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Crack open the Toffifee and dig out the slanket — TV viewing season is upon us. It’s when the temperature drops and the days shorten that we most want to watch travel programmes that whisk us away to far-off climes. Christmas, especially, is a time when many different generations find themselves in front of the small screen, desperate for a crowd-pleasing watch that’ll neither offend nor bore. So, here’s our pick of the best travel TV ever made — with some oldies in the mix, but also some overlooked new offerings — that’ll get you planning a holiday before you know it (we’ve given ideas for those, if you’re inspired).
Michael Palin circumnavigated the globe in 1989 to emulate Phileas Fogg
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When it first aired in 1989, this BBC series, which shadowed the actor Michael Palin as he circumnavigated the globe in an attempt to emulate Phileas Fogg’s overland-and-sea journey, was revolutionary. Now every YouTuber and his GoPro is doing the same. But all this does is highlight how extraordinary, entertaining and engaging Palin made his escapade over many TV-viewing weeks. Highlights include karaoke in Japan, a shaved head in India, and a homemade jogging track on board a container ship on the South China Sea. To replicate something similar, book a month-long cruise from Miami to Athens, including stops in Bermuda, the Azores and Kusadasi in Turkey, to have your own globe-crossing adventure.
Details 26 nights’ all-inclusive from £8,385pp (explorajourneys.com). Fly to Miami
2. The Trip, iPlayer
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play hammed-up versions of themselves in The Trip
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If it weren’t for The Trip, I’d have never eaten the stunning salted turbot served at the clifftop Il Riccio restaurant in the Jumeirah Capri Palace hotel in Capri, Italy — an experience I paid for purely because I witnessed it on this foodie travel drama (mains from £50; jumeirah.com). In the BBC series friends Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play hammed-up versions of their real-life comedian selves as they embark on a culinary tour while Coogan writes a weekly travelogue for a national newspaper. The first season is set in restaurants and B&Bs in northern England, the second in Italy, the third in Spain and the fourth in Greece. Opt for Capri for white sunny rooms with a spa and pools set on a cliff edge.
Details B&B doubles from £585 (jumeirah.com). Fly to Naples
3. Anthony Bourdain, various
Anthony Bourdain shared bun cha with Barack Obama in Hanoi
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Anthony Bourdain has many shows, but the three most famous are Parts Unknown, No Reservations and The Layover, the latter of which involved the late chef turned travel TV hero getting to know a world hub in 48 hours, via its food. So well respected was Bourdain that he managed to convince Barack Obama to share bun cha with him at a street café in Hanoi (make this episode of Parts Unknown your first watch). Walk in their footsteps with Audley Travel’s tour of Vietnam, which includes a Hanoi street-food tour, several excursions and hotel stays in Hanoi, Haiphong, Hue, Hoi An and Ho Chi Minh City.
Details Ten nights’ B&B from £3,405pp, including flights, transfers and excursions (audleytravel.com)
4. Great Railway Journeys, iPlayer
Michael Palin travelled by train from Derry to Kerry
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You might see this entry and retort “I don’t like Michael Portillo” or “I don’t like trains” — but you’d be making the same mistake many TV viewers do by equating the two. In fact, before Portillo dominated train travel television, there came this excellent BBC series that traced different famous faces — Danny Glover, Clive Anderson, Victoria Wood included — on a journey so intrepid that the train plays second fiddle to the destinations. In one episode, the former prima ballerina Natalia Makarova explores the railways of Russia, even dancing in her carriage, while Michael Palin travelled from Derry to Kerry in Ireland. If you’re inspired, Great Rail has a similar tour of the Emerald Isle from Dublin to Cork, with four-star hotel accommodation throughout and activities including whiskey tasting and a traditional music night.
Details Eight nights’ half-board from £2,649pp, including train and coach travel and several excursions (greatrail.com). Fly, drive or take the ferry to Dublin
5. Air Crash Investigation, Disney+
This option is admittedly more interesting than inspiring but try watching if you don’t believe me — no documentary enthralls as many different demographics as Air Crash Investigation, a collection of 60-minute programmes detailing the when and why of past air accidents. Rather than putting you off air travel, however, each episode makes you appreciate just how rare air crashes are and how safe we are in the sky. It might even inspire nervous travellers in the family to conquer their fears by signing up for British Airways’ Fear of Flying course, which includes a short flight from Heathrow and a psychology session (£399pp; ba.com). Stay close to the airport at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre London Heathrow with its lobby bar and indoor pool and it will almost feel like a mini-break.
Details Room-only doubles from £81 (radissonhotels.com)
6. Travel Man, more4
Dawn French and Richard Ayoade in Athens for Travel Man
CHANNEL 4
It’s the perfect formula: one comedian travels with a celebrity to a famous world city, seeing sights, making jokes and interviewing as he goes. Better still, Travel Man has been presented over the years by both Richard Ayoade and Joe Lycett (so you can choose your favourite) and the celebrity and the city change every episode. Will you choose Greg Davies in Moscow, Jon Hamm in Hong Kong or Dawn French in Athens, where the pair stay at the sleek, design-led New hotel? It’s the perfect way to fill 30 minutes on a dreary winter’s evening.
