35 Must-See Road Trip Movies

This screwball comedy follows the adventures of a runaway heiress who has just eloped with an aviator – who is only after her family’s fortune – and an out-of-work news reporter who is after a great story. Their cross-country trip gets the reporter his story, but what he truly wants is her.

After deciding to go on a second honeymoon to Hollywood, Flora and J. Pinkham Whinney invite an oddball couple along to share expenses on the long car ride west. What none of them know is that they’re carrying stolen money embezzled by Whinney’s conniving colleague.

A bittersweet depiction of self-discovery and regret, this Swedish film follows a retired doctor on a 375-mile drive from Stockholm to Lund who picks up a series of hitchhikers that cause him to reflect on his loneliness and disappointments through dreams and recollections of the past.

When a brash convertible driver (Bruno) convinces a shy law student (Roberto) to go out for a drink, the two end up bonding on a spontaneous multi-day trip along the Italian coast; but Bruno’s impulsive nature may just be Roberto’s undoing.

While traveling through France by car, a married couple reflects on their 12 years together, as passion and jest have variously morphed into infidelity and a banality that they struggle to repair.

This surreal black comedy follows a conniving bourgeois couple – who are prepared to resort to murder to get what they want – as they travel through the French countryside on their way to claim their inheritance. Class struggles, historical figures, and car accidents punctuate their ill-fated trip.

This indie counterculture film follows two men with drug money to spare on a cross-country motorcycle trip, as they intersect with hippies on a commune, small town folk who don’t appreciate outsiders, and an alcoholic lawyer who decides to join them for the ride to Mardi Gras.

This film follows a former mob getaway driver who has retired to a peaceful Portuguese fishing village. When he agrees to take one last job transporting a fugitive and his girlfriend into France, he encounters double-crosses and lawmen at every turn.

When two street-racers take their prized ’55 Chevy on an aimless racing trip through the Southwest, an attractive hitchhiker threatens their alliance while a bluffing GTO driver threatens to beat them to New York and win their car as his prize.

In the dramatization of true events, the state of Texas decides that Lou-Jean is an unfit mother and puts her child in a foster home. Lou-Jean responds by breaking her husband out of jail and together they go on the run to retrieve their boy – taking a highway patrolman hostage along the way.

Snowman and Bandit are hired to illegally transport 400 cases of Coors from Texas to Georgia; but when Bandit unwittingly picks up a runaway bride, her would-be father-in-law – a Texas sheriff – chases the two bootleggers all the way to Atlanta, losing pieces of his cruiser along the way.

When the Griswolds, a suburban Midwestern family, attempt to take a road trip to a California amusement park, everything that can go wrong does go wrong, comically dashing the meticulous plans of the well-intentioned paterfamilias.

This absurdist comedy, shot in black and white, follows two deadbeat Brooklyn hustlers, Willie and Eddie, as a surprise visit from Willie’s teenage cousin shakes them out of their stupor and inspires them to get out of Cleveland and head to Florida.

The Griswolds once again attempt a family vacation, this time after winning a trip to Europe on a game show. A series of comical disasters ensue as they race through England, France, Germany, and Italy, eager to cram in as many experiences as possible.

The eccentric man-child Pee-wee Herman loves his decked out new bike…and so does his nemesis, Francis. When Pee-wee’s bike is stolen, he sets off on a cross-country adventure to retrieve it, encountering numerous colorful characters along the way.

In this holiday travel comedy, an uptight marketing executive named Neal and a wacky, talkative salesman become unlikely companions as they try to make it to Chicago by various means in time for Neal to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family.

In this action comedy, a bounty hunter is sent on what should be a simple mission to retrieve a fugitive mafia accountant – but the FBI, the mob, and a rival bounty hunter end up on their heels as the two men develop an unexpected bond.

When a greedy luxury car dealer (Charlie) learns that his estranged father has left his fortune to an autistic brother (Raymond) that he didn’t know he had, Charlie retrieves Raymond and sets off from Cincinnati to Los Angeles in a 1949 Buick Roadmaster in an attempt to also collect the inheritance.

When two best friends decide to break out of their monotonous lives of housewifing and waitressing, their trip to a peaceful fishing cabin takes a turn for the worst, and they end up on the run from the law.

This outlandish buddy comedy follows two dolts as they set out by car from Rhode Island to Colorado to return a briefcase to an attractive woman, unaware that they are in over their heads and being hunted by criminals and the law.

A biographical drama, this is the story of Alvin Straight, an elderly Iowa man who rode his lawn mower on a 240-mile trek to visit his estranged brother in Wisconsin to make amends after his brother’s stroke.

When a college freshman videotapes his affair and the tape is accidentally sent to his long-distance girlfriend, he and some buddies set off on a disaster-filled 1,800-mile drive to retrieve the recording before it’s too late.

When a jovial London butcher dies and requests that his ashes be spread into the sea, his pub mates make the journey with his son, all the while recalling their years together and the ups and downs they’ve shared.

This coming-of-age film follows two restless best friends from different social classes as they embark on a road trip with an older woman who is dealing with secrets and heartbreak of her own. Along the way, the boys bounce between rivalry and intimacy as they attempt to navigate the world.

Recently retired insurance actuary Warren Schmidt has no idea what to do with his newfound freedom. When his wife suddenly dies and leaves him with their new Winnebago, he decides to drive from Omaha to Denver to his daughter’s wedding and convince her not to marry her dolt of a fiancé.

A dramatization of the life of a young Ernesto “Che” Guevara, this film chronicles his motorcycle trip across South America, which revealed the world’s disparities in wealth and opportunity to a med student who would later become a revolutionary.

This charming comedy-drama follows a soon-to-be-married man and his best friend, a struggling writer and wine connoisseur, as they head to Southern California’s wine country for a week of pre-wedding fun.

In this French-American co-production, Murray portrays a rich retiree, Don Johnston, who wants nothing more than to live in peace. However, after receiving a mysterious letter, Don ends up on a quest by plane and car to find out if he has a long-lost son.

When a transgender woman gets a call from an incarcerated young hustler who is looking for his long-lost father, she poses as a Christian social worker to bail the teen out of jail and take him to Los Angeles – all the while struggling to reveal to him the truth that she is actually the parent he’s been seeking.

This indie comedy follows a quirky family, including a Nietzsche-inspired teen who has taken a vow of silence, a gay uncle fresh from a suicide attempt, and a drug-addicted grandfather, who travel in their Volkswagen bus to get their youngest member, Olive, to a beauty pageant she’s been training for.

When a pregnant couple finds out that their unborn child’s only set of grandparents are moving to Belgium before the due date, the couple sets out to visit friends and family around America, see the country, and decide where they’d like to start their family.

An adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s groundbreaking novel of the same name, “On the Road” follows an aspiring writer and his charismatic new friend as they travel across the country numerous times along with various Beat Generation friends, searching for inspiration.

When a crotchety old alcoholic receives a sweepstakes notice telling him he’s won a million dollars, he convinces his reluctant son to drive him from Montana to Nebraska to retrieve it. On the way, they stop in his old home town and cause a ruckus.

In this crime comedy, an ameteur pot dealer gets in over his head and must pick up a huge shipment in Mexico or else, so he hires a stripper and some local teens to pose as his fake family along for the ride in his RV and help him pull off the score.

This comedy-drama follows a young man with Tourette syndrome, his anorexic girlfriend, and his OCD roommate as they break out of the behavioral center they’re checked into and head to the ocean to scatter his mom’s ashes.