There are movies that make memories. Movies that make us reflect. And those that make us fall in love. But then there are the movies that make us want to get up and “Travel“.
You can watch these films over & over again, and never get sick of them. Nothing gets me more excited to travel than a good travel film. It gives you the inspiration and the motivation to a new destination.
I started to realize I had a travel obsession when all my favorite movies were based on crazy travel adventures. Once I’ve finished watching any of these films, I feel the instant urge to pack up everything and head out to explore the world. Great travel movies like these have inspired me a lot for my own personal travel goals over the years.
Sometimes the best way to experience a destination you haven’t been to is to watch a movie that takes place there.
So here is my personal list of the best travel movies of all time that will make you want to travel all over the world.. Which ones are your favorites?
1. INTO THE WILD
“ 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. His life is filled with random adventures and experiences while he makes his way up to “The Last Frontier”. This is what travel is all about to me. Experiences, good and bad, make you who you are. And long term travel is FULL of new experiences. The key is to not completely get in over your head (like Christopher did). ” – Divanshu Kashyap
Synopsis :
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life. (148 mins.)
Director: Sean Penn
Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden
Click here to watch Movie Trailer.
2. WILD
“ Reese Witherspoon donned a pair of ill-fitting hiking boots and a giant backpack for her role as Cheryl Strayed, a writer who trekked 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail after the devastating loss of her mother. (The film is based on Strayed’s best-selling 2012 book of the same name.) Strayed crosses the dusty Mojave, crazy forests, snowy fields, and muddy trails, losing toenails but gaining mental clarity—or at least self-acceptance—along the way. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
A chronicle of one woman’s 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy. (115 mins.)
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann, Michiel Huisman.
Click here to Watch Movie Trailer.
3. THE WAY BACK
“ In 1941, three men reach India from Tibet, having walked 4000 miles after escaping a Siberian gulag. The film tells their story and that of four others who escaped with them and a teenage girl who joins them in flight. The group’s natural leader is Janusz, a Pole condemned by accusations secured by torturing his wife, spent much of his youth outdoors, and knows how to live in the wild. They escape under cover of a snowstorm: a cynical American, a Russian thug, a comedic accountant, a pastry chef who draws, a priest, and a Pole with night blindness. They face freezing nights, lack of food and water, mosquitoes, an endless desert, the Himalayas, as well as many moral and ethical dilemmas throughout the journey towards freedom. Written by ” – DIVANSHU KASHYAP
Synopsis :
The story revolves around three refugees, who successfully flee from the Siberian gulag in 1941. The movie features their jaunts, as they walk 4000 miles from Tibet to INDIA for freedom.
Siberian gulag escapees travel 4,000 miles by foot to freedom in India.
Director: Peter Weir
Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur.
4. TRACKS
“ Where It Takes You: Western Australia Standing in for real-life writer Robyn Davidson, Mia Wasikowska travels across the breathtaking landscape of Western Australia with only four camels and a beloved dog for company. Her occasional human visitors include a photographer for National Geographic (Adam Driver), an indigenous Australian elder named Mr. Eddy who guides her through sacred lands, and various tourists who come to gawk at the so-called Camel Lady. Davidson’s solo trip was beyond the pale for a woman in the ’70s, but it’s still incredibly inspiring today. We’ll just leave the camel-training to someone else. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
A young woman goes on a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with four camels and her faithful dog. (112 mins.)
Director: John Curran
Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl, Philip Dodd.
5. THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES
If I had to pick a frontrunner of all the films on this list, it’d be this one. The ultimate adventure story of two friends searching for themselves as they travel South America, it’s sometimes easy to forget this is in fact a true story of the trip that made Che Guevara take up a political life.
The Motorcycle Diaries won Academy Award for Best Original Song.
