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121 Travel Blog Niche Examples to Inspire You in 2024
Considering starting a travel blog, but need some inspiration? I’ve gathered over 100 travel blogs in different niches, with completely different audiences, to help you understand the variety of options you have.
I didn’t even know some of these niches existed until I started researching this post and asked the lovely members of my SEO for Bloggers Facebook group to pitch in.
This is not going to be a completely exhaustive list, as there are nearly infinite specific types of travel blogs. That’s the great thing about this niche!
I will note quickly that if you want to start a travel blog and hope to make money from it, it’s best to find a niche that already gets some traffic/is well known to your audience, but not one that’s too saturated with big names.
Here’s how I determined each of the summary points:
Niche: Manual check from About Page, Homepage, top content, and blog theme
DA: Moz
Monthly Traffic: Similar Web (for accuracy, it said my traffic was about 30% higher than it actually was in September 2023 when I tested 4 of my sites)
Primary Traffic Source: Similar Web
Page Speed: Pagespeed Insights (Speed Index Score)
CMS: Host Advice
Blog Host: Host Advice, Web Hosting Hero, Accuwebhosting, Hosting Checker
Theme: What WP Theme Is That, Satori Studio, manually inspecting code
Monetization Methods: Manual check in no particular order
Founded: About Page, Dupli Checker, Whats My DNS
Backlinks: Ahrefs Backlink Checker (free) (Linking Websites)
Please note that these metrics can change at any time. I endeavour to provide the most up to date figures, but due to the ever changing nature of blogging, some of these figures may have changed by the time you’re reading this.
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1. Nomadic Matt
Nomadic Matt is one of the best known travel blogs on the internet, especially if you’re into budget travel and backpacking.
Matt Kepnes founded the blog in 2008 to teach people how to travel on a budget, which also inspired his New York Times Bestselling Book, “How to Travel the World on $50 a Day”. It’s the book I used when I did my gap year after university.
The blog covers everything you can imagine about budget travel, including the best hostels to stay at, budget friendly things to do across the world (Matt’s been to over 100 countries), product reviews, and recently he’s been branching more into travel credit cards.
Matt has gone on to found The Nomadic Network and FLYTE. He also ran TravelCon but recently sold it.
Matt announced that he was stepping back from the site in February 2022. It doesn’t seem like it stuck though, as he still appears to be posting (or perhaps his writers are) and he’s active on social media.
Niche: Budget travel/backpacking
DA: 75
Monthly Traffic: 1.22 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 3.3s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Linode
Theme: Genesis Framework + Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Affiliates, Ads (Mediavine), Books, Blogging Course, Group Tours
Founded: 2008
Backlinks: 21k
2. The Blonde Abroad
Kiki is the reason I quit the solo female travel niche: she’s got it covered!
Her blog has been around for over a decade and has articles covering all things solo female travel. You’ll also find articles on lifestyle topics and photography.
I love her mission to support non-profits while sharing helpful information to allow women to be more independent.
It’s hard to compete with a blog Kiki’s size, with over 1500 articles and over 1 million people on her email list (according to her homepage opt in).
She’s also founded TBA Escapes, where she hosts female group trips to areas women often feel uncomfortable traveling to alone.
Niche: Solo female travel
DA: 60
Monthly Traffic: 291k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 3.7s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: : Digital Ocean
Theme: Genesis Framework + Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Affiliates, Group Tours, Ads (Mediavine), Digital Products, Social Media Marketing, Consulting (according to her about page)
Founded: 2012
Backlinks: 9.5k
3. Be My Travel Muse
I met Kristin at Travel Blogging Summit Denver in 2022 and learned a lot from her. She’s the second reason I abandoned all hope with my solo female travel blog: again, she’s got it covered!
Kristin is a former investment banker who realized she wasn’t able to express her creativity and really wanted to write. She quit her job and headed to Bangkok, where she made her dream of living fully from her creative work a reality.
