The Longest List of the Best Travel Movies & Documentaries

Let the best travel movies teleport you from the couch to another time and place. You just have to decide where you would prefer to go!

We can’t always jet off to exotic destinations at the click of a button. Thankfully, there are plenty of inspirational films of adventure and wanderlust to live vicariously and engross ourselves in faraway cultures without even moving from our armchairs (or aeroplane seats).

This is the ultimate bucket list of the best travel movies and documentaries of all time, so you don’t waste any time scrolling before your next ‘Netflix and chill’.

The Best Travel Movies

Into the Wild

Year Released: 2007
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt

Love Me Like You Do (Jackie & Ryan)

Year Released: 2015
Cast: Katherine Heigl, Ben Barnes

Beyond the Edge

Year Released: 2014
Cast: Chad Moffitt, Sonam P. Sherpa, John Wraight

Catch Me If You Can

Year Released: 2002
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken

Up

Year Released: 2015
Cast: Luis Varela, Matias Prats, Miguel de la Quadra-Salcedo

Wildlike

Year Released: 2009
Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Brian Geraghty, Nolan Gerard Funk, Ella Purnell

2 Days in Paris

Year Released: 2007
Cast: Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Bruhl, Marie Pillet

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

Year Released: 2018
Cast: Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Year Released: 2013
Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Shirley MacLaine

The Inbetweeners 2

Year Released: 2014
Cast: Blake Harrison, James Buckley, Simon Bird, Emily Berrington, Joe Thomas, Tamla Kari

The Hangover Part II

Year Released: 2011
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ken Jeong

Holiday in the Wild

Year Released: 2019
Cast: Kristin Davis, Rob Lowe, Fezile Mpela, John Owen Lowe

Lion

Year Released: 2016
Cast: Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman

Wild

Year Released: 2014
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann

The Bucket List

Year Released: 2007
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Beverly Todd

Slumdog Millionaire

Year Released: 2008
Cast: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Year Released: 1987
Cast: Steve Martin, John Candy, William Windom, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon

Eat Pray Love

Year Released: 2010
Cast: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis

The Way Back

Year Released: 2011
Cast: Ed Harris, Jim Sturgess, Colin Farrell

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Year Released: 2008
Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis

Eurotrip

Year Released: 2003
Cast: Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts

Everest

Year Released: 2015
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke, John Hawkes

Due Date

Year Released: 2010
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan

How To Be Single

Year Released: 2016
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Leslie Mann

Chalet Girl

Year Released: 2011
Cast: Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Tamsin Egerton

22 Jump Street

Year Released: 2014
Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare

Away We Go

Year Released: 2009
Cast: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Carmen Ejogo

Adrift

Year Released: 2018
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Thomas

The Tourist

Year Released: 2010
Cast: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany

The Fundamentals of Caring

Year Released: 2016
Cast: Craig Roberts, Paul Rudd, Selena Gomez

Raider’s of the Lost Ark

Year Released: 1981
Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman

Around the World in 80 Days

Year Released: 2004
Cast: Jackie Chan, Steve Coogan, Ewen Bremner

Tracks

Year Released: 2014
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Rainer Bock

In Bruges

Year Released: 2008
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes

Life in a Day

Year Released: 2011
Cast: Hiroaki Aikawa, Cindy Baer, Teagan Bentley

The Art of Travel

Year Released: 2008
Cast: Brooke Burns, Tommy Savas, Bijou Philips

The Lizzie McGuire Movie

Year Released: 2003
Cast: Hilary Duff, Craig Anton, Robert Carradine

The Terminal

Year Released: 2004
Cast: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci

See Also: Los Angeles as a Digital Nomad (How I Survived LA)

The Best Travel Documentaries

The Long Way Round

Long Way Down

Departures

An Idiot Abroad

A Map for Saturday

Top Gear

The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan

Walking the Himalayas

Fyre

Losing Sight of Shore

Planet Earth

Expedition Happiness

Maidentrip

The Dawn Wall

Journey to Greenland

Tales By Light

Race Across the World

Did you get through them all? Let me know in the comments below what was your favourite.

Want to hear about my nomadic lifestyle? Here's how I live my life as a full-time traveller.

Let’s go!
@katie.maree