Dickens-Inspired Travel Experiences

Trace the steps of one of the world’s greatest authors; producer of novels, including Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and A Tale of Two Cities; and creator of characters, including Scrooge, Miss Havisham, Tiny Tim and Abel Magwitch.

Charles Dickens’ satire-filled novels boldly exposed the troubles and hypocrisy of 19th-century England, so there’s no better place to experience some of the author’s old stomping grounds.

Visit Portsmouth, Dickens’ birthplace, recently transformed into a Dickens museum. From there, head to Medway, his childhood home. As a teenager, Dickens lived in Southwark, an area that inspired his novel Little Doritt. As his writing career unfolded, he lived in several different places. Oliver Twist was born at 48 Doughty St., the only one of his many homes in London still preserved. At Gad’s Hill Place in Kent he wrote A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861). It’s also where he died in 1870 before being buried at Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey.
After touring his many abodes, grab a drink at some of the author’s known stomping grounds. Dating to 1623, The Lamb & Flag is one of the oldest pubs in London and one Dickens frequented. The George Inn in Southwark — London’s only surviving coaching inn — is mentioned in Little Dorrit, and he also regularly visited The Coffee Room and The Middle Bar. George & Vulture was a Dickens favorite, mentioned at least 20 times in The Pickwick Papers.