Some places in the world seem to exist purely for people who think a perfect day involves getting happily lost between bookshelves. From a century-old bookstore with a staircase that belongs on a movie poster to a library so grand it makes you feel like royalty just walking through the door, these destinations take reading to a whole new level.
Around the world, readers have turned libraries, bookshops, and literary landmarks into pilgrimage sites worth crossing oceans for. This list covers 15 real, extraordinary places where books are not just sold or stored but genuinely celebrated, and where the buildings themselves tell a story before you even open a single page.
Whether you are a casual reader or someone who organizes vacations around bookstore hours, these spots will absolutely speak your language.
1. Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal
Built in 1906, Livraria Lello is the kind of bookstore that makes people forget they came in to buy something specific. Its neo-Gothic interior features carved wooden shelves, a breathtaking central staircase draped in red carpet, and a stained-glass skylight bearing the Latin motto “Decus in Labore,” meaning “Dignity in Work.”
The store underwent a full restoration completed in 2018, returning every detail to its original glory. Livraria Lello is not a museum piece, though.
It operates as an active bookseller with a curated selection that emphasizes Portuguese literature and world classics.
A small entry fee applies, which can be redeemed against purchases inside. Arrive early on weekdays to avoid the longest lines.
Few bookstores anywhere on earth combine architectural drama with genuine literary purpose quite this successfully.
2. El Ateneo Grand Splendid, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Originally a theater that opened in 1919, El Ateneo Grand Splendid converted its stage, balconies, and ornate boxes into one of the most spectacular bookstores on the planet. The elaborate ceiling frescoes painted by Italian artist Nazareno Orlandi remain fully intact overhead while shoppers browse below.
The former stage now serves as a cafe, where visitors can sit with coffee and a new purchase in the exact spot where performers once stood. Original crimson curtains still frame the stage area, preserving the theatrical character of the space.
El Ateneo welcomes over a million visitors annually, which reflects just how magnetic the combination of architecture and books can be. The store carries a broad selection across genres in both Spanish and English.
Arriving on a weekday morning gives visitors the best chance of enjoying the space without crowds.
3. Shakespeare and Company, Paris, France
Across the Seine from Notre-Dame, Shakespeare and Company has occupied its current location since 1951, when George Whitman opened it as a gathering place for English-speaking readers and writers in Paris. The name honors Sylvia Beach’s earlier legendary bookshop, which played a central role in 20th-century literary history.
Inside, rooms overflow with books arranged in a deliberately intimate and slightly chaotic fashion. Narrow staircases connect corners filled with armchairs and reading nooks, and handwritten notes from previous visitors decorate the walls in certain areas.
The shop has a long tradition of hosting aspiring writers, known as “tumbleweeds,” who stay upstairs among the shelves in exchange for helping out and reading daily. A cafe next door, opened in 2015, extends the visit nicely.
Shakespeare and Company remains one of the most enduring independent bookstores in the world.
4. The Book of Kells Experience, Dublin, Ireland
Trinity College Dublin holds one of the most extraordinary objects a book lover can encounter: the Book of Kells, an illuminated gospel manuscript created by Celtic monks approximately 1,200 years ago. Its pages are covered with intricate patterns, vivid colors, and Latin text executed with a precision that still astonishes researchers today.
The experience leads visitors through the manuscript display and into the Old Library, which is currently undergoing a major conservation project through 2027. Most of the Long Room’s books have been temporarily relocated during this process, though the building remains open with exhibitions and the large-scale Gaia installation on display.
Despite the temporary changes to the Long Room’s usual appearance, this remains one of Dublin’s most visited cultural sites. Booking tickets online in advance is strongly recommended.
The historical weight of the manuscript alone makes the visit worthwhile for any reader.
5. Bodleian Library, Oxford, England
Opened in 1602, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University is one of the oldest and most respected research libraries in the world. Sir Thomas Bodley founded it, and over the following centuries it became a working environment for scholars including Oscar Wilde, C.S.
Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Visitors can access the library through guided tours and public exhibitions that cover its historic reading rooms, stone quadrangles, and vaulted spaces. Several of its interiors have appeared in well-known film and television productions, giving first-time visitors an oddly familiar feeling upon entering.
