Bored at home but unable to travel? While you can certainly fill the void with cooking or other engaging projects, another entertaining option is the tried-and-true cinematic voyage. Luckily, your favorite streaming services offer plenty of movies and television shows to whisk you away to foreign locales, showcase beloved cities, and immerse you in unique cultural experiences.
Streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Go, and The Criterion Channel, provide a rich collection of content that allows you to experience the world from the comfort of your home. Moreover, you can use the new Netflix Party feature to enjoy films with your friends, exploring destinations one movie at a time.
While it’s not quite the same as getting a fresh stamp on your passport, there’s something undeniably alluring about traveling through iconic films such as Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, or following The Blues Brothers on a comedic musical road trip through Chicagoland. More importantly, documentaries reveal unique perspectives of places like Senegal and Mali during events like the Dakar Rally.
Here are our top picks for travel enthusiasts to stream or rent during the holiday season:
Cultural Gems
- The Dark Tourist (Netflix)
- Atlantics (Netflix)
- Udaan (Netflix)
- Chandni Bar Tabu (Amazon Prime)
- Life… In A Metro (Netflix)
- The Land of Many Palaces (Vudu)
- Columbus (Hulu)
- Russian Ark (Fandor)
- Vaya (Netflix)
- Daughters of the Dust (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Eight Miles High (rent via Amazon Prime)
- In the Last Days of the City (rent via Vudu)
- Of Time and the City (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Wings of Desire (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
- The Harder They Come (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
- Tracks (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
Classics
- Roman Holiday (Tubi)
- Vertigo (Starz)
- Amelie (Hulu)
- To Catch a Thief (Amazon Prime)
- Strictly Ballroom (Netflix)
- The Sound of Music (Disney+)
- Lost In Translation (Hulu)
- Metropolitan (Hulu)
- Y tu Mamá Tambien (Netflix)
- The English Patient (Hulu)
- Room with a View (Hulu)
- Paris, Texas (The Criterion Channel)
- Two for the Road (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Before Sunrise (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Before Sunset (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Before Midnight (rent via Amazon Prime)
- It Happened One Night (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
- Lawrence of Arabia (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
- Black Narcissus (The Criterion Channel)
Comedies
- National Lampoon’s Vacation series (Hulu)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Netflix)
- The Beast (The Criterion Channel)
- L’Auberge Espagnole (Netflix)
- The Blues Brothers (Hulu)
- When Harry Met Sally (Hulu)
- The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Hulu)
- A Good Year (Hulu)
- The Commitments (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Good Bye, Lenin! (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
Television
- Queen Sono (Netflix)
- Elite (Netflix)
- Derry Girls (Netflix)
- My Brilliant Friend (Hulu)
- Killing Eve (Hulu)
- Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father (Netflix)
- The Kettering Incident (Amazon Prime)
- Lillyhammer (Netflix)
- Moone Boy (Hulu)
- Larry Charles’ Dangerous World Of Comedy (Hulu)
- The Trip (rent via Amazon Prime)
For Foodies
- Ugly Delicious (Netflix)
- Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (Hulu)
- Like Water for Chocolate (Netflix)
- Garlic is as Good as Ten Mothers (The Criterion Channel)
- Street Food (Netflix)
- Tampopo (The Criterion Channel)
- Chef’s Table (Netflix)
- Yum, Yum, Yum! A Taste of Cajun and Creole Cooking (The Criterion Channel)
- Restaurants on the Edge (Netflix)
- Salt Fat Acid Heat (Netflix)
- Babette’s Feast (The Criterion Channel)
- The Mind of a Chef (Netflix)
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Netflix)
- The Hundred-Foot Journey (Netflix)
- Eat Drink Man Woman (rent via Vudu)
- My Dinner With Andre (rent via Amazon Prime)
Documentaries
- Ken Burns Presents: The West (Netflix)
- …And the Pursuit of Happiness (Criterion Channel)
- Calcutta (Criterion Channel)
- Hotel Monterey (Criterion Channel)
- The Inland Sea (Criterion Channel)
- Man of Aran (Criterion Channel)
- Marseille (Criterion Channel)
- My Winnipeg (Criterion Channel)
- Sunday in Peking (Criterion Channel)
- Vernon, Florida (Criterion Channel)
- Once Were Warriors (rent via Amazon Prime or Vudu)
- A Map for Saturday (rent via Amazon Prime)
For Nature Lovers
- Ken Burns: The National Parks – America’s Best Idea (Amazon Prime)
- National Parks Adventure (Netflix)
- The African Lion (Disney+)
- Night On Earth (Netflix)
- The Vanishing Prairie (Disney+)
- Our Planet (Netflix)
- Fishing with John (The Criterion Channel)
- The Living Desert (Disney+)
- Sweetgrass (The Criterion Channel)
- African Cats (Disney+)
- Bears (Disney+)
- Born in China (Disney+)
- Wild Yellowstone (Disney+)
- Wild Alaska (Netflix)
- Mile, Mile & a Half (Amazon Prime)
- Mountain (Netflix)
- Unbranded (Amazon Prime)
For Sports Fans
- Numerous past Olympic games are beautifully documented on The Criterion Channel.
- The Endless Summer (Amazon Prime, Tubi)
- Free Solo (Hulu, Disney+)
- 13 Days in France (The Criterion Channel)
- A Land Shaped by Women (Tubi)
- The Traveler (The Criterion Channel)
- 7915km (Fandor)
- BeAlive (YouTube)
- The Dawn Wall (Netflix)
- Iron Cowboy (Netflix)
- The Barkley Marathons: The Race that Eats Its Young (Tubi)
- Meru (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Safety to Nome (rent via Amazon Prime)
- Keepers of the Game (rent via Vudu)
This article was originally published in March 2020 and updated in December 2020.
