Traveling across oceans of time for eternal love is a major theme of Time Travel Romance Films and one of the most enduring themes across the entire subgenre of films involving time travel. Not to be confused with Time Loop Films, Time Travel Films involve traveling backwards or forwards in time while Time Loops involve the same day repeating over and over again.
Romantic Time Travel Films have a romantic foundation which typically includes a time traveler falling in love with a person from a different time period or a time traveler changing past events to alter one’s own fate or destiny – often involving a love interest and often changing the future to detrimental effect. Time Travel Films with romantic themes can also be found in other subgenres such as Films About Fate & Destiny, Romantic Dramas, Romantic Comedies and Historical Period Pieces.
What are the Best Time Travel Romance Films? In this special edition of our “Best Of” film subgenre lists, we’re going to look at the Top 20 Romantic Time Travel Films across various periods of time and across different romantic themes from the Time Travel Films subgenre. From a man who wills himself into the past for a love that haunts him in the present to a newspaper reporter who investigates and falls in love with an inventor who might have built a time machine (or just might be crazy), these are the best romantic sci-fi films where love conquers the boundaries and dimensions of time.
For our rankings we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, the film must primarily be a Romantic Drama or Romantic Comedy first with secondary time travel elements or subplots. This will ensure we get the true romantic films of the subgenre ranked appropriately. This will exclude films such as Back to the Future (1985) and Back to the Future II (1989) which are primarily time travel comedies with some minor romantic elements. Alternatively, we will include a classic film of the subgenre, Time After Time (1979), which is primarily a time travel adventure but has a significant romantic subplot that impacts the entire third act of the film. But, because the romantic thread in the film is outweighed by H.G. Wells’ pursuit of Jack the Ripper through time, it will reside lower in our rankings here vs. where it would normally rank amongst the Best Time Travel Films.
Second, the film must have specific time travel elements to be considered. This means the time traveler must be in the past or future vs. their present time. This will affect films such as Il Mare (2000) and it’s U.S. remake starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, The Lake House (2006). Both films involve two people living years apart that can communicate with each other. They are both great romantic films and we do list them in our list of Time Travel Films, but for our purposes here, we’re excluding them from this list since they technically don’t involve actual time travel.
Third, we’re also going to exclude Time Loop Romance Films. While Time Loop Films are often considered a subgenre of Time Travel, we have Time Loop films listed separately as they typically have different narratives than Time Travel Films. However, we will create a section below that lists the Top 5 Romantic Time Loop Films in case you also want to check them out.
Fourth, we’re also going to exclude fantasy-based Films About Fate & Destiny like The Family Man (2000) where the plot involves a person living an alternate version of their life in the past. Though these films are often primarily in the Romance genre, they don’t typically involve themes of time travel but rather focus on themes of fate or destiny. You can view our list of the Top Films About Fate & Destiny You Haven’t Seen for some recommendations and we will likely create a list in the future for these fantasy-based romances where a person gets a chance to live re-live their past in the hope of changing their future.
And fifth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating.
Our complete list of Time Travel Films features over 212+ films from 1960 – 2023 and we have separate articles outlining the Best Time Travel Films as well as lesser-known Time Travel Films from the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010 – 2016 and 2017 – 2022. You can also subscribe to our newsletter to get updated as we release future articles of film recommendations across a variety of film subgenres.
We have embedded a compilation video of our Best Time Travel Romance Films and more details on these films can be found in the list below. Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Best Time Loop Romance Films
#5 Lacy’s Christmas Do-Over (2021) Where to Stream / Buy: https://pluto.tv/en/on-demand/movies/61b793fa178ebd00137ea873
#4 12 Dates of Christmas (2011) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3sd3ZAg
#3 The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3OpXrWg
#2 Groundhog Day (1993) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3OwBvJc
#1 Palm Springs (2020) Where to Stream / Buy: https://www.hulu.com/movie/palm-springs
Best Time Travel Romance Films
Honorable Mentions: La Jetée (1962), A Heartful of Love (2005), Camille Rewinds (2012), The Infinite Man (2014), Time Renegades (2016), The Death and Life of Otto Bloom (2016), The Man with the Magic Box (2017), Christmas Comes Twice (2020), Long Weekend (2021), Rip in Time (2022), The Time Capsule (2022) and Love Destiny: The Movie (2022).
Special Mention: We unfortunately did not review Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned (2016) for this list before publishing and it’s not a conventional Time Travel Romance. However, it is one of the most unique films we have seen in the subgenre and a film we strongly recommend checking out if you like the other films on our list. It’s that good of a film…
Special Mention #2: We also highly recommend Yesterday Once More (2023) which was released after we had initially published this article and would easily make our Top 10. Yesterday is an amazing Time Travel Romance that incorporates themes of fate and destiny while also using a unique Time Loop mechanism. But be warned – while this is a romantic film it is also a devastating heartbreaker.
Rank 20-1:
#20 Love Strikes Twice (2021) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3OUXKKj
#19 Press Play (2022) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3KC2ZMe
#18 For All Time (2000) Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/83DFhC97-_s
#17 The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/447B3a1
#16 Fetching Cody (2005) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/442m017
#15 Meet Cute (2022) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/47xWcgj
#14 Je T’Aime, Je T’Aime (1968) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/47uxyx1
#13 Kate & Leopold (2001) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/47nYlLH
#12 Time Freak (2018) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3QFkLC3
#11 Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3Kzqcib