Now she runs Be My Travel Muse and Parenthood Adventures (after having her first child).
Kristin is known as a heavy weight in both the travel blogging and travel writing (i.e. for journalism) worlds.
You’ll also find her on Youtube where she demonstrates her stunning photography.
Niche: Solo female travel
DA: 65
Monthly Traffic: 350k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 2.3s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Digital Ocean
Theme: Genesis Framework + Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Group Trips, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Book
Founded: 2012
Backlinks: 5.4k
4. The Planet D
The Planet D crops up in basically every travel niche because of their more general approach. While they state that they’re Adventure Travel in some places on their site and Digital Nomad travel in others, I’d classify them as a General Travel niche site.
Most general travel sites don’t see the same success as Dave and Deb, but the landscape was a bit easier back in 2007. It’d be much harder to be successful with this type of site today.
The Planet D is an award-winning travel blog that follows its founders, Dave and Deb, around the world. They’ve visited over 120 countries now and document all their original experiences on their blog.
I like that their site is the first on the list so far that I didn’t have to enlarge the text on. Their simple but functional theme is very SEO optimized.
Niche: General travel (but in different places on their website they say adventure travel and digital noad)
DA: 64
Monthly Traffic: 1.26 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 1.6s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: GeneratePress + Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Affiliates, Ads (Raptive), Sponsored Posts, Photography, Public Speaking
Founded: 2007
Backlinks: 13k
5. Two Wandering Soles
Katie and Ben met in high school and went on to have the most epic adventures together. They founded Two Wandering Soles to share their experiences traveling around the world.
They cover everything from teaching English in Korea to living in their campervan “Vinny” in the US.
Their site is incredibly well researched and has lots of great videos from their Youtube channel. I also follow them in Instagram for their travel stories.
I found Two Wandering Soles when I was starting out because they shared their income reports up to 2020. It’s a great way to see how much someone can actually make blogging!
Niche: Eco and Adventure Travel, also an extensive Van Life pillar
DA: 50
Monthly Traffic: 360k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 2.8s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Host Gator
Theme: Flatsome Theme
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Blog Course, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2014
Backlinks: 4.7k
6. World of Wanderlust
World of Wanderlust came to my attention on Instagram for Brooke’s lovely pictures.
The blog began in 2012 to document her adventures in Asia, but quickly grew to cover her solo travel adventures worldwide. Brooke also grew a popular Instagram account with over 570k followers.
She stepped back from the blog in in May 2022 to focus on her passion for baking. It seems that she either sold the site or has hired writers to keep it updated.
You can now find her in Australia at Brooki Bakehouse, where she gets to live her passion for baking (and has a very successful Tiktok about the company).
Niche: Solo Female Travel
DA: 57
Monthly Traffic: 147k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 7.6s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Dreamhost
Theme: Lavoie by Pipdig
Monetization Methods: Ads (unclear, but maybe Google Ads), Book, Digital Product, Blog Course, Sponsored Trips
Founded: 2012
Backlinks: 5.9k
7. Bacon is Magic
This is my favourite blog name of all time.
I first found Ayngelina when I was looking for Canadian travel bloggers for a school project (yep, I used to work travel blogging into my Master’s degree for every assignment).
Ayngelina founded the blog to be for “Food Hunters” instead of Foodies. They travel to eat like locals, which I really appreciate.
They blend in recipes from Canada and abroad (the Empress Gin Sour looks amazing! I was a bartender when the gin first came out and got to have a sip of one of the first batches. It’s truly magical!).
Niche: Foodie Travel and Recipes
DA: 56
Monthly Traffic: 99k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 2.8s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Vultr
Theme: Tiny Salt by Loft Ocean
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2010
Backlinks: 5.4k
8. The Broke Backpacker
The Broke Backpacker is actually ahead of Nomadic Matt in the budget travel space traffic-wise. Where Matt does $50 a day, Will Hatton goes down to $10 a day!
