I love movies! Movies and traveling are my 2 biggest passion. Reason why I studied digital filmmaking, I make travel videos and even when traveling I try to find locations where a movie or a tv show was filmed, maybe to feel a little bit inside a famous scene. I still have too much to discover in our world. Too many places to see and explore. But here are some spots I’ve visited where a well known scene took place. (para leer esto en español aquí)

I recently started to watch a show on Netflix, in Spanish, about Simon Bolívar. The Show “Bolivar” is based on his life while growing up in Venezuela, where it shows many times La Guaira Port, which it’s on the coast on Venezuela but the location they show is in Cartagena, Colombia. On one trip to Cartagena (before knowing about this show), I visited Islas del Rosario and on the way there I saw a castle. That old castle, Castillo San Luis de Bocachica (Colombia), is the front of La Guaira Port (Venezuela).

Talking about the same show “Bolivar”, there are 2 towns in Spain where they also filmed many parts. One location is Palacio de Aranjuez and the other is Pedraza. I visited both places a while ago and they are beautiful! The 1st one, on the show, I believe they used it as the main Royal Palace, however, it is a Royal Palace but not the ‘official’ that it’s in Madrid, and it was established when the king of that time moved the capital from Toledo to Madrid. Pedraza is located in Segovia region, a small town that they only have one gate to enter and to exit. Both of them are very interesting to visit and to spend maybe half day strolling around.

Let’s go to famous sitcoms, one of my favorites and obviously had to visit this place in New York. “Friends” was recorded on the sets of Warner Bros. in California, however, the building they used on opening scenes as Monica, Joey… well, actually all of them at some point, their apartment building is located in Greenwich Village, exactly: 100 Bedford St, Corner Grove. 

I mean, it’s New York City! I believe every corner, every street has been in a movie or a show. What’s your favorite? I sometimes like walking by Central Park and feel part of any movie… But yes, I’ve seen girls having breakfast in front of the store Tiffany Co. on 5th Ave., girls sitting having a coffee by the stairs of the Met (Gossip Girl). There are also many tours to see specific spots from different movies or TV shows.

My next point the store closed down a while ago (2011), but while visiting Notting Hill (London) in 2007, after walking around this gorgeous area including the market, I visited the Travel Bookshop. Even when the one in the movie “Notting Hill” is based on that little store, but in the movie it was located in a corner. If you want to visit the ‘real’ spot is located in 13 Blenheim Crescent, if you want to visit where the shop was at the movie 142 Portobello Road. The one in the movie was an antique store, today it’s a souvenir store.

Being from Venezuela I have to mention some of the movies that at least a scene was filmed in my country. Or inspired like “Up” from Pixar. When I visited Angel Falls, one of my guides told me that he helped the people from Disney/Pixar when they were visiting that area to recreate as much as they could in the animated film. He told me they spent about 3 weeks drawing as much as they could to take to the studios to start working on the movie. In “Up” it is named as “Paradise Falls”. The movie is not only based on that falls, but also the whole Canaima National Park including Mount Roraima, when I was walking up on top of that mountain, I could see the shape of the rocks on “Up”.

Talking about this same spot, the last “Point Break” movie (2015) -with an amazing Venezuelan actor: Edgar Ramirez- one of the last scenes where they are climbing a mountain, that’s Angel Falls. Other movies like Jurassic Park (1993) one of the 1st scenes is in Gran Sabana (Canaima National Park), Jungle2Jungle (1997) or Dragonfly (2002) they all have a scene in the same National Park. I mean, gorgeous park to not make videos there! (Read another of my posts about Canaima National Park: Gran Sabana 1)

While in Croatia, even when I haven’t watched “Game of Thrones” (I know… I tried) I tried to check out some areas that were the set of the show. For example, in Dubrovnik there are various points, from the Fort Lovrijenac, to the City Walls… again, I haven’t even watched the show (don’t roll your eyes at me) and I felt in the show during all the time I was in the old city.

Back in 2004, I visited a long stairs in Georgetown, a neighborhood in Washington DC, known as “The Exorcist Stairs”, from the movie “The Exorcist” (1973), of course.

I’m sure I’ve been to many more famous areas, but right now those are some of the one I remember the most. Maybe I’ll write a 2nd part of this. Have you been to any set? Have you taken any tour to see famous locations? Let me know!