The 60 Best Travel Movies that Inspire Wanderlust: part one

Already my entire life I love to watch movies, especially the movies about travel adventures. Once I have finished watching one of these movies, I am always inspired to travel. These are the best travel movies ever, in my opinion. You can find part two of this list with 30 more amazing travel movies in this post.

The 60 Best Travel Movies that Inspire Wanderlust: part one

Tracks (2013)
Accompanied only by her faithful dog and four camels, an Australian satisfies her craving for solitude by embarking on a solo trip across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.

A walk in the woods (2015)
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson returns to the U.S. where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends. It is a movie with lots of jokes and amazing sceneries.

Eat Pray Love (2010)
A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round the world journey to find herself.

Eurotrip (2004)
After a brutal break-up at a High School graduation party, Scott Thomas goes on a quest across Europe to find his sexy German pen pal, Mieke. Scott’s quest does not turn out to be easy. The backpackers become embroiled in many farcical situations as they hop from country to country.

Seven Years In Tibet (1997)
This movie is about an Austrian mountaineer who heads out to conquer a Himalayan mountain in 1939. After getting captured and sent to a prison camp, he ends up breaking out with another man and sneaking into the holy Tibetan city of Lhasa. He befriends the young Dalai Lama just as the Chinese attempt to invade Tibet by force. It is a good movie that shows you how travel adventures can transform your life.

Everest (2015)
Some climbers start their final ascent toward the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth. With little warning, a violent storm strikes the mountain, engulfing the adventurers in one of the fiercest blizzards ever encountered by man. Challenged by the harshest conditions imaginable, the teams must endure blistering winds and freezing temperatures in an epic battle to survive against nearly impossible odds.

The beach (2000)
The desire to find something real and to connect with something or someone, is what drives Richard, a young American backpacker who arrives in Thailand with adventure on his mind. Etienne and Francoise join him on an adventure to ´the Beach´, a mystical paradise. However, this paradise is less than perfect.

The bucket list (2007)
Billionaire Edward Cole and car mechanic Carter Chambers are complete strangers, until fate lands them in the same hospital room. The men find out they have two things in common: a need to come to terms with who they are and what they have done with their lives, and a desire to complete a list of things they want to see and do before they die. Against their doctor’s advice, the men leave the hospital and set out on the adventure of a lifetime.

Into The Wild (2007)
Into The Wild is the true story of Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate who gives away his live savings and hitchhikes to Alaska. He meets all kinds of people along the way, each with their own stories. In Alaska, he heads out into the wilderness to live on his own.

Under the Tuscan sun (2003)
When Frances Mayes finds out 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, encourages Frances to take a tour of Italy. During the trip, the new divorcée impulsively decides to purchase a rural Tuscan villa and struggles to start her life anew amid colorful local characters, including the handsome Marcello.

Cast away (2000)
Chuck Noland is en route to an assignment in Malaysia when his plane crashes over the Pacific Ocean during a storm. The sole survivor of the flight, Chuck washes ashore on a deserted island. When his efforts to sail away and contact help fail, Chuck learns how to survive on the island, where he remains for years, accompanied by only his handmade volleyball friend, Wilson.

The Way (2010)
The Way is a beautiful and inspiring tale about a father walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago trail to honor his recently dead son. The experience is an eye-opening and emotional one for him, as he is forced to make friends with complete strangers and examine his life during the 800 kilometers journey. This movie certainly inspired me in walking the Camino at some point in my life.

127 hours (2010)
While exploring a remote canyon in Utah, mountaineer and adventurer Aron Ralston becomes trapped when a boulder falls on his arm. Over the next five days (127 hours), Ralston examines his life and considers his options, leading him to an agonizing choice: to amputate his arm so that he can extricate himself and try to make his way back to civilization or remain pinned to the canyon wall and likely die.

The motorcycle diaries (2004)
Guevara and his friend Alberto  climb atop a motorcycle and ride across South America for eight months and over 14,000 kilometers. The trip inspired the rest of Guevara’s incredible life. The movie will inspire you to learn more about the incredibly beautiful continent.

