Best travel shows (TV)

Columbia

To the mods: if you feel this belongs in the TV forum I apologise, feel free to move it. I'd like more of a travellers' perspective on this than a general one, so I'm hoping it can be left here.

What are the best travel-related shows/documentaries you've seen?

I think BBC's Holidays In the Danger Zone is excellent and well worth watching if you can get your hands on it. Travel shows are often formulaic but Simon Reeves in particular steps away from the tired old blueprints. Deals with pretty out-of-the-way places that generally don't get attention from more mainstream shows.

I loved Long Way Round (and Long Way Down to a lesser extent), I've watched the entire series 8 or 10 times. While McGregor and Boorman have slightly different problems to the rest of us (e.g. "which company will give us free motorbikes?"), it shows how much planning goes into a long trip. On a related note, By Any Means is interesting but the actual travel/destinations takes a bit of a backseat.

Around the World in 80 Days by Michael Palin is good, although a bit slow-moving at times. The production looks a little dated (I was surprised it aired in 1989, it looks like it's from about 1983).

Finally, the old warhorse, Globe Trekker. There must be about 170 episodes now, dealing with at least 70-80 countries. When I go to a new country I always check if Globe Trekker have an episode on it.

Stinicker

I've watched Michael Palin's stuff and it is great, He made a great series about Eastern Europe a while back too.

mimihops

I thought Holidays in the Danger Zone was really interesting too. A newish series that I enjoy is Departures, it's a Canadian travel series with two guys travelling around various places, I like it for a bit of armchair travelling anyway!

foundry

Could anyone recommend a good show that concentrates on Australia? Preferably Perth? Must Check out Globe Trekker.

lc180

mimihops wrote: »

I thought Holidays in the Danger Zone was really interesting too. A newish series that I enjoy is Departures, it's a Canadian travel series with two guys travelling around various places, I like it for a bit of armchair travelling anyway!

What channel is Departures on? I've seen a few clips on YouTube and it looks pretty good!

Yamanoto

The Guardian's take on Charley Boorman's adventures were spot on & made me chuckle.

– Charley on riding a motorbike through Sulawesi: "Here I am on a motorbike, and it's beautiful, beautiful countryside, just stunning."

– Charley on boatbuilding: "Beautiful, I like it, that's amazing."

– Charley on a Toyota Land Cruiser: "Beautiful, just beautiful."

– Charley on riding a motorbike through Sulawesi, part 2: "It's beautiful, just riding along the coastline, up and down the mountains, and all sorts of different places. It's – very, very, very beautiful here."

– Charley on the view: "Look at that, incredible, it's just so beautiful here."

– Charley on the weather: "The weather's just so beautiful here."

– Charley on riding a motorbike through Sulawesi, part 3: "We'll just ride and ride and ride, and it's going to be beautiful."

They may as well have sent Bernard Matthews. I'm glad you're having a lovely holiday Charley, and I admire your enthusiasm, but I don't really understand why this is on television. You need to tell me interesting stuff, entertain me, or amuse me. Or do something extraordinary. And I'm not sure this is extraordinary – your team of fixers calling ahead to arrange for you to borrow beautiful Harley-Davidsons and Toyota Land Cruisers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2009/oct/19/charley-boorman-bear-grylls-ferrell

mimihops

lc180 wrote: »

What channel is Departures on? I've seen a few clips on YouTube and it looks pretty good!

I started watching it on some German channel RTL, think it's on National Geographic channel too but I'm not too sure.

Columbia

Yamanoto wrote: »

The Guardian's take on Charley Boorman's adventures were spot on & made me chuckle.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2009/oct/19/charley-boorman-bear-grylls-ferrell

That reminds me of how much my best friend and I always laugh at Russ, sometimes he says the most incredibly obvious things.

Standing by a deflating hot air balloon - "There's loads of hot air in there!"

Hearing about Charley's crash on Race to Dakar - "If he's broken both his hands it's going to be harder to ride the bike."

In a cave - "It's really dark in here!"

lc180

I've been watching Departures online since the recommendations and must say I really like it!
Every episode makes me want to pack in my job and go explore the world.

For anyone interested, here's a link to the YouTube channel I use.

http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCk9BsyZ5TSCFBg_Y7thktlQ

mimihops

It's good isn't it? Definitely one of my favourite travel shows, nothing like a bit of armchair travelling and dreaming about where you could go next!! There doesn't seem to be loads of travel shows nowadays, I don't know what I'll do when I'm finished Departures!