The Bodleian is a legal deposit library, meaning it receives a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom. Its collections number in the millions.
For anyone who finds old libraries as compelling as the books inside them, Oxford and the Bodleian belong near the top of any literary travel list.
6. Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal
Tucked inside the historic University of Coimbra, Biblioteca Joanina was built during the reign of King Joao V in the 18th century and stands as one of the finest examples of Baroque library design anywhere in Europe. Its three connected rooms feature gilded ornamentation, richly painted ceilings, and dark wooden shelves crafted from exotic Brazilian and oriental woods.
The library holds over 70,000 volumes, including rare first editions and priceless historical documents. Outer walls more than two meters thick help regulate temperature and protect the collection from moisture and pests.
A colony of bats has historically assisted with pest control by emerging at night to protect the manuscripts.
Visitor access is managed carefully to preserve the interiors, so tours are timed and limited in group size. The result is an experience that feels appropriately rare and unhurried.
Coimbra itself is a university town worth exploring well beyond this single landmark.
7. The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles, California
Occupying a former bank building in downtown Los Angeles, The Last Bookstore has transformed vaulted ceilings and grand architecture into a playground for readers and browsers alike. New and used books share floor space with vinyl records, art studios, and installations built entirely from old volumes.
The upstairs Labyrinth section is what most visitors remember longest. Twisting aisles lead to a famous tunnel constructed from stacked books, which has become one of the most photographed spots in the entire city.
The store has been operating since 2005 and covers roughly 22,000 square feet across two floors. Staff picks are thoughtfully displayed throughout, making it easy to discover something unexpected even if you arrived with a specific title in mind.
This is a bookstore that rewards people who wander without a plan.
8. Strahov Library, Prague, Czechia
Strahov Monastery sits above Prague’s historic center, and inside it holds two library halls that rank among the most visually impressive in all of Europe. The Philosophical Hall and the Theological Hall each feature elaborate frescoed ceilings, long rows of historic volumes, antique globes, and woodwork that took skilled craftsmen years to complete.
Access to the interiors is managed carefully to protect collections that date back centuries, so visitors view the halls from designated areas rather than wandering freely among the shelves. Even from those vantage points, the rooms deliver one of Prague’s most memorable experiences.
The monastery complex itself is worth additional time, with gardens offering excellent views over the city’s rooftops. Strahov Library sits near Prague Castle, making it easy to combine with a broader exploration of the Hradcany area.
Entry fees are modest and the visit typically takes around 30 to 45 minutes.
9. Starfield Library, Seoul, South Korea
Opened in 2017 inside the COEX Mall in Gangnam, Starfield Library takes the scale of a public library and multiplies it dramatically. Bookshelves reach approximately 13 meters high, creating a wall of books that dominates the entire atrium and draws visitors from across the city just to stand in front of it.
The collection includes around 70,000 books across humanities, economics, foreign titles, and a dedicated magazine section. The space also hosts regular cultural programming including author talks, lectures, and literary events that keep it active well beyond regular browsing hours.
Admission is free, which makes it one of Seoul’s most accessible cultural attractions. Some of the higher shelves contain decorative boxes rather than actual books, but the overall visual effect remains genuinely impressive.
Starfield Library proves that a public reading space can also function as a landmark architectural statement worth traveling to see.
10. Daunt Books Marylebone, London, England
Daunt Books Marylebone occupies a beautifully preserved Edwardian building on Marylebone High Street, and its interior stops visitors in their tracks almost immediately. A long gallery runs the length of the shop, lined with oak balconies and lit by skylights that run along the ceiling above the shelving.
The store is particularly associated with travel literature, which it organizes geographically rather than by genre or author name. This means that books about Japan, for example, sit alongside novels set there, histories of the country, and travel memoirs, creating a genuinely useful and browsable arrangement.
Daunt Books Marylebone is open seven days a week and regularly hosts author talks and events. It has expanded to additional London locations, but the Marylebone original remains the one most visitors seek out.
