Searchlight Pictures

Writer Cheryl Strayed published her memoir "Wild: Lost to Found on the Pacific Coast Trail" documenting her journey of self-discovery following a string of tragedies. Strayed went from an arduous, 1,100-mile trek on the Pacific Coast Trail in 1995 to #1 on "The New York Times' Best Seller list, and the first selection for Oprah Winfrey's star-making book club in 2012. Just two years later, Strayed's story became the subject of a Hollywood movie produced by and starring Reese Witherspoon.

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Strayed (Witherspoon) is in a bad way. Her mother (Laura Dern) has died, her marriage is in shambles, and her coping mechanism to these twin tragedies is self-destructive behaviors. Realizing she's no longer the woman her mother raised her to be, Strayed decides to embark on one of the country's longest and most difficult through-trails, with practically zero outdoors experience. Witherspoon snagged an Oscar nom for her performance, and it's no secret why; she carries this movie on her back the way Strayed carried her camping gear. Movies such as this need star power to succeed, and Witherspoon delivers in spades. As impressive as the physical demands were, her character's journey inward is what lands "Wild" on our list.

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Paramount Pictures

We're suckers for movies about dogs, and "Tracks" not only gives us a great one — a black Labrador named Diggity — but throws in four camels for good measure. Because why not? Released in 2013 and based on a true story, "Tracks" stars Mia Wasikowska as Robyn Davidson, who in 1977 moved to Alice Springs, Australia to travel 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers for you Aussie readers) across the Australian continent to the Indian Ocean. Her only companions are her aforementioned four camels, and her faithful dog Diggity, though Adam Driver shows up as a National Geographic photographer who joins Robyn to document her journey. 

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Driver makes every movie better, but this is Mia's movie through and through, as she proves herself as adept at the physical demands as she is at the interior ones. She's supported by director John Curran's stunning visuals of the Australian outback, which could motivate even the most cautious to pack up and go for a walkabout. Admittedly the movie does tend to drag a tad, which some could argue helps to add to Robyn's sense of silent isolation. But we'll allow it, as it's one of the few movies on this list to feature a dog in a starring role. Need a dog movie and a travel movie? That "Tracks."

Focus Features

Radical chic may be hip, but "The Motorcycle Diaries" plays a bit too much like "Che: The Early Years!" in its earnest, heartfelt, and at times borderline laudatory depiction of the future revolutionary. But if you can get past the fact that "The Motorcycle Diaries" all-but-lionizes an unapologetic homophobe, racist, and mass murderer (admittedly a tall order, perhaps), you'll find a picturesque portrait of a time and place in South American history.

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Gael García Bernal plays Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a 23-year old who goes on a motorcycle trip from Brazil to Peru with his buddy Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna) before his last semester of medical school. Along the way he discovers stunning South American scenery, and even more stunning disparities between the poor peasants and the wealthy industrialists. The movie is based on Guevara's own memoirs, but bears the hallmarks of its director, Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles ("Aquarius," "I'm Still Here"). To Salles' credit, his movie is more concerned with Che as a maverick than a Marxist, and one suspects what most fascinates the unorthodox Salles about his subject is less his politics, and more his status as a countercultural rebel.

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Fox Searchlight Pictures

Wes Anderson is a genre unto himself, as his name springs forth his sui generis cinematic style of profoundly pastel pallettes, sublimely symmetrical static shots, and of course, all-star casts playing quirky characters spitting oddball dialogue. While he has his core troupe of character actors (the Wilson brothers, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray), movie stars from Tom Hanks to Bruce Willis to Gene Hackman to Scarlett Johansson to Ben Stiller to Frances McDormand have done stints with the Texas-born, Paris-based auteur. For fans of Anderson, picking their favorite film can be as tough as choosing between the three Tennenbaum children. But as for the best travel Wes Anderson movie, the answer's easy: "The Darjeeling Limited." 

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Okay, technically the characters travel in "Moonrise Kingdom" but that's more of a chase movie. "The Darjeeling Limited" is the real deal. It stars Anderson mainstays Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, as well as Adrien Brody (in his first of five collaborations with Anderson) as the estranged Whitman brothers who trek via train across India one year following their father's funeral. India proves the perfect backdrop for Anderson's cinematic sensibilities, though "The Darjeeling Limited" is more than just colorful scenery and even more colorful characters. At its core is a powerful and touching tale about the inimitable intimacy shared amongst siblings. Watching this movie will make you want to visit India, and give your brother or sister a big hug.

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Filmax

Like many movies on this list, "The Way" is as much about the journey inward as it is the journey outward, as well as a story about how traveling can serve as a salve for profound sorrow. Yet Emilio Estevez's seventh film as a director goes both deeper and further, as "The Way" is also an exploration of faith. You can tell Estevez takes this story incredibly personally, as he directed, produced, wrote, and co-starred in "The Way." It's also a family affair, as he cast his sister Renée Estevez, and his famous father, Martin Sheen.

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Sheen plays Dr. Thomas Avery, an American ophthalmologist who travels to France to recover the body of his estranged son Daniel (Emilio Estevez), who was killed walking the Camino de Santiago, or The Way of St. James. Overwhelmed with grief, but motivated to honor Daniel, Avery embarks on the ancient Christian pilgrimage with his son's ashes in tow. Along the way Avery takes up with other pilgrims from across the world, while also being visited by visions of his deceased son Daniel. While "The Way" is technically about a physical journey, it is ultimately about the most profound and confounding journey of all; the spiritual journey. While some commentators have remarked on the film's "plodding" pace, "The Way" is deliberate and focused, requiring the patience of a religious ritual. Anchored by Sheen's performance and his son's deft direction, "The Way" is worth the trip.

