15 Best Travel Movies That Will Give You Serious Wanderlust!

Ever felt the urge to pack your bags and jet off to somewhere exotic, only to be held back by reality? We’ve all been there.

When your wanderlust is burning, but your circumstances keep you grounded, there’s a perfect escape that doesn’t require a passport or a penny: travel movies.

Whether you’re counting down to your next trip, reminiscing about past travels, or simply dreaming of future escapades, a good travel movie can transport you across the globe from the comfort of your couch.

We’ve curated a list of 15 must-watch travel films that showcase breathtaking landscapes, diverse cultures, and inspiring journeys.

So grab some popcorn, settle in, and prepare for a cinematic voyage around the world.

15 Best Travel Movies That Will Transport You Around the World

Ready to go on a cinematic escape to a different destination? Here is our list of the best wanderlust movies!–

1. A Tourist’s Guide To Love (2023)

• Location Featured: Vietnam

Work brings an American travel executive to Vietnam, where a free-spirited tour guide helps open her eyes to a beautifully adventurous way of life.

Featuring many different destinations in Vietnam such as HCMC, Hoi An, Da Nang, and Hanoi.

2. Eat, Pray, Love (2010)

• Location Featured: Italy, India and Bali

Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) thought she had everything she wanted: a home, a husband, and a successful career.

Now newly divorced and facing a turning point, she is confused about what is important to her.

Daring to step out of her comfort zone, Liz begins a quest for self-discovery that takes her to Italy, India, and Bali.

3. Wild (2014)

• Location Featured: USA (Pacific Crest Trail)

Driven to the edge by the loss of her beloved mother (Laura Dern), the dissolution of her marriage, and a headlong dive into self-destructive behavior, Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) decides to halt her downward spiral and put her life back together again.

With no outdoor experience, a heavy backpack, and little else to go on but her own will, Cheryl sets out alone to hike the Pacific Crest Trail -one of the country’s longest and toughest through-trails.

4. Queen of the Desert (2015)

• Location Featured: Morocco, Jordan and England

A chronicle of Gertrude Bell’s life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.

5. Darjeeling Limited (2007)

• Location Featured: India

Estranged brothers Francis (Owen Wilson), Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) reunite for a train trip across India.

The siblings have not spoken in over a year, ever since their father passed away.

The brothers fall into old patterns of behavior as Francis reveals the real reason for the reunion: to visit their mother in a Himalayan convent.

6. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

• Location Featured: Italy

When Frances Mayes learns her husband is cheating on her from a writer whom she gave a bad review, her life is turned upside down.

In an attempt to bring her out of a deep depression, her best friend, Patti, encourages Frances to take a tour of Italy.

During the trip, the new divorcée impulsively purchases a rural Tuscan villa and struggles to start her life anew amid colorful local characters, including the handsome Marcello.

7. Tracks (2013)

• Location Featured: Australia

Accompanied only by her faithful dog and four camels, an Australian (Mia Wasikowska) satisfies her craving for solitude by embarking on a solo trip across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.

8. Letters to Juliet (2010)

• Location Featured: Italy

While visiting Verona, Italy, with her busy fiance, a young woman named Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) visits a wall where the heartbroken leaves notes to Shakespeare’s tragic heroine, Juliet Capulet.

Finding one such letter from 1957, Sophie decides to write to its now elderly author, Claire (Vanessa Redgrave). Inspired by Sophie’s actions, Claire sets out to find her long-lost lover, accompanied by her disapproving grandson (Christopher Egan) and Sophie.

9. Book Club: The Next Chapter (2023)

• Location Featured: Italy

Viv’s book club pals celebrate her engagement by whisking her to Italy, where romance, prosecco, hijinks — and epiphanies — cement their lifelong bond.

10. P.S. I Love You (2007)

• Location Featured: Ireland

When Gerry (Gerard Butler), the husband of Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), dies from an illness, she loses the love of her life.

Knowing how hard Holly will take his death, Gerry plans ahead.

Beginning on her 30th birthday, she receives the first in a series of letters written by him, designed to ease her grief and encourage her to move forward to a new life.

11. A Good Year (2006)

• Location Featured: France

Failed London banker Max Skinner (Russell Crowe) inherits his uncle’s (Albert Finney) vineyard in Provence, where he spent many childhood holidays.

Upon his arrival, he meets a woman from California who tells Max she is his long-lost cousin and that the property is hers. It has wonderful scenes of France to enjoy!

