Welp, 2020 sucked. And we’ve still got a ways to go in 2021 before things stop sucking.
I had big travel plans for 2020. I was gonna spend a month in South America, but instead the furthest away from my house I got was my parents house 2 states away. Now America is in the throes of what has been a very dark winter for us as a nation, and for the world at large. There shouldn’t be any traveling going on for anybody right now, but you should have lots of time to catch up on movies and get inspired for travels in (late) 2021, pending how the vaccine rollout goes.
Here’s a list of 32 of my favorite travel-related movies. Generally, I have tried to avoid foreign films (at least if there is no dubbed version easily available), war movies, and spy movies, even though all of these kinds of films often take place in some spectacular locations. However, I’ve been a few exceptions in this list. These films have served as escapes and inspiration for me. I hope they can do the same for you. ❤️
Peter’s 32 Best Travel Movies
Ordered Oldest to Most Recent
🇫🇷 France 🇫🇷
1. French Kiss (1995)
We’ll start with the a classic—a 90s rom-com starring Meg Ryan set in Paris. What could be more classic than that? The premise is that Meg Ryan’s fiancee goes on a trip to Paris, meets a French girl, and calls her on a payphone to tell her that he is leaving her. So she puts aside her life-long fear of flying, gets on a plane to Paris to win him back, only to have everything go wrong when she finally gets there.
This movie is freaking hilarious, but on top of its comedic elements, it’s actually a great travel movie because of the fact that everything goes horribly wrong for Meg Ryan’s character once she arrives in Paris. I think everybody needs to have the experience of having everything go south on them in a foreign country at least once. It’s a very difficult thing to navigate, but once you do, it is empowering and becomes a hilarious story that you will tell at parties for the rest of your life. I definitely recommend this movie, even if you don’t identify as being “into rom-coms.” It’s a nice dose of France, and a nice dose of carefree 90s bliss.
🏔Tibet 🏔
2. Seven Years In Tibet (1997)
Seven Years In Tibet is one of the best travel movies ever made. It tells a tale of the risk and reward of wandering off the path and truly pitting yourself against the elements. This movie is long, it’s heavy, and it has some dark moments. But it’s also a breathtaking work of cinema and captures something very profound: what it’s like to arrive in an alien land alone and vulnerable, and be taken in and treated with respect. Most of us westerners aren’t ever forced to think about this stuff because the flow of immigration is mostly into our countries, not out of them. This movie is interesting because it reverses that. Instead, it’s the white people who are the refugees who eventually find a new home.
This movie opens with a famous Austrian climber who is on an expedition in the Indian Himalayas when WWII breaks out. Since Austria is under Nazi control and India belongs to the Brits, he and his team find themselves in a POW camp. Eventually, they manage to escape into the mountains, but there is nowhere for them to go. After some brutal trials and tribulations, eventually, they find their way to Lhasa, the “Forbidden City” and capital of Tibet. Against all odds, they find a home here, and end up having to stay a LOT longer than anticipated. While there, Brad Pitt becomes a friend and mentor to the young Dalai Lama (but not in a “white savior” kind of way), and sees first-hand what it looks like when Communist China takes control of Tibet. “Free Tibet” was a trendy cause in the 1990s. It’s a shame that it’s not fashionable anymore. I guess we all gave up.
🇮🇹 Italy 🇮🇹
3. Bread and Tulips (2000)
Okay here’s a dark horse pick for you! And I’m breaking my rule about including foreign films on this one. Why do I know about this film? Because my parents randomly had the DVD of it when I was growing up. It was like, one of our first DVDs ever, back when the world was making the jump from VHS. This is an Italian film set in Venice. So it’s in Italian with English subtitles. And it’s a comedy. As a kid, some of the humor was lost on me, but as an adult, I think it’s funny. It’s definitely not the American humor that I’m used to but it’s super entertaining.
The premise is that a bored, unhappy housewife is on a vacation with her family somewhere in the Italian province of Veneto (I assume), and their tour bus leaves her at a rest stop. Her family is so oblivious that she is missing that it takes them WAY too long to go back and try to find her. By the time they circle back looking for her, she’s had to do business with the fact that she was abandoned and make her next move. Tired of a family that doesn’t appreciate her, and long overdue to do something for herself, she decides to spend some time on her own in Venice. So she gets a little apartment and starts to make friends with an eccentric cast of characters. Meanwhile, her husband hires a ridiculous private detective to track her down who clumsily starts following her around Venice. It’s a funny movie, and it’s a great look at a beautiful place.
🇯🇵 Japan 🇯🇵
4. Lost In Translation (2003)
This one is really a classic. There’s a whole zeitgeist around this movie. It’s on every list of “best travel movies,” and for good reason. It’s really freaking good.
