Top Movies to Inspire European Wanderlust
By Marina Shea
Whether you’re planning to travel to Europe or are just a lover of all things European, movies are the best way to temporarily transport yourself to another place and get excited for the sights you may soon see in the flesh! Here’s a list of the top movies to inspire your European wanderlust (and a few extras with some great European scenery).
A Good Year
A stiff London banker travels to Provence after inheriting his uncle’s vineyard and learns how to take life at a slower pace.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: London and Provence
Angels and Demons
Full of mystery and suspense, a renowned symbologist must solve a murder and help prevent an attack on the Vatican by an ancient brotherhood known as the Illuminati. Just be warned that while it is very entertaining it is notoriously inaccurate.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Where you’ll travel: Rome
Chocolat
A French village gets turned upside down by newcomers who bring life and zest to the sleepy town through chocolate.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: France
Copenhagen
Shot throughout the city of Copenhagen, this is a story about a man on a journey and a young Danish girl who teaches him how to live and love.
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Copenhagen (obviously)
The Da Vinci Code
Cryptic clues left behind after a murder in Paris’ Louvre Museum lead to an action packed chase to uncover a truth that could rewrite religious history.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Where you’ll travel: Paris, London, and Scotland
Eat Pray Love
Newly divorced Elizabeth Gilbert sets out to travel for a year to Italy, India, and Indonesia to rediscover herself.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Rome, India, Bali
French Kiss
A must if you love a 90s Meg Ryan, French Kiss is the story of a woman who teams up with a French thief to journey through France and win back her fiancé who has run off with a French woman.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Paris, the French countryside, and the Côte d'Azur
Girl on a Bicycle
An Italian who drives a Paris tour bus becomes infatuated with a French woman he sees on a bike while on his bus route and soon finds himself caught between the cyclist, her children and his German flight attendant fiancé.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Paris
The Italian Job
While only the opening sequence takes place in Italy, the scenic chase through Venetian canals are enough to leave you lusting for Venice as the crimes a group of intelligent criminals must be corrected after one of their own turns against them.
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Where you’ll travel: Los Angeles and Venice
Julie and Julia
The intertwined stories of a New York woman who assigns herself the project of preparing all of the recipes from Julia Child’s cookbook and Julia Child’s mission to conquer French cuisine.
Genre: Biography, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Paris
Leap Year
Anna is determined to finally marry her boyfriend of many years and follows him to Ireland in order to propose to him on leap day but just might find love in the Irishman she hires to take her to Dublin.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Dublin, Inis Mor, Dingle, and really all of Ireland
Letters to Juliet
A young woman named Sophie finds an old love letter left to Juliet Capulet in Verona and reaches out to Claire, the letter’s author, inspiring a journey throughout Italy to find Claire’s lost-love with Claire’s grandson and Sophie in tow. (Again, cannot recommend highly enough)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Verona and Tuscany
Midnight in Paris
While on vacation in Paris with his fiancé, Gil Pender finds himself often exploring the city alone and makes friends that seem to take him back in time to the Parisian Jazz Age.
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Paris
Roman Holiday
A European princess escapes her guards to explore the city of Rome without supervision and finds herself falling in love with an undercover American reporter.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Rome
To Rome with Love
A series of vignettes looking into the comical experiences of the Eternal City’s residents and visitors.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Rome
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
A man who works developing photos for Life magazine gets the chance to go out and have his own adventure when his job is threatened and he is sent on a mission.
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Where you’ll travel: Greenland, Iceland, Himalayas
The Tourist
An American tourist finds himself entwined with beautiful and mysterious stranger in Venice.
Genre: Action, Romance, Thriller
Where you’ll travel: Paris and Venice
Under the Tuscan Sun
A recently divorced woman goes on a tour of Italy and impulsively buys a Tuscan villa and begins renovations on the villa as well as her life.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Tuscany
Vicky Christina Barcelona
Two young Americans living in Barcelona for the summer each get involved with a Spanish artist and one enters into a polyamorous relationship with him and his fiery ex-wife, Maria Elena.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Where you’ll travel: Barcelona
MORE movies that make you catch the European travel bug:
Amélie (France)
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset & Before Midnight (series- Austria, Paris, Greece)
Casanova (Italy)
Casino Royale (Czech Republic, Bahamas, Italy)
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (France)
Ever After (France)
Funny Face (France)
In Bruges (Belgium)
The Italian Job [1969 version] (Italy, England)
Love Actually (England)
Magic in the Moonlight (France)
Mamma Mia! (Greece)
Match Point (England)
My Life in Ruins (Greece)
Notting Hill (England)
Only You (Italy)
P.S. I Love You (Ireland)
Pride & Prejudice (England)
Ratatouille (France)
Sherlock Holmes (England)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (Italy)
When in Rome (Italy)