The film location travel guide for the specific traveller who watches the film and immediately wants to know where it was shot — not the studio, but the specific cliff above the specific village that the production designer found and that exists exactly as visible in the frame. The locations in this guide are the ones that the production actually used (not the studio backlot approximation), that are accessible to the visitor without the studio tour pass, and that give the specific encounter of standing in the exact location where the specific scene was filmed — the specific experience that the film on screen approximates and that the physical place gives the dimension that the screen cannot.
Reading time: 9 minutes | Last updated: 2026
The Locations
1. Skellig Michael — Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017)
The location: Skellig Michael (the UNESCO World Heritage island 12km off the County Kerry coast of Ireland — the Early Christian monastery built on the 218-metre rock between the 6th and 8th centuries, the 618 stone steps from the boat landing to the monastery visible in the film as the approach to Luke Skywalker’s island retreat):
The specific Star Wars connection: the island was chosen by the production because the monastery at the summit (the beehive cells of the monastic community) required no set construction — the 6th-century stone architecture is the specific ancient isolation that the script required. The island in the film is the island in reality.
Getting there: boat from Portmagee (the 8-12km crossing, the landing permit required — the Heritage Ireland permit issued for specific landing dates, apply at heritageireland.ie before April for the May-September season): €45-65 / £38.80-55.97 return. Limited to 180 visitors per day.
2. Wadi Rum — The Martian (2015), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dune (2021)
The location: The Wadi Rum Protected Area (the Jordanian desert — the sandstone and granite valley used as the Mars location in multiple productions, the specific red sand and the mesa formations giving the extraterrestrial visual):
The Lawrence of Arabia connection: the film was shot in 1961-1962 at Wadi Rum and Aqaba. The specific location of the scene where Lawrence leads the attack on Aqaba — the valley visible in the long shot — is the Khazali Canyon, accessible by jeep from the Wadi Rum village.
The Dune connection (2021): the Arrakis exterior shots were filmed in Wadi Rum (the Jordan sections) and the Abu Dhabi desert (the UAE sections). The specific rock formations visible in the film’s opening sequence are the Wadi Rum landscapes visible from the standard jeep safari circuit.
Full detail: 7 Days in Jordan.
3. Dubrovnik Old City — Game of Thrones (2011-2019)
The location: The Dubrovnik Old City walls and streets served as the primary filming location for King’s Landing throughout the series — the Pile Gate (the main city entrance visible in the opening credits as the King’s Landing gate), the Fort Lovrijenac (the fortress above the Pile Bay used as the Red Keep exterior), and the Stradun (the main street visible in the market scenes):
The specific GoT film tour (the licensed Walking Dead tours (they renamed after the show ended) — the 2-hour walking tour of the GoT locations with the guide who explains the CGI additions (the towers, the wildfire) and the practical location use): £25-35 per person.
The Blackwater scene (the Fort Lovrijenac, the Pile Bay below the fortress — the bay visible from the fort where the Chain and the wildfire battle was filmed, the sea visible below): free to access from the city wall walk (€35 / £30.17 city walls entry).
Full detail: Dubrovnik in 48 Hours.
4. Hallstatt — Various Films and Frozen (Arendelle inspiration)
The location: Hallstatt (the Austrian alpine village on the Hallstätter See — the village visible in the Disney Frozen concept art as the architectural inspiration for Arendelle, confirmed by the Disney animation team in 2013):
The Disney connection has made Hallstatt a specific pilgrimage destination for the Asian tourism market — the South Korean and the Chinese visitor specifically, the Instagram queue at the Hallstatt lake viewpoint visible year-round.
Getting there: train Vienna-Attnang-Puchheim, then bus or train to Hallstatt, then ferry across the lake (the specific Hallstatt arrival by lake ferry — the village visible from the water in the film concept art orientation): €65-90 / £56.04-77.60 return from Vienna.
5. Laugavegur Trail — Oblivion (2013), Interstellar (2014) and others
The location: The Laugavegur Trail and the Landmannalaugar landscape (the Icelandic highland — the rhyolite mountains, the black sand, the hot spring — used as the alien planet, the post-apocalyptic Earth, and the specific science fiction landscape in multiple productions due to the availability of the genuinely otherworldly landscape within 3 hours of Reykjavík):
The Interstellar connection: the Miller’s planet water world scenes were filmed on Vatnajökull glacier (the specific flat ice expanse at altitude visible as the endless water surface in the film). The coordinates: the Vatnajökull accessible from the Ring Road east of Skaftafell, the glacier walks available from the Jökulsárlón area.
Full detail: 7 Days in Iceland.
6. The Faroe Islands — The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
The location: The Faroe Islands (the Danish territory in the North Atlantic — the Faroe Islands landscape used as Greenland in the Walter Mitty production, the specific Atlantic cliff landscape (Enniberg, the 754-metre cliff drop — the tallest sea cliff in the Faroe Islands) visible in the skateboard sequence):
Getting there: fly London-Vágar (Atlantic Airways from Edinburgh or Copenhagen connection — 2.5 hours from Edinburgh). UK citizens: EU visa-free (the Faroe Islands are not in the EU but operate the Schengen Agreement).
The specific Walter Mitty Faroe frame: the village of Enniberg (the village of 4 permanent residents, the highest cliff visible above the village, the specific remote Atlantic landscape that the film used for the Greenland sequence).
7. Tattooine — Tunisia, specifically Matmata and Ong Jemal
The location: The original Tattooine (the Star Wars (1977) filming location) is the Tunisian desert — the Lars Homestead exterior is the Hotel Sidi Driss in Matmata (the troglodyte village in the Tunisian south, full detail in 7 Days in Tunisia), and the Ong Jemal location (the desert landscape 40km north of Nefta — the dune-flanked road visible in the Tattooine exterior shots):
The specific instruction: the Hotel Sidi Driss is the original filming location preserved in the original configuration. The courtyard where Luke Skywalker’s home scenes were filmed is the courtyard where the hotel guests eat breakfast. This is the correct film location visit — the filming location that is also the functioning place.
8-20: Quick Reference
| Film | Location | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lord of the Rings / Hobbit | Matamata (Hobbiton), Fiordland | New Zealand | |
| Mamma Mia! | Skopelos island | Greece | |
| The Beach | Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi | Thailand | |
| No Time to Die | Matera | Italy | |
| Notting Hill | Portobello Road, London | UK | |
| Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom | Sri Lanka locations | Sri Lanka | |
| James Bond: Skyfall | Glen Coe | Scotland | |
| Mission Impossible: Fallout | Paris rooftops, Kashmir | France / India | |
| The English Patient | Tunisia, Sahara | Tunisia | |
| Gladiator | Ouarzazate, Morocco | Morocco | |
| Casino Royale | Montenegro lake | Montenegro | |
| Midsommar | Hälsingland, Sweden | Sweden |
