7 of the Best Travel Movies That Will Inspire You to Hit the Road
Big-Screen Inspired Wanderlust
Need inspiration for a new and exciting place to travel? Looking at the best travel Instagram accounts is a great way to begin stirring those feelings of wanderlust, and reading a good travel novel will undoubtedly help replicate some of those feelings you get when you are exploring a new place.
However, sometimes there’s nothing like a movie to truly capture the breathtaking vistas that are out there in the world. Find a spot to get comfy, kick back and watch any one of these fabulous travel movies that are sure to get you inspired, and packing!
The Motorcycle Diaries
Set in South America, this fantastic dramatization of Che Guevera’s motorcycle road adventure, long before he became a legendary Latin American revolutionary, stars Gael Garcia Bernal and features incredible images throughout the continent, from the lush rain forest to the desert.
Not only will it show you how Guevera became a famous commander, it provides a glimpse at many breathtaking spots, including Patagonia, Machu Picchu, Atacama Desert, Miramar, Venezuela, Caracas and Buenos Aires. It’s so beautifully casted and well-directed that it will make you want to jump on your on bike and head across South America.
Or at the very least get your motorcycle license.
An Idiot Abroad
An Idiot Abroad is a documentary series that offers a very unique perspective, following comedian Ricky Gervais’ pal, Karl Pilkington, a British guy who has zero interest in the world outside of his own backyard. Pilkington travels, mostly quite begrudgingly, to the Seven Wonders of the World, accompanied by Gervais who gets his kicks just seeing his friend so far out of his comfort zone.
It’s not only hilarious, you’re likely to get inspired to get off the couch and start checking out some of the planet’s most amazing wonders, as you see Pilkington’s views slowly transform.
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Under the Tuscan Sun
If you like romances, you’ll love Under the Tuscan Sun, but even if you don’t, it’s really the stunning Tuscany scenery that stars in this flick. You already know what’s going to happen – a girl starts feeling lost in life and wants to start fresh, so she meets a guy, and voila, happy ending.
Still, seeing someone fulfill such an amazing fantasy is a lot of fun. After all, who wouldn’t love to buy a villa in Tuscany on a sudden impulse? Along the way, you can at least envision yourself strolling through those jaw-dropping landscapes.
It’s also a wonderful reminder that life is an adventure, and sometimes we need to go outside of our comfort zones to enjoy a more enriched life.
Wild
This movie is about a real-life adventure involving Cheryl Strayed, a completely inexperienced backpacker who decided to take an epic 1,100-mile journey across the Pacific Crest Trail.
Based on the novel of the same name, the film follows Strayed, played by Reese Witherspoon, as she hikes in hopes of discovering a way to start a new life, end her drug addiction, and cope with the death of her mother.
While this is a movie anyone who loves travel adventure will enjoy, it’s especially inspiring for females thinking about embarking on a solo travel experience as well as anyone trying to muster up the motivation to take on one of the best hikes in the world.
In Bruges
Centered around the spectacular city of Bruges, Belgium, this dark comedy that stars Brendan Gleeson an Colin Farrell will take you on a tour of everything from the picturesque canals and bridges, to magnificent churches and the Belfry of Bruges.
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Antarctica: A Year on Ice
For those who’ve always dreamed about exploring the ultimate wilderness, this documentary isn’t all about glaciers and penguins as most documentaries on Antarctica tend to be. Instead, you’ll get a taste of what it might be like to actually live and work on some of the continent’s remote research stations, while enduring months of total darkness and extreme cold.
It features fascinating interviews with those who work in the Ross Island region, including things you usually don’t hear about, such as tears freezing to your face while you’re posing on a mountain for a group photo in ridiculously frigid temperatures, and important insights such as never confusing your pee bottle for your water bottle.
By the time the credits roll, you’ll have a good understanding of what it’s really like to take the less traveled (and in this case, very less traveled) path – and perhaps, you might even find the courage to do so yourself.
Of course, it also includes some rather fantastic scenery, too!
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
This movie is worth watching simply for the awe-inspiring scenes that were shot in Iceland. In fact, since it was released in 2013, the country has rightly seen a boom in tourism. It stars Ben Stiller who plays a guy (Walter Mitty) who hates his job and fantasizes about living a more adventurous, exciting life.
He’s never really done anything, or been anywhere, and suddenly, due to an interesting turn of events, he finds himself traveling the world and turning his dreams into reality.
Though the scenes are supposed to take place in multiple countries, the majority were shot in Iceland.
