Every reader has, at some point, convinced themselves that changing locations will finally be the thing that gets them out of a reading slump. Sometimes they're right. Because while your sofa has seen you abandon approximately seven novels this year, it turns out the same book becomes considerably more appealing when there's an ocean view, a fresh pot of coffee and absolutely no laundry waiting for you.

That's exactly the thinking behind reading retreats. Equal parts holiday, book club and sanctioned excuse to ignore your notifications, they're designed for people who consider browsing bookshops a cultural activity. Across MENA, these literary escapes pair gorgeous destinations with carefully chosen reads, thoughtful discussions and just enough free time to disappear into a story without someone asking, "Are you still reading that?"

Agadir, Morocco with Friendship Travel

📖The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles

📅January 10th - 17th, 2027

💸~$2,950+

Paul Bowles once turned Morocco into one of literature's most haunting landscapes in The Sheltering Sky - a novel about identity, solitude and the strange ways travel reshapes us - and this week-long retreat invites you to read it where the Atlantic breeze still carries that same sense of possibility.

Hosted at the beachfront Iberostar Founty Beach, the retreat balances quiet reading sessions with plenty of opportunities to actually live the setting. Between book club discussions, leisurely seaside strolls, afternoons spent by the pool or in the spa, and evenings sharing favourite reads during the retreat's "A Book I Love" gathering, it's impossible not to leave with a reading list far longer than the one you arrived with. Consider it the literary equivalent of returning from holiday with more souvenirs than your suitcase can realistically handle.

Asilah, Morocco with Ladies Who Lit

📖Bring your own book

📅July 27th - 31st, 2026

💸From ~$1,700

Every reader has entertained the fantasy of disappearing into a beautiful house by the sea with nothing but a suitcase full of books and an aggressively unrealistic TBR (to be read) pile. Ladies Who Lit's reading retreat in Asilah turns that daydream into a Moroccan reality.

Hosted inside Villazila, a traditional riad tucked into the whitewashed maze of the seaside medina, the retreat unfolds at the sort of pace your Kindle has been begging for all year. Days are intentionally left deliciously open, whether that means claiming a quiet corner of the courtyard, stretching out on the beach with your latest read, or losing track of time on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Atlantic.

Then, just when you've become wonderfully attached to your reading nook, the itinerary pull you back into the world with hands-on zellige tile-making workshops, evenings spent debating the retreat's chosen novel over dinner, before everyone swaps literary detectives for actual ones during a murder mystery night worthy of Hercule Poirot himself. You might even leave with a tote bag full of bookish goodies, but the real souvenir is finding yourself surrounded by people who understand your need to annotate paperbacks.

Cairo, Aswan & Luxor, Egypt with Literary Tours in Egypt

📖Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

📅Flexible departures

💸From $8,350

There are literary pilgrimages, and then there's following Hercule Poirot up the Nile. Inspired by Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, this 12-day journey trades the usual sightseeing itinerary for one that follows the novel almost chapter by chapter, from the storied halls of Cairo's Mena House to the legendary Old Cataract Hotel in Aswan, where Christie herself wrote much of the book. If you've ever watched the film and secretly wanted to be aboard that glamorous steamer, this is probably the closest you'll get without an actual murder.

Between sailing the Nile on a luxury cruise, sipping afternoon tea on the Old Cataract's famous terrace, wandering the temples of Philae, Abu Simbel, Kom Ombo and Karnak, and spending the night at Luxor's equally iconic Winter Palace, every stop feels like stepping inside one of Christie's most beloved mysteries. Thankfully, the only suspense you'll have to contend with is deciding whether to read another chapter before bed or simply sit on deck and watch the Nile drift by like it's turning the pages for you.

Port el Kantaoui, Tunisia With Friendship Travel

📖A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore & The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith

📅December 21st - 28th, 2026

💸~$2,700

Christmas has a habit of becoming its own annual sequel. The same decorations, the same songs and, if you're unlucky, the same argument over who forgot the cranberry sauce. This retreat proposes a much better plot twist: swapping winter coats for Mediterranean sunshine, replacing crowded shopping centres with poolside reading sessions, and spending the festive season in Tunisia with a stack of books and people who genuinely understand why receiving a hardback is a perfectly acceptable Christmas present.

Based at the five-star all-inclusive Iberostar Selection Diar El Andalous on Tunisia's coast, the week pairs relaxed reading with thoughtful excursions to Kairouan, El Jem's magnificent Roman amphitheatre and the historic streets of Sousse Medina. Alongside discussions of Helen Dunmore's A Spell of Winter - an atmospheric novel exploring memory, isolation, and the complexities of family relationships - and Patricia Highsmith's Tunisia-set and psychologically charged The Tremor of Forgery, there are long lunches, leisurely afternoons and enough uninterrupted reading time to finally justify bringing three novels "just in case." Santa may not fit them all in his sleigh, but your suitcase certainly can.

Cairo, Egypt with Literary Tours in Egypt

📖A Woman of Cairo by Noel Barber

📅Flexible departures

💸From $1,200

Some novels don't just tell a story, they preserve a city exactly as it once was. Inspired by Noel Barber's A Woman of Cairo, this two-day literary tour rewinds the Egyptian capital to its glamorous, politically charged 1930s and 40s, when grand hotels, riverside cocktails and elegant cafés stood alongside revolution and royal intrigue. It's less about ticking off landmarks and more about seeing Cairo through the eyes of the people who once wandered its streets.

The journey traces the novel's footsteps from Saqqara and the ancient ruins of Memphis to Abdeen Palace, before pausing for lunch at the historic Groppi café, where generations of Cairenes have lingered over coffee and conversation. From there, the city unfolds on foot through Downtown's Belle Époque streets, ending with cocktails overlooking the Nile and a traditional felucca sail at sunset. Somewhere between the breeze on the river and the fading glow over Garden City, you'll understand why so many writers have fallen hopelessly under Cairo's spell.

Marrakech, Morocco With Friendship Travel

📖The Night Train to Marrakech by Dinah Jefferies

📅January 19th - 23rd, 2027

💸~$2,000

Some cities deserve to be read as much as they're visited, and Marrakech has always been one of them. With Dinah Jefferies' The Night Train to Marrakech - a poignant tale about a young woman unraveling family secrets while navigating love and loss - serving as your literary companion, this retreat lets fiction and reality blur together as you wander bustling souks, hidden riads and palaces where every carved doorway feels like it's hiding another subplot. Before long, you'll find yourself half expecting one of the book's characters to emerge from the crowds of Jemaa el-Fnaa.

The story doesn't stay inside the city walls, either. One day leads into the Atlas Mountains, where Berber villages and dramatic valleys feel worlds away from the bustle below, while another swaps bustling streets for the cobalt-blue calm of Majorelle Garden and the Yves Saint Laurent Museum. Evenings are reserved for book discussions over dinner, swapping favourite reads with fellow guests and inevitably trying to convince someone that your favourite novel is, objectively, the greatest ever written. Reader debates have started over less.

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