29 Travel Documentaries and Films For Those Who Love to Explore

Travelling the world, pushing the limits on human endurance, and catching the very best of what this world offers all in one programme can be difficult. Yet on the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, and more, a lot tick all those boxes, bringing a level of immersion to what you're watching. This list covers anything from comedy documentaries to darker emotional journeys, mirroring how each person's entertainment and adventure are unique. With many gaining popularity through the famous Sundance, Tribeca and Cannes film festivals, as well as going on to win big at the Oscars, it shows that travel has a place in the heart of millions of people.

If you love to travel and have a thirst for experiencing more in life, then the following travel documentaries and films follow a select group of people doing precisely that. We will keep updating this list with suggestions, so if you've seen any incredible travel documentaries or films, let us know.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Movieclips Trailers
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming (previously Netflix)
• Focus: Trekking, backpacking, solo travel, self-discovery
• Overview: Wild, based on a true story, follows the character of Cheryl Strayed, whose past experiences and traumas had driven her to seek new adventures in the world. It's a healing solo journey of over 1000 miles across the Pacific Crest Trail against all odds.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Searchlight Pictures
• Current streaming platforms: Disney+, Virgin TV Go,
• Focus: Backpacking, rural travel, solo travel, nomad travel
• Overview: Nomads live outside of conventional society and travel from place to place without any fixed abode. This life of freedom has become more popular, and Nomadland (based on a true story) follows those who live it, with real-life Nomads featured throughout this adventure in the American West.

• Type: Documentary Film
• Credit: Madman Films
• Current streaming platforms: Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Mountain ranges, skiing/snowboarding, hiking/climbing travel
• Overview: This incredible cinematic and musical blend celebrates human's fascination with mountains. These awe-inspiring landscapes have long held a mythical place in culture. Yet, with an increase in accessibility, Mountain explores why millions of us each year love to scale these hazardous areas.

• Type: Documentary
• Credit: NDG Cinema
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming (occasionally on Netflix)
• Focus: Extreme sports, adrenaline, Mother Nature
• Overview: Magnetic is a travel documentary that takes you to the edge of adrenaline, documenting thrill-seekers at the height of their profession. Big wave surfers, wing-suit divers, mountain bikers and more feature as they take on nature head first.

• Type: Film
• Credit: See Saw Films, Movieclips Trailers
• Current streaming platforms: Plex
• Focus: Solo travel, trekking, travel with animals, self-discovery
• Overview: Tracks is, unbelievably, based on a true story about a woman who embarks on a 1700km trek across the deserts of West Australia with her dog and four camels. It's a life-changing journey of determination, solo adventure, and overcoming adversity to experience more about life.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Paramount, River Road Entertainment, Movieclips Classic Trailers
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Solo travel, nomad travel, self-discovery
• Overview: This true story explores the story of Christopher McCandless, a student-athlete who had every possession available to him and left it all behind to find himself. He disappears from society to explore all of North America, going on a journey that takes him through everything in life.

• Type: Documentary Series
• Credit: Netflix
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: Dark tourism
• Overview: Led by David Farrier (who has long had comparisons with Louis Theroux), Dark Tourist documents a new look into some of the world's darkest tourist attractions and what attracts people to them. His explorative journey takes him from haunted experiences in America to the reclusive nation of Turkmenistan.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Umbrella Entertainment
• Current streaming platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Virgin TV Go, Pluto TV,
• Focus: Wilderness, Against all odds
• Overview: Daniel Radcliffe plays Yossi Ghinsberg in an adaption of the real-life survival thriller. Yossi went to explore one of the last untouched areas of the world, the Bolivian Rainforest, on a journey of exploration. The trip would be scarcely believable if it wasn't a true story, where Yossi is pushed to the very edge of survival.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Kinocheck
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: Van travel, couple travel, pet travel, North America travel
• Overview: Expedition Happiness follows a German couple (Mowgli and Felix) and their dog Rudi. They renovate an old school bus and use it to explore North America and what there is in life, too.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures, Movieclips Trailers
• Current streaming platforms: Disney+
• Focus: Comedy, first summer job, first-time travel, self-discovery, America travel
• Overview: The Way Way Back is typical American humour, exploring a teenager's self-development journey through getting away from home and finding a place where he feels he fits. For those going to summer camp, this travel film gives off proper American summer vibes.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Tobis Films, Roadside Attractions, Armoury Films, Endeavor Content, Kinocheck.com
• Current streaming platforms: Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Friends travel, America travel, self-discovery
• Overview: The Peanut Butter Falcon explores the journey of Zak, a man with Down syndrome who wants to travel across America to become a wrestler. He meets Tyler (Shia LaBeouf), and it follows their adventure and their friendship across the country.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Bleeker Street
• Current streaming platforms: Amazon Prime Video, BBC iplayer, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Family travel
• Overview: Captain Fantastic focuses on a family that has lived out in nature for over a decade but is forced by circumstance to rejoin modern society against their true wishes. It focuses on both the physical and metaphorical adventure they have to go on to do so.

• Type: Comedy Documentary Series
• Credit: Netflix
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: Comedy travel
• Overview: Jack Whitehall travels around the world, completing a gap year he previously cut short. In this travel documentary series, he takes his father with him to see the world whilst building the bond between them as a result. 

