3 Best Notebooks for Journaling

Daily journaling is one of the best things you could do. And it’s extra fun with great notebooks! So, here’s a list of the best notebooks for journaling.

Why you should journal

I’m probably one of the biggest proponents of daily journaling. And I don’t necessarily mean that you should write down what you eat every day, but rather what you’ve been thinking about, what you’ve learned, what you’re worried about and why, what dreams you have, and goals you want to reach.

I think journaling is one of the best habits that you can take up for personal development and reaching goals. But to do so in the most enjoyable way, the choice of notebooks and pens can also be very important. So, to help you become more of a daily journaler, here’s a list of the best notebooks for journaling.

And trust me, I have tried a lot of different notebooks during my life.

3 Best Notebooks for Journaling

1. Midori MD Notebook

The Midori MD Notebook in the size A5 has been my absolute favorite go-to notebook for journaling during the past two years. It is wonderful, beautiful, and so useful. It has all the features and functionalities one would need for a simple minimalistic, yet aesthetically pleasing daily journal.

I wrote a whole review of it here: Midori MD Grid Notebook in A5 – Review and Pictures

Some of the things that make it one of the best notebooks for journaling:

It opens flat
The grid/line/graph pattern on the papers are in pale blue color, which makes your writing stand out more visibly from the background
The paper can handle any ink, including fountain pen ink and brush pens
The paper texture and color is very comfortable on the touch and nice-looking
It comes with a very cute and welcoming cover and rice-paper sheet
It has a little string attached that you can use for marking where you are
it comes with stickers as well
The design is non-disturbing and minimalistic, which gives you a clean slate every time, so that your own ideas and thoughts can be expressed undisturbed.

2. Leuchtturm1917

Before I discovered the Midori Notebook, the Leuchtturm1917 in A5 format and dotted paper was the best notebook I knew for journaling. I still use this notebook when I want to change things up (yes, it is very valid to keep multiple journals at once. Why? I don’t know, it feels fun!).

The Leuchtturm1917 notebooks come in a variety of colors, sizes, and the paper is available in dotted, lined, graph, and plain.

Some of the features that make Leuchtturm1917 one of the best notebooks for journaling:

Opens flat
Affordable
Can handle different types of inks (including fountain pen ink and even watercolor and acrylic – I’ve tried)
Has a “bookmarker”/the string that you can place in between pages
Comes with stickers
Can come numbered
Comes in hard-cover which is more durable if you want to carry it around with you

3. Paperblanks Notebook

Paperblanks offer a really wide variety of notebook covers. The best thing about them is that they are so beautiful. They are honestly the most beautiful notebooks I’ve ever used, and I own four different ones.

Here’s a couple of them that I think is really beautiful. These are Amazon affiliate links, which means that I get commission on sales, but it comes at no extra cost to you.

Here’s the latest one I finished. I actually got it from my best friends as a birthday gift because they know how in love I am with these beautiful notebooks. The only drawback from them is that they’re not super good at handling fountain pen ink, which is my preferred way to write, but I still think they’re worth it. And if you don’t use fountain pens, then there won’t be any problems.

Best Digital notebooks for journaling

You can of course combine physical writing with digital journaling as well. I do it too. Sometimes we just may not feel like using our hands to write or want to write faster. I’ve tried so many journaling apps and sites, but honestly, the one thing I always return to year after year is to just use simple text software. And also, since most of us use multiple devices throughout our days now, I think we benefit a lot from having our digital notebook “on the cloud”, aka on the internet. So that you can open it on your phone, your tablet, your computer, or someone else’s computer.

I have found that the best simple text application that is also online, and that is reliable, is Google Documents.

I know, it sounds boring. But try it out! I think you will find that it is so efficient to use Google Docs as your digital journal. As long as you have internet, and a device that can connect to the internet and where you can type in letters, you’re golden.

If you still insist on using other types of more “fancy” digital notebooks I can recommend:

Using an iPad Pro with the pencil and journal in apps such as GoodNotes and Notability
Other digital tablets that you can write with using a pen/or keyboard, for example the reMarkable tablet
Downloading journaling apps such as: Day One, Five Minute Journal, Daylio