It’s set in Tokyo. The story centers around two Americans who are staying in the same hotel and become unlikely friends. They are both essentially stuck in this hotel for different reasons, and each going through some low-key shitty stuff in their personal lives, which they process throughout the movie. They sort of help each other through and see lots of Tokyo along the way. It’s a funny movie, with all sorts of awkward lost-in-translation altercations with Japanese culture that will be relatable to anybody who’s ever traveled in East Asia, but all of this is kind of a sub-theme to the movie.
The real emotional identity of this film is pretty melancholic and vibey. It’s slow-moving, but it draws you in. I can’t promise this will be your new favorite movie, but I can promise that this film will leave an impression on you.
🏍 South America 💃🏽
5. The Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
You know who Che Guevara is, right?
If not, you’ve probably pictures of him in the window of a smoke shop or on a poster somewhere at some point. His image is absolutely iconic. It’s up there with Bob Marely and James Dean.
If you don’t know who this guy is, he was most notable for having been an important figure in Cuban Revolution. The success of this operation served a spring board for his involvement with all sorts of other revolutionary activities around the developing world. Needless to say, America was very interested in putting a stop to his activities. He met his end in Bolivia, where he was executed by CIA-supported Bolivian forces.
The Motorcycle Diaries is Che’s origin story. In the movie, he and his friend set out from their native Argentina and drive all over South America by motorcycle. Along the way, Che sees first-hand the struggles faced by working-class people around Latin America, and the seeds of his Revolutionist future are sown. The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles and features some stunning cinematographic work in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela, much of it in the Andes mountains. If this one doesn’t scratch your travel itch, nothing will!
Netherlands 🇳🇱 + Italy 🇮🇹
6. Oceans 12 (2005)
This is still in the top 5 the coolest movies ever made. I LOVE a good heist.
I’m sure you’re already familiar with the Oceans series, so I’m not going to explain that piece of the puzzle for you. This particular installment features some absolutely insane heists in Amsterdam and Rome, and it will make you fall in love with Europe, either for the first time or all over again. Honestly, I think this movie is what first put Europe on the radar for me, and I’ve been enthralled ever since!
I’ve heard a lot of negative reviews of this movie, but I cannot wrap my head around what there is to dislike here! It’s got a cast of absolutely LEGENDARY actors, in incredible places, doing cool shit. What’s not to like?
And of course, the best scene of this movie, and maybe of any movie EVER, is the laser-field scene at the end. If you don’t know what I’m taking about, get your hopes up.
🌍 Everywhere 🌏
7. Lord of War (2005)
Here’s an interesting one. I went out of my way to exclude war and spy movies from this list, because—although they almost exclusively take place in far-away places—they don’t have much to do with travel. Honestly though, I love seeing the footage of these crazy places from these sorts of productions! How about all the incredible footage of Venezuela from Jack Ryan? So dope.
But this movie walks a fine line. It’s not about war, but it’s informed by war. Nicolas Cage and his fuck-up little brother Jared Leto are arms dealers. They travel all over the world, landing private jets on dirt airstrips in remote parts of Africa and cutting deals in old docked Soviet warships, all with the purpose of selling weapons and munitions. I’d be lying if I told you this movie has a happy ending (how could it?) or that there aren’t some heavy things that take place along the way (of course there are)—but it’s hard not to lose yourself in the shuffle! Jet-setting with this fearless anti-hero is an undeniable (temporary) cure for wanderlust.
Nigeria 🇳🇬 + Mali 🇲🇱
8. Sahara (2005)
I hear people shit on this movie sometimes. I’ve always loved Matthew McConaughey, but this was back in the “Failure to Launch” years, before he established himself as an undeniably great actor. And Steve Zahn is great too. I understand why this movie has haters—there is definitely some obvious theatrics and cheesiness involved. But if you focus in on those elements too much, you’re no fun! 95% of this movie is totally plausible, so let’s just agree to buy-in and enjoy ourselves.
This movie has kind of a National Treasure vibe to it, with a few people chasing down historical artifacts under absolutely insane circumstances. In this movie, the historical artifact is a Civil-War Era gunship that is thought to have sailed across the Atlantic and disappeared into African river systems. And the insane circumstance involve a plague, murdered WHO workers, toxic pollutants from a negligent corporation, all in the midst of a tense, fictionalized version of Mali that is in the midst of its own civil war. This movie sets a new bar for what the word adventure means, and provides a really cool look at some real but little-known African places!
🇸🇱 Sierra Leone 🇸🇱
9. Blood Diamond (2006)
I’ll start with the basics. Do you know what a blood diamond is? These are real things. The term is used to refer to diamonds that have been mined in war zones and sold to finance those conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world. These dynamics need to be a big concern to any ethical person who is getting involved with the diamond trade.
