From Hogwarts to Jurassic Park Fictional places you can visit!

Part of what makes fantasy and sci-fi appealing is that it’s not just a bunch of characters – it’s a whole world. One you want to live in.

Even though that can’t actually happen, as a book or a movie can’t physically move us to another area in the world (unless, you know, the laws of physics have dramatically changed), there are ways to experience the fictional places we watch and read about. We bring you the some of the fictional destinations which are based on real places. 

Modor (Lord of the Rings)

The region of Mordor in Middle-earth was a key location in all of the Lord of the Rings books.  When they were translated to film by directed Peter Jackson, it was crucial to select the right backrdop for the key scenes and Mount Tongariro in New Zealand was selected.

Bilbo Baggins’ home in Hobbiton can be found in Matamata, New Zealand.

Though the movie adaptation wasn’t filmed here, Passu Lake in Gilgit, Pakistan is a dead ringer for Mordor.

Hogwarts (Harry Potter series)

The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is the centerpiece location in the Harry potter series. Located in Scotland, the picturesque Glencoe village was used as a backdrop when the Harry Potter books were translated to film.

Hogwarts Express, the train that takes Harry Potter and his classmates to Hogwarts, can be seen speeding across Glenfinnan Viaduct in Lochaber, Scotland. Hogwarts Dining Hall was inspired by The Great Hall in Christ Church, Oxford University.

King’s Landing (Game of Thrones)

The city of Mdina in Malta was chosen to represent and bring to life King’s Landing in the TV adaptation of the popular “A Game of Thrones”. Like King’s Landing, Mdina is a walled medieval city built upon a hill.

From Malta, the locations were shifted to Croatia in the city of Dubrovnik and nearby locations which allowed exterior shots of a seaside walled medieval city. The Walls of Dubrovnik and of Fort Lovrijenac were used for scenes in King’s Landing and the Red Keep.

Most of the action in Game of Thrones takes place in Westeros, and most of its filming locations are in Northern Ireland— Magheramorne Quarry, Ballymoney, Tollymore Forest Park and Carncastle, where the show’s principal photography takes place.

Pandora  (Avatar)

Director James Cameron selected the Hawaiian island of Kaua’I as the backdrop to Pandora, the planet he created for the ambitious Avatar.  However, the mountains of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China also bear a striking resemblance to the fictional planet Pandora.

A lot of scenes were shot at the Hamakua Coast in Hawaii.

Isla de Muerta (Pirates of The Caribbean)

Isla de Muerta is a pirate island in the Caribbean, central to the plot of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. It can be likened in climate and geography to Haiti.

The real Port Royal is a city located at the mouth of the Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. 

Tortuga, which appears in ‘Dead Man’s Chest’, is a pirate island off the northern coast of Haiti.

Isla Nublar  (Jurrasic Park)

Steven Spielberg picked the island of Kaua’s as the main location for Jurassic Park, and followed this by also shooting scenes for both Jurassic Park 2 and 3 on several Hawaiian islands.

The exterior shots of Isla Nublar (a.k.a site of Jurassic Park) were of Na Pali Coast in Kauai, Hawaii. Scenes were also shot at the Tehachapi Pass, Mojave Desert, California where dinosaurs ran amok.