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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:
- Great Travel Movies (labelled “First” in the table below), with 20 movies placed in these categories:
- Romance, humour and self-discovery
- Dramatic road movies
- Action and adventure – pure entertainment
- Action and adventure: The intellectually challenging movies
- Sci-Fi travel movies
- Lone man or woman off to discover the world and him-/herself (Label “Solo”)
- Two or more people off to discover the world and themselves (Label “Two+”)
- Travel movies set in one location, with existential consequences (Label “One loc”)
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.
| Title | Year | IMDb | Trailer | Article |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 A Space Oddysey | 1968 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Amélie | 2011 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| Apocalypse Now | 1979 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Around the World in Eighty Days | 2004 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| Back to the Future | 1985 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| Before sunrise | 1995 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| Cast Away | 2000 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| Dr. No | 1962 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Easy Rider | 1969 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Eat, Pray, Love | 2006 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| Into the Wild | 2007 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| Kon Tiki | 2012 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Lara Croft Tomb Raider | 2001 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Lawrence of Arabia | 1962 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Lost in Translation | 2003 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| Midnight in Paris | 2011 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| National Lampoon’s European Vacation | 1985 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| On the Road | 2012 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| Out of Africa | 1985 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Planet of the Apes | 1968 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Raiders of the Lost Ark | 1981 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Seven Years in Tibet | 1997 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Shirley Valentine | 1989 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| The African Queen | 1951 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| The Beach | 2000 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | 2011 | IMDb | YouTube | One loc |
| The Bucket List | 2007 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| The Darjeeling Limited | 2007 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared | 2013 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| The Mission | 1986 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| The Motorcycle Diaries | 2004 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| The Piano | 1993 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| The Secret Life of Walter Mitty | 2013 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| The Way | 2010 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| The Way Back | 2010 | IMDb | YouTube | Two+ |
| Thelma & Louise | 1991 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Tracks | 2013 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
| Under the Tuscan sun | 2003 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Vicky Cristina Barcelona | 2008 | IMDb | YouTube | First |
| Wild | 2014 | IMDb | YouTube | Solo |