They began the blog in 2013 to teach others how to live on the road like they were doing.
I love their gear reviews as I’m just starting to get into camping (feel free to tweet me tips!). I do find them a little bit chunky (i.e. needs shorter paragraphs) and could stand to have a quick summarization for people on the go. But with their extensive audience, they’ve earned enough trust that I believe people would slow down to read it all.
Matt is the first person on our list to found a physical business located in one spot: a hostel. He cofounded Tribal Bali, a very pretty coworking hostel.
I really love the “Travel Expertise:” highlight in the author boxes on this site.
Niche: Budget Travel and Backpacking
DA: 60
Monthly Traffic: 1.41 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 4.1s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Google Cloud Platform
Theme: Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Hostel (cofounded)
Founded: 2013
Backlinks: 17k
9. Expert Vagabond
The Expert Vagabond, aka. Matt Karsten, shares tips for people looking to travel to unique destinations in a sometimes extreme way. He has posts on camping on erupting volcanoes, saving money for travel, how to take pictures of the Northern Lights.
Matt’s site is really interested because it has these custom author box-affiliate disclaimer hybrids on the posts that are customized to the location or type of travel for each post.
I like how clean and simple the whole site is. It’s very easy to information on what you need – as long as you know the continents.
Not only is their site popular, their Instagram has over 140k followers and their newsletter is 15k+ strong.
Niche: Adventure Travel and Photography
DA: 65
Monthly Traffic: 200k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 2s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: Trellis by Mediavine
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2011
Backlinks: 9.6k
10. The Points Guy
The Points Guy was founded in 2010 by Brian Kelly to help people travel hack their way to their dream trips.
If you’re not aware, travel hacking is where you use points (i.e. credit card reward points and sign on bonuses, hotel reward schemes, etc) to lower the cost of your trip. It’s also got a component of finding good travel deals.
Their main monetization looks like it’s through their affiliates to various credit cards and banks – which they promote for the sign on bonus points.
The site has massive monthly traffic, but also a large team of over 35 people!
So don’t compare yourself too harshly when looking at your traffic. Think of it as aspirational for how far you could grow!
Niche: Travel Hacking
DA: 83
Monthly Traffic: 13.31 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 7.8s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Ads (looks like Adsense but custom curated ads), Affiliates
Founded: 2009
Backlinks: 42k
11. Our Escape Clause
Our Escape Clause turned a 6 month global expedition into a business that allowed them to leave their desk jobs.
They initially focused on Europe, but have since expanded to cover US travel as well.
You’ll find tons of travel itineraries on their site for locations across the US and Europe.
They’ve got a very basic theme that is laid out a little bit oddly, in my opinion. I don’t love the map on the Destinations page as it kept glitching – I’m never a fan of maps though, to be honest, because they usually have some sort of issue like this.
Although they do sponsored posts occasionally (according to their contact page), I couldn’t find any on their site. So I anticipate their income is primarily from the Mediavine ads and affiliate links in review posts on their site.
Niche: USA and Europe Travel
DA: 45
Monthly Traffic: 639k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 6.7s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: GeneratePress
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2016
Backlinks: 6.5k
12. Young Adventuress
Liz Carlson moved to Spain alone to teach English and started Young Adventuress their time abroad. After a few years of Spanish travel, she moved to New Zealand and became a full time travel blogger.
I started following Liz when I moved to New Zealand and needed some tips on ways to spend all my money in the first month I arrived.
Liz is best known for their Instagram, where they take stunning photos of their global travels. They now own NODE, a plant store in New Zealand, and lead tours to the Arctic Circle.
You can join their 213k followers on Instagram as well. This is where the bulk of their following is and shows the power of Instagram for a travel blogger, but also that it doesn’t always translate to blog clicks.
Niche: Solo Female Travel and New Zealand Travel
DA: 62
Monthly Traffic: 36k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google) – this really surprised me from the size of their Instagram following!