The movie is set in Sierra Leone, during their Civil War which ran from 1991–2002. It centers around a fisherman who has been separated from his family and forced into what is essentially slave labor by a local warlord. One day he finds a MASSIVE pink diamond in the river. The warlord attempts to take the stone from him, but then their camp comes under fire and in the confusion, he is able to hide the diamond. He ends up in jail with Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays a white Rhodesian gunrunner-turned diamond smuggler. When he hears about this pink diamond, he sees his ticket out of Africa. But in order to go find it, he needs to form an unlikely partnership with this fisherman, who is trying to get back to this place to find his family. And that’s where the adventure really begins.
This isn’t a war movie in the classical sense, but it does take place within the context of a war, so it is intense. There’s lots of shooting and running around. However, it also provides a window into some really interesting and little-known African history. It’s a really good film.
🇮🇳 India 🇮🇳
10. Darjeeling Limited (2007)
I LOVE this movie. I have it on the background of what I’m doing at least once a week. It’s not one of Wes Anderson’s more appreciated works, but it is absolutely gorgeous and has vibes for days. It’s the story of 3 estranged brothers to reconnect for a pilgrimage through India. They spend most of the time bickering with each other and misbehaving until their plans finally fall apart and they get kicked off their train, left in the middle of nowhere with their luggage. I don’t think that information spoils much for you.
This movie got some shit for cultural appropriation when it came out. I completely disagree with that. It’s the story of a few white guys traveling through a foreign country, so I suppose that makes it a target, but that would also make virtually any travel movie a target. Along the way, they make some mistakes, and they objectify/misunderstand the culture that surrounds them. That’s not great for them as people, but I don’t think the film presents them in a favorable light for these things. They are flawed characters who are working through lots of complicated issues. Of course, they’re not perfect in the way they interact with India. And moreover, isn’t some element of this inevitable whenever you visit an alien place? The only way to grow is to throw ourselves into new places and situations and take it from there. So I think that camp of criticism is bullshit. It’s the flaws of the protagonists that make them so compelling. And it’s their journey that makes this film special.
Morocco 🇲🇦 + Europe 🇪🇺
11. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Okay so I said that I wasn’t going to include war movies or spy movies in this list because—even though they are often shot in some varied and exotic locations—they aren’t really travel movies, in the classical sense of the word. BUT, I’m going to make an exception for The Bourne Ultimatum.
I love the Bourne movies, but I am including this installment specifically for one very compelling reason. The chase scene through Tangier, Morocco is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. I really don’t think there is a cinematic work out there that interacts with the Tangier cityscape (or any North African cityscape) in a more compelling and thorough way. These cities are beautiful labyrinths, and even to walk through them, you know you’re only getting part of the story. There is a whole other world happening inside people’s homes, and looking out from their roofs over everything is a view that few will ever get access to. But this chase scene puts it all on a pedestal for the viewer.
Oh, and since it’s a Bourne Movie, there are also lots of other destinations involved, mostly around Europe, but the Morocco scene is really what sets this film apart for this list.
🇧🇪 Belgium 🇧🇪
12. In Bruges (2008)
This is a GREAT film. Bruges, if you didn’t know, is a beautiful city in Belgium. In this movie, Colin Ferrel plays an Irish hitman who accidentally kills a child on one of his jobs. He feels awful about it, and so does everybody who was involved, so his boss (Ralph Fiennes) sends him and a, *ahem*, colleague to Bruges to lay low for a while. Or, that’s how it’s framed to Colin Farrell’s character. In truth, his boss had almost immediately decided that their honor code dictated that anybody who killed a child must pay with their life. He was going to have to order Colin Farrell’s death, but before he did, he sent him to Bruges as a sort of present. Turns out that even mafia bosses can be big softies. Events unfold from there. I won’t spoil the whole thing.
That might seem like a dark premise to a movie, but this is actually sort of a dark comedy because Colin Farrell hates Bruges so much went he gets there. And Ralph Fiennes is hilarious in this too. There are scenes in here that had me cracking up! But I’d be lying if I told you it wasn’t a mostly serious movie.
Also—I can’t believe that Bruges isn’t more of a destination in Europe. This city is a medieval paradise! This city is on my list now. 👀
🇮🇳 India 🇮🇳
13. Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
This movie was a classic the instant it was released. I think this was probably one of the first times that Bollywood stars had ever crossed over into the American mainstream, and Slumdog Millionaire was a worthy vehicle for that cross-over. The film centers around a young man (Dev Patel) who grew up in the slums of Mumbai. It’s a long story, but he ends up being a contestant on the Indian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He becomes something of a sensation in India because, in spite of his apparent lack of education, he starts getting all the questions right. But he’s no savant. It turns out that every single question that is asked—through an act of divine providence—ties back to a specific event in his past.
