Do you wish you could get paid to write about your travel experience and favorite destinations? Are you a digital nomad freelance writer and you'd like to be paid to write about the places you visit on your journey? If so, consider pursuing travel writing markets like those found in the All Freelance Writing writers' market database.
Browse the list of who pays writers for travel stories, then scroll down for a brief description of each publication that pays for travel writing along with a link to the publication's official writers' guidelines.
Tip: The markets below accept travel-related, or travel writing related, stories. But they don't all focus specifically on travel. When searching for related markets here or elsewhere, remember to consider regional markets and other types of publications with your travel stories.
Publications that Pay for Travel Writing
- AARP The Magazine
- Abilities
- Adventure Cycling
- Alaska Parent
- Canadian Geographic
- Condé Nast Traveler
- Eater
- International Living
- Los Angeles Times - Travel
- Midwest Living
- Northern Virginia Magazine
- Outpost Travel Magazine
- The Green Parent
- The Malahat Review
- Travel + Leisure
- Triathlete
- Yankee Magazine
The Travel Writing Markets
AARP The Magazine
AARP The Magazine claims to be the "world's largest circulation magazine." Catering to the over-50 crowd, the magazine accepts freelance submissions in the following categories: finance, health, food, travel, consumerism, general interest, and relationships. Rate of pay is not currently included in their published writers' guidelines.
Abilities
Abilities is a Canadian cross-disability lifestyle magazine covering travel, health, careers, education, relationships, parent, social policy, and more. Honoraria range from $50-325 for professional submissions.
Adventure Cycling
The Adventure Cycling blog accepts submissions of how-to articles, trip reports, bike overnights, and "inspiring, historical, or amusing stories" related to bicycle travel. Pay is $150-250 per article, with first-time writers paid on the lower end and repeat writers paid on the higher end.
Alaska Parent
Alaska Parent magazine accepts freelance submissions covering parenting topics such as education, pregnancy and babies, holidays, nutrition, special needs, family travel, and more. They accept both original content and reprints. Pay is generally $40-200 for original articles and $25-40 for reprints. They accept feature stories of 800-1200 words, short features of 500-800 words, and tips articles of 150-600 words.
Canadian Geographic
Canadian Geographic publishes six times a year, with the Canadian Geographic Travel section being published twice per year. There can be a long lead time of more than a year for longer stories. Queries can be emailed.
Condé Nast Traveler
Condé Nast Traveler accepts story pitches that "inspire travel and inform readers about the world around us." Pay starts at $300 for 500-600 words. They accept stories on a variety of topics including women who travel, destination guides, cruising, outdoors, destination features, air travel, points and miles, shopping stories, stories about identity, food and drink, hotels, vacation rentals, ski and snow, queer travel, family travel, and more. They do not accept pre-written stories on-spec.
Eater
Eater accepts freelance contributions "reporting on, telling stories about, and critically examining the world of food and drink, with a particular focus on restaurants. They accept pitches related to reported to various sections including reported stories, travel, "Voices," shopping, "Eater at Home," and stories covering select cities.
International Living
International Living publishes content about the positive sides of living, working, and retiring overseas. They're open to submissions for their Daily Postcards as well as stories from expats to be published on the International Living website.
Los Angeles Times - Travel
The LA Times accepts freelance contributions to its travel section, both in print and online. They buy first North American rights, and have strict ethical standards (please review their linked guidelines for details). They prefer 2000-word first-person pieces and 500-700 word "Guidebooks." Pay starts at $200 (and starts at $350 for destination feature stories).
Midwest Living
This lifestyle magazine focuses on the Midwest region of the U.S. Stories cover travel, garden, food, and home. They generally run 100-1000 word articles on their website. Pay varies, but they state a first-time writer working with them could generally earn around $200 for one of these scouting or online content assignments.
Northern Virginia Magazine
Northern Virginia Magazine looks for profiles and interviews with prominent and influential individuals in the region. They also accept submissions on topics such as regional getaways, home, entertainment, and business. Pay varies per assignment.
Outpost Travel Magazine
Outpost Travel Magazine combines expert tips, long-form travel journalism, travel stories, and guides. Print features generally run 2000-4000 words while online articles range from 800-1500 words. Pay rates are negotiated with writers on an individual contract basis.
The Green Parent
The Green Parent is a UK-based bi-monthly digital magazine covering topics such as pregnancy & conscious birth, breastfeeding, family life & simple living, alternative education, natural health & beauty, green travel, gardening, sustainable fashion, and more. Articles run 1500-2000 words, and they also accept shorter opinion pieces of 600 words. Pay is £75 per 1000 words.
The Malahat Review
The Malahat Review accepts poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction submissions from writers at all levels of their careers. Poets should submit 3-5 poems up to 10 pages maximum. They accept flash fiction up to 750 words as well as other short fiction up to 8000 words. Creative nonfiction can run up to 5000 words and cover any subject matter including personal essays, memoirs, travel writing, historical accounts, and biographies. Payment is $70CAD per published page.
Travel + Leisure
Travel + Leisure accepts freelance pitches for both the print magazine and digital publication. Digital news stories run 300-500 words and digital travel stories and listicles run 500-2000+ words. Print stories can include 100-500 word Discoveries, 700-1500 word Experiences essays, Intelligent Traveler contributions under 600 words, and 2500-4000 word Features. They pay a flat rate per piece, not based on word count.
Triathlete
Triathlete magazine features multi-sport training tips, nutrition articles, gear and apparel guides, athlete profiles, triathlon related travel articles, and news. They don't generally publish first-personal stories. Features run 800-1500 words and news runs 500-800 words. Payment is on publication.
Yankee Magazine
Yankee is a magazine for the New England region covering topics like travel, food, and home. They also accept personal essays related to the New England experience. The magazine pays on acceptance of freelance stories and purchases all rights.
More About These Travel Writing Markets
Like all market list posts here at All Freelance Writing, these travel writing markets are tied to a larger writers' market database. The list here is updated automatically any time a market in that database is updated, added, or removed.
What does that mean for you?
Consider bookmarking this list of travel writers' markets and checking back from time to time. The list will continue to grow even if the post itself, or its publication date, isn't updated. New markets can show up at any time during the year, and when reports come in to report broken links or changes to a publications' payment terms or guidelines, those will also update here.
You can even help keep these markets up-to-date by clicking on "report link" below any market above if the link to the writers' guidelines is broken or if you notice payment terms here no longer match payment terms on the publisher's own site. That help is always appreciated.
Explore More Writers' Markets
Interested in other freelance writing opportunities beyond travel writing? Check out the full writers' market collection below, or browse additional market lists to find something specific.
