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The Six Best Countries to Visit Film Locations

On a walking holiday you often discover places that other, more fast-paced tourists miss. With self-guided trips particularly you are at your own freedom to pick and choose where you might stop for a break. For film buffs, you’ll be interested to know that many of Walks Worldwide’s trips offer the opportunity to visit locations of famous films, and our walking specialists think they make a fantastic break from the trails. Read on to find out about our favourite movie settings:

Austria

We couldn’t write about films sets in Austria and not include the Sound of Music. Our self-guided trips to Austria’s dazzling lake district, Salzkammergut, takes in many of the film’s locations. You could also add on a visit to Salzburg to see settings such as Schloss Lepoldskron, the house used for most scenes with the von Trapps, and the Mirabell Gardens, where the children sing Do-re-mi.

France

On our self-guided trips in France, you’ll pass the setting for the thrilling skiing chase scene in the World is Not Enough as well as locations for Alien vs. Predator, which was filmed around Mont Blanc. The 1979 film, The Passage, starring Anthony Quinn, Christopher Lee, James Mason and Malcolm McDowell was filmed in the Pyrenees – the setting for our Footsteps of the Cathars trip.

Germany

See the setting for the inside shots of the Grand Budapest Hotel, at the Gorlitzer Warenhaus, an art nouveau department store on a walking holiday in Germany. You can also see many of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s Bavarian locations, such as the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (also a setting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) and Schloss Neuschwanstein, Baron Bomburt’s castle in the film.

Nepal

The eagerly-awaited Doctor Strange, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch began principal photography in Nepal, filming in at the Pashupatinath and Swayambhunath temples and Thamel and New Road in Kathmandu. Everest, released in 2015, is one of the few feature films about the mountain to be filmed in Nepal and includes shots of Tribhuvan Airport, Lukla Airport, Namche Bazaar and Everest Base Camp.

Peru

The 2004 adaptation of the Motorcycle Diaries, based on Che Guevara’s memoirs, is full of inspiration for a walking holiday in Peru, even if Guevara did take the country on two wheels, rather than two feet. Like Guevara, you’ll have time to explore the streets of Cusco before visiting the ancient city of Machu Picchu.

Spain

Take a detour along the Almeria Coastal Way and you’ll find the set of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the Tabernas Desert as well as other American Wild West settings. Most recently, the table-top mountain Mesa Roldan became a location for season six of Game of Thrones. Cabo de Gata in Almeria has played host to many films and TV series, such as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Cleopatra and Lawrence of Arabia.

 

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