The movie reveals pieces of his life via flashbacks every time a question is asked, and bit by bit we piece together an incredible but heart-breaking story that led this young man to where he is today. Eventually, the storylines converge and the film moves forward. It’s a tale of innocence and love lost, but it’s also a story of redemption. And when it’s all over, the credits roll over an awesome Bollywood dance number with the whole cast. This movie will make you feel things. It grabs you and pulls you into its world in a way that few movies are able to do. And when it’s all over, you’ll think to yourself “…wow, I need more India in my life… whatever that means.”
🇪🇺 All Over Europe 🇪🇺
14. The Brothers Bloom (2008)
This movie is vibes for days. Incredible story line. Interesting characters. A quirky yet romantic view of the world.
Here’s the premise. There are two brothers that are con men. Their exploits are legend. Their stories span the globe. And—of course—they’re doing one last job together. The mark is a wealthy recluse who they lure into adventuring around Europe with them. They sail over by steam ship, and from there … well I won’t spoil it for you. Notable stops in their journey include Prague, Belgrade, and other various locations around Montenegro, Romania, and Greece. There’s a lot to love.
One thing specifically that I love about this movie is the many layers of contradiction and self-awareness that are built into it. The Brothers Bloom presents an idealized version of the world that I would very much like to live in. AND YET, the characters in the movie sort of mock this romantic version of the world, even as they move through it. This sort of detached insulation, yet paradoxical relatability and human-ness is really compelling in a character. And of course, I love a good heist. Watch this movie.
🇫🇷 France 🇫🇷
15. Midnight In Paris (2011)
And now, another obligatory movie about France. There were lots of contenders for this slot on the list! We already covered the 90s flick, French Kiss, but when it comes to showcasing the city of Paris, Midnight in Paris is tough to beat. It’s hard to imagine a movie being more appreciative of Paris than this one. The movie opens with a captivating montage of the city in the rain the day ends and the evening begins, set to 1920s jazz. It really sets the tone for how magical this movie is.
Just like all Woody Allen movies, the protagonist is basically just playing Woody Allen. So in this movie, Owen Wilson is doing the honors. He works in Hollywood as a writer, but his real dream is to write novels. In his mind, the good old days were back when legends like Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were active. “Paris, in the 20s, in the rain!” He recites this line a lot. It seems silly to his insufferable fiancée and her parents, but in this movie, he gets his wish. It’s not super well explained, but he stumbles through some sort of a wormhole and is able to bounce back and forth from modern-day to the 1920s. If you want to take a good long soak in the bubble bath that is Paris, this is the movie for you.
🌊 South Pacific 🌊
16. Kon Tiki (2012)
This one is intense. And it is apparently a true story! The movie is about a Norwegian ethnographer and explorer named Thor Heyerdahl who has a theory that Oceania was not populated by way of Asia, but rather that the first inhabitants came from Pre-Colombian South America. To support his theory, he and a crew of men as crazy as he is set sail from Peru in 1947 on a bamboo raft constructed and equipped with only the materials and technologies available to the Pre-Colombian people that he theorized to have populated Oceania. The idea was to show that there was no technical reason that would have prevented these people from sailing across the Pacific.
As you might expect, this movie gets REAL out there on the Pacific. Much of what happens out there is similar to Life of Pi (which is also a great movie). There are terrifying storms, insane encounters with sea creatures, in-fighting amongst the crew… the list goes on. Honestly, I was expecting them not to make it, but—spoiler alert—they actually do get to Polynesia in the end. I feel like I should tell you that upfront so you know that all the craziness that transpires in this movie is headed somewhere good. I’m not into movies that don’t have happy endings, AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO ADMIT IT! That’s why Into The Wild is not on this list. Fuck that.
🇹🇼 Taiwan 🇹🇼
17. The Taiwan Oyster (2012)
This one is an indie film. I think it was the director’s first one too. But it made some waves and has actually become one of my favorite movies because it hits a very specific nail right on the head. And it’s a nail that I happen to be quite familiar with: ESL teaching in Asia. The movie is set in the late 90s I think, before Taiwan was quite as developed as it is now, but it’s close enough to modern times that I relate to everything. The film is extremely well cast. It captures the collection of personalities you’ll find in foreign teaching communities perfectly. Some weird. Some extreme. Some dead-beats. All dealing with the transience of being expats in different ways, and all writing their own stories in whatever way fulfills their own travel fantasies. Being a Westerner in the East is strange because, no matter how much you like it, you know you’ll never belong. It will always be alien. East Asia has a strong energy; a deep, transcendent, against-all-odds peacefulness. Above all else, this film captures that zen energy in a way that I haven’t seen any other film do.