Page Speed: 12.9s (because of a slow loading pop up. Closer to 4s really)
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Amazon Web Services
Theme: Custom Theme
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Sponsored Instagram
Founded: 2011
Backlinks: 2k
13. Disney Tourist Blog
This site has the best About Page I’ve ever seen – even referencing robot walruses at one point.
I recommend checking it out, not just to learn about the Disney Tourist Blog’s origins when Sarah and Tom Bricker founded it.
The blog is definitely a one-stop-Disney-shop where you can get all of your Magic Kingdom (that’s a Disney thing, right?) answers in one spot.
One of the items in their navigation is a “Quote Request” that takes you to a Disney travel agent site. I’m not sure if Tom or Sarah are agents for this company or – more likely – if this is a custom affiliate deal they’ve negotiated. I’m inclined to believe the latter.
Niche: Disney Travel
DA: 68
Monthly Traffic: 2 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 3.7s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: HostDime
Theme: Sensational by My Theme Shop
Monetization Methods: Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Be Our Guest Vacations Connection
Founded: 2011
Backlinks: 10k
14. Goats on the Road
Goats on the Road have one of my favourite blog taglines: “Turn Travel Into A Lifestyle”.
It fits perfectly with their niche of digital nomad-ing. I actually didn’t find them until I was already well into my journey of living abroad, but I learned a ton about housesitting from them. In fact, I think they were the first to bring Trusted Housesitters into my life.
Nick and Dariece founded their blog in 2012 and it has gone on to be a massive name in the travel blog industry. They have a big team of 14 writers beyond themselves.
They’ve been featured in Forbes, on the Today Show, and in Lonely Planet.
I think they have one of the best menu bars I’ve seen so far on this list. It’s very clear, well organized and easy to follow. The only thing missing is a clear “Contact Us” section, which is in their footer (a pet peeve of mine).
Niche: Digital Nomad
DA: 59
Monthly Traffic: 604k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 2s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Tools returned two answers: Bluehost (not gonna lie, my jaw DROPPED at this) and Cloudflare. I assume they used to be with Bluehost and are now cloaking with Cloudflare so I can’t find their current host
Theme: GeneratePress
Monetization Methods: Blog Courses, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates
Founded: 2012
Backlinks: 6.8k
15. Ireland Before You Die
Stevie Haughey is on a mission to get everyone to Ireland before they die – ergo the name of the site!
They started the site at university in 2014 and it went on to amass over 1 million readers per month. It looks like it’s dropped down since that claim on his author page, but that’s liable to happen over time.
Posts vary from travel specific, like the best spa hotels, to Irish names for kids (a great place for a Name Generator!).
They are the first site on our list to have physical products for sale. In the site’s shop I found t-shirts and posters. But it also looks like the may have sold rings are one point.
Niche: Ireland Travel
DA: 74
Monthly Traffic: 498k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 11.5s (not surprising as they use Elementor)
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: GeneratePress with Elementor base
Monetization Methods: Ads (Raptive), Affiliate, Digital Product, Physical Products
Founded: 2014
Backlinks: 8.2k
16. Anywhere We Roam
Mark and Paul quit their jobs to found this adventure and off the beaten path travel blog.
They’ve won numerous UK blogger awards, highlighting their expertise.
I couldn’t find any digital products or sponsored posts on their site. So I’m assuming they’re just using Mediavine and their affiliates to monetize.
They also have a “Buy Me A Coffee” button, which has become more popular with bloggers in recent years. I had one on my site eons ago and it never made me a penny. But I’d be interested to know if a more established blog like theirs does well with it.
Niche: Adventure Travel
DA: 45
Monthly Traffic: 264k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 4.9s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Google Cloud Platform
Theme: Uncode by Undsgn
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Kofi
Founded: 2017
Backlinks: 1.8k
17. Salt in Our Hair
This is my favourite blog theme on the list. It’s so cute and yet also so functional!