Ponster

Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and "The Layover"

TheDrog

Ponster wrote: »

Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and "The Layover"

Th Dublin episode of The Layover aired in America on Monday

adamski8

lc180 wrote: »

I've been watching Departures online since the recommendations and must say I really like it!
Every episode makes me want to pack in my job and go explore the world.

For anyone interested, here's a link to the YouTube channel I use.

http://www.youtube.com/feed/UCk9BsyZ5TSCFBg_Y7thktlQ

Anywhere else have the rest of them. That only has most of season 1. I didnt like the canada episodes at all, i think justin is a bit of a moron.

lc180

So I've watched all of the Departures episode and am currently hooked on Anthony Bourdains travel/food shows. My favourite format is The Layover but Parts Unknown is also a good watch.

Just noticed at the weekend that Parts Unknown is back on CNN if anyone is interested in watching it.

Layinghen

I loved Stephen Fry's 'America'. All 50 states covered.

lc180

Apologies for reviving an old thread but the previous posts are top notch and relevant.

Any new travel based TV shows anyone can reccomend? I'm looking for inspiration for next years holiday.

My favourite from this year is 'Race across the world' on BBC.

cdeb

Depends what you're interested in really.

Simon Reeve and Levison Wood have several excellent series under their belts at this stage.

Just finished watching a bit of World's Most Dangerous Roads; decent, although a bit less celebrity and more locality would be good.

Chris Tarrant's Extreme Railways is good, as is any Joanna Lumley series (particularly enjoyed the Silk Road)

Can't beat the original though - bit of Michael Palin. Brazil wasn't great, but the others were all top notch.

Beersmith

All a bit outdated now. YouTube is the place.

cdeb

What's outdated?

And what's on YouTube?

Nigel Fairservice

I love Richard Ayoade's Travel Man on Channel 4.

Nigel Fairservice

cdeb wrote: »

What's outdated?

And what's on YouTube?

There are a lot of good travel vloggers on Youtube.

cdeb

Fair enough, but a suggestion or two wouldn't go amiss!

I'd be surprised if they were of the level of a BBC documentary to be quite honest, but it does come back to my original point of what you want out of a travel show

Nigel Fairservice

There are a good few vloggers. Some do niche travel videos and some make more general travel videos. For general travel I like Sam and Audrey and Kara and Nate. Indigo Traveller makes enjoyable niche travel videos.

Ticking and Bashing

I also binged on Sam and Audrey (more so their European adventures) and on Flying the Nest!

harpstilidie

On YouTube check out:

-Kara and Nate
-Lost LeBlanc
-Flying the Nest
-The Endless Adventure

Kara and Nate being my favourite.

irish_goat

Rick Stein's Long Weekends are quite good for European cities. I've gone to a few places he's visited on these shows. He has a few other shows were he travels around specific countries, these are good too. There's very much a food/cooking focus so if you're not too interested in food then it might not be for you.

Richard Ayoade's show, as mentioned, also good. Quite like Hector's shows too but he doesn't seem to do Europe much so not very relevant to me. His recent Siberia to Saigon was interesting though.

Tommy Bowe had a travel show on RTE and it's brutal.

miamee

cdeb wrote: »

Depends what you're interested in really.

Simon Reeve and Levison Wood have several excellent series under their belts at this stage.

Just finished watching a bit of World's Most Dangerous Roads; decent, although a bit less celebrity and more locality would be good.

Chris Tarrant's Extreme Railways is good, as is any Joanna Lumley series (particularly enjoyed the Silk Road)

Can't beat the original though - bit of Michael Palin. Brazil wasn't great, but the others were all top notch.

I really enjoyed her Trans-Siberian Express series, fantastic.

grimm2005

It was mentioned a few times originally in this thread but I really enjoyed Departures, just two lads travelling everywhere and anywhere.

Travel Man is nice and light and a bit of fun and all episodes are now on All4. Unfortunately Aoyade has said he won't be doing any more

Simon Wilson on YouTube is probably one of my favourites these days. He does "no money" challenges where he visits a city for 3 days with no money and tries to get by. He has some big challenges as well, my fave was his trip across America with no money. There's about 42 videos or so in it so would keep you occupied for a while. He's a bit of a chancer but his positivity is infectious.