This list provides a guide to the most important works of exploration and travel literature, as determined by their presence on compiled lists by experts in the field: see the "Lists Consulted" section for full details. The works cover all genres of exploration and travel literature. The list is post-1500 and uses English names and translation dates where possible. The brief accompanying notes offer an explanation as to why each work has been considered important. The list is sorted chronologically by date published. For more information see travel literature and outdoor literature.

• 1499 - Travels of Sir John Mandeville (John Mandeville) first published in English. Originally published ca. 1371. Translated into many languages (English 1499), it acquired extraordinary popularity and influence in the late Middle Ages. Despite being extremely unreliable with the fantastical nature of the travels it describes, given the dearth of any other information it was often used as a work of factual reference — Christopher Columbus, for example, carried a copy with him on his first voyage.^[1]
• 1503 - Travels of Marco Polo (Marco Polo) first published in English. Originally written ca. 1299. Although not the first or last medieval traveler to the Far East, his account remains the most well known and influential in popular imagination.^[2]
• 1507 - Paesi novamenti retrovati (Montalboddo)

This list was created by combing compiled lists, each created by a team of recognized authorities in the field.

1. Peter Hulme and Tim Youngs (editors). The Cambridge Companion to Travel Writing. Cambridge University Press. 2002. ISBN 052178140X. Includes essays by 15 authors. Selection criteria: "This list is far from comprehensive, but indicates what the Companion's contributors regard as some of the more significant or influential examples of travel writing." (p.279)
2. "Extreme Classics: The 100 Greatest Adventure Books of All Time", National Geographic Adventure Magazine, July-August, 2001. Selection criteria: "First they solicited ideas from their editorial staff, readers and contributors. Then the list was given to a panel of ten writers, reviewers and experts who ranked the books and made additional suggestions. Lastly, the books were placed in a final ordered list representing a combination of the rankings of the panel participants, Adventure editors and Adventure's supervising editor. Although there is some overlap into nature and travel writing genres, the list otherwise concentrates on adventure. They left out man-versus-man adventure literature, such as books about war. Many of the works on the list are about human-powered experiences, but they also included a number of remarkable motorized journeys. You'll also notice that the NGA list wisely gives preference towards writings by the adventurers themselves rather than authors who later re-told the story."[1]

• Encyclopedia of travel literature

• List of important operas