Details Room-only doubles from £174 (yeshotels.gr). Fly to Athens
7. Race Across the World, iPlayer
Jeff Brazier travelled the length of South America with his son Freddy in Race Across the World
BBC
I’m genuinely very jealous of people who’ve not yet seen Race Across the World and still have the joy of watching — and becoming emotionally enmeshed in — the series for the first time. The BBC reality game show pits civilian pairs against each other (married couples, siblings, best friends, a parent with their offspring) in an overland race from one destination to another, thousands of miles away, without the use of smartphones — or flights. There’s a celebrity version too, the latest of which we all couldn’t help but weep at, as the TV presenter Jeff Brazier travelled the length of South America with his flourishing son Freddy. Get a taste of a similar travel vibe on a two-week overland adventure across Morocco, stopping in Casablanca, Marrakesh, Fez, and High Atlas Mountains.
Details Fourteen nights from £3,675pp, including transport, activities, some meals and flights (inclusivemorocco.com)
• Race Across the World winners: ‘We thought Scott had dengue fever in Brazil’
8. Below Deck, various
Captain Sandy Yawn in Below Deck
FRED JAGUENEAU/BRAVO/GETTY IMAGES
As far as a surprisingly successful fly-on-the-wall reality series goes, Below Deck is right up there. (Fun fact: so too is Nothing to Declare, which follows Australia’s border security, and is the second most watched programme on Sky.) Now in its 11th season, Below Deck gives us a snapshot of life aboard a superyacht, from both the crew and charter guests’ perspective. It’s spawned countless spin-offs, as various boats sail the Mediterranean, Caribbean, and French Polynesian seas, while the crew work hard on board and play hard in port. Naysayers find Below Deck implausible, but in fact, the genuine guests really do pay thousands of dollars to stay on board, including the all-important tip, which concludes each episode as a judgment of staff performance. Dedicated fans can have their own Below Deck experience by chartering the BG superyacht, which appeared in the series, though be warned that food, drinks and the eye-watering tip aren’t included in the hefty rental fee.
Details Seven nights’ yacht charter only for 12 people from £109,000 (yachtcharterfleet.com)
9. Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, iPlayer
Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder at Stanglwirt Hotel in Austria for Amazing Hotels
BBC
There are lots of luxury hotel documentaries, but this show makes the list because it goes both “back and front of house” with its presenters — The Times’s very own Giles Coren, the chef Monica Galetti and Rob Rinder — taking on staff roles at some of the world’s most unusual properties. One of the most popular episodes stars the Brando resort in French Polynesia — then costing up to £11,000 per night — where Coren and Galetti join marine biologists and get the chance to swim with humpback whales. One of the more affordable properties from the series is the Stanglwirt in Austria, a mountain chalet hotel that appears in series six, which has a fantastic spa and sauna centre, interiors all in wood and ski slopes a short drive away in Kitzbühel.
Details B&B doubles from £2,551 (thebrando.com). Fly to Papeete. B&B doubles from £399 (stanglwirt.com). Fly to Munich
10. The White Lotus, Sky
Aubrey Plaza on The White Lotus
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Some might say The White Lotus isn’t a travel show. I beg to differ. After all, which other travel series can claim to have filled a hotel to capacity with inspired viewers, simply by filming in it? That’s what happened at Four Seasons Maui and Four Seasons Taormina, backdrops for the first two series of this comedy-drama that goes behind the scenes of a fictional luxury hotel, shining a light on its atrociously behaved staff and guests. Series three airs early next year and is set in Thailand. You likely won’t find an available room at Four Seasons Koh Samui anytime soon as a result, but might now stand a chance in Sicily, at the brand’s San Domenico Palace, a revamped 14th-century convent with views to Etna and the sea and original frescoes (reopens March 1).
Details B&B doubles from £1,835 (fourseasons.com). Fly to Catania
• My stay at the next White Lotus hotel — on a beautiful Thai island
11. Go Jetters, CBeebies
Your children can learn about the pyramids from Go Jetters
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Parents of preschoolers know what a precious thing it is to find a TV programme you can all watch and enjoy together. Go Jetters fits the bill. The animated show features superhero characters trying to stop the baddie Grandmaster Glitch from destroying beautiful world sites. It’s thanks to Go Jetters that my daughter learned about the Egyptian pyramids, northern lights and Amazon rainforest, aged only three. It also meant she was content to join me and my husband on a trip to Paris, excited at the chance to see the Eiffel Tower. The family-focused Pullman Paris Montparnasse hotel will also keep everyone happy, with skyscraper views of the Eiffel Tower and the highest open-air rooftop bar in Paris.
Details Room-only doubles from £174 (accor.com). Take the train to Paris
Have we missed your favourite travel TV show? Let us know in the comments below
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