“ Essential Visuals: Miramar, Buenos Aires, Argentia; Caracas, Venezuela; Patagonia; Nahuel Huapi Lake; Machu Picchu; Atacama Desert
Where It Takes You: South America
This awe-inspiring film is based on the memoirs of Che Guevara, from a time before he became an iconic Latin American revolutionary. Guevara (Gael Bernal) and his friend Alberto “Mial” Granado (Rodrigo De la Serna, Guevara’s real-life second cousin) 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. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
The dramatization of a motorcycle road trip Che Guevara went on in his youth that showed him his life’s calling. (126 mins.)
Director: Walter Salles
Stars: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna, Mía Maestro, Mercedes Morán.
6. LOST IN TRANSLATION
Academy Award: Best Original Screenplay
This best original screenplay winner is the story of an unlikely bond between two Americans who have traveled to Tokyo for different reasons. Bob Harris, an aging actor, arrives in the Japanese city to film an advertisement, while Charlotte has accompanied her celebrity photographer husband on assignment. Culture shock strengthens their relationship, as they attempt to navigate a contemporary Japanese environment and the complexities in their lives. Shot on location in Japan, the setting for Lost in Translation was largely inspired by director Sofia Coppola’s many visits to the country.
“ Where It Takes You: Japan
Essential Visuals: Tokyo; Daikanyama; Shinjuku Park Tower; Heian Jingu Shrine in Kyoto; Nanzen-ji Temple’s Sanmon gate
Lost In Translation is based on two separate travelers, Bob & Charlotte, visiting Tokyo at the same time. They meet each other and form a friendship as they experience confusion and hilarity in a strange and curious city. Bob is an aging actor starring in commercials, while Charlotte is the bored wife of a photographer there on business. They are an unlikely pair, experiencing a degree of loneliness in a foreign city filled with millions of people. This is another beautifully shot film that also shows how funny and interesting traveling in a new country can be. The many little random experiences that present themselves while traveling are often the most memorable. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo. (101 mins.)
Director: Sofia Coppola
Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris.
7. THE DARJEELING LIMITED
Speaking of Wes Anderson movies, this one paints India as incredible as it really is. So many people travel to India to discover themselves but this film reminds you that, to do so, you must first discover others. And it reminds us that someone should really start a train service called the Darjeeling Limited.
“ Essential Visuals: The Himalayas; temples in Jodhpur; Indian railways
Where It Takes You: INDIA
The Darjeeling Limited is a wacky film about three wealthy, spoiled brothers taking an overland train trip through India. They haven’t spoken in a year, and the trip is supposed to heal and bond them again. Initially it all goes wrong as they bicker and fight with each other. They are all suffering from depression, and pop pain killers like candy. When it seems like nothing is going right, their crazy experiences along the way finally put things into perspective. The ultimate goal of healing and rejuvenation starts to happen. They finally start to grow up and turn into men. The movie is hilarious, and beautifully shot too. It will make you want to visit India. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
A year after their father’s funeral, three brothers travel across India by train in an attempt to bond with each other. (91 mins.)
Director: Wes Anderson
Stars: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Amara Karan.
Click here to watch movie Trailer.
8. EVEREST
Top-flight cinematography by Salvatore Totino, deftly edited by Mick Audsley, lends gravitas to Baltasar Kormákur’s tale of mountaintop disaster, based on real-life events from 1996. Jason Clarke is the leader of an “adventure consultants”’ climb beset by bad weather and overcrowding. The climbers are a mixed bag, ranging from Josh Brolin’s gruff Texan, Beck Weathers, to John Hawkes’s amiable but ailing postal worker, Doug Hansen, and Naoko Mori’s Yasuko Namba, a Japanese businesswoman dedicated to summiting the highest mountains of the seven continents.
“Never Let Go” is the tagline on posters for this movie, based on the true story of an exceedingly ill-fated trek up the title mountain in 1996. “What The Hell Are You All Doing Up There In The First Place?” might be a more apropos. The transformation of massively risky mountain-climbing, as an activity exclusively for scientists and highly-trained explorers to an adventure-tourism endurance test for the rich and obsessive, gets taken care of here in a series of three title texts at the beginning of the movie, starting with the ostensible conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary’s team. Beginning with some tantalizing/troubling glimpses of the heedless and colonialist aspects of adventure tourism culture, “Everest” then gets down to business. This movie, scripted by William Nicholson and Simon Beaufoy and directed, with meticulous regard for the elements and action, by Iceland-born filmmakerBaltasar Kormákur, is a detailed and realistic depiction of climbers—of various experiences—facing the worst possible conditions, at heights and climates that seem designed to shut a human body down.
