The Dark Tourist cover art

The Dark Tourist

Sightseeing in the World's Most Unlikely Holiday Destinations

Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

The Dark Tourist

By: Dom Joly
Narrated by: Dom Joly
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £14.35

Buy Now for £14.35

Summary

Ever since he can remember, Dom Joly has been fascinated by travel to odd places. In part this stems from a childhood spent in war-torn Lebanon, where instead of swapping marbles in the schoolyard, he had a shrapnel collection - the schoolboy currency of Beirut. Dom's upbringing was interspersed with terrifying days and nights spent hunkered in the family basement under Syrian rocket attack or coming across a pile of severed heads from a sectarian execution in the pine forests near his home. 

These early experiences left Dom with a profound loathing for the sanitised experiences of the modern-day travel industry and a taste for the darkest of places. In this brilliantly odd and hilariously told travel memoir, Dom Joly sets out on a quest to visit those destinations from which the average tourist would, and should, run a mile. The more insalubrious the place, the more interesting is the journey, and so we follow Dom as he skis in Iran on segregated slopes, spends a weekend in Chernobyl, tours the assassination sites of America and becomes one of the few Westerners to be granted entry into North Korea. Eventually, Dom journeys back to his roots in Beirut only to discover he was at school with Osama Bin Laden. 

Funny and frightening in equal measure, this is a uniquely bizarre and compelling travelogue from one of the most fearless and innovative comedians around.

©2021 Dom Joly (P)2021 Hachette Audio UK
Adventure Travel Travel Writing & Commentary Adventure Middle East Funny Inspiring Witty Iran War
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c
All stars
Most relevant
Highly recommended-brilliantly written and read by Dom Joly. If you like irreverent travel humour, this is for you.

Highly entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A little dated now, 2022 written 2011, but still wonderfully informative. Although the Downhill Hiking Club updates some of the Lebanon bits.

Wonderful insight to forbidden places

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Many times I laughed out loud whilst driving. Thoroughly enjoyable and entertainly delivered. I can claim one thing done he wanted to do and that is to have played golk at the Kabul golf club!

Entertaining

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I liked the book but I feel this book good have gone abut further with extreme visits rather than fairly safe and cliche trips. Good listen though and would recomemd

Not as dark as you'd think

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Really enjoyed this book. Dom’s journey through the weird and wonderful world is very inspiring. His delivery is excellent and there are a lot of laughs as well

Very enjoyable

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews