By the time Christmas Eve rolls around, the hard part is usually over. You’ve survived the airport, the group-text negotiations, the seat assignments, and the emotional gymnastics of going home (or strategically not). If you’re finally unpacked and reaching for the remote, this holiday travel movies list is your reward for making it through.
To celebrate the beautiful mess of holiday transit, Airalo curated this holiday travel movies list that absolutely nail the feeling. To make the cut, they had to be set during the holidays, involve some form of travel trauma, and clear a respectable IMDb bar (6.5 or higher—because yes, we do have standards).
You won’t find the most obvious picks here. No Kevin McCallister airport sprints, no station-wagon meltdowns. Instead, this is a deliberately mixed platter: a John Hughes classic, a quietly devastating rom-com, a Nancy Meyers fantasy that doubles as gay real-estate porn, a slightly unhinged animated train ride, and a dusty old Western that hits surprisingly hard.
Here are five holiday travel movies to queue up now that you’ve arrived—whether you’re killing time before dinner, hiding from relatives, or counting down the hours until the Heated Rivalry finale drops this Friday, December 26. Or, honestly, just rewatch episode 5 again.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
If holiday travel had a patron saint, it would be this movie.
John Candy’s Del—an endlessly optimistic, socially oblivious shower curtain ring salesman—becomes the human embodiment of “why is this happening to me?” for Steve Martin’s tightly wound Neal. A simple flight from New York to Chicago turns into a blizzard-fueled tour of every transportation nightmare imaginable.
For queer viewers, there’s something deeply familiar here: the forced proximity, the accidental intimacy, the slow realization that the person annoying you might also be… kind of saving you. And yes, the ending still hits harder than a canceled connection at midnight.
Stream it when your delay feels personal.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Before she was dodging bombs in Speed, Sandra Bullock starred in this quietly unhinged Christmas romance that understands one very specific queer emotion: being alone in a big city during the holidays.
Lucy is a Chicago L train token collector (remember those?) who saves her crush from an accident—then accidentally lets his entire family believe she’s his fiancée while he’s in a coma. It’s messy, awkward, and deeply human.
While not a traditional travel movie, it nails the emotional transit of the season: longing, displacement, and the hope that somewhere—maybe just one train stop away—there’s a place you actually belong.
Also: chosen family vibes everywhere.
The Polar Express (2004)
If Planes, Trains and Automobiles delivers holiday travel horror, The Polar Express delivers the fantasy your edible promised you.
A magical train whisks kids to the North Pole, complete with dancing waiters, hot chocolate choreography, and motion-capture Tom Hanks doing… several things at once. Is it uncanny? Yes. Is it weirdly mesmerizing? Also yes.
Think of it as the queer holiday fantasy of transit: smooth boarding, themed beverages, no one asking why you don’t have kids, and a destination that feels genuinely magical instead of emotionally loaded.
Watch it when you want to believe travel can spark joy again.
The Holiday (2006)
Nancy Meyers knew exactly what she was doing here—and gay audiences noticed.
Two women swap homes for the holidays (pre-Airbnb, because of course), landing in a California mansion and an impossibly charming English cottage. Romance ensues. Interiors are flawless. Knitwear is aggressively cozy.
For queer viewers, The Holiday isn’t just a rom-com—it’s aspirational escapism. It’s the fantasy of leaving your life behind for two weeks and discovering a softer, hotter, better-designed version of yourself abroad.
If you don’t immediately start browsing real estate listings afterward, are you even watching it correctly?
3 Godfathers (1948)
Stay with us.
This Western retelling of the Three Wise Men follows three outlaws who unexpectedly become caretakers to a baby while crossing the desert. It’s dusty, bleak, and oddly tender—a reminder that family doesn’t always look the way you planned, especially during the holidays.
Is it queer? Not explicitly. But the themes—found responsibility, survival, and stepping up when the situation demands it—hit harder than expected, especially if your holiday plans involve showing up for people in ways your younger self never imagined.
Consider it the 1948 equivalent of a no-frills flight: uncomfortable, but memorable.
This article was originally written by Jaimie Etkin and published on Stacker.com. It has been edited by the fagabond team for fagabond.com.