like I have never before. There is so much more to it then the movie ever shows, or any of the other movies/shows do. Also, I found a new favorite villain with the Nome King in Ozma of Oz (my favorite book in the series). 

10. Grimmless from my own series The Chronicles of Grimmless- 

This one is kind of a cheat because these books have not been published yet but I’m working on publishing them. I could not create a list of fantasy worlds that I wanted to vacation in without including the one that I created myself. It has been my dream ever since I first read Inkheart by Cornelia Funke back in ninth grade, to travel into my own written world. I believe that most fantasy writers probably would enjoy being able to see their own works come alive around them. I would love be able to walk down the streets of my kingdoms and meet my characters. Go to eat at the troll family restaurant with the gang. Ride on the back of a Laughing Ancient. Just to be able to spend even a day in Grimmless would be a dream.