This film opens with an ESL teacher dying in a stupid but sad way. It’s traumatic for the community of teachers around him, and when it is discovered that there is no family back in America coming forward to claim his body, two of these teachers come up with a plan to give their late friend the honor and ritual he deserved. They steal his body from a Taiwanese morgue, throw it in a giant refrigerated truck, pick up a new friend along the way, and make a pilgrimage across the country that will make you want to get on a plane to Asia ASAP.
Greenland 🇬🇱 + Iceland 🇮🇸+ Afghanistan 🇦🇫
18. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
This movie isn’t all that old, but it’s already becoming a cult classic. It’s actually a remake of an older film, but it completely eclipsed its predecessor. For all of us who spend their time at home dreaming of travel, after this movie came out, it was hard to imagine a world without this movie. To me it feels absolutely defining and iconic already. And the SOUNDTRACK. I don’t know if there’s another movie that draws me in just with the score as well as this one does. It’s so damn good that it literally opened up a whole niche world of Spotify playlists, all trying to build on the vibes of this movie.
Maybe it’s just because I’m a mild-mannered white guy, but I really relate to Ben Stiller in this movie. I think we all can at least a little bit. And that’s why it’s so powerful when circumstances force him to go from never having traveled to jumping headfirst into the unknown. It starts with a trip to Greenland, which quickly turns into a harrowing journey across the North Atlantic to Iceland. And before the movie is over, he ends up trekking solo through ungoverned Afghanistan. All of this is interspersed with a storyline that places out in New York City. To be honest, there are some geographical inconsistencies through some of these sequences, but I’m not gonna ruin a good thing diving into that wormhole. It’s fucking badass, and it will make you want to get off your ass and do something crazy ASAP.
🇵🇹 Portugal 🇵🇹
19. Night Train To Lisbon (2013)
I had never heard of this movie until it appeared on Netflix one day. What a gorgeous piece of cinema! It really sucked me into another space. I don’t know about you, but Portugal is not a country that I think of often. It’s had a big impact on the world, it’s a gorgeous language, and is well-known to be a beautiful, sun-soaked corner of Western Europe, but it sort of flies under the radar. I CHALLENGE you not to be obsessed with the prospect of going to Lisbon after you finish this movie.
Let me tell you a bit about the plot. The movie opens with an older man who is a professor living in Switzerland. One day his walking to work when he sees a young lady about to kill herself by jumping off a bridge. He drops everything and rushes to pull her back. For lack of a better option, he takes her to class with him, but she sneaks off soon after, leaving behind her coat. Inside the coat there is a book, which our man—the Swiss professor—takes great interest in. In fact, he is so taken by this book, that he peaces out from his life and his job in Switzerland, gets on a train and goes to Lisbon to try to track down the author of this book. It turns out that the author has long since passed away, but his friends and family—now all much older than they had once been—do engage with him, and accept him into their world. At this point, parallel plot begins, detailing the life of this author and his harrowing story under the infamous Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar. This was a chapter of history that was totally foreign to me, but WOW. Shit went down in Portugal. Watch this movie. It will transport you.
Germany 🇩🇪 + Austria 🇦🇹
20. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Setting aside the travel category for a moment, I just want to note that this movie is in my top 5 favorite movies of any genre. It’s really fucking good. It’s set in a fictional Central-European country that would most aptly be compared to Southern Germany or Western Austria, with the snowy Alps as a backdrop. It’s set in the 1930s, just before the start of a fictional war (that is obviously inspired by WWII). In true Wes Anderson fashion, every single detail of every single scene in the movie is absolutely perfect.
This movie tells an incredible story through a series of extended flashbacks. In fact, the bulk of the movie is 4 flash-backs deep, which is a cool story-telling device. The movie itself is mostly focused on advancing its plot rather than showcasing any destination in particular, but the scenery is nothing shortly of beautiful, with all sorts of dark, Kafka-esque sequences shot in darkened cobblestone alleyways of small Central European towns in the dead of winter. It’s a true adventure, but you might not have time to start connecting the dots on where exactly you’d need to go to enter this world until after the movie is all over. It really is that captivating. And it’s got a little bit of everything! Humor. Adventure. Murder. Drama. Historical Fiction. No matter what your taste in movies is, I think it’s a safe bet you’ll find some aspect of this film that you love.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan 🇦🇫
21. Rock the Kasbah (2015)
I hadn’t even heard of this movie until I randomly stumbled onto it poking around Netflix like last year. What a diamond in the rough! This movie turned out to be a dark-horse contender for one of my favorite travel movies ever! It’s not exactly as well done as Wes Anderson, or anything like that, but it’s got an amazing cast who totally carry the story, the plot line is hilarious, and it sheds positive light on one of the most notoriously violent places in the world: Afghanistan. And who is in this amazing cast? Bill Murray, Zooey Deschanel, Bruce Willis, Kate Hudson, Danny McBride, and Scott Caan. You’ve gotta love at least 2 or 3 of those people!
