12 Brilliantly Literary Hotels for Book Lovers

Add this grand, dramatic hotel set in a palace built in 1894 to your bucket list, not just for the regal digs, but for the massive library, which features over 5,000 volumes of rare books and manuscripts. There are so many volumes in the Palace library that, as the hotel’s website points out, you would have to read a book a day for more than 16 years to go through the entire collection. (Though if you ask us, 16 years is not nearly enough time at this dream hotel.)

Whether you’re an old-world typist or a modern-day MacBook slinger, Singapore’s Wanderlust Hotel has a room for any writer. The hotel features numerous whimsical options, including an indoor tree house and a spaceship, but it’s the ASCII-themed room and the suite decorated to look like the inside of a giant typewriter that will most appeal to wordsmiths.

Get lost in a good book at this hotel on the Oregon coast. Like, literally. Each room at the literature-themed hotel is inspired by a particular classic or contemporary author including Agatha Christie, Mark Twain, J. K. Rowling, Dr. Seuss, John Steinbeck, Shakespeare, Jules Verne, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gertrude Stein. There are no televisions, phones, or Wi-Fi, but there is a large lending library filled with books perfect for wiling away a summer afternoon or making the best of a rainy day. 

This chic boutique resort boasts a sleek, minimalist library filled with books perfect for reading poolside at the property’s trademark red pool or at the idyllic Chaweng Beach, which is just steps away. The Lib, as it’s called, is well stocked with beach reads and glossy photography books, most of which are in English, as well as a wide array of movies and music for guests to borrow if they ever tire of staring at the striking modern environs and the staggeringly beautiful shoreline. 

The Commons Hotel in Minneapolis features a well-stocked library, perfect for those hoping to brush up on the classics before their entrance interview at the nearby University of Minnesota. Guests are invited to borrow books during their stay, but if you can’t be bothered to rouse yourself from bed, the hotel’s on-call Book Butler will deliver reading material right to your room. 

There is much to love about this luxury tropical hotel, including prime real estate on the shores of the Indian Ocean. But for book-loving visitors, the hotel’s library is worth tearing away from the beach. The reading room is well stocked with a wide array of wanderlust-inspiring and beach-worthy novels, along with games and internet access. Further proving its book-loving bona fides, the hotel also awards an annual literary prize.

Not many hotels have a literary curator on staff, but the Heathman Hotel needs one to help oversee the property’s growing collection of books. Situated in the heart of downtown Portland, Oregon, the hotel houses a lending library that specializes autographed editions (the collection includes more than 2,700 books signed by Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winners, U.S. Poet Laureates, a former United States president, and other authors who have stayed at the hotel). Four nights a week, the Heathman opens the library’s bookshelves to its patrons and offers complimentary wine (yes, it’s local, this is Portland after all) to sip while perusing the collection and getting personalized recommendations from the staff. 

Set in a restored 15th-century villa in the gem-like town of Fiesole, which sits in the hills above Florence, Il Salviatino features 12 acres of impeccably landscaped grounds, 19th-century frescoes, a museum’s worth of art, sweeping views of Florence, a kitchen that puts out a steady stream of four-star food, and an incredible library for resting after a big pasta lunch. In addition to being a prime post-prandial nap spot, the library is outfitted with volume after volume of classics for guests to borrow and luxurious leather couches to curl up on. The library is also open for an aperitivo (it turns out that a pre-dinner drink with a good book makes a delightful combination). 

The Gladstone is adamantly not a hotel but rather a library that happens to offer accommodation to its patrons. The Gladstone library’s collection features over 250,000 volumes; in Wales it’s second only to the National Library of Wales. Their illustrious reading rooms are outfitted with armchairs for those looking to curl up with a good book and desks for those who want to write their own (and plenty of patrons have done just that). According to the Gladstone’s website, over 300 books have been written within the reading room’s hallowed, book-lined halls. There is even Wi-Fi for those who simply must Instagram their latest read. The hotel’s rooms are simple but spotless (and are adorned with book-themed decorations, naturally). The on-site café offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a very civilized afternoon tea, so you’ll never have to put your reading down for long.

If you are yearning to see the Metropolitan Museum of Art, don’t stay at New York City’s Library Hotel because chances are you’ll never leave the grounds. Each of the rooms on the boutique hotel’s ten floors is decorated based on different sections of the Dewey Decimal System (think Mythology, Technology, Oceanography, or Love; the latter comes with a selection of books curated by noted sex researcher Dr. Ruth Westheimer). This bibliophile’s retreat is just six blocks from the main branch of the New York Public Library, but if you don’t feel like venturing that far, the hotel’s Reading Room is open to guests 24 hours a day and is filled with hundreds of books and a wide selection of complimentary snacks and drinks to nibble while you read. 

Live out your Arabian Nights fantasies at this beautiful hotel, which has sat for nearly 100 years as the crossroads of Marrakech’s cultural scene. Over its illustrious history the property, which is close to the city’s famed Medina, has played host to writers, thinkers, and world leaders (Winston Churchill was a particular fan). To further its position as a hub for all things arts and letters, in 2009 the hotel established a literary prize to help promote Moroccan scholarship and literature across the French-speaking world. In addition, there’s a well-stocked library on site and even a book about the property. The opulent, glamorous resort features 17 acres of walled gardens, which are lit up at night, pools, tennis courts, fountains, a 27,000-foot spa, and four on-site restaurants.