• Type: Documentary Series
• Credit: CNN
• Current streaming platforms: Freevee Amazon Channel, Pluto TV
• Focus: Food & travel, solo travel
• Overview: The world-renowned chef, Anthony Bourdain, travels around the world, sampling the food and cultures of every place he visits. He became as famous for his travels as he was for his food, and this is a look back on what his life represents.

• Type: Documentary Films
• Credit: NDG Cinema
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming (previously Netflix)
• Focus: Extreme sports, adrenaline, Mother Nature
• Overview: This is the first in a series of films which takes a fascinating look at adrenaline junkies pushing themselves to the limit before nature pushes back. This includes high altitude skiing, surfing and other death-defying activities, exploring what it means to feel alive.

• Type: Documentary Film
• Credit: NDG Cinema
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming (previously Netflix)
• Focus: Extreme sports, adrenaline travel, activity travel
• Overview: Addicted to Life focuses on men and women who consistently push the limits out in the wild. In areas naturally threatening environments, such as rugged ski slopes, towering waves, and sheer cliff faces, Addicted to Life looks to find the pleasure in the madness of adrenaline.

• Type: Documentary Film
• Credit: Entertainment Studios
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: surfing, overcoming challenges, 
• Overview: Unstoppable is the true story of Bethany Hamilton, who lost her left arm in a shark attack. Miraculously, she was out competing no more than 4 weeks later, and Unstoppable explores her incredible willpower to push the boundaries and then inspire others.

• Type: Documentary Film
• Credit: Netflix
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: surfing, overcoming challenges, recovery
• Overview: Resurface promotes the story of how surfing is medicine for military veterans with physical and mental injuries. Their love of the ocean and surfing provides an opportunity to re-piece their lives as they choose to.

• Type: Documentary
• Credit: Filmax, Mihamar Media, Fargo Entertainment, Trailers y Estrenos
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: surfing, overcoming challenges
• Overview: Following the real story of Alvaro Vizcaino, who fell off a cliff and seriously injured himself, Solo shows the incredible nature of the human spirit in the face of the power of nature, especially that of the ocean. 

• Type: Documentary
• Credit: Mars Films, Unifrance
• Current streaming platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Climbing, Everest
• Overview: The Climb centres on a regular guy from France who is planning to scale the Himalayas, proving his love for his partner. This story of love captures the country, and the adventure is a message of hope and belief that everyone can create their own path, no matter how difficult.

• Type: Documentary
• Credit: Red Bull Media House, Sender Films
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: climbing, El Capitan, self-discovery, America travel
• Overview: The Dawn Wall follows the well-known story of Tommy Caldwell, who planned to complete a free ascent of Dawn Wall, one of the last unclimbed sections of the El Capitan mountain. It documents his wild journey from childhood through to his incredible climbing adventures. 

• Type: Documentary
• Credit: National Geographic
• Current streaming platforms: Disney Plus, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: climbing, El Capitan, self-discovery, America travel
• Overview: 2018 was clearly the year of climbing, with arguably climbing's most famous documentary focusing on Alex Honnold, who aimed to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. This death-defying attempt to scale it with no safety equipment is 'watch through your fingers' stuff.

• Type: Documentary 
• Credit: Netflix
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: Ocean, scuba diving, marine conservation
• Overview: For anyone who has scuba dived, the world beneath the surface is an incredible sight. But it's more than just a pretty picture. It plays a vital part in the world's ecosystem, and it's being destroyed through global warming. Chasing Coral explores a band of ocean protectors who are doing everything to highlight its plight. 

• Type: Documentary 
• Credit: Universal Pictures
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming (previously Netflix)
• Focus: Cave diving, exploration, oceans,
• Overview: Sanctum takes you under water and the world that exists below. Exploring everything from the oceans to caves is an incredible yet dangerous experience, and Sanctum observes why some people are so captivated by it.

• Type: Documentary 
• Credit: Netflix
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix
• Focus: Climbing, Hiking, Mountaineering
• Overview: There are 14 8000m+ peaks worldwide, and to summit all of them has long been considered an impossibility due to a mixture of conditions, fitness, and political factors. Nepalese mountaineer Nimsdai Purja aimed to do them within 7 months, and 14 Peaks is an incredible travel documentary that follows that journey. 

• Type: Film 
• Credit: 20th Century Studios
• Current streaming platforms: Disney+, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Exploration, backpacking, change in life
• Overview: The Beach is widely considered to be one of the most famous Hollywood travel films, led by lead man Leonardo Di Caprio. Seeking paradise, he embarks on a journey to find it, which takes him to South East Asia. The film's impact led to the actual beach in Thailand becoming one of the region's most popular tourist spots. 

• Type: Film
• Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Current streaming platforms: Netflix, Sky, Now TV, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Exploration, change in life, true story
• Overview: Julia Roberts goes on a journey to travel the world, discovering what is out there and more about herself. After coming to a crossroads after a divorce, she leaves her job and her comfort zone to do her own thing, finding there's a lot more to life when she does.

• Type: Film
• Credit: 20th Century Fox
• Current streaming platforms: Disney+, Virgin TV Go
• Focus: Exploration, change in life,
• Overview: Ben Stiller leads the way in this film about a dreamer in life who is lost in his current role at work. He trades it in to explore the world, and this film follows that adventure and how he develops as a result.

• Type: Film
• Credit: Warner Bros Pictures
• Current streaming platforms: Not currently streaming
• Focus: Bucket list travel
• Overview: With an all-star duo of Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, The Bucket List depicts the story of two guys who, through unfortunate circumstances, meet and decide to experience as much of the world as possible.