52 Vintage Travel Ads to Inspire Your Bucket List ...

As much as I love looking at high res travel photos, I find vintage travel ads just as inspiring. Eye-catching posters were used long before travel brochures and photo websites to entice tourists to fabulous destinations all over the world. Produced by some of the best graphic artists and designers of the day, these vintage travel ads are works of art in their own right.

1 India

Via Haus Design: Vintage Travel Posters
The elephant is so cute. Who wouldn't want to visit? More great vintage travel ads to come.

2 Cuba

Via Havana- Welcome To Cuba Masterprint ...
Doesn't she just make you want to get sashaying to sexy Cuban rhythms.

3 Pan American Airlines

Via Oh...the places you'll go...

All wave to the people up top.

4 New Jersey Shore

Via The Patriots of Mars: Image ...

This reminds me of my childhood holidays in Cornwall.

5 London Calling

Via nineteenseventythreeltd: Interview: Pintachan.

A classic image for a classic city.

6 Wisconsin

Via Shine United

Loving how the train engine is cheese colored.

7 Australia

Via Australia: Parrots, c.1930's Posters by ...

This one doesn't seem that "Australian" to me!

8 Hawaii

Via Posters at AllPosters.com

A classic depiction of Diamond Head

9 California

Via SCN_0045
I'm ready to strap on you water skis - are you?

10 Houston

Via andersondesigngroupstore.com

Don't you find it interesting that the 1950's stylisation of a jet airplane looks uncannily like a space shuttle?

11 Venice,Italy

Via Italy Venice Rialto Bridge Vintage ...

Not much has changed in Venice in many decades.

12 Denmark

Via art.findartinfo.com

Probably one of the most unrealistic vintage travel ads out there. Denmark is a fabulous country but that picture is not representative.

13 Canine Travel

Via Buttercup Bungalow

I wonder if when they designed this they would have ever imagined dog passports and dogs traveling by airplane.

14 Palm Springs, USA

Via Wedding Inspiration

Check out how much jewelry this gorgeous beach babe is
wearing.

15 Haiti

Via The Poster Lady - Travel ...

From the days when American tourists had a love affair with Haiti. Haiti was once the most popular destination in the Caribbean.

16 United Airlines

Via Pitch Me Another!: Vintage Airline ...

Can you imagine that leg room and space on an airplane today/

17 Australia

Via Immigration Museum

Even in black and white Australia is enticing.

18 San Francisco, USA

Via United Airlines San Francisco c.1950 ...
This one captures everything tourists know and love about San Fran.

19 Bermuda

Via Swann Galleries — Bermuda Date ...

Who could resist that ocean?

20 Veracruz, Mexico

Via Enormous Flowers

What a riot of color.

21 Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA

Via bendbungalow.com

The elk is a magnificent specimen isn't he?

22 Michigan, USA

Via Vintage Michigan Travel Ad - ...

What family could resist the promise of so much fun?

23 United Airlines

Via Pitch Me Another!: Vintage Airline ...

Remember those days you didn't have to pay extra for airline food?

24 Disneyland

Via Amusements at the Carnival

Can you imagine a poster for Disney these days being so muted and understated?

25 Brittany, France

Via 090 LA BAULE.jpg by Lucien ...

So stylish, so simple, so French!

26 Switzerland

Via Carteles y afiches de viajes ...

The Land of the Alps. Says it all doesn't it.

27 Peru

Via Pan Am Peru of the ...

How they used to advertise Machu Picchu

28 Union Pacific Railways

Via Marketing and Advertising

Fashionable ladies take the train!

29 Leningrad,Russia

Via "Leningrad," circa 1931

Am loving the use of Soviet gray to promote one of the great Russian cities.

30 Hawaii

Via Found in Mom's Basement: Vintage ...

This charming picture would certainly induce me to book a trip to Hawaii.

31 Ireland

Via Found in Mom's Basement: Vintage ...

Fancy a trip to the Emerald Isle?

32 Montana, USA

Via Welcome to Montana Travel Poster

What a great depiction of Montana.

33 Brittany, France

Via decologue

The essence of Brittany.

34 The Philippines

Via DP Vintage Posters - Northwest ...

These days we're more likely to be seduced by the white sand beaches of Boracay.

35 Montana, USA

Via Vintage Travel and Tourism Ads ...

How cool is it that they featured women fishing in the Gallatin River rather than men?

36 Norway

Via Norway Poster, Vintage Norwegian Travel ...

So simple, so effective, so bang on point.

37 Chamonix-Mont. Blanc, France

Via Chamonix-Mont. Blanc

All year round advertising on one travel poster.

38 Chicago, USA

Via Buckingham Fountain

A fountain as the focal point promises dramatic sighs on the streets of the Windy City.

39 Hyderabad, India

Via Hey Oscar Wilde!

Is it my imagination or is that Doctor Who's TARDIS in the bottom left?

40 New York, USA

Via New York by Pennsylvania Railroad ...

A timeless message that never changes.

41 Tokyo, Japan

Via Lufthansa - Tokio

Minimalist yet effective - the essence of Japan.

42 Naples, Italy

Via Carteles y afiches de viajes ...
The sweeping bay of Naples takes center stage.

43 USA

Via Greyhound Presents The USA

Travel by bus to see the best the US has to offer.

44 Spain

Via The Vintage Poster - Otto ...

Sultry Spanish ladies still beckon you to sample the charms of the Iberian Peninsula.

45 Rome, Italy

Via Rome Italy Tourism Travel Vintage ...

I think this couild be any ancient city in Mediterranean Europe.

46 Europe

Via Pan American: Fly to Europe ...

A stylized skyline that is instantly recognizable as Europe.

47 Colorado,USA

Via Braniff Airways Poster Art

It's good to be reminded of all these once famous airlines that no longer exist.

48 The Blue Mountains, Australia

Via Blue Mountains NSW Australia

The message couldn't be more clear.

49 Minnesota Lakes,USA

Via Minnesota Lakes Fashion Lady Boat ...

Whatever the product beautiful women have always been at the heart of advertising.

50 Scotland -

Via King's Cross for Scotland, LNER, ...

This is one of the vintage travel ads that truly displays the classic art deco design.

51 Hangon Merikylpyla,Finland

Via cometofinland.fi

Travel posters are also a great source of he fashions of the day.

52 The Titanic

Via Vintage Travel Posters We Want ...

Now you know what enticed all those passengers on board the greatest ocean-going liner the world had ever seen.

Are you loving these posters? Do you have a favorite?