Feed your wanderlust with this handpicked selection of short travel captions
Travel can be a transformational experience. You absorb different cultures, meet interesting new people and take yourself way out of your comfort zone. There are iconic sights and majestic scenery to take in and new food to try.
Many of us try to capture these moments as images to preserve those precious travel memories and to share them with friends and family. But when it comes to sharing these photos on social media, wouldn’t it be better if you could add a short travel quote?
There’s an enormous selection of travel captions from which to choose, from the witty to the downright profound. To help you pick the best short travel quote for your journey, destination or travel experience, here is my pick of the best captions to add to your holiday images.
Simply copy your favourite travel quote and paste it into your Twitter, Instagram or Facebook post. To make it easier for you, I’ve split these travel captions into broad categories.
Inspirational Travel Captions
There are many inspirational travel quotes out there, spoken by poets and philosophers, saints and singers. As travel captions are intended to be short and pithy, I’ve had to exclude some of the best of these quotes.
But if you are seeking further travel inspiration, check out my curated collection of life journey quotes.
1. Not all those who wander are lost. – J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. – St. Augustine
3. I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list. – Susan Sontag
4. With age, comes wisdom. With travel, comes understanding. – Sandra Lake
5. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before. – Dalai Lama
These first five short travel captions are among the most well-known travel quotes and are perfect examples of how to convey an important message in one line of text. They are classics for a very good reason.
6. Take only memories, leave only footprints – Chief Seattle
The message of this well-known short travel quote has become increasingly important over recent years. All travellers have a responsibility to be aware of their environmental impact as they explore new places.
7. You don’t have to be rich to travel well. – Eugene Fodor
I have to frequently remind myself that travelling is an enormous privilege. Living in a rich country and with the disposable income of a single midlife traveller, I can choose to take business-class flights and stay in swanky resorts.
However, some of my richest and most memorable travel experiences have occurred when I have been staying in more modest accommodation and travelling with local people
8. Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself. – David Mitchell
9. Live your life by a compass, not a clock. – Stephen Covey
10. Wherever you go, go with all your heart! – Confucius
Another short travel caption that punches above its weight. Travel is not something to approach in a half-hearted manner.
11. Don’t listen to what they say, go see. – Chinese Proverb
12. The most beautiful thing in the world is, of course, the world itself. – Wallace Stevens
Fear holds back many travellers, especially those who are thinking of travelling alone for the first time. But worse than fear is the regret that comes with not doing something.
This short travel quote – one of my personal favourites – inspires us to take the plunge.
13. Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets. – Oscar Wilde
14. You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. – Mae West
This classic Mae West quote – she is a deep well for travel captions! – is in the same vein. It’s all about living your best life.
15. It Is Better To See Something Once Than To Hear About It A Thousand Times. – Asian Proverb
16. Those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it. – Rick Watson
How often have you struggled to describe a place or an experience to someone? A cliché I know, but often words cannot convey what it was like to stand beside Argentina’s Iguazu Falls or to take an epic train journey on the Glacier Express
17. Climb the mountain so that you can see the world, not so that the world can see you. – David McCullough
18. I would rather own little and see the world than own the world and see little of it. – Alexander Sattler
Short Travel Captions about the Journey
Many of the best short travel quotes reflect that the rewards of travelling come not from the destination but from the journey. Sometimes things do not go exactly as planned but this adds to the richness of the travel experience.
19. It’s better to travel well than to arrive. – Buddha
20. The journey itself is my home. – Matsuo Basho
21. A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. – Lao Tzu
22. The journey not the arrival matters. – T.S. Eliot
23. Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else. – Lawrence Block
24. The only people who ever get any place interesting are the people who get lost. – Henry David Thoreau
25. For my part, I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson
26. It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. – Ernest Hemingway
27. Remember that happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. – Roy M. Goodman
28. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way. – Carl Sandburg
Are you looking for more quotes to inspire you on the journey through life? If so, check out these dreamy life journey quotes
Short Travel Quotes About Adventure
Many more short travel quotes reflect the thrill of adventure that comes from travelling. Adventure can assume many forms, not least of which is stepping out of our comfort zone can be empowering, especially as a first-time solo traveller.
29. Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. – Neale Donald Walsch
30. Great things never came from comfort zones. – Anonymous
31. Two roads diverged in a wood and … I took the one less traveled. – Robert Frost
32. Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. – Andre Gide
33. If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal. – Paul Coelho
34. Adventure should be part of everyone’s life. It is the whole difference between being fully alive and just existing. – Holly Morris
35. Jobs fill your pocket but adventures fill your soul. – Jamie Lyn Beatty
36. The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams. – Oprah Winfrey
37. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all. – Helen Keller
38. Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot
Travel Captions about Travel Companions & Friendships
Meeting people whilst travelling is an inevitability and these people can enrich the travel experience. However, the flip side of this is to exercise caution in picking travelling companions.
Loneliness can be a downside of solo travel. However, I have never felt so lonely when travelling as when I chose my travelling companion unwisely.
39. A journey is best measured in friends rather than in miles. – Tim Cahill
40. Never go on trips with anyone you do not love. – Hemmingway
41. I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. – Mark Twain
42. The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends. – Shirley MacLaine
43. We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. – Anais Nin
Are you looking for more quotes to inspire you to take your first solo adventure? If so, check out these inspirational quotes about travelling alone
Inspirational Captions about the Transformational Effects of Travelling
At its best, each travel experience and each destination you visit has the power to shape you as a person. Some of the most inspirational travel captions speak of this ability of travel to transform your life.
44. You go away for a long time and return a different person. – Paul Theroux
45. I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. – Mary Anne Radmacher
46. Travel opens your mind as few other things do. It is its own form of hypnotism, and I am forever under its spell. – Libba Bray
47. So much of who we are is where we have been. – William Langewiesche
48. You can shake the sand from your shoes, but not from your soul. – Anonymous
49. Traveling allows you to become so many different versions of yourself. – Anonymous
50. The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but having new eyes. – Marcel Proust
51. Travel has a way of stretching the mind. – Ralph Crawshaw
Short Travel Captions for Instagram or Twitter
Are you looking for a super-snappy short travel caption to embellish your Instagram or Twitter feed? If so, here’s my pick of the best.
Unless stated otherwise, the source of these much-loved short travel quotes is not known.
52. Work hard, travel harder.
53. Oh, the places you’ll go. – Dr. Seuss
54. Don’t count every day, make every day count.
55. Go where your dreams take you.
56. Travel does the heart good.
57. Never stop exploring.
58. Travel is the best education.
59. Time is short. Take time to travel.
60. Travel is not a reward for working; it’s education for living.
61. Say yes to new adventures.
62. The tans will fade, but the memories will last forever.
63. To travel is to live. – Hans Christian Andersen
64. Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.
65. Keep calm and travel on.
66. Work, travel, save, repeat.
67. Wander often, wonder always.
68. Finding paradise wherever I go.
69. One life. One world. Explore it.
70. Let the adventure begin.
71. Life is a journey, make the most of it.
72. Life is not meant to be lived in one place.
73. Happiness is planning a trip to somewhere new.
74. Just go. Go see all the beauty in the world.
75. This wasn’t a strange place; it was a new one. — Paulo Coelho
76. We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment. – Hillaire Belloc
77. When life knocks you down, roll over and look at the stars.
78. Travel is my therapy.
79. Collect moments, not things. – Aarti Khurana
80. Not all classrooms have four walls.
Finally …
Adventure is worthwhile.
Aesop
About Bridget
Bridget Coleman has been a passionate traveller for more than 30 years. She has visited 70+ countries, most as a solo traveller.
Articles on this site reflect her first-hand experiences.
To get in touch, email her at hello@theflashpacker.net or follow her on social media.