Best Movies Set in The Mediterranean

While European travel remains a forbidden fruit, we are indulging in the second best option – European movies, or movies set in Europe, tickling our imagination. They are also really helpful in planning and researching destinations you have not even thought about or really look forward to visiting.

We’ve explored some of the Italian cinematography in the past, full of magical tales, romantic scenes and beautiful scenery. We’ve also binged on a bunch of really good Greek movies, while looking up flights this way. So, today, we decided to explore a wider range of feel-good movies set in the beautiful Mediterranean.

We’d love to hear what you think of this list.

To Catch a Thief (1955)

This is one of Hitchcock’s glossiest and most seductive entertainments, To Catch a Thief, staring Cary Grant as John Robie, a retired cat burglar who falls for the charms of Riviera socialite Francie (Grace Kelly), while a spate of robberies along the coast finds Robie fighting to clear his name.

This cinema classic is full of suspense, but also light and sunny, relaxed with a pinch of naughty suggestiveness.

Shot off the coast of Nice, this film was one of the earliest examples of the brilliant hues Technicolor could bring to the big screen, making the Mediterranean coast the obvious setting for this visual masterpiece.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

There’s a scene in the film in which Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) invites Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) to accompany him to the Music Festival in San Remo, a small coastal city in the Ligurian region of northwest Italy. Tom accepts and the two of them have a fun, jazzy time drinking prosecco at a giant white hotel with a magnificent terrace and lush gardens overlooking the ocean and everything’s great, up until the moment they go boating on the beautiful blue Mediterranean and Tom clubs Dickie to death with an oar.

Yes, this is a psychological thriller, which will keep you ‘on your toes’ all throughout it. And it’s well-balanced with the beautiful views of Italy’s own Monte Carlo, a sun-dappled Mediterranean resort with a casino, a clutch of ostentatious villas and lashings of Riviera-style grandeur.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

In this installment of the series we find Bond, James Bond, battling against a reclusive megalomaniac who wants to destroy the world. Filmed on location in Egypt and in Costa Smeralda and Sardinia, Italy.

In the film, James Bond (Roger Moore) and Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) stay at Hotel Cala Di Volpe on the Italian island of Sardinia. In a stunningly beautiful corner of Sardinia, Cala di Volpe (translates to the ‘bay of foxes’) lies in the most spectacular stretch of coastline, where the lush green vegetation, turquoise sea and sandy beaches combine to create a Mediterranean paradise. Once we are traveling again, you can actually stay at this hotel.

Murder Mystery (2019)

This murder comedy was filmed in several different locations along the north of Italy. But not only in Italy. Adam Sandler embodies a New York policeman who decides to please his wife (Jennifer Aniston), by taking her on a long-awaited trip to Europe. On the plane, the couple meets a mysterious man (played by Luke Evans) who invites them to an evening on the yacht of an elderly billionaire. But when their host is murdered, the policeman and his wife will be the main suspects of the crime.

One of the first scenes on the yacht is set in the south of Spain (Malaga), featuring the charming coastal town of Santa Margherita Ligure. This lovely village in the heart of the Italian Riviera is situated near the scenic harbour of Portofino and a half an hour’s drive from the city of Genoa.

Then the movie starts to unfold during the celebration of the Monaco-Grand Prix, which was filmed in Porta Venezia area in Via Lazzaro Spallanzani, Milano. And this isn’t it. As you continue with this hilarious film, you note several locations on Lake Como, for example, a local market was set in Como town in Piazza Medaglie d’Oro.

It’s a funny action comedy, laced with unforgettable views.

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)

Classic Mr. Bean is taking you to the south of France, looking for a quiet and sunny trip in the Riviera. However, his trip doesn’t go as smoothly as he expected when he has to face a series of misunderstandings and totally unfortunate coincidences.

This is a really good laugh movie with some of the best sceneries of Cannes.

Meet Me in Montenegro (2015)

In this globe-trotting, funny romance, two ex-lovers, Lina (Linnea Saasen), a Norwegian dancer, and Anderson (Alex Holdridge), an American filmmaker, meet by chance during a visit to Berlin. Their romance is rekindled in spite of the fact that they are both moving to opposite ends of the earth in the next forty-eight hours.

Meanwhile, Anderson’s friends, Stephen (Rupert Friend) and Friederike (Jennifer Ulrich), toy with exploring the sexual boundaries of their long-term relationship.

Filmed on location in five countries over four years, this personal yet sweeping romance takes us on a cinematic journey through the cliffs of Montenegro – this is a true Mediterranean treat!

Halimin put (2012)

This is a Bosnian-Croatian-Slovenian drama film about a grieving, but strong-willed Bosniak woman, Halima, who must track down her estranged niece in order to recover the bones of her son lost during the war in Bosnia in the 1990s. Using DNA analysis, the UN Committee for Missing Persons tries but fails to identify the remains of her son. And Halima refuses to give a blood sample for DNA testing. There is something that the Committee doesn’t know, something that Halima is hiding from others: her beloved son wasn’t actually her biological son.

This touching, emotional movie is inspired by true events and will take you on a rollercoaster of the brutal reality of the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Share some of your favorite movies set in the Mediterranean here.