Some of the articles of this special issue of Studies in Travel Writing were presented at a session organised by SELVA (the Societé d’étude de la littérature de voyage anglophone) in June 2019 at the SAES (the Société des anglicistes de l’enseignement supérieur) convention on the theme of “Exceptions”. This introduction presents some of the ways in which the concept of exceptionality may prove stimulating in order to shed light on travel writing and its specificity as a genre. By tackling fields as diverse as disability studies, postcolonial studies and environmental approaches, for instance, the contributors explore various ways in which travel as an experience and travel writing as a genre always push the limits of travelling as well as that of the travel genre.