We believe that travel matters, and that writing about travel is the best way to unlock the full meaning of our most important travel experiences.
12 years ago, we set out to provide a platform for travel storytellers to do the kind of work that is increasingly hard to find a home for elsewhere. To write stories, not listicles. To explore connection, transformation, identity, and belonging, and to reveal a changing world as it is, not packaged for clicks or consumption.
Intrepid Times has gradually gained stature as the internet’s home for literary-quality narrative travel writing with heart. While we’ve never been short of submissions, we want to be able to offer more. Travel stories are fought and suffered for on the ground and then, often more exhaustively, struggled over on the page.
Many travel writers who are now stalwarts of major mainstream publications, including Pulitzer Finalists and Booker Prize longlist authors, got their start on Intrepid Times. Many established travel writers continue to turn to Intrepid Times for an outlet that offers the kind of creative freedom that more commercial outlets cannot. How can we continue to support and foster both ends of the experience spectrum, giving new writers a lift into the world of professional publication, while offering due reward for top writers who have earned the right to expect meaningful payment for their stories?
Our upcoming submission opportunities aim to reflect this by providing meaningful compensation (within the constraints of an independent publisher’s budget) for experienced travel writers who want to share the kind of meaningful, personal stories that corporate publications may overlook.
For the rest of 2026, our travel writing submission process will unfold as follows.
- Until June 30: Submissions will remain closed while we process entries and select the winner of our ‘When Things Fall Apart’ travel writing competition. During this period, we will continue to publish stories accepted earlier in the year. We thank accepted writers for their patience as we work through publishing the many fantastic stories we were unable to say no to. Competition winners will be announced in late June.
- From July: In July (precise date TBC) We will open for professional pitch submissions to commission experienced writers to share the kind of stories that may not be sufficiently commercial or trendy for mainstream corporate publications.
When submissions open in July, writers will be invited to pitch us a true travel story of 1800-2500 words. This is our only criterion. We do not care about keywords or trending topics. We want the travel story that you feel you need to tell. Please pitch a specific, self-contained story, not an overview or summary of multiple experiences.
This professional pathway is open to experienced, published travel writers. If you are completely new to travel writing, we recommend starting with the community submissions pathway detailed below. Compensation will be $300-500 USD per article, and submission guidance will be shared in July. Submissions will close in August.
Please register on our submission page to be notified when submissions open.
- In September: We will open on-spec submissions from the community. This is an ideal opportunity for newer writers to break through and find a home for their work on Intrepid Times.
Please submit on-spec a true travel story of between 1500 and 2000 words (please do not exceed this limit). Please submit a complete draft in .docx format. In your email body, please briefly tell us a little about yourself and your story.
While we offer generous (and frequently increasing) payment for professional submissions, monetary compensation for community submissions is offered on a case-by-case basis and is normally around $100-200 USD. Please include a note about your payment expectations alongside your email accompanying your story.
Please register on our submission page so we can notify you when submissions open.
Important note: If you are a graduate of our education programs, including the Craft of Travel Writing Certificate course, your priority submission benefit remains valid year-round, and you can always submit work to Intrepid Times even when other submission pathways are closed.
To increase your odds of hearing a yes, it may help to know what we’re looking for. Above all, we’re looking for a story. A satisfying read with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A way to get access to a place that a casual tourist wouldn’t get.
In addition, we’re on a mission to publish a deep travel story from every country in the world. If you’re sending us a story or pitch on a place we haven’t yet covered, this may help your chances.
And finally, we like to give our time to writers who also give us theirs. Read Intrepid Times. Let us know what stories caught your eye. Listen the Travel Writing Podcast. And take part in this community.
It’s a pleasure to have you here, and we’re looking forward to the next decade or more together.
