8 Best Beach Destinations for Book Lovers

The beach can make for a dramatic literary setting. Roaring waves, steep shorelines, and endless horizons set the backdrop for intense mysteries and thrillers. Soft sands, swaying palm trees, and beaming sunshine come together to frame a sweet romance. Charging surf and thick fog lay the groundwork for a chilling horror story. Whatever your genre of choice, whether you prefer to read the old classics or the latest bestsellers, there is likely a handful of books that you’ve read or are planning to read that prominently feature a beach or beach town setting. 

So how can you capture that literary magic for yourself? Here are some of the best beach destinations for book lovers—as well as some fav beach reads to add to your TBR.

Grand Isle, Louisiana, features prominently in “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin. In the 1800s, the barrier island facing the Gulf of Mexico was a popular vacation destination, allowing the wealthy to escape from the summer heat in nearby cities such as New Orleans.

Today, Grand Isle is known for its fishing and birding, as well as Southern hospitality, and, despite the devastation that swept through the island during an 1893 hurricane, you can still find historic structures that give you a glimpse into what Chopin’s Grand Isle may have looked like.

Key West may be primarily well known for its connections to Ernest Hemingway, but quite a few famous authors have called the island home. There’s Tennessee Williams, Judy Blume, Meg Cabot, Shel Silverstein, and more. To see the best of the best during a visit, you’ll want to plan to take a literary walking tour with the Key West Literary Seminar.

And as for books to add to your reading list before you go? For a contemporary romance, try “Mrs. Nash’s Ashes” by Sarah Adler, which includes a road trip from Washington, D.C., to the Florida Keys. For a thriller-mystery, try “The Cuban Affair” by Nelson DeMille. Then, for an absolute classic by Hemingway himself, pick up “To Have and Have Not,” which follows a main character running contraband between Key West and Cuba.

If you’re a book lover who holds the staunch belief that a trip to the seaside will cure what ails you, you may’ve picked up that notion from great British writers like Jane Austen, who’d often send her heroines off to resort towns like Lyme Regis, Worthing and Ramsgate, for both rejuvenation and romance.

We’re going to recommend Cornwall for your English seaside literary getaway, though, thanks to its connections to classics such as “Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier and the many, many authors who’ve called Cornwall home. Beyond Daphne du Maurier, famed writers from Cornwall include Thomas Hardy, William Golding and Winston Graham. (If you don’t recognize that last one, you’ll definitely recognize his work; he’s responsible for the novels that inspired the currently trending “Poldark” television series.)

For so many millennial readers, their love of reading stemmed from one childhood series in particular: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (along with the TV miniseries that followed). Luckily, the destination of Prince Edward Island has tapped into this, and now you can find a plethora of tours, trips, and itineraries that all revolve around seeing Prince Edward Island through Anne’s eyes.

Over on the West Coast, Monterey, California, has served as inspiration for authors for decades. Both John Steinbeck and Nora Roberts have set multiple books in Monterey. In more recent history, “Big Little Lies” by Liane Moriarty charmed audiences of both readers and viewers with its Monterey setting, as HBO produced a show based on the book starring big household names including Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Meryl Streep, and more.

Similarly, you can visit the setting of a recent novel-turned-hit-show when you go to Nantucket. “The Perfect Couple” by Elin Hilderbrand was released as a limited series on Netflix in 2024, featuring a big cast of stars including (again) Nicole Kidman, Live Schreiber, and Dakota Fanning, among others.

However, there are many books set in Nantucket, most notably “Moby Dick,” as well as a slew of chick lit novels from authors such as Nancy Thayer, and others by Elin Hilderbrand beyond “The Perfect Couple.”

When planning your literary trip to Jamaica, you’ll want to keep a few things in mind.

One, plan your trip to align with the Jamaica Calabash International Literary Festival, which is totally free and celebrates both Caribbean and international writers and works. Then, book your stay at GoldenEye, a boutique, luxury hotel that was once the home of Ian Fleming, author of the books that would launch the James Bond franchise. 

You can pick up one of Fleming’s novels, inspired by the surrounding settings, before your trip, or go with another, albeit very different classic: “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” by Terry McMillan. Make sure to also pick up some books by today’s Jamaican authors as well, such as “How to Say Babylon” by Safiya Sinclair or “These Ghosts are Family” by Maisy Card.

With its luxurious, Gilded Age mansions and history galore, Newport, Rhode Island, is worth a visit even if you’re not really looking to spend much time reading on the beach. If you’re a classics fan, though, you’ll want to check out the mansions that were used for the film adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” as well as see if you can catch some of the Gatsby-themed events often held at the same venues. If you’re more of a fan of contemporary lit, you’ll recognize Newport as the setting for “The Wedding People” by Alison Espach.

While you’re planning, keep an eye out for literary retreats held by some of the area properties, which attract some big-name authors.

Maybe you’re not actively planning a trip at the moment, but you really want to get into the coastal vibe from the comfort of home. If so, check out these beachy, incredibly atmospheric reads that actually feature the beach.

The modern queen of romance, Emily Henry features beaches and beach towns prominently in her work (the woman has a book titled “Beach Read,” after all). Unlike some authors who like to more or less set their works in the same general geographic area, time and again, though, Henry skips around.

“Beach Read” is set in a lakeside town in Michigan and focuses on two authors living next door to one another, in their beach houses (spoiler: They fall in love). “People We Meet on Vacation,” as the name implies, follows the two main characters over a course of several vacations, a handful of which are in beachy locales, including Sanibel Island and Croatia. “Happy Place” takes place in an oceanfront town in Maine; the fictional town, Knott’s Harbor, feels very similar to real-life Maine destinations like Boothbay Harbor and Bar Harbor. Meanwhile, Henry’s latest work, 2025’s “Great Big Beautiful Life,” is set in a coastal Georgia town.

If you’re not really into the kicking-your-feet-and-giggling brand of romance that Henry serves up, and would like something with a little more drama, consider “Spells for Forgetting” by Adrienne Young, set on the equally dramatic island of Saoirse, in the Pacific Northwest. 

The book is set in the fall, with flashbacks to summers filled with teen trips to the beach. Filled with twists and turns, uncovering the many secrets of the island’s tight-knit community, it’s big on vibes and just the thing if your idea of a great beach vacation includes lots of fog, foliage, and cozy sweaters perfect for chilly shoreside walks.

For a straight-up psychological horror that will leave your mind reeling, “Looking Glass Sound” follows the summer adventures of three children thrown together on the Maine coast, and how a series of events in childhood created a vast ripple effect, impacting the main characters long into adulthood. There’s a killer, plenty of betrayal, unrequited love, and a full blurring of reality.

Lastly, this fantasy book is set in a fictional seaside town that’s ultra-whimsical and charming. A case worker for the Department of Magical Youth goes to investigate an orphanage inhabited by a forest sprite, gnome, shapeshifter, wyvern, a green blob that no one’s really sure what is, and the Antichrist himself in the body of an adorable young boy.

This is the book you’re going to want to throw into your beach bag, if you want something with a lot of heart and a lot of laughs.