Some people travel for the food. Others travel for the natural beauty. These bloggers travel to discover the culture of each and every destination they visit. After all, one of the best ways to learn is to listen. Here are the nominations for the Best Cultural Travel Blogger of 2020.

Whoever is voted Best Cultural Travel Blogger by our panel of experts will go on to be nominated to run for the British Travel Awards’ Best Blogger Award, sponsored by Teletext Holidays. Best of luck to all of our participants!

Only By Land

Blogger Name: James Smith

Blog URL: www.onlybyland.com

Why Should I Win?

In the past 12 months I have completed 4 long distance walks including 3 different routes of the Camino de Santiago though France, Portugal and Spain. More recently, I completed the challenging Pennine Way through the hills of northern England to Scotland. At the start of 2020 I traveled solo through West Africa researching how to travel by land through this area. I also studied and visited slave trading sights and learned how the slave trade affected this part of the world. Recent blogs include original images and information about West Africa, with several more scheduled throughout the year. Unfortunately, I had to postpone my solo trips to study other major slave trade areas including Bahia, Brazil and Louisiana, USA. 

My Proudest Achievement Over the Past Year

My proudest achievement of the past year is the improvement of my photography. I spent 2 months in Paris improving my architecture photography followed by lockdown in the Yorkshire Dales improving my wildlife and landscape photography. My most up to date photography is on my Instagram feed.

Anywhere We Roam

Blogger Names: Paul Healy and Mark Barnes

Blog URL: www.anywhereweroam.com

Why Should We Win?

At Anywhere We Roam, we take our readers on a journey through the clash of cultures forged from contrasting political systems and economic models. Places where locals have a story to tell that is different to our own.  

We’ve explored the changing fates of women in Morocco who are being educated for the first time, and the life of entrepreneurial Cubans who are slowly pivoting away from communism. We’ve discovered the uncomfortable realities in the conflict between farmers and wildlife in Namibia and the unorthodox methods of their government. 

We think we should win this category because we challenge our readers to understand different cultures. We don’t shy away from awkward moral conclusions, or the lessons they have for all of us.  

Our Proudest Achievements Over the Past Year

Our proudest achievements over the last year have been to develop a small but engaged community around Anywhere We Roam – bringing together people who share our thirst for adventure and respect for different cultures. We were also thrilled to conquer the Sani Pass in Lesotho; honoured to be nominated for a Webby award; inspired by village to village hiking in the Atlas Mountains; and flattered to have our photography featured in Gestalten’s Wanderlust Europe coffee table book.  

Phil and Garth

Blogger Names: Phil and Garth

Blog URL: www.philandgarth.com

Why Should We Win?

Hi, we’re Phil and Garth, a couple who love travelling to familiar and far-flung destinations for new experiences. Learning about the history and culture of what makes a place tick is important to us - Phil especially loves the food! We also enjoy small group tours that have a sense of adventure; our tour of South Africa took us to Johannesburg, which was a sobering experience, and on safari, which was thrilling.

We enjoy sharing our stories with detailed travel guides to help people plan their own visit. We also make quick 60-second videos designed to give you a taste of a destination. Garth’s high quality photography is an essential part of our storytelling on the blog.

We would love to win this category because culture is what defines us. Only by travelling to different countries have we both gained a deeper understanding of what that means by meeting people and experiencing new adventures.

Our Proudest Achievements Over the Past Year

Some of our proudest achievements of the last year include passing 8,000 followers on Pinterest. We also ticked off our bucket list a grand tour of India in February before COVID happened. During lockdown we’ve written up how Phil coped with the culture shock of noise in India and how to travel on sleeper trains, which is an experience! We will be publishing that content soon.

Heather on Her Travels

Blogger Name: Heather Cowper

Blog URL: www.heatheronhertravels.com

Why Should I Win?

When I travel I love to soak up the culture and history of each place and uncover what makes it special and unique. An understanding of the recent past, the landscape, architecture and produce of a country comes to life in the customs, local dishes and daily life that you dip into as a visitor. There are so many different strands to culture, but I especially enjoy the visual arts from world class art galleries and museums and folk festivals to street art and local crafts. I also enjoy talking to the locals I meet, from the tour guide to the market stall holder, to understand the local customs and traditions that lie beneath their perspectives on the place and their own culture. 

My Proudest Achievement Over the Past Year

It's been tough to see so many travel plans cancelled since the start of the year but I'm proud that I was able to stay focussed and work for the long game, continuing to produce inspirational travel content and using the time to update my website behind the scenes so that it comes out of the recent crisis better able to serve my readers.

Helen in Wonderlust

Blogger Name: Helen Davies

Blog URL: www.heleninwonderlust.co.uk

Why Should I Win?

I took my first trip to Africa in 2009. That initial journey saw me backpacking, climbing Kilimanjaro, volunteering, and overlanding from Nairobi to Cape Town. A lifelong love affair had begun and I felt alive like never before.

In 2013, realising that there were very few travel blogs specialising in Africa, I started the Helen in Wonderlust travel blog to inspire and help people to travel to Africa, share information, and dispel the myths about the continent. I wanted to show people it was possible to travel Africa on a low budget too.

In 2016, inspired by my readers, I decided to run my first tour to Kenya and the Rock My Kenya Adventure tour was born. I wanted to show people the Africa I knew and loved. Real, raw, colourful, wild Africa!

Since then, I've taken hundreds of people on backpacking/flashpacking trips across Africa with my tour company Rock My Adventure and helped them experience Africa travel the way I do. 

I run trips to Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, the DRC, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, Benin, Togo, Sierra Leone, and Morocco. Embarking on this journey has been the most challenging yet rewarding experience of my life.

Thank you for your consideration!

My Proudest Achievements Over the Past Year

My proudest achievements of the past year? I'd say firstly being able to support hundreds of small, local businesses across Africa whilst introducing my readers to these amazing cultural experiences. Secondly, when I travel in Africa, I meet a lot of people who've read Helen in Wonderlust and nothing makes me prouder than when they tell me that they are staying in that particular place on my recommendation or that my blog helped them plan their trip. As a travel blogger, that's the best compliment you can get!