The movie centers around a failing artist manager (Bill) gets his artist (Zooey) a gig playing for US troops in Afghanistan. When they get there, his artist bails on him, stealing his money and passport, leaving him marooned in Kabul. The adventure that ensues from there is hilarious, exciting, and heartwarming. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say that this movie has some gorgeous cinematography highlighting a dimension of Afghanistan that is not often appreciated: its beauty. Make no mistake, Afghanistan is a BEAUTIFUL country. I’d love to visit one day, but for now I’ll have to settle for this movie.
India 🇮🇳 + Australia 🇦🇺
22. Lion (2016)
Okay — buckle in, because this movie is POWERFUL. Even though I’m so tough and manly, I cried the first time I watched it, and every time I’ve watched it since then, I’ve been fighting back tears. And it’s the same story for every single other person I know who has watched this. Have tissues ready.
I don’t think my telling you the plot of this movie will spoil it much, so if you’d rather be totally surprised, STOP READING NOW!
This is inspired by the true story of a poor young boy in India who gets separated from his family and ends up stuck on a train for 3 days. When the train finally stops moving and he’s able to get off, he finds himself in Calcutta, where he is eventually taken into an orphanage. Soon after, he is adopted by an Australian family, and is whisked off to start a new life of privilege. It isn’t until he’s a young adult in grad school that he starts to do business with the fact that he’s got a family back in India who has probably thought he’s been dead this whole time. He wants to find them, but there’s a problem. He doesn’t even know where he’s from! All he knows is that wherever it is, it’s a 3-day train ride to Calcutta, which means it could be almost anywhere in India. But this story takes place in the early days of Google Earth and—against all odds—he’s able to use this new technology to figure out where he’s from, and actually is able to track down the town he was born in. So he flies back to India and I’M GETTING EMOTIONAL RE-TELLING THE ENDING SO YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO WATCH IT FOR YOURSELF.
🇦🇫 Afghanistan 🇦🇫
23. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)
2 American movies set in Afghanistan in 2 years? Don’t hate it. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (military speak for WTF) focuses on an aging New York Times reporter (Tina Fey) who decides to take an assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan of all places. This movie is actually based on a memoir from a real reporter named Kim Barker who really did cover the war in Afghanistan. The memoir (if you’re interested) is called The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
She ends up staying in Afghanistan well past her original assignment and becomes something of a fixture there, liaising with military leadership on both sides of the conflict. She has some personal drama that unfolds during this time as well. It’s a really funny movie, but also a really cool look into this world. It also stars Billy Bob Thornton and Margot Robbie.
Apparently this film was a total flop at the box office, but that is sort of a theme on this list. Apparently it’s a fairly narrow demographic that is into this kind of stuff. Go figure. I definitely recommend this movie though!
Spain 🇪🇸 + Vietnam 🇻🇳
24. Thi Mai (2017)
Here’s the premise. The movie opens with a mother in a small town in Spain finding out that her adult daughter has just been killed in a car accident. It’s really emotional, but then she finds out that her daughter was actually just a couple days away from completing the process of formally adopting a young girl from Vietnam. Which means that she was just a couple days away from being a grandmother. So she decides to try and adopt this girl herself. Her and a couple of her middle-aged friends get on a plane and fly to Hanoi to track this little girl down, only to find it’s not so easy to just show up out of the blue and take a random kid home with you. So the movie is mostly a series of absurd misadventures of them basically trying to steal this kid. It’s actually pretty funny!
This movie didn’t do great on Rotten Tomatoes, etc., but here’s why I love it. Hanoi has a special place in my heart, but it is almost NEVER depicted positively in films. It’s usually either included in war films or objectified to seem crazy and exotic. This is literally the ONLY movie that I’ve ever seen that presented a positive or even objective image of Hanoi. I watch this movie, and I miss the city that I used to call home. Of course, no film can totally encompass a place, but this one definitely captures at least one dimension of Hanoi. And it’s also just good. Oh—but it’s in Spanish with English subtitles. Be warned.
France 🇫🇷 + Nepal 🇳🇵
25. The Climb (2017)
Incredibly enough, this one is ALSO based on a true story. The story focuses around an African immigrant living in the projects of Paris. In real life, he was from Algeria, but in the movie he’s from Senegal 🤷🏻♂️. Anyway, in order to prove to a girl he likes that he’s serious about dating her, he hyperbolically tells her that he’d climb Mount Everest to be with her. She doesn’t believe him, so he literally gets a plane ticket to Nepal, and climbs Mount Everest. In doing so, he becomes kind of a media sensation back in France. The whole country is rooting for him, and the girl he was trying to impress is pretty blown away. But what makes this movie so good is that this dude had NO business trying to climb Everest. All he had ever climbed up to that point was the stairs, so he ends up being a real liability for the other mountain climbers around him.
