# The 21 Best Travel Documentaries of All Time

> Some of these were built around a motorbike or a train seat, others around a plate of food or a silent camera. The line between travelogue and obsession gets blurry fast.

*By YPB Team · Published October 17, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-21-best-travel-documentaries-of-all-time*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Samsara** — score 1000/1000
   A wordless 70mm film of landscapes, rituals and cities shot across twenty-five countries.
2. **Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown** — score 942/1000
   CNN series in which the chef travelled to overlooked places and let food open up local politics and history.
3. **Long Way Down** — score 753/1000
   The same pair ride from Scotland to Cape Town, crossing Africa on BMW adventure bikes.
4. **An Idiot Abroad** — score 753/1000
   Karl Pilkington is sent to see the Seven Wonders of the World and hates most of it.
5. **Bruce Parry's Amazon** — score 753/1000
   Bruce Parry follows the Amazon river from its mouth to its source, living with the communities along it.
6. **Long Way Up** — score 668/1000
   McGregor and Boorman cross the Americas from Patagonia to Los Angeles on electric motorcycles.
7. **Baraka** — score 565/1000
   Ron Fricke's non-narrative study of sacred sites, nature and crowded cities filmed in twenty-four countries.
8. **Departures** — score 565/1000
   Two Canadian friends quit their jobs and spend three seasons travelling to far corners of the world.
9. **Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy** — score 565/1000
   The actor tours Italian regions to trace how local dishes reflect their histories.
10. **Around the World in 80 Days** — score 439/1000
   Michael Palin races to circle the globe without flying, following Jules Verne's route.
11. **Rick Steves' Europe** — score 439/1000
   A long-running public television guide to travelling Europe like a local.
12. **Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations** — score 439/1000
   Travel Channel show that sent Bourdain across the globe to eat, drink and argue with locals.
13. **Long Way Round** — score 439/1000
   Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman ride motorcycles from London to New York the long way east.
14. **Whicker's World** — score 439/1000
   Alan Whicker's long-running BBC series of dry, probing portraits of people and places abroad.
15. **Full Circle with Michael Palin** — score 439/1000
   A journey around the Pacific Rim, covering seventeen countries over eight months.
16. **Somebody Feed Phil** — score 439/1000
   Phil Rosenthal eats his way around the world in a warm, funny Netflix series.
17. **Stephen Fry in America** — score 439/1000
   Fry visits all fifty US states in a London taxi.
18. **Kon-Tiki** — score 0/1000
   Thor Heyerdahl's Oscar-winning record of his 1947 raft voyage across the Pacific.
19. **Pole to Pole** — score 0/1000
   Palin travels from the North Pole to the South Pole staying close to a single line of longitude.
20. **Great Railway Journeys of the World** — score 0/1000
   A BBC series that rides famous rail routes and luxury trains across several continents.
21. **Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia** — score 0/1000
   The comedian drives through the Australian outback and coast meeting people along the way.

Tags: movies, travel, adventure, tv shows, documentary