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20th Century Fox

Before Alfonso Cuarón directed blockbuster movies like "Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban" and "Gravity," and critically acclaimed pics "Children of Men" and "Roma," he made his name in the Mexican film industry with the coming-of-age comedy "Y tu mamá también." Okay, technically his first American movie was 1995's "A Little Princess" followed by 1998's "Great Expectations," but then he went back to his home country to make "Y tu mamá también" in 2001, so leave us alone nerds! Anyway, "Y tu mamá también" is about Julio (Gael García Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna), two teenagers high on hormones who live every straight teen boys' fantasy when they take a road trip through rural Mexico with a beautiful older woman (Maribel Verdú). 

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Along the way, the two teens...stop us if you've heard this before...go on a journey of self-discovery where they learn about themselves, each other, and life itself. Okay, so the plot is expected, but "Y tu mamá también" succeeds not because of the originality of its premise, but the promise displayed by its filmmaker, Cuarón, and the performances of its three leads. "Y tu mamá también" is both a charming celebration of the insouciance of youth, and a harsh reminder of its fleetingness. It's also a love letter to Cuarón's native Mexico, vividly displayed through the trio's car window, passing by with the same transience as youth.

Columbia Pictures

Getting a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes is so hard even undisputed masterpieces like "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" failed. No, the Tomatometer shouldn't be taken as Gospel, but movies that hit the big 1-0-0 must have something going for them. As of this writing, "Before Sunrise" boasts the big kahuna, and for good reason. Besides being the perfect romance, it's also one of the finest travel movies ever made. The setup is simple: American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and French Celine (Julie Delpy) meet on a train in Europe and decide to kill each other's enemies (wait, sorry, that's a different movie). 

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No, they kill time wandering the city of Vienna, falling in love while realizing the greatest romance of their lives will end the next morning. Released in 1995, Richard Linklater's love letter to, well, love, was followed by sequels "Before Sunset" (2004) and "Before Midnight" (2013), but as welcoming as they were, the original is still the best. What makes it "perfect," according to Rotten Tomatoes? It's a romance that feels real, making us not want the movie to end in the same way its characters don't want their night to conclude. What keeps it from number one on our list? It's a better romance than a travel movie, as the characters move from A to B, but stay mostly concentrated in Vienna. A technicality, perhaps, but make no mistake, we're still madly in love with "Before Sunrise."

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Paramount Vantage

Despite winning two Academy Awards and being considered among his generation's best actors, Sean Penn's disillusionment with the filmmaking industry led him to focus more on journalism and activism. One suspects that same sense of disenchantment inspired his fifth directorial feature film, "Into The Wild." Based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer, "Into The Wild" tells the true story of Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsch), a suburban Virginia student who excelled at sports and scholastics, but after graduating from the prestigious Emory University gave it all up. He ceased contact with his family, gave his $24,000-plus college fund to charity, and ventured "into the wild," namely, the "Last Frontier," Alaska. 

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Penn tells McCandless' story through flashbacks and flash forwards, showing the people and places that shaped his values and worldview. Penn assembled a stacked cast for "Into The Wild," including Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Stewart, and Hal Holbrook. But it's all in service to the film's star, who gives the best performance of his career as the wandering wayfarer who gives up everything to discover something, a journey that (spoiler alert) winds up costing him his life. It also cost Hirsch 40 lbs., showing his remarkable commitment to the role. Given it was in one of the best "travel movies" of all time, we think it was worth it.

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Warner Bros.

You didn't think this list would be just highbrow dramas and dramedies about the journey inward, did you? Irony being, despite being the broadest comedy on our list, "National Lampoon's Vacation" may feature the most horrifying events when you think about it. But hey, that's what makes a great comedy, right? And "Vacation" is one of the greatest, landing number one on our list of comedy legend Chevy Chase's best movies.

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We're betting you have already seen "Vacation" a million times (give or take), but in case you need a refresher, the Harold Ramis-directed, John Hughes-penned 1983 comedy classic tells the tale of the Griswold family's all-American road trip from Chicago to Walley World in Southern California. As anyone who has embarked on an epic road trip can attest, it can be a bit stressful. Granted, your trip probably didn't involve driving with dead people, getting lost in the hood, becoming stranded in the desert, and punching moose robots in the face. Or at least, we hope it didn't. 

Chase has never been better in his career-defining role as the gullible and guileless Clark Griswold, who's blinded by his ambition to deliver the perfect family trip, even while everything around him is falling apart. The movie's an '80s throwback to the screwball comedies of yore, and is still as funny today as it was more than four decades ago. Like any great vacation, this "Vacation" creates memories that last a lifetime.

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Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Every movie on this list is great, but only one changed the film industry -– "Easy Rider." The 1969 film is the progeny of stars Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda, who might have been under the influence of something (actually, many things), when they made it. Hopper and Fonda play hippies who hit the highway on their Harleys for a cross-country trip, along the way encountering a motley crew of colorful characters, most notably a twitchy "square" attorney, played by Jack Nicholson in his first of many Oscar-nominated roles. As the tagline says, "a man went looking for America. And couldn't find it anywhere..."

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"Easy Rider" boldly brought the strange brew of baby boomer optimism, cynicism, disenchantment, non-conformity, hope, and rebellion that defined the counterculture, and dominated the art, literature, and music industries throughout the 1960s, to Hollywood. Coming in the wake of "Easy Rider" was the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s, launching careers as varied as Francis Ford Coppola, Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Robert Towne, and more. True, "Bonnie & Clyde" preceded "Easy Rider" by two years, while "Midnight Cowboy" was released the same year. But "Easy Rider" was of the culture, and about the culture, and was unapologetically personal and noncommercial, making its success all the more amazing. For being a seminal cinematic event, and a hallucinatory "trip" through '60s America, "Easy Rider" is the best travel movie ever.

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