Top 5 movie locations to visit before you die

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Sometimes when you’re watching a movie, you see such amazing places or landscapes that you instantly wish you were there too. Some filming locations have been chosen precisely because they look spectacular, but sometimes the fame of the movie rubs of on the locations, which become a more or less serious pilgrimage site for the movie’s fans.

In today’s post, we’ll list a few filming locations that can lead a double life as tourist attractions (or simply as a fun place to stop by during your trip).

Lord of the Rings, New Zealand

Die-hard LOTR fans already know that the entire trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, but others might be surprised to find out that the breath-taking landscapes shown every 2 minutes of the films are actually real, and not just movie sets.

You won’t find any hobbit villages or towers in New Zealand, but if you’re looking for Helm’s Deep or Fangorn Forest, you’ll be surprised that in real life they look almost the same as in the movie. Here are the most interesting locations: Mavora Lakes, Whakapapa Ski Field in Tongariro National Park, Kawarau River and the Rough Ridge Range in the Ida Valley.

Star Wars

It might be hard to believe, but some of the locations where Star Wars was filmed actually exist and can be visited in Tunisia. Now, we’re not talking about any spaceships or death stars, but rather some of the desert scenes appearing both in the prequels and the original trilogy. The famous pod-race scene in the Phantom Menace was shot at Chott el Gharsa in the north of Tunisia, and Luke Skywalker’s home in A New Hope was built in Chott el Jerid Salt Lake in the south-west (it still stands, so it’s a must-visit for Star Wars fans).

The traditional Berber homes in Matmata, a small Berber town in Southern Tunisia, also served as a location, and Sidi Driss Hotel even has a collection of Star Wars memorabilia. Other locations: the island of Jerba, Sidi Bouhel, Medinene, Ksa Hadada.

Sound of the music, Austria

Even if you are not into musicals, you have to admit that the Sound of the Music was filmed in some amazing places. The opening scenes of the movie show Julie Andrews running on beautiful green hills surrounded by mountains, located in Salzburg, actually.

The city is beautiful and is worth a thorough explorations, even outside the filming locations. You can go on a tour which takes you to the most memorable locations in the film, or you can go and visit them on your own: Nonnberg Abbey, Hellbrun Castle, Mondsee Cathedral and Leopoldskron Castle.

Harry Potter, England

The famous Harry Potter series take place in a school for wizards, but the filming locations are very much real (with a good dose of CGI). The series were filmed all over England, but if you’re a fan and you want to visit all of them, you should hop on a tour that will take you from London to the windy hills of Scotland.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchcraft and Wizardry is a pastiche of Christ Church College, Oxford, Warwick Castle in Scotland and Gloucester Cathedral.

Motorcycle Diaries, South America

It’s difficult to pinpoint one single filming location for Motorcycle Diaries, the film chronicling young Che Guevara’s motorcycle roadtrip from Buenos Aires to Caracas, Venezuela. The journey took nine months and covered 5000 miles, through Patagonia, the Andes, Peru and the Amazon, some of the most incredible places in South America.

These are only a few of the thousands of filming locations that you can visit around the world. You might have even visited a few without realizing it. Check out http://www.themoviemap.com/ and plan a tour of your favourite movie sets.

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