This movie is in French with subtitles and has some cool scenes in Paris scattered throughout, but the real meat of the plot happens in Nepal. It’s got some cool scenes in Kathmandu, and quickly takes a deep dive into the Himalayas. This will make you want to go trekking in Nepal. It also might freak you out a little bit because the main character in this movie mostly has a pretty rough go of things, so I think most viewers will feel his pain, but it will still give you itchy feet.
🇸🇴 Somalia 🇸🇴
26. The Pirates of Somalia (2017)
Oh boy, here’s a good one for you! Another true story that is ABSURD. This movie starts with a young dude in Canada who wants to be a journalist, but is feeling stuck. Then he meets a famous journalist that he idolizes (played by Al Pacino), and that person basically tells him that he has to bust a move and go somewhere crazy. So he decides to go to Somalia! The rest of the movie goes pretty much how you’d expect if you had to guess what happens when a scared Canadian kid moves to a war-torn African country.
I’ve always had sort of a fatal fascination with Somalia. It’s the horn of Africa! It’s got some legendary old-world gravitas and intrigue to it. And today it is one of the worst places you could ever have the misfortune of finding yourself. But it’s just so fascinating and so under-documented! I guess there was that one movie with Tom Hanks—Captain Phillips—where the pirates kidnap the captain of that ship, but 90% of that movie happened at sea. This movie really takes you on a hilarious, terrifying, fascinating deep-dive into Somalia.
Spain 🇪🇸 + Morocco 🇲🇦 + Mexico 🇲🇽
27. Yucatán (2018)
The Spanish aren’t generally reputed to be the nicest people in the world, but it’s hard to deny that they have style. This movie tracks a band of 3 Spanish con artists who all board a trans-Atlantic cruise ship in Barcelona together. The first two of them are a husband-and-wife duo who have legitimate jobs on the ship. The 3rd entered the ship covertly—and it turns out that they all have some history together. They all used to work together as a crew of con men—er, sorry—con PEOPLE. But then both the men both fell in love with woman, and there was a falling out. Blah, blah, blah—ANYWAY, that sets the stage for some personal drama throughout the movie, but that all is less interesting. Here’s what really propels the movie from a travel perspective…
The ship sets out from Barcelona, and it is immediately discovered that one of the passengers just won the lottery. So the 3 con artists are forced to work together to try to separate their newly found mark from his cash. The first pit stop comes in Tangier, Morocco, and the second comes in—you guessed it—Yucatán, Mexico. Oh, and there’s also a sequence in the Canary Islands. They get into some trouble in each of these places, and we (the viewers) get to watch their misadventures play out in some truly beautiful and fascinating places. It’s in Spanish with subtitles, but there’s also an English dub version that isn’t bad.
🇸🇬 Singapore 🇸🇬
28. Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Have you ever watched a movie that created a world that was so intoxicating to you, that you felt sad when the movie ended? That was Crazy Rich Asians for me. I watched it 2 times in a row, and then felt depressed for a week. I’m a tall, young, smart, well-educated white guy with a business degree. If I really wanted to devote my life to it, I think I could get myself into this world. But then I’d be the patriarch of the family who is referenced a lot throughout this movie but never actually seen because he’s always working. My kids would be the ones who get to live the life shown in this movie. So the bottom line is that I’ll never experience any of this. But I did get a taste for it once when I visited a real-life Crazy Rich Asian from college in Bangkok once. This world is very real. And it fucking rocks.
Anyway, this movie is about an average Chinese-American girl living in New York, whose boyfriend invites her to meet his family in Singapore. She doesn’t know it at the time, but it turns out that this dude belongs to one of the wealthiest families in Singapore. He’s basically royalty. It’s funny, there’s drama, but most of all, it affords us an amazing peek into what life is like for the children of Asia’s 0.00001%. I can verify first-hand for you—wealth is different over there. Buckle in.
Morocco 🇲🇦 + Algeria 🇩🇿 + Mali 🇲🇱
29. 4L (2019)
Have you ever heard of the Dakar Rally? It’s a long distance car race through the desert. Originally (back in the 1970s) the course ran south through the Sahara, ending in Dakar, Senegal (hence the name) but since then shifting geo-political issues have forced the course to change year-to-year. But it’s still a real thing! You can check out the website here. So driving these kind of semi-off-road sports cars through the desert is a “thing.” This movie sort of assumes that the viewer will know that, so now you know.
