Movies with a European backdrop are a powerful reminder of the sights that remain unseen and new things yet to be discovered. But there’s so much to see, so many cities to visit! It can be hard to pick a destination.
Some movie buffs like to narrow it down to specific scenery types that grab their attention each time. Let’s see if this thematic approach to popular movie’s locations can help you to get going!
Middle-Age Stone Cottages and Stone-Paved Streets
Does the sight of gloriously higgledy-piggledy cottages from the Middle Ages set you looking for your passport? You’re in for a treat if you tour the UK countryside to track the location of movies such as Stardust (2007), Warhorse (2011), and the Harry Potter saga.
In the Stardust (2007) prologue, Stowe School in Buckinghamshire features as the “Royal Academy Observatory,” but then the action switches to Castle Combe. Ten miles from Bath in Wiltshire, Castle Combeis called the prettiest village in England. The impossibly photogenic stone cottages have appeared in numerous movies. The street scenes and grocery store where Tristan works in the village of “Wall” were filmed at the Market Cross. Tristan’s love, Victoria’s home is one of the picturesque 17th-century weavers’ cottages on the Arlington river bank in Bibury, near Cirencester.
Another recommended stop is England’s best-preserved medieval town, Lavenham in Suffolk. It was featured as “Godric’s Hollow” in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. While in Suffolk, try to arrange a visit to Elveden Hall, a private house about four miles west of Thetford. We first saw the extravagantly carved marble rooms as the background to the outlandish masked orgy in 1999’s Eyes Wide Shut. The fabulous room reappears in 2007’s Stardust as the old King’s bedchamber where his sons squabble over their inheritances.
The wild green landscapes of Braveheart, Skyfall, “Stormhold” in Stardust, Highlander, and many other movies are usually a patchwork of locations in the UK. The Isle of Skye and Glencoe in Scotland are popular whenever a scene’s tone calls for wild or bleak.
Cathedrals, Churches, and Tombs
If cathedrals, churches, and tombs are your thing, we can turn to 2006’s The Da Vinci Code.
In London, Langdon and Neveu search for the tomb of a knight at Temple Church. The church was consecrated in 1185 and served as the London headquarters of the Knights Templar.
The scenes in which they were looking for the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton were filmed at Westminster Abbey in London. Westminster Abbey is not, in fact, a cathedral. It’s a church owned by the royal family. The oldest parts of the Abbey date from 1050. Silas finds the “final clue” in the astonishingly complex stonework of the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey. Here, you can see sculptured Masonic symbols, the pagan “Green Man,” cubes decorated with dots and lines, and images of maize. All add to the mystery since they were chiseled 50 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America.
However, the scenes of the interior of “Westminster Abbey” were actually filmed in Lincoln Cathedral. They obtained special permission to recreate Newton’s splendid gilded tomb inside Lincoln Cathedral to film the movie.
The Knights’ meeting with the Pope in the Vatican was filmed in Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire.
Paris has its fair share of imposing churches. For example, the investigation into the “Rose Line” leads Silas to the Church of St Sulpice, Paris. In a bit of movie flimflammery, the brass meridian line (a scientific apparatus installed by the Paris Observatory in the 18th century) becomes another “clue.” So do the letters P and S in the tiny windows at both ends of the transept. In reality, the P and S refer to Peter and Sulpice, the church’s patron saints, not to the fictitious “Priory of Sion.”
The Da Vinci Code also gives ample time for viewing the Louvre. After Louis XIV moved his entire court from Paris to Versailles in 1682, the palace remained a private gallery for the royal art collection. It shot to fame as a public museum after the French Revolution. The Pyramid is a loved/hated landmark glass structure above the entrance to the Louvre (added in 1988). The inverted Pyramid beneath the entrance was built in 1993.
Gargoyles and Theatrical Architecture
If a film opens with close-ups of ancient gargoyles, you know you’re in for a visit to Prague. The city features prominently in action movies like Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 1996, Vin Diesel’s extreme sports star Agent XXX (2002), and The Bourne Identity.
Street scenes are usually filmed in the picturesque Prague Staré Mesto (Old Town). In XXX, the Schwarzenberg Palace serves as the undercover police headquarters. Xander Cage receives his 007-style gadgets in the vaulted basement of the abandoned Patanka Brewery. “Anarchy 99”, this film’s bad guys, uses the stunning mountaintop Vranov nad Dyji State Chateau (in the Czech Znojmo district) as their HQ. There’s been a castle on the site since 1100.
Mission: Impossible filmed their “embassy scenes” in the Liechtenstein Palace on Kampa Island. The interior of Max’s HQ is actually the glorious Europa Hotel, whose frontage dominates Wenceslas Square.
Action movies often end with a scene on the Vltava River along the Karluv Most (Charles Bridge). The 15th Century Stone Bridge connects Malá Strana with Staré Mesto. It’s usually thronged with street artists, vendors, and 30 replicas of 18th-century statues of saints. The Charles Bridge also appears in Mission: Impossible, Van Helsing, and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Marseilles, Zurich, and Paris in the movies
Many-faceted Prague stands in for Zurich in some of The Bourne Identity locations. When Jason Bourne arrives in snowy “Zurich” with the mysterious bank account number, the “Swiss bank” is Petschek Palace, close to Wenceslas Square. Prague’s State Opera House is visible in the background. The entrance to the “US Embassy” in “Zurich” is Panska 7 in the New Town. For the escape from the top floor of the “US Embassy,” the filming moved to a different building. They used the Carlo IV Hotel, also featured in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The action then moves to Paris. The “Treadstone” safe house with that notorious 4-story spiraling staircase is at 2 Place du Marché Sainte-Catherine. As in the movie, it’s above a restaurant on an 18th-century square in the Marais district. When Bourne and Marie embark on a high-speed chase through the city, Bourne takes a daredevil turn from rue du Transvaal onto the breathtakingly narrow and steep steps of the Passage Plantin.
The Pont Neuf is the oldest bridge over the Seine. That’s the bridge on which Bourne sets up a meeting with Treadstone chief Conklin. Bourne watches from a makeshift eyrie on the roof of the historic Samaritaine Building.
An Unexpected Italian Coastal Village Bonus from The Bourne Identity
In the opening scene of The Bourne Identity, fishermen rescue an unconscious Jason Bourne from the tempestuous Mediterranean. The scene was actually filmed on a boat anchored in the tranquil harbor of Imperia on the coast of a flower-growing region in Italy. Imperia has not one but picturesque historic town centers: Porto Maurizio and Oneglia. Each lies on opposite sides of the River Impero. Bourne is put ashore in “Marseille”—the picturesque harbor of Oneglia—to start his trip to Zurich.
No doubt you’ll want to rewatch some scenes from your favorite movies while visiting the spots where they were filmed. Stay safe while retracing the steps of your favorite movies on location. Use a VPN to make sure you can connect to your favorite streaming platform while you’re abroad, as some shows or movies may not be available outside of the US. Other VPN benefits include protecting your digital identity from hackers and snoopers at airports and wifi hotspots.
The Magic of Recreating Movie Magic
If it was easy to recreate the mystery and romance of foreign destinations in a movie, all movies could be filmed on stages in places like Hollywood. But it’s often too difficult to recreate a place’s light, mood, atmosphere, and feel. That’s why the movie industry spends millions shooting movies on location. They can’t risk delivering a feeble, watered-down show.
We travel for the same reason. There’s no other way to replace the authenticity and raw experience of visiting these locations in person.