The ultimate list of great travel movies

Last modified 20.03.2022 | Published 19.12.2016Travel

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Find the ultimate list of great travel movies right here. This post sums up 40 movies worth watching. Read why and watch the trailers.

I have used a few criteria to compile my list of movies. A travel movie’s plot should involve a movement from one place to another, at least for some of the characters. In addition, or as an alternative, the plot should be set somewhere else than where a character is familiar with. He or she will be have to be challenged by this fact. Finally, I must have seen the movie myself and I must have liked it.

 

The list of 40 great travel movies in four articles:

 

The categories overlap and may be considered irrelevant. The following table lists movie titles with links to my articles, to the listing on IMDb (International Movie Database) and to a trailer on YouTube.

You may sort and search the table as you like. So here it is, the ultimate list of great travel movies.

 

TitleYearIMDbTrailerArticle
2001 A Space Oddysey 1968IMDbYouTubeFirst
Amélie 2011IMDbYouTubeOne loc
Apocalypse Now 1979IMDbYouTubeFirst
Around the World in Eighty Days 2004IMDbYouTubeTwo+
Back to the Future 1985IMDbYouTubeOne loc
Before sunrise 1995IMDbYouTubeOne loc
Cast Away 2000IMDbYouTubeOne loc
Dr. No 1962IMDbYouTubeFirst
Easy Rider 1969IMDbYouTubeFirst
Eat, Pray, Love 2006IMDbYouTubeSolo
Into the Wild 2007IMDbYouTubeSolo
Kon Tiki 2012IMDbYouTubeFirst
Lara Croft Tomb Raider 2001IMDbYouTubeFirst
Lawrence of Arabia 1962IMDbYouTubeFirst
Lost in Translation 2003IMDbYouTubeOne loc
Midnight in Paris 2011IMDbYouTubeFirst
National Lampoon’s European Vacation 1985IMDbYouTubeFirst
On the Road 2012IMDbYouTubeTwo+
Out of Africa 1985IMDbYouTubeFirst
Planet of the Apes 1968IMDbYouTubeFirst
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981IMDbYouTubeFirst
Seven Years in Tibet 1997IMDbYouTubeFirst
Shirley Valentine1989IMDbYouTubeSolo
The African Queen 1951IMDbYouTubeFirst
The Beach 2000IMDbYouTubeFirst
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2011IMDbYouTubeOne loc
The Bucket List 2007IMDbYouTubeTwo+
The Darjeeling Limited 2007IMDbYouTubeTwo+
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared 2013IMDbYouTubeSolo
The Mission 1986IMDbYouTubeFirst
The Motorcycle Diaries 2004IMDbYouTubeTwo+
The Piano 1993IMDbYouTubeFirst
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 2013IMDbYouTubeSolo
The Way 2010IMDbYouTubeSolo
The Way Back 2010IMDbYouTubeTwo+
Thelma & Louise 1991IMDbYouTubeFirst
Tracks 2013IMDbYouTubeSolo
Under the Tuscan sun 2003IMDbYouTubeFirst
Vicky Cristina Barcelona 2008IMDbYouTubeFirst
Wild 2014IMDbYouTubeSolo