This movie centers around two friends in Spain who—long ago, in their youth—drove one of these cars through the Sahara desert. The movie opens with them discovering that the man who had been their third musketeer in that adventure was dying. They wanted to go see him before it was too late, but that was easier said than done because he had been living in Mali for years. So they decide to dig up the old car again and drive it across the Sahara to see him. They pick up his estranged daughter along the way, catch the ferry across the straight of Gibraltar to Tangier, Morocco, and drive south, into Algeria, and eventually into Mali. They get where they’re going… but some bad stuff happens along the way. I highly recommend this movie to anybody who is looking for some adventure inspiration and doesn’t spook easily. Fair warning: it’s in Spanish with subtitles, but I think there are English dubbed versions.
China 🇨🇳
30. The Farewell (2019)
This was a gorgeous film. The fact that Awkwafina was in it sold me, but once I started watching… oh man.
Here’s the premise: Awkwafina plays a Chinese-American girl living in NYC who immigrated to the US with her parents when she was very young. She goes out to the suburbs to visit her parents and discovers that they are leaving the very next day to go back to China to visit her grandmother. Apparently she’s been given a terminal diagnosis, and the family is rushing to spend time with her before she passes away. But here’s the catch: the family has agreed not to tell the grandmother that she is dying. In fact, they weren’t even going to invite Awkwafina to China with them because they were afraid that she would spill the beans! But she has to say goodbye, so she puts a flight that she can’t afford on her credit card and flies to China. (Don’t worry—I only just gave away the first 20 minutes of the movie.)
This movie is heavy. But it’s also one of the best depictions of a cross-cultural family that I’ve seen! These can be really complicated dynamics. And it really unpacks some of the cultural differences between the East and the West in a context that most of us will stand to learn from. And even though my family isn’t all that cross-cultural, there were multiple layers of this that I really related to. Maybe it’s just because I’ve had a few deaths in the family over the past few years. I got pretty emotional during this movie, but I couldn’t turn it off. Warning: it’s a mixture of English and Chinese with English subtitles, so be prepared to focus.
Italy 🇮🇹 + Argentina 🇦🇷
31. The Two Popes (2019)
Regardless of how you might feel about the Catholic Church, it’s unlikely that you’re not going to enjoy this movie. It centers around the relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and the man who ultimately became his successor, Pope Francis. Everybody knows that Pope Francis is the “cool Pope,” but Pope Benedict XVI was not as well-liked by the masses. There were a few scandals, but also he was kind of a hard-ass, he was sort of stuck in the past, and people didn’t like that he was a member of the Nazi Youth as a child (not that children have any say over this kind of thing). Apparently, he saw the writing on the wall, and—in a highly unusual move—gave up his position as Pope to make way for somebody better suited to the job. He’s like the Richard Nixon of Popes.
This movie mostly takes place in Pope Francis’ native Buenos Aires, in the Vatican, and in other places in and around Rome. It’s a very cool piece of cinema, and it is an extremely well-crafted peek behind the veil of the Papacy. I think most people will be interested in some facet of this movie and walk away with some love for Pope Francis. And also, it gives us viewers a cool look at some beautiful and interesting places.
🇧🇩 Bangladesh 🇧🇩
32. Extraction (2020)
This movie isn’t exactly an amazing work of art—honestly it’s 85% fighting and shooting—BUT it is the only movie I’ve ever seen that has shown Dhaka, Bangladesh in any way, good or bad. And holy shit y’all, they went ALL OUT showcasing this place. I spent a few weeks in this city in 2015. It was really intimidating at first. It is a vibrant, noisy, tangled labyrinth of alleyways, all crowded with people, rickshaws, etc. It’s some of the most fascinating and compelling urban exploring to be had on planet earth, and in my weeks here, I barely even scratched the surface. This movie has some absolutely EPIC foot and car chases through Dhaka that are better than I could have even hoped for. It’s fucking gnarly.
Of course, once I got into the swing of things, I really loved Dhaka! It was less intimidating with each passing day. The people here are truly kind, and it’s a poor enough country that there is a disarming innocence to the whole place. Of course, there are issues, but the headline is that this is a country that has only recently gotten back on its feet after a genocide 50 years ago. So when the premise of this movie had to do with the Bangladeshi mob I actually laughed. The Bangladeshi what? Haha maybe I’m naive, but I feel like this movie made Bangladesh seem scarier than it is by inventing big scary mobsters for the white guy to fight. BUT HEY! It’s still a wild ride.
That’s all for now! I hope at least a couple of these movies are new to you and provide some inspiration and respite from endless quarantine. And if you think I missed a great travel flick, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below 👇 or shoot me a message. I am trying to keep myself entertained just like the rest of us, so I honestly would love some new recommendations.
For now, I’ll leave you with the track of the day. Looking forward to some semblance of normalcy towards the end of 2021 🙏
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Peter was born & raised in Columbus, Ohio, and started this blog when he moved from Boston to Hanoi (Vietnam) in 2014. After years based in Nashville working on his band, The Great Palumbo, he now resides in London, UK.
