Andersen wrote five travel books, which are often celebrated for their journalistic flair, but which are in fact very poetical books, picturesque and lyrical in their style and way of describing reality. They are Skyggebilleder af en Reise til Harzen og det sachsiske Schweiz etc. (Rambles in the Romantic Regions of the Hartz Mountains, Saxon Switzerland, &c.) (1831), En Digters Bazar (A Poet's Bazaar) (1842), I Sverrig (Pictures of Sweden) (1851), I Spanien (In Spain) (1863) and Et Besøg i Portugal 1866 (A Visit to Portugal) (1868). To these must be added a number of sketches and articles, among them "Silkeborg" (1853), "Skagen" (1859) and "Et besøg hos Charles Dickens i Sommeren 1857" (A visit to C.D. in the summer of 1857) (1860).