Australia (2008)
Sarah Ashley travels from Britain to Australia to inspect a cattle ranch she inherited. Reluctantly joining forces with a rugged local known as the Drover, she sets out on a cattle drive across hundreds of miles of harsh terrain to save her ranch. When they finally reach the town of Darwin, they must contend with the same Japanese bombers that just rained death upon Pearl Harbor.

A Good Year (2006)
This movie is about a high powered London stock broker who’s favorite uncle passes away, leaving him a chateau and vineyard in France. When he visits to quickly prepare the property to be sold for millions, he gets addicted to the laid back, stress-free lifestyle of the French countryside. He falls in love with a local beauty, and has fond flashbacks of his childhood under the care of his womanizing uncle. This movie will inspire you to visit France once in your live.

180 Degrees South (2010)
180 Degrees South is a documentary that follows the adventure of a group of friends as they travel to Patagonia in the spirit of their heroes. They pack their surfboards and climbing gear as they sail and drive along the South American coast, learning about the losing battle against industrialization and the destruction of the natural world. The movie’s beautiful scenery and fantastic soundtrack mix together with a strong message and travel adventure to create a true work of art.

The art of travel (2008)
Conner goes on his honeymoon, alone, and finds adventure with a ragtag group in Central America.

Life of Pi (2012)
Life of Pi is a fantasy adventure novel. An Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores issues of spirituality and practicality from an early age. He survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Secret Life of Walter Mitty Movie (2013)
When Walter’s job is threatened, he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling the world from Iceland to Afghanistan in search of his hero while taking risks and conquering new challenges along the way. A mix of incredible visual landscapes, a beautiful soundtrack and some humor is just icing on the cake. The perfect movie to inspire those yearning for something more out of life.

Out of Africa (1985)
Initially set on being a dairy farmer, the aristocratic Karen Blixen travels to Africa to join her husband, Bror, who instead spends their money on a coffee plantation. After discovering Bror is unfaithful, Karen develops feelings for hunter Denys, but realizes he prefers a simplistic lifestyle compared to her upper class background. The two continue on until a series of events force Karen to choose between her love and personal growth.

A perfect getaway (2009)
Cliff and Cydney are celebrating their honeymoon by hiking through a secluded region of Hawaii. Their idyllic trek takes a dark turn when they find a group of frightened hikers who claim that another couple has been brutally murdered. Far from civilization and unsure who to trust, Cydney and Cliff soon get locked into a terrifying battle for survival.

The way back (2010)
Denounced by his wife as a possible spy in 1939, Janusz finds himself in a remote Siberian labor camp. Faced with brutal conditions, Janusz is determined to escape.  Janusz and his companions face a 4,000 miles track on foot through the frozen Himalayas before they can truly be free.

Wild (2014)
Cheryl Strayed makes a decision to halt her downward spiral and put her life back together again. With no outdoors 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 trails.

The road within (2014)
A man with Tourette’s syndrome brings his roommate and an anorexic woman along on a road trip to bring his late mother’s ashes to the ocean.

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Featuring a teen who grew up in India’s slums and then makes it on the show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”. This movie shows India in its true form: overcrowded, dirty, and poverty-stricken and was mostly filmed in the cities of Agra and Mumbai.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
This movie is a classic Western movie about two bank robbers who travel to Bolivia to escape the law. Though the movie was actually filmed mainly in the Western US and not in Bolivia, the movie’s scenery is still beautiful. The movie is filmed in California, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Mexico.

New York, I love you (2008)
This movie is about several love stories set in one of the most loved cities of the world, New York.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
This is a funny movie about two drag performers and a transgender woman who are travelling across the Australian desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.

The Endless Summer (1966)
Bruce Brown followed two young surfers on their quest for the perfect wave, which took them to numerous exotic locations around the world. Filmed in Australia, Hawaii, South Africa, Ghana, New Zealand, California, Tahiti, Nigeria, and Senegal, this movie includes scenes from paradise.

I can watch those movies over and over again, and never get sick of them.
What movie is your favorite?
You can find more exciting travel related movies in this list:
30 more amazing travel movies in this post.

Author: Daphne

Pin this post!