The shop manages to feel both serious about books and completely welcoming to casual browsers at the same time.
11. The Morgan Library & Museum, New York City, New York
Financier J. Pierpont Morgan assembled one of the great private collections of books, manuscripts, and art in the early 20th century, and the library he built to house it in Midtown Manhattan remains one of the city’s most extraordinary spaces.
Three tiers of bookshelves rise around rooms decorated with painted ceilings, red velvet, and bronze fittings.
The collection includes Gutenberg Bibles, original manuscripts by Mozart, and literary materials from authors including Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. The institution now operates as both a museum and an independent research library, attracting around a quarter of a million visitors each year.
Changing exhibitions regularly bring different parts of the collection into public view, so repeat visits tend to reveal something new. Recent conservation work has focused on the building’s historic exterior and climate systems.
The Morgan sits near Madison Avenue and is easy to reach from most parts of Manhattan.
12. George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland
The George Peabody Library in Baltimore is one of those places that genuinely stops people mid-sentence when they walk through the door. Five tiers of ornate cast-iron balconies rise around a central reading room, all topped by a latticed skylight roughly 61 feet above the floor, creating a vertical library that feels closer to a cathedral than a study room.
Architect Edmund G. Lind designed the building, which opened in 1878.
Philanthropist George Peabody established the institute in 1857 with the specific goal of making it freely available to all, and that mission continues today as part of Johns Hopkins University’s Sheridan Libraries.
The collection holds approximately 300,000 volumes, focused primarily on 19th-century works covering topics from religion to American history to the history of science. The library is also a popular venue for private events, so checking visiting hours before arrival is recommended.
Standing on the ground floor and looking straight up is the moment the visit becomes unforgettable.
13. Powell’s City of Books, Portland, Oregon
Powell’s City of Books in Portland occupies an entire city block and holds over one million books, making its claim as the world’s largest independent new and used bookstore a genuinely defensible one. Walter Powell founded the business in 1971, and the family-owned operation has grown into nine color-coded rooms covering more than 3,500 different sections.
The store’s approach of shelving new and used copies of the same title together was an early innovation that proved enormously successful and has influenced how independent bookstores operate more broadly. Free maps are available at the entrance, which is genuinely useful rather than just a novelty.
Powell’s hosts regular author events and maintains a rare book room for collectors. The Burnside flagship location is open daily, and the store has a strong online presence for those who want to browse before visiting.
Portland’s Pearl District neighborhood surrounding the store rewards additional exploration after a long visit inside.
14. Richard Booth’s Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye, Wales
Hay-on-Wye is a small Welsh border town that became internationally known for books largely because of one man. Richard Booth transformed the town into what is widely recognized as the world’s first “book town” by filling its buildings with secondhand volumes and attracting other booksellers to follow his lead.
His eponymous bookshop spans three floors packed with new, secondhand, and out-of-print titles across a broad range of subjects. Beautiful hardwood interiors and a sweeping staircase give the building considerable character beyond its inventory.
The shop also houses an independent cinema and a cafe, providing visitors with multiple reasons to extend their stay.
Richard Booth’s Bookshop operates seven days a week and remains the anchor of a town that now counts numerous booksellers within walking distance of each other. The Hay Festival, held annually in late May and early June, draws major writers from around the world and transforms the town into a literary event unlike anything else in the UK.
15. Book and Bed Tokyo Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Book and Bed Tokyo Shinjuku takes the concept of a reading-friendly hostel and commits to it completely. Guest beds are built directly into bookshelves, so the last thing a visitor sees before falling asleep and the first thing they see upon waking is a wall of books at arm’s reach.
The Shinjuku location offers various bunk configurations designed to maximize the feeling of being enclosed by stories. Day use options are available for visitors who want the experience without an overnight stay, and a cafe operates on-site for additional comfort.
Tokyo is a city with no shortage of creative accommodation concepts, but Book and Bed stands apart by centering the entire design around the act of reading rather than simply decorating with books as props. The hostel carries a carefully selected library across multiple genres.
For any traveler who routinely reads past midnight, this is a genuinely ideal base for a Tokyo stay.
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