I’m very upset it was custom coded by them so I can’t even hire the developer cause I LOVE it.
But back to the site. Salt in Our Hair is a sustainable travel blog that follows Nick and Hannah around the world. The Dutch couple founded the company on Instagram first (I think that’s a first for this list!) and then moved it onto the blog.
Hannah was a graphic designer and Nick a web developer, which speaks to their amazing site. They’re also great photographers with a big focus on photography tips on their site.
Interestingly, they sell Google Maps guides. I’m not sure of the legalities of selling a Google Map but I expect they looked into it. I’d look into it on your own before doing the same, but that could be a great digital product for most travel bloggers.
I have like 400 just from 2023 with all my travels across Canada and the US.
They seem to be focused on Asia and the Middle East in their recent content, but they have articles for places across Europe, too.
Niche: Sustainable Travel
DA: 51
Monthly Traffic: 774k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 3.8s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Cloaked by Cloudflare
Theme: Custom Theme they built for themselves
Monetization Methods: Digital Products, Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2015
Backlinks: 5.1k
18. Travel Off Path
I met Kashlee in Nashville at the same summit I met the Blonde Abroad (y’all go to summits in person. They’re epic!).
She shared a lot about her site, but the most interesting thing to me was that it’s primarily a Google Discover site. Her team (she has over 65 writers across 5 sites – this is just one of them) publish posts EVERY SINGLE DAY.
She takes a very “news” style approach to her content, publishing shorter pieces that are on trending topics.
You’ll notice her titles are very skewed for Google Discover and less for SEO.
Two of her other sites that are doing similarly well are The Cancun Sun and The Bali Sun.
Kashlee is a great case study for a very different way of getting clicks from Google.
Niche: Travel News and Travel Tips
DA: 58
Monthly Traffic: 4.18 million+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google Search) – Similar Web doesn’t differentiate between Discover and normal Google traffic so I couldn’t do a breakdown between the two on it but about 300k according to Ahrefs are organic traffic
Page Speed: 1.9s (and one of the few passing Core Web Vitals)
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Big Scoots
Theme: Trellis by Mediavine
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine) *Kashlee revealed at the summit that her only income from the blogs is ad based but that she plans to start doing affiliates. She also does paid speaking gigs.
Founded: 2017
Backlinks: 12k
19. Travel Fashion Gal
Travel Fashion Gal comes up so often when I’m doing keyword research for my clients. They rank for a lot of terms, but especially for “Best X” where X is travel gear or clothing.
Packing lists are their game, so they also sell ebooks of their lists for what on the surface looks like their most popular regions.
Alex started the blog in 2008, but also does a good amount of promotion on other platforms too – with social being pretty close to Organic Search for their top traffic source.
Pinterest seems to be their biggest platform with 6 million monthly views and over 100k followers.
Niche: Packing Lists and Fashion Travel
DA: 56
Monthly Traffic: 884k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed: 12.3s
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Liquid Web
Theme: Divi
Monetization Methods: Ads (Raptive), Affiliates, Digital Product
Founded: 2011
Backlinks: 10k
20. Packs Light
I wanted to highlight Gabby Beckford on this list because she has made over $100k in Q1 of 2023 without an insane amount of traffic on her site.
Yes, it’s in Mediavine. But the majority of Gabby’s income seems to come from her social media.
She founded Young Travelers Network on Facebook (9.6k members), has over 158k followers on Instagram, has over 325k followers on Tiktok, AND has a significant Twitter and Linkedin presence.
She is literally EVERYWHERE hustling and it’s paying off.
The #1 thing you can learn from Gabby’s PTO (paid travel opportunities) site is how to build a community.
Her Delusional Confidence TedX talk changed my life.
