The Best Photo Book Makers for Your Travel Photos
When you travel to a new destination, chances are you come home with hundreds (if not thousands) of photos stored in your phone or camera. While a handful of these pictures will make their way to your social media feeds, the majority will probably remain hidden away in your digital hard drives. Instead of forgetting about your vacation memories, why not turn them into a cherished keepsake photo book? Unlike with DIY photo scrapbooks of the past, it no longer takes hours of crafting and attaching photos by hand. You can now make a high-quality bound photo book with just a few clicks of a button thanks to photo printing websites.
There are plenty of photo book websites to choose from, but our personal favorite is Artifact Uprising. The site offers plenty of template options and binding choices, and when it's printed, you'll have a professional-quality book that will be a forever keepsake. But if you're looking for something a little less pricey, simpler to use, or quicker, check out all the photo book website options on our list below.
On This Page
- Best Overall: Artifact Uprising
- Best Budget: Amazon Prints
- Easiest to Use: Printique
- Best for Themed Templates: Mixbook
- Best for Creative Layouts: Shutterfly
- Best for Binding Options: Snapfish
- Best for Fast Printing: Walmart Photo
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Best Overall: Artifact Uprising
Why We Love It: The site produces high-quality, magazine-like photo books that are made to last forever.
What to Consider: There are fewer layout options than on other websites.
Artifact Uprising's photo books are on the pricier side, but for good reason. The company offers premium fabric-bound covers, custom foil stamping, and high-quality, thick-cut paper. Its layout templates are incredibly easy to use, and you can drop in your favorite images by connecting directly from sources like Instagram and Dropbox.
There are many different sizes and bindings to choose from, including softcover and premium layflat photo albums. On certain styles, you can also choose between matte and luster paper and add a book jacket. All photos are printed on a white background, but you can customize your book by selecting different photo layouts and inserting text for captions and quotes.
Depending on the book you select, production time can take anywhere from two to eight days, plus three to 18 days of shipping depending on which shipping method you choose.
Best for Budget Photo Books: Amazon Prints
Why We Love It: It's easy to use, quick, and affordable.
What to Consider: The site doesn't allow books under 20 pages to be created.
If you don't have a lot to spend but still want a quality way to display your travel selfies and group shots, we suggest using Amazon Prints. You can order a budget-friendly photo book by selecting images or dropping an album saved in your Prime Photos into its book-builder template.
All photo books require a minimum of 20 pages, but there are different themes to choose from, like holidays, baby, wedding, and travel, and you can customize each page with different layouts and templates. Each book can be personalized with borders, quotes, embellishments, and backgrounds. The templates are easy to use, and you can save each page as you go so you won't lose any edits.
Prime members will get free standard shipping, which delivers the book to your door in eight to 12 business days. Non-Prime members will have to pay a shipping fee for the same delivery time, but both Prime and non-Prime members can pay for expedited shipping to have their photo books delivered within four to six business days.
Easiest to Use: Printique
Why We Love It: An automatic option organizes and arranges your photos for you, if you choose.
What to Consider: It's on the pricier side.
If you're looking for a photo book-making service that does all the hard work for you, try Printique. Like most websites, it lets you build your own photo book from scratch or use one of its pre-designed templates. But if that still seems too difficult, they also offer an Auto-Builder feature, which will automatically organize your photos into an elegant book in seconds.
Once you've dropped in your images, you can fully edit them and make adjustments on sizing and placement on the pages. You can also personalize your book with borders, backgrounds, stickers, and text. They produce both soft and hardcover photo books, and you can choose a premium option that includes luster or linen-covered books. Square, portrait, and landscape book shapes are also available.
The processing time ranges from four to six days depending on which book template you select, and shipping can take one to 14 days depending on which shipping option you choose.
Related: We Tested 15 Portable Photo Printers — Here Are the Only Ones Worth Buying
Best for Themed Templates: Mixbook
Why We Love It: Between hundreds of theme choices and a variety of shape cutouts, this site lets you totally customize your layout.
What to Consider: There aren't as many book size options as some other sites.
If you're the type of traveler who wants to see it all, Mixbook's endlessly customizable prints are perfect for documenting each of your unique adventures. With over 600 pre-set options available, Mixbook has the largest variety of templates to choose from — including 85 travel templates. There are four book types available: softcover, glossy hardcover, matte hardcover, and leather bound. Plus, you can also choose among four types of paper: semi-gloss, pearl finish, premium matte flat lay, and premium luster flat lay.
Besides having numerous pre-set templates to choose from, Mixbook also has a ton of searchable backgrounds and clipart that you can use to personalize your book. You're also able to customize your photos with different shape cutouts and borders and by adding text or stickers to your book's pages. And don't be intimidated if using tech isn't your strong suit: The website offers tutorial videos that teach you how to use the site and design your photo book. It takes about three to five business days to process and print each one before it ships out.
Best for Creative Layouts: Shutterfly
Why We Love It: You can fit up to 12 photos on one page.
What to Consider: Orders are often delayed slightly.
Shutterfly has been one of the leading photo printing services for years. The company allows you to print your treasured memories on everything from mugs, calendars, and tote bags to, of course, photo books. The company has multiple templates to choose from, so it's easy to find an option that suits your theme or style.
You can also personalize your book with one of the many layout options, or you can customize a unique layout for yourself. Shutterfly's extensive options allow you to fit anywhere from one to 12 photos on a page; move and resize images; and add text, backgrounds, and embellishments.
You can have your book produced and shipped within one to two business days if you pay extra for the Super Rush option, or have it delivered within 10 business days if you select the economy shipping and handling.
Best for Binding Options: Snapfish
Why We Love It: The website's unique layout feature allows you to see all your pages at once, rather than scrolling through them individually.
What to Consider: Some photos may appear darker than the originals once printed.
Between sizes and binding types, Snapfish has 28 different photo book options to choose from. The variety of styles includes modern softcover books, elegant leather-bound books, layflat hardcovers, linen-bound books, and more. The website is super easy to navigate, and the company even has a handy Snapfish App that allows you to design your photo book right from your phone.
The website features plenty of pre-set templates, or you can build your own custom layout. You can also add different backgrounds and embellishments to each page to give your photo book a memorable and personal touch.
Snapfish also has a number of video tutorials and how-to articles on the site to further simplify the process. Production time takes up to three days and shipping can take four to eight days.
Best for Fast Printing: Walmart Photo
Why We Love It: It's quick and budget-friendly.
What to Consider: These photo books have fewer pages than other options on our list
After many trips, the last thing you want to do is spend more time waiting for something. For a quick turnaround, try Walmart's photo center. You can build a photo book online and have it shipped to your door within a few days, or opt for same-day or one-hour printing and pick up a book the same day at your local Walmart store.
Be aware that the in-store options are more limited than others, though. The same-day book will only hold 20 double-sided pages, and the one-hour photo book will only feature 15 single-sided pages of photos. If you would like any more images or want to customize the layout of your photo book, you'll have to order online and wait a few days for processing and handling like the rest of the services on this list.
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Why Trust Travel + Leisure
When it comes to traveling and preserving travel memories, Travel + Leisure writers are total experts. So if you're considering creating a keepsake photo book for your latest or upcoming trip, let T+L be your guide. For this article, Rebecca Carhart and Hillary Maglin researched every major photo book-making website to curate the ideal list of sites that are easy to navigate and capable of producing gorgeous books.
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