Awesome Movies That Inspire Travel and Wanderlust
When we can’t galavant all over the world, sometimes it’s nice to dream about some of your favorite destinations through movies! Oh, is that just me? Or you might want to get inspired by a movie that features a destination you will be traveling to soon. Either way, movies are a great way to get a little glimpse of destinations even if they are not solely based on the destination itself. Below I am covering some of my favorite movies that inspire travel!
If you didn’t know, I love Rom-coms, so you will definitely see some of those on this list. In the end, let me know how many of them you have seen!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Eat Pray Love
I feel like I can’t start a movie list that inspires travel without mentioning Eat Pray Love. Originally a book by Elizebeth Gilbert, that was eventually turned into a movie actually makes me hungry each time I watch it! Liz, played by Julia Roberts is a newly divorced woman that makes her way across the globe, visiting Rome, India, and Bali to find herself. This story was based on the author Elizabeth’s real life.
Wild
Wild, another book-turned movie is based on the Author Cheryl Strayed’s real-life adventure. Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl, a woman in her early 20’s whose mother dies, family dissipates, marriage falls apart along with the rest of her life. She decides to set off on a 1,100-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 on a journey to discover herself.
After watching this movie, I actually bought hiking boots. I would definitely recommend reading the book as well because she gets very detailed. I was even lucky to hear Cheryl speak live at Travel Con, which was amazing.
The Tourist
Want a movie with more action that will inspire travel? The Tourist can give you just that! This action film takes place in Venice, Italy with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.
Math teacher Frank (Johnny Depp) takes an impromptu trip to Europe and crosses paths with Elise (Angelina Jolie). Resembling her ex-lover, she leverages Frank to try and find him while getting caught with law enforcement and dangerous men.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Ok, peeps, this movie might be more of Rom-Com than travel-related, but if you love resort life, this will definitely inspire you to travel to Hawaii and visit Turtle Bay!
Peter is dating the famous Sarah Marshall to find out she cheated on him. To get over her, he decides to go to Hawaii to find Sarah there with her new boyfriend. This is legit one of my favorite movies. I think it’s so funny!
Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians is one of my new favorite movies that inspire travel because you get to see so much of Singapore, and it’s overall a super cute movie! Every time I watch the movie, I can reminisce about our short 2 days there!
Rachel Chu’s relationship changes when she finds out her boyfriend, Nick, has been hiding a family secret. Nick invites Rachel on a trip to Singapore to attend a wedding. On the plane, she discovers Nick’s family is Royalty in Singapore. Rachel now must prove herself to Nick’s family and fight for his mother’s approval.
The Devil Wears Prada
This movie was one of the reasons I wanted to live in NYC and work in Fashion… oh you too? Andi, a journalist, goes on an interview at Runway, the most prestigious fashion magazine, to find out she’s the assistant for “the Devil”. The very unfashionable Andi surprisingly gets the job and finds her life unfolding to keep up with her job.
I must admit, the Paris scene would always get to me! I remember always saying, “I can’t wait to go there one day!”.
Find dozens of New York Travel Guides here – along with this massive 4 days in NYC itinerary and Free things to do in NYC!
EuroTrip
If you are into more raunchy comedies, this is the movie for you! Follow Scotty and his friends travel around Europe in search of Scotty’s German pen pal he believes he’s fallen in love with.
They visit cities including Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, and Berlin.
Jumper
I don’t think I have ever seen Jumper on a list of movies that inspire travel, and I just don’t know why! David finds out he has a special power after he falls into a frozen lake in Highschool.
The power you ask? He realizes he can “jump” to any place he can imagine! This takes him to places like Rome, Eygpt, and more until Roland (Sam L Jackson) hunts him down in a mission to kill all jumpers.
He jumps to places like Rome, Paris, and Egypt!
The Bucket List
I just love this movie! Billionaire Edward Cole (Jack Nicholson) and car mechanic Carter Chambers (Morgan Freeman) find themselves being roommates in the hospital after finding out they have cancer. Against their doctor’s advice, the men leave the hospital and set out to hit all their dream adventures before they kick the bucket!
If this movie doesn’t inspire travel, I don’t know what does!
The Beach
Believe it or not, I didn’t watch The Beach until after visiting Thailand! This movie always makes me miss our time in Krabi, Thailand, although it’s not based on this exact beach. It was this Leonardo DiCaprio film that made Maya Bay in Thailand so famous.
Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio), an American backpacker, finds himself in Thailand but is looking for something deeper. He finds a map of “the beach” that is supposed to be paradise. After following the map to paradise, he and his new group of friends find it is less than perfect.
Visit Krabi and take a day trip to Maya Beach which was the beach it was filmed at.
Moana
I am a huge sucker for Disney movies and almost added Lion King to this list as well as I am still dreaming of going on a Safari. Anyways Moana, a teenager who feels a deep connection to her people and the ocean, sets out to sail across the sea to find Maui, the Demi-God, and save her island from destruction.
She makes her way through the Polynesian islands, which I am dreaming of visiting!
Leap Year
I recently watched this Rom-Com and thought this movie was so cute and gave me serious wanderlust about Ireland! On top of that, it’s on Netflix!
After another anniversary with no proposal from her heart surgent boyfriend, she decides to do something a little crazy. Knowing a Celtic tradition of women popping the question on Leap Year, she decides to surprise her boyfriend, who is at a conference in Dublin, until fate has other plans. She makes her way across Ireland to get to him while meeting an unexpected man along the way.
Ready to visit? Here’s your 7 Days in Ireland Itinerary!
Movies that Inspire Travel Wrap-up
I know this list could go on forever, but these are some of my favorites. I hope these movies have sparked your wanderlust and are getting you excited about your next trip!
If you are looking for some additional travel inspiration, also check out these 12 bucket list cities!
I loved the Crazy, Rich, Asians book and think I’ll watch the movie again this weekend. Thanks for the reminder!
Great post! I love some of these movies but I have yet to watch some of them. 🙂 I recently watched Leap Year and loved it!
Oh man I love this list! A number of them I haven’t watched yet but the others you listed COMPLETELY gave me the travel bug! I think watching Monte Carlo with Selena Gomez when I was much younger also made extremely excited when I saw Monaco for myself! I can’t wait to watch the other movies you included here 🙂
Such a fun list! I havn’t seen Eat Pray Love in so long. I always want to go to Rome when I watch the Lizzie McGuire movie ?
Such a great list Sam! There are a few movies that I didn’t see yet!
Aww this was such a cute post! Definitely felt inspired when I watched these movies!
This is a great list, thank you. I really love travel movies, probably my favourite is Wild. I swear I have watched that film about 5 times already in lockdown. xx
Such a great list! I love Forgetting Sarah Marshall – Hawaii has been on my travel bucket list ever since! We love the filming locations from The Beach in Thailand – so gorgeous! I now feel the need to rewatch a lot of these videos and watch the few I haven’t seen before; Wild looks interesting!