Best Kept Secrets (Gordon Kerr) Books in Order

The Best Kept Secrets books are travel guides for readers who enjoy both planning and daydreaming. They are interested in real places, but they do not read like hurried checklists. The idea is to slow down, move beyond the obvious landmarks, and notice the smaller towns, regional quirks, scenic detours, and local histories that can get missed on a standard first pass.

In Gordon Kerr's books, that approach shows up clearly in Best-Kept Secrets of Italy and Best-Kept Secrets of Europe. These are not backpacker survival manuals and they are not heavy logistical guides either. They sit somewhere between an armchair travel book and a practical source of inspiration, mixing atmosphere, history, landscape, and cultural detail with the pleasure of discovery.

Place matters here.

Italy, especially, lends itself to this format because the country changes so sharply from region to region. Kerr's approach makes room for that, moving from cities to coastlines, hill towns, islands, and quieter corners where food, architecture, and even daily rhythm can feel completely different. The European volume works in a similar way, using lesser-known destinations and overlooked angles to remind readers that the continent is much bigger than the usual parade of capitals.

A useful thing to know about the series is that it values browsing. These are the kinds of books you can read before a trip, during a trip, or without any trip planned at all. You might open them looking for a destination and end up following a photograph, a historical anecdote, or a small place name you have never heard before. That loose, inviting structure is part of what makes the books enjoyable.

Kerr writes these places as someone interested in what gives them character. That can mean scenery, but it can also mean food traditions, old buildings, regional pride, artistic heritage, or the way a city changes once you step a street or two away from its headline attraction. The underlying promise is not that every place is unknown, but that every place has a side that is easy to overlook if you only skim the surface.

That makes Best Kept Secrets a good fit for curious travellers who like texture more than tick-box tourism. The books are scenic and accessible, but they are also trying to nudge you toward a different habit of travel, one that rewards patience, wandering, and a willingness to take the smaller road. If you want books that help you imagine a place as well as visit it, this series is doing exactly that.