Niche: Paid Travel Opportunities and Study Abroad
DA: 50
Monthly Traffic: 65k+
Primary Traffic Source: Organic Search (i.e. Google)
Page Speed:
CMS: WordPress
Blog Host: Google Cloud Platform
Theme: Soledad (looks custom)
Monetization Methods: Ads (Mediavine), Affiliates, Digital Products, Group Tours, Sponsored Posts
Founded: 2015
Backlinks: 1.5k
100+ More Travel Blog Examples in Different Niches
We’d be here for 40 years if I was to do a deep dive into every travel site I found (or even all 236 that were submitted in my Facebook group thread). Especially because I want to rep as many different niches as possible.
So for the sake of expediency, I’ve included the Blog Name – Niche
- Adventurous Kate – Solo Female Travel
- Introvert With Itchy Feet – Africa Travel
- Caribbean Uncovered – Caribbean Travel
- Offbeat Greece – Greece Travel
- Meandering Wild – Nature and Wildlife Travel
- Follow the Yellow Shell – Camino de Santiago and Other Long Walks
- Culture Feasting – Foodie Travel
- Adventures with TuckNae – RV Travel
- York Travel Expert – York, UK Travel
- Exploring South Australia – Southern Australia Travel
- New Zealand Travel Tips – New Zealand Travel
- The Hiking Helper – Hiking & National Park Travel
- Atlantic Destinations – Nova Scotia, Canada Travel
- Adventure Awaits – Canada Travel
- Nina Out and About – Living Abroad/Expat Travel
- Ottawa Things to Do – Ottawa, Canada Travel Blog
- Traveling With Your Pets – Dog Friendly and Service Dog Travel
- Corks and Tacos – Turks and Caicos Travel
- Will Travel For Lattes – Coffee and Foodie Travel
- The Autistic Traveler – Autistic and Neurodivergent Travel
- Continent Hop – Cultural Travel Through a POC Lens
- Four Around the World – Family Travel
- Life in Rural France – Southwest France Travel
- World on Wheels – Accessible Travel
- Continuous Roamer – Luxury Adventure Travel
- Alberta Mamas – Alberta, Canada Family Travel
- Sydney to Anywhere – Solo Female Travel in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco
- Take Me To Sweden – Sweden Travel
- The Home That Roams – RV and Boat Travel
- The Stoke Fam – Pacific Northwest Outdoor Travel
- Veganderlust – Vegan Travel
- Jessica Lynn Writes – Military Family Travel
- Mariee Travel – Honeymoon and Luxury Couple Travel
- I Travel Peru – Peru Travel
- Camping Kiddos – Outdoor Family Travel
- Money For Mangos – Liveaboard Sailing Travel
- Inspired By Croatia – Croatia Travel
- This Noshtalgic Life – Camping and Alaska Travel
- 3 Tickets Please – Budget Family Travel
- Japlan Ease – Japan Travel
- Dining Duster – Foodie Midwest Travel
- Sally Sees – Latin America Travel
- Kuala Lumpur With Kids – Kuala Lumpur Family Travel
- Colorful Journeys – Culture and Photography Travel
- Wine Travelista – Wine Travel
- Exit 45 Travel – Nomadic Retired Travel
- Pina Travels – Responsible and Sustainable Tourism
- The Art of Living in Turkey – Turkey Travel
- Lor & Jor Explore – Van Life Travel
- Caballe Family – Catholic Family Travel
- Celiac Travel Pack – Celiac and Gluten Free Travel
- Sas Crossing Countries – Family Road Trip Travel
- The Gypsy Chiring – India Travel
- Gathering Waves – Surf Travel
- Sunset Travellers – Couple Travel
- Germany Things to Do – Germany Travel
- Brissie Life – Brisbane Travel
- Second Dad to the Right – Disney and Disney Cruise Travel
- The End of Everywhere – Career Break Travel
- Glimpses of UAE – United Arab Emirates Travel
- The Cruise Blogger – Cruise Travel
- Histo Travel – Historical Travel
- G Extreme Travel – Colombia Travel
- Nomadasaurus – Travel Photography
- Hannah on Horizon – Affordable Luxury Travel
- Wild Trail Finder – US Hiking Travel
- The Honeymoon Guide – Honeymoon Travel
- My Cruiser Life – Living on a Boat in North America Travel
- Every Steff – Eco Luxury Travel
- Thrive and Wander – Solo Female Travel