12. Jumper (2008)

• Location Featured: Egypt, Prague, Italy,  France, Canada, USA, Japan, Mexico

Aimless David Rice (Hayden Christensen) can instantly transport himself to any place he can imagine.

He uses that gift to globe-trot, living on the money he steals by “jumping” into bank vaults. He’s captured by the evil Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson), who knows how to keep David from jumping.

David escapes and reunites with his high school crush, Millie (Rachel Bilson), then forms an alliance with fellow jumper Griffin (Jamie Bell) and prepares for mortal combat with Cox’.

13. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)

• Location Featured: India

Some British retirees (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy) outsource their retirement to exotic – and less expensive – India.

Lured by advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel and imagining a life of leisure in lush surroundings, they arrive and find that the Marigold is actually a shell of its former self.

Though their new home is not quite what they had imagined, the retirees find that life and love can begin again when they let go of their pasts.

14. The Descendants (2011)

• Location Featured: Hawaii

Native islander Matt King (George Clooney) lives with his family in Hawaii. Their world shatters when a tragic accident leaves his wife in a coma.

Not only must Matt struggle with the stipulation in his wife’s will that she be allowed to die with dignity, but he also faces pressure from relatives to sell their family’s enormous land trust.

Angry and terrified at the same time, Matt tries to be a good father to his young daughters as they, too, try to cope with their mother’s possible death.

15. The Tourist (2010)

• Location Featured: Italy and France

During an impromptu trip to Europe to mend a broken heart, math teacher Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) finds himself in an extraordinary situation when an alluring stranger, Elise (Angelina Jolie), places herself in his path.

Their seemingly innocent flirtation turns into a dangerous game of cat and mouse while various people, who all think that Frank is Elise’s thieving paramour, Alexander Pearce, try to capture the pair.

16. Memoirs of a Geisha (2015)

• Location Featured: Japan

In the 1920s, 9-year-old Chiyo (Suzuka Ohgo) was sold into a geisha house.

There, she is forced into servitude, receiving nothing in return until the house’s ruling hierarchy determines if she is highly qualified to serve the clientele—men who visit and pay for conversation, dance, and song.

After rigorous years of training, Chiyo becomes Sayuri (Ziyi Zhang), a geisha of incredible beauty and influence.

While this movie is not about travel, it features beautiful scenes of Japan.

17. Lion (2016)

• Location Featured: India and Australia

Saroo gets separated from his family at the age of five and ends up being adopted by an Australian couple.

However, 25 years later, he returns to India to search for his birth parents.

18. The Art of Travel (2008)

• Filming Locations: Sacramento, California, USA · Bolivia · Nicaragua · Panama · Peru

Having called off his wedding, a high school graduate journeys alone to Central America, finding adventure with a ragtag group of foreigners who attempt to cross the Darien Gap in record time.

19. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

• Locations Featured: Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan’s Himalayas.

A man living a dull life dreams up romantic and action-filled scenarios to escape from monotony.

He begins a romantic and action-packed journey when his job is threatened.

20. Holiday in the Wild (2019)

• Locations Featured: South Africa and Zambia

After her husband ends their marriage, Kate embarks on a solo second honeymoon in Africa.

There, she and Derek, a pilot, rescue a baby elephant. While nursing the elephant back to health, Kate discovers how much she loves her new surroundings.

It features both South Africa and Zambia.

More Travel Movies to Consider

• The Beach (2000) – Thailand
• The Bucket List (2007) – Around the World
• Into the Wild (2007) – North America
• Amelie (2001) – France
• The Bourne Supremacy (2004) – India
• Lucy (2014) – Taiwan, France and Germany
• Talented Mr Ripley (1999) – Italy
• Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings (2001) – New Zealand
• Before Sunrise (1995) – Austria
• When in Rome (2010) – Italy
• The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (2005) and  The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 (2008) – Greece

Concluding Thoughts on What Movies About Travel to Watch

These 20 films offer just a glimpse into the vast world of travel cinema.

Each one has the power to transport you to different corners of the globe, igniting your wanderlust and perhaps inspiring your next adventure.

Whether you’re drawn to the bustling streets of exotic cities, the serene beauty of natural landscapes, or the transformative power of personal journeys, there’s a travel movie here for every type of explorer.

Remember, while these films can satisfy your travel cravings temporarily, they’re also invitations to create your own stories.

So let these movies inspire you, but don’t stop at watching – start planning your next real-life adventure. After all, the world is vast, beautiful, and waiting to be explored.