Cheapflights.com Salutes Travel-Inspired Films in Honor of the 85th Academy Awards

Announcing Our Top 10 Oscar-Winning Travel Movies -- and the Winners Are...


BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Feb 19, 2013) - Millions around the globe will be tuning in this Sunday, February 24th, to watch the 85th Academy Awards. The travel experts, and movie buffs, at Cheapflights.com, the online leader in finding and publishing travel deals, decided to combine both these passions to come up with their Top 10 Oscar-Winning Travel Movies of all time. While there are several travel-inspired films nominated this year, including Best Picture nominee Life of Pi, our travel experts have looked back on Oscar-winning films through the ages, dating as far back as 1951, for picks where travel adventures and locations have taken center stage.

Nothing says adventure like travel, so it's no surprise there are many award-winning movies that transport viewers along on a journey. Picking our favorites was no easy task, and we are certain debate will follow. Nonetheless, below we offer five picks from our list of Top 10 Oscar-Winning Travel Movies:

  • Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
    Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Cinematography (Color), Best Film Editing, Best Music (Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture) and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
    Based on a Jules Verne novel, this best picture winner tells the story of Phileas Fogg -- an English man who makes a big bet (and by big, we mean £20,000) with a few skeptics that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Fogg takes a train to Paris, then sets off in a hot air balloon and travels -- by various means -- across the globe with stops in places like Spain, India, Hong Kong, Japan and San Francisco. The adventurous Englishman encounters numerous trials and tribulations during his journey, but in the end (spoiler alert) he's saved by the International Date Line, which gives him an extra day and the chance to win it all at the last minute.

  • The Accidental Tourist (1988)
    Academy Award: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Geena Davis)
    Baltimore-based travel guide writer Macon Leary is the focal point in this international story of love and loss. The writer experiences his share of heart break: the murder of his son, the break up of his marriage and an injury that brings him back to his childhood home where he meets kennel manager Muriel Pritchett (played by Geena Davis). Praised for its adapted screenplay, original score and acting, the drama unfolds with a shared flight to Paris (where Leary is researching his next guide), a hotel recommendation and a taxi.

  • Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
    Academy Award: Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Penélope Cruz)
    Barcelona is the main backdrop for this story of twisted love connections. When two American women -- practical Vicky and carefree Cristina -- travel to the Spanish city for the summer, they meet artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo and a series of seduction attempts (and successes) ensues. But it's the arrival of Gonzalo's unstable ex-wife Maria Elena (played by Penélope Cruz) that really shakes things up. Shot on location in Barcelona, the movie also takes viewers to Oviedo, Spain, France and the U.S.

  • Sideways (2004)
    Academy Award: Best Adapted Screenplay
    In this 2004 comedic drama, a week-long road trip that starts in the name of good fun turns into debauchery as two middle-aged men travel from San Diego up to Santa Ynez Valley wine country in California. The movie sheds light on the human condition, using the trip as a tool to fully develop characters. In the meantime, the film features plenty of picturesque California vineyards. And the succession of wines that parade across the screen will leave you longing for a trip to wine country -- and a glass of red. Pinot Noir, anyone?

  • Up (2009)
    Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score
    Unconventional travel is at its finest in this animated story of elderly widower Carl Fredricksen who ties thousands of helium balloons to his house and takes off in search of a fictional location -- Paradise Falls, Venezuela. Fredricksen's journey is inspired by a lifelong personal goal and a promise to his late wife after years of saving up for the trip. The film's creators spent time in Venezuela researching their main character's destination, which seems to most closely resemble Angel Falls in Venezuela's Canaima National Park.

Rounding out our list of Oscar-winning films that may just inspire your next vacation are: An American in Paris (1951) -- Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Art (Set Decoration), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Costume Design (Color), Best Musical Score and Best Writing, Scoring and Screenplay; Lost in Translation (2003) -- Academy Award: Best Original Screenplay; Out of Africa (1985) -- Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Sound; The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) -- Academy Award: Best Original Song and Forrest Gump (1994) -- Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Tom Hanks), Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects and Best Adapted Screenplay. To read the complete award-winning details on Cheapflights.com's Top 10 Oscar-Winning Travel Movies, visit http://news.cheapflights.com/top-10-oscar-winning-travel-movies.

About momondo Group
momondo Group is an online travel media and technology company that is driven by the belief that an open world is a better world. The group now serves travel search and inspiration to over 13 million visitors a month -- plus 6 million travel newsletter subscribers -- via its Cheapflights (www.cheapflights.com) and momondo (www.momondo.com) brands.

Skygate began the sourcing of complex air-travel data in 1992, while Cheapflights pioneered the online comparison of flight deals for users in 1996 and momondo launched meta-search in the Nordic countries in 2006. 

The Group has offices in London, Copenhagen, Boston and Toronto, with a consumer base across 16 core international markets but users all over the world.

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