What do you do when you can’t travel?
You watch travel documentaries.
Thanks to the internet, YouTube specifically, there are thousands, if not millions of documentaries to watch. The documentaries in this list are inspiring, enlightening, and some even a bit scary.
High quality travel documentaries on YouTube can be difficult to find (many aren’t worth the hour of your life), but after sifting through the related videos of related videos of related videos, I’ve come up with this list of 9 must watch travel documentaries – and the best part is they are all free:
1. Meet The Stans: Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan
In this documentary, part of a 4 episode series, the BBC’s Simon Reeve visits Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan. The documentary sheds a light on a region of the world often overlooked. Simon experiences the cultures of the countries and shows viewers sights not often covered by the media.
Also, Simon Reeve is a skillful and always entertaining presenter. He’s an adventurer, has traveled to something like 120 countries, makes a lot of travel documentaries for the BBC, and even wrote a book about Osama bin Laden pre 9/11. What a legend.
This series was released in the UK around 2003, so it’s slightly outdated, but still very fascinating.
2. Meet The Stans: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan
Meet The Stans: Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is the second part of the Meet the Stans series. It’s just as good as the Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan part, if not better.
3. Life In A Day
Watch the trailer.
Watch the full documentary on YouTube.
Life In A Day is National Geographic movie/documentary produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald. I can’t do a better job than the original, so here’s how National Geographic describes Life In A Day:
Oscar-winning film director Kevin Macdonald’s Life in a Day was born out of a unique partnership between Ridley Scott’s Scott Free UK and YouTube. The film is a user-generated, feature-length documentary shot on a single day—July 24, 2010.
Enlisted to capture a moment of the day on camera, the global community responded by submitting more than 80,000 videos to YouTube. The videos contained over 4,500 hours of deeply personal, powerful moments shot by contributors from Australia to Zambia, and from the heart of bustling major cities to some of the most remote places on Earth.
4. Steven Fry in America
Watch the trailer.
Watch the documentary on YouTube.
I hadn’t watched or read any of Stephen Fry’s content until this documentary, even though he’s famous – 12 million followers famous. Stephen Fry in America is a 6 episode series by the BBC covering Stephen Fry’s adventures on this side of the Atlantic. Fry travels in a London cab, visiting all 50 states. The episode above takes place in 2008 and was the first in the series. In it Fry visits New England, goes to a primary event with Mitt Romney and also meets Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia.
5. Holy Land: Startup Nations
Watch the documentary on Wired.co.uk.
This isn’t exactly a ‘travel documentary’, but it provides a very interesting view of the Middle East and start up culture. Wired frequently puts out video content on all sorts of topics.
6. Shenzhen: The Silicon Valley of Hardware
Watch the documentary on YouTube.
Once again, this isn’t exactly a travel documentary, but Wired makes some really great documentaries, so I had to add this. China is a really interesting place, and this documentary highlights Shenzhen and how it is the hub of all hardware.
7. First Time In Africa: Ep 1 – Backpacking in South Africa & Namibia
Watch the documentary on YouTube.
YouTuber and world traveler, Karl Watson created this insightful travel documentary, depicting his adventures in South Africa and Namibia. The documentary gives you a personal view of a tour around the southern region of Africa and really highlights Africa’s natural beauty. Like the Wired documentaries, Karl Watson also puts out new videos frequently.
8. Rick Steves’ Europe: Istanbul
Watch on YouTube.
While most of Rick Steves’ videos are more catered to my parent’s generation I found this full episode of Rick Steves’ Europe on Istanbul is quite interesting. But first, is Istanbul even in Europe? Watch the video to find out.
Note: If you’re a Rick Steves’ fan, you can find a ton of his videos on YouTube if you do a bit of searching.
9. Inside North Korea, Vice
Watch episode 1 of this documentary on YouTube. Also, here’s episode 2 and episode 3.
Vice puts out a lot of weird, interesting content, and Inside North Korea fits perfectly in that mold. This documentary gives a behind the curtain account of the Hermit Kingdom.
What are your favorite travel documentaries? Leave a comment below.
Top photo credit: Death to Stock
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