- Travel Linger Relax – First Time Female Travel Over 40
- Remote Lifestyle Guide – Remote Work
- Paige Minds the Gap – Southern US Travel
- Nigel and Sue Adventures – Australia Road Trips
- Bridget Gutierrez – Oahu, Hawaii Travel
- Not Another Backpacker – Long Term Backpacking
- Laure Wanders – Cultural Travel
- A Single Woman Traveling – Solo Female Europe Travel
- Extended Getaway – Budget Travel Photography
- Dreams in Heels – Latina Solo Female Travel
- Dabbling in Jet Lag – Living in France
- Salut From Paris – Paris Travel
- California Wonderland – Central California Travel
- Korea Travel Planning – South Korea Travel
- Gotta Love New York – NYC Travel Blog
- Travel Across the Borderline – Hidden Gem Travel
- Home to Havana – Cuba Travel
- Discover Portugal – Portugal Travel
- A Love Letter to Asia – Senior Asia Travel
- Shades of Summr – Slow Travel
- Deyewa – Maryland Family Travel
- Traveling in Focus – US National Park Travel
- Kaylee Janell – Bucket List Travel
- Postcards From G – Postcards
- The Golden Star – Golden, BC News and Travel
- Red Around the World – US Hiking and Road Trips
- The Luxury Japan – Luxury Japan Travel
- Laurens Lighthouse – Outdoor Adventure and Luxury Couple Travel
- Guide Your Travel – Southeast Asia Travel
- Gather and Go Travel – Travel With Teens
- The Abroad Guide – Studying Abroad
How to Select a Blog Niche
Considering starting your own travel blog?
You need a niche!
Why? Because “travel” is about as specific as saying you’re going to “North America”. Um.. Canada? the US? Mexico??
That answer would not fly with my Russian grandma and “travel” won’t fly as a niche with Google – or to start building an audience.
Here are my tips for beginners:
Step 1: Brainstorm
Write a list of the ways you travel and the ways you enjoy to travel. Note places you’ve been.
Think about the places people ask you the most questions about.
For me, this was how I was traveling alone and moving so much. I went with the solo travel side of it at first, but realized it’s too competitive of a niche, so I went with moving abroad after the fact.
Think about the things you know that you didn’t find much research on online when you were learning about it for the first time.
Step 2: Market Research
Just because you have an idea for a niche, doesn’t mean there’s demand for it.
On the other hand, sometimes there is demand, but there’s already plenty of supply to meet it.
We want a niche that is unique, you have personal experience and expertise in, and that gets traffic but isn’t too hard to join in.
Pick your top idea or top 3 ideas from the brainstorming session and look for competitors.
You want to see a few blogs under DA 30 ranking on the first page of Google for some of the terms.
Lower DA’s = lower competition.
Yes, you can build a high DA – I’ve seen someone grow to a DA of 53 on a new domain in under 2 years in the travel niche.
But it’s a LOT of work – and probably money, cause you’ll likely need to outsource some of it.
You should also see that some of those sites are on a premium ad network (Mediavine or Raptive) – you can tell this from the logo beside the Mediavine ads and the “Raptive Publisher” in the footer that some of their partner blogs have.
We want to see that there is an audience searching for this (I usually gather keywords too and get at least 100k pageviews worth of keywords I could realistically rank for to check the viability of a niche.
Check this with Keysearch or Ahrefs, or whatever your keyword research tool of choice is.
👉 Get Keysearch – my favourite keyword research tool – for 30% off with code “sheknowsseo”!
You also want to make sure your competitors have missed something.
If you have nothing new to add, there’s no point starting the site. You need to have something unique to add to the conversion in the niche.
