A great travel video should reveal the hidden secrets of a destination or tell a powerful story about the people who live there. But most importantly, it should inspire you to embark on your own adventure. Each month, we'll be bringing you the top new travel videos from around the internet.
In this installment, we watch parkour enthusiasts leap across one of Asia's most iconic sites, witness a mesmerizing lava flow head towards the sea in Hawaii, and meet a man who has been a full-time Loch Ness Monster hunter for the last 25 years.
Asia/Europe
What is it about doing front flips off of already epic structures that just makes them seem more epic? This video weaves local culture of far-flung destinations with jaw-dropping acrobatics, as parkour enthusiasts leap across the rooftops of India, jump off the golden spires of Bagan in Burma, and run across the foreground of the Alps.
Everything about this short video – the parkour, the backdrops, the music, the time-lapses and drone videography – screams “epic.” And it’s just the trailer. We can’t wait for the full-length version of Around a Vision.
India
Visiting India for the first time is a sensory overload (oh, who are we kidding? Visiting India for the 10th time is a sensory overload). This land of more than 1.2 billion people, 1,600 languages, and more smells, tastes and sounds than anywhere on earth is impossible to capture on video. But filmmaker Neal Howland tries.
Howland takes viewers through India's bustling markets and frenzied streets to its royal palaces and desert landscapes. He uses a frenetic pace and disorienting angles to convey what it can actually feel like to spend time in this astounding country.
Argentina
Every once in awhile, you just want to take a good old-fashioned road trip. This short film takes you down the highways, dirt roads and desert paths of Argentina, through desert moonscapes, otherworldly glaciers and uncommonly jagged peaks.
Hyper-lapses of roads, time-lapses of the starry night sky and nifty editing tricks at every turn make this a fun one to watch.
Hawaii
The opposite of the previous video’s rapid pace, this video moves like molasses, and that’s exactly what’s so exciting about it.
Filmmaker Tyler Hulett captures a glowing river of molten rock as it flows toward the sea from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano. Watching the lava pour over the volcano – steaming and bubbling and almost breathing as ethereal music plays – is mesmerizing.
Mexico
Mexico is a lot more than all-inclusive resorts and spring breakers heading to Señor Frog's to chug yards of margaritas. Sure, those things exist, and they can be fun (kind of), but our neighbor to the south is also one of the most geographically and culturally rich destinations on the planet.
This video condenses Mexico's travel porniest highlights into three minutes of pure beauty that include everything from aqua rivers, frozen waterfalls and vast canyons to lucha libre matches, ancient ruins and massive pots of mole.
America
Alright, let’s get two things out of the way off the bat: yes, this video has a not-entirely-subtle political message, and yes, it’s an advertisement for Corona, but it’s also a pretty great travel video that will give you all the feels.
The message is mostly one of inclusion, and that America is more than just a country – it’s a continent. And the video takes viewers to the most beautiful parts of that continent, like the Amazon, Machu Picchu and the beaches of Rio, all under a voiceover that mostly boils down to: Can’t we just all get along?
Alaska
Filmmakers Raphael Rogers and Paul Rennick say they went to Alaska for adventure, but came back with a story instead. That story is told through local guide Rick Brown, who talks about the rapid pace at which the land in Seward, Alaska is transforming.
“We’re seeing a change in the wildlife, we have villages that are being relocated...our 10-year floods are happening every other year now," Brown says. "You can drive through our town and see what’s going on, and if you can’t see what’s happening, I think you must be blind.” But Brown also has a (somewhat) hopeful message at the end.
The story is one that’s unfolding all over the world, but few places are as visually stunning as Seward, with its blue-ice glaciers, blue-green fjords and vast nature.
Scotland
We’ve all read stories about Loch Ness Monster truthers heading down to Scotland’s infamous lake in a futile search for one of the world’s most notorious mythical creatures. And, let’s be honest, most of us have thought: “What a bunch of crackpots!”
Well, Great Big Story made this short doc about a man who, 25 years ago, quit his job, sold his house and now lives in a van down by the lake as a self-proclaimed “full-time hunter of the Loch Ness Monster.” And they want to convince you that no, Steve Feltham is not a wacko.
He’s just a guy who enjoys nature, freedom, adventure, and a little bit of mystery. And when you see that he’s got all those things in abundance, his life, in a way, makes more sense than the lives of those of us who spend our days in a cubicle. As Felthem says, "It's a dream come true.”
Ecuador
Hey you, sitting there at your desk, watching travel videos instead of doing whatever it is you’re actually supposed to be doing, consider this a warning: Do not watch this video unless you want to feel really lazy.
This 6-minute documentary takes us to the tallest mountain of Ecuador, where 73-year-old Baltazar Tenesaca is the last man continuing the 500-year tradition of harvesting glacial ice. Tenesaca makes the grueling ascension to Mount Chimborazo every week, chipping off the ice at the top with an axe to sell to market vendors who use it to make juice.
It’s a beautiful story that will either inspire you to get the heck out of your chair and do something today, or at least inspire you to get back to work.
Spain
This video was shot in Navarre, Spain, but it might as well have been on another planet.
The entire time-lapse was shot in 4K infrared, which captures a light spectrum that is not visible to the human eye, and makes everything look kind of like a white, powdery fairyland. At least for now, infrared is one filter you can’t find on Instagram.
Check out more of our recent favorite travel videos here.
