I love talking about my favourite films. If you’ve read my list of favourite films, you’ll know that watching them appeals to all my strengths: laying in one place for extended periods, staring vacantly at the television and eating. Bliss. But there’s another thing movies do to me, consistently, that I don’t think gets talked about enough: they make me want to pack a bag and get on a plane.
Lost in Translation sent me to Tokyo with a very specific idea of what I wanted to feel there. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty had me plotting an Iceland trip before the credits finished rolling. Into the Wild wrecked me the first time and inspired me the second. Films do something to the imagination that a travel article or a highlight reel simply cannot replicate. They put you inside a place, make you feel it, and leave you with an itch you can only scratch one way.
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Films have an extraordinary power to pull relatively unknown places into the global spotlight. New Zealand is the most obvious example. Tourism spiked by 40% after The Lord of the Rings hit theatres, and more than two decades later, one in five international visitors to Aotearoa still cite Middle-earth as the reason they booked the trip. I’ve been to New Zealand several times, and I can tell you, the landscapes are every bit as cinematic in person as they are on screen, possibly more so.
If you’ve ever felt that pull and wanted to step inside a world you first discovered at the cinema, here’s what you need to know.
The best filming locations are rarely easy to reach
The dramatic sea stacks from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the wind-swept coastal cliffs from Game of Thrones, the snow-dusted Icelandic expanses from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: what all of these share is that none of them are particularly convenient to get to. Production crews actively seek out places that feel untouched, remote and visually striking, which is precisely what makes them so compelling to visit and precisely why reaching them takes a bit of planning.
I’ve chased filming locations across a few countries now and the experience of navigating to a remote spot with nothing but a GPS pin and a solid data connection is genuinely part of the adventure. The moment you round a corner and recognise a landscape you’ve only ever seen on screen is one of those travel highs that’s hard to describe. You have to experience it for yourself.
Getting there means staying connected. An eSIM is the most practical solution I’ve found for this kind of location hunting. I use an eSIM for all my international travel and wouldn’t do a research-heavy trip without one. Whether you’re navigating narrow lanes in the Scottish Highlands or tracking down a clifftop in rural Ireland, having something like a Holafly eSIM for the UK means you’re not scrambling for Wi-Fi at exactly the wrong moment.
What happens when a filming location blows up
Hobbiton in Matamata is the case study everyone points to, and for good reason. Before Peter Jackson set up camp there, it was a quiet, working sheep farm in rural Waikato. Now it’s one of New Zealand’s most visited attractions, welcoming travellers from every corner of the planet who want to walk the same rolling green hills their favourite characters once did.
The ripple effect of that kind of attention is significant. Local businesses expand to meet demand. Roads and signage improve. Tour operators build immersive experiences around the sets. Accommodation options multiply. What was once completely off the radar becomes a destination in its own right, and the surrounding region benefits enormously.
The opportunity, for travellers who move quickly, is real. These places are far more rewarding to visit before the infrastructure catches up, before the coach tours arrive in force and before the gift shops outnumber the actual scenery.
How to find the next cinematic gem before everyone else does
Think like a location scout rather than a tourist. Production crews look for raw, authentic backdrops with strong natural light, a distinct mood and a sense of being untouched by the modern world. That usually means looking beyond the major cities and tourist corridors to nearby coastlines, lesser-visited valleys and the kinds of rural drives that don’t tend to make the front page of travel guides.
Fan communities are an underrated resource here. Dedicated movie location forums and fan-built maps often pinpoint exact GPS coordinates for scenes that standard travel content won’t go near. If you’re willing to do a bit of digging before your trip, you can consistently get ahead of the crowds.
The best filming locations are discovered through the same instinct that drives good travel generally: curiosity, a willingness to go a little further than most people bother to, and the good sense to show up prepared. Follow that and you’ll find places that feel genuinely cinematic, because they were chosen to be exactly that.