I’ve yet to see it where there is truly nothing you could cover that’s new.
Step 3: Be Prepared to Pivot
Steer into the skid if something you didn’t expect takes off.
For my site, it was my 2 living abroad posts driving all of my organic traffic. I changed to that side of my niche and BAM my site blew up and hit 50k sessions in 6 months.
You don’t need to plan for this necessarily. But just know that even the best laid plans can go awry.
So pick a niche, do your best to stick to it, but know that some things can change down the line and it’ll be ok.
Tips for Experienced Bloggers
For my tips for experienced bloggers who need to niche down an existing site, I teach helpful strategies in my 6 Months to 50k Masterclass here.
How to Start a Travel Blog
Looking to start your travel blog?
You’ll need some things.
1) A Niche
See the above post for all the details on this. But you’ll also need a blog name that reflects that niche.
Check out my helpful name generator to start sparking some ideas.
2) A Domain Name
I recommend Namesilo – the only registrar I’ve been with who doesn’t change the price every year.
Get $1 off your domain with code “nina”
3) Hosting
Blogs live on WordPress, but you need WordPress.org. This is hosted via a blog host (think of it like the address your blog lives on and the WordPress bit is the house with all your stuff parked on it).
Get the best host for your blog! Lyrical Host increased my site speed and fixes all my tech issues. Get 10% off with code “sheknowsseo”
4) A Theme
I recommend Kadence (free is all you need).
5) Keyword Research
Keywords will drive your site.
Essentially they’re the terms that users pop into the search bar in Google.
We want to answer those questions. But we need to know how many people search for them, and how hard the competition is at the top.
👉 Get Keysearch – my favourite keyword research tool – for 30% off with code “sheknowsseo”!
6) Write Your First Post and Launch!
Don’t second guess things for too long.
Your first posts will suck. It’s just a fact.
Even if they were “perfect” to you today, in a year you’ll be a completely different person and be like “what 4th grader wrote that??”
…no? Just me? Every single year?
Well, it happens to most of us. Don’t be afraid to be mediocre for a bit as you learn. It’ll get easier.
Check out my guide to the number of blog posts you need to launch.
7) Start Building Backlinks
Want to get a DA as high as our top 20 on this list? You need backlinks!
I rounded up over 100 travel blogs accepting guest posts that you can check out here.
How I Did My Analysis
Tools I Used: Moz, Similar Web, Pagespeed Insights, Host Advice, Web Hosting Hero, Accuwebhosting, Hosting Checker, What WP Theme Is That, Satori Studio, Dupli Checker, Whats My DNS, Built With
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Conclusion
Thank you for exploring the wonderful world of niche travel blogs with me.
These sites are not necessarily the “best travel blogs ever”. They’re just meant to show the variety of travel types available to us as bloggers.
And they might even inspire your next type of travel! I know some of those beach destination sites have me eyeing Skyscanner.
Choosing your niche can be the hardest part of starting your blog because there’s so much pressure to get it right. But don’t let it hold you back!
If you’re absolutely stuck, try writing a post in each of your niche ideas to see what you enjoy most.
I started She Knows SEO and had never written about SEO before in such a long form. I hated it for a while so I paused writing. Once I felt more confident in my research methods, I found my love for it.
But if I’d taken a minute to pause beforehand I could have saved myself 6 months of hosting costs when the site basically sat empty.
Your homework is to pick a niche for your site. And make it EXPLICIT on your homepage, your about page, and in the posts you write about.
I had to exclude some sites from this list because I just couldn’t figure out what the heck their niche was, or the niche they told me seemed very different from what I saw on the site.
Make it simple for your audience so they can know if you’re the right fit for them.
I’d love to hear some of your favourite niches in my free Facebook Group, SEO for Bloggers! (please no links as the spam filter blocks them). Have you stumbled across a weird or unique niche site that I didn’t cover? Let’s hear it!