Synopsis :
Everest is a 2015 British-American biographical adventure film directed by Baltasar Kormákur and written by William Nicholsonand Simon Beaufoy, starring an ensemble cast which features Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Sam Worthington, Keira Knightley, Emily Watson, and Jake Gyllenhaal. It is adapted from Beck Weathers’ memoir Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest (2000).
Movie Plot :
“A climbing expedition on Mt. Everest is devastated by a severe snow storm”.
In March 1996, several commercial expeditions arrive at Mount Everest base camp to prepare to climb the summit. Rob Hall, who first popularized guided Everestclimbs, leads Adventure Consultants. Scott Fischer is the chief guide for competitor Mountain Madness.
Director: Baltasar Kormákur.
Stars : Jason Clarke, Ang phula Sherpa, Thomas M. Wright.
Click here to watch movie Trailer
9. SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET
“ Seven Years In Tibet 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. Both men are from totally different worlds, yet become great friends and learn from each other. The character starts off as a selfish prick, but slowly changes his outlook on life when confronted with new experiences in a very foreign land. It’s a good movie that shows you how travel adventures can transform your life.
Filled with scenic shots and views of The Himalayas, Potala Palace, and other sites, most of the filming actually took place in Argentina. However, two crews allegedly secretly shot footage in Tibet, providing authentic visuals. ” – Divanshu Kashyap.
Synopsis :
True story of Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountain climber who became friends with the Dalai Lama at the time of China’s takeover of Tibet. (136 mins.)
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Stars: Brad Pitt, David Thewlis, BD Wong, Mako.
Click here to watch movie Trailer.
10. OUT OF AFRICA
Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Sound.
With seven Oscars to its name, “Out of Africa” is on the high end when it comes to the most Academy Award-decorated feature films of all time (a few movies have each won 11 Oscars). The romantic drama, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, begins with a Danish baroness who moves from Denmark to British East Africa (present-day Kenya) with her husband and purchases a coffee plantation. The baroness falls for big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton who refuses to settle down. With his personality underscored by their untamed African surroundings, the baroness eventually makes her way back to Denmark amid heartbreak.
“ Where It Takes You: Kenya
Essential Visuals: Ngong Hills; Shaba National Game Reserve; African savannas
Meryl Streep and Robert Redford star in this tragic love story about a married baroness who falls for a big-game hunter, based on the autobiographical novel by Isak Dinesen. Filmed on location in the UK and Kenya, including the Shaba National Game Reserve, Out of Africa feels about as epic as the doomed love affair between two very different people. ” – Divanshu kashyap.
Synopsis :
In 20th-century colonial Kenya, a Danish baroness/plantation owner has a passionate love affair with a free-spirited big-game hunter. (161 mins.)
Director: Sydney Pollack.
Stars: Meryl Streep, Robert Redford, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Michael.
Click here to watch movie Trailer.
Written by – DIVANSHU KASHYAP
————————————————————————–
Great movies not only entertain viewers but also transport them to another world.
The instances where getting lost in a film are most rewarding are when you’re taken to a beautiful foreign destination, places where you’d love to travel but don’t have the time nor money. With great cinematography and storylines, these movies take you there. The above mentioned movies are my all time favourite movies….which one are yours ????? comment below !!!!!
“If you like my post, do COMMENT, LIKE and SHARE with your Friends “
Like my Facebook page – voyageworldblog !
For More Updates, Follow me on :
Instagram – #voyageworldblog ! & Twitter – @Voyageworldblog ! .
You can also shoot me an email at – divanshukashyap05@gmail.com
I LOVE reader emails! They make my day!
Thank You –
DIVANSHU KASHYAP
( Travel Blogger ) – VOYAGEWORLDBLOG
voyageworldblog 