Movie Inspired Travel

Many movies inspire the audience to want to pack their bags and hit the road.  Here are a few to load into your DVD or Blu-Ray player for some travel inspiration.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Filmed entirely in New Zealand, the best scenery that the country has to offer was on brilliant display as Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Notable sights to visit include Tongariro National Park, home of three active volcanoes and the setting for the Land of Mordor: Mt. Ruapehu,  the largest active volcano in New Zealand, Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe. The Whakapapa Ski Field on the slopes of Mt. Ruapehu hosted the battlefield for the opening battle sequence in Fellowship of the Ring. Want to visit the Shire? Then head over to the private Alexander Farm in the Waikato area. This farm now proudly advertises itself as “Hobbiton.” The city of Wellington supported quite a few filming locations such as the town of Bree and the road where the Hobbits first hide from the Black Riders.  A host of tour companies offer packages that take travelers around New Zealand to the locations of the movies’ filming spots.

A River Runs Through It: This Academy Award winning movie was set in Montana and was filmed there, as well. The scenery played a large part in the telling of the story, and the Academy win for cinematography speaks to that. The river scenes were shot on three different rivers. To take in the wonderful river scenery from the film, travel close to Paradise Valley on the Yellowstone River, south of Bozeman on the Gallatin River, and south of Big Timber on the Boulder River.

March of the Penguins: Adventurous souls may be inspired by the scenery of Antarctica seen in this award-winning documentary on penguins. This film was shot mainly around the permanent French scientific base Dumont d'Urville in Adélie Land, Antarctica. Those who like it cold, rugged, and rough may find that this movie gives the push needed to schedule a journey to the south.

The Sound of Music: This movie has been inspiring travel to Austria for years, and with good reason. The bulk of the movie was filmed in and around Salzburg, Austria. For example, the exterior of the Von Trapp Villa was filmed in two different locations. The front of the house was Schloss Frohnburg which was a country house but is now a music academy. The lakefront terrace at the back was filmed at Schloss Leopoldskron, a castle which is now a private college. The Do-Re-Mi song begins on the Winkler Terrace which provides great views of Salzburg. The abbey where Maria married Captain von Trapp is the twin-towered church of Mondsee Cathedral, just 15 miles from Salzburg. Sound of Music fans will have no trouble finding any number of companies in Salzburg that tour the actual film sights. Sing the songs, and make it seem even more authentic!

Braveheart: Fans of this movie will be interested to know that while the entire movie is set in Scotland, only a fraction of the movie was filmed there, such as the sweeping mountain scenes with William Wallace traipsing along the mountain pathway which were filmed on the Mamores, a group of ten mountains that stretch between Glen Nevis and Loch Leven.  Glen Coe and the base of Ben Nevis were a few of the other Scottish sights that made it into the film. The rest of the outdoor movie scenes were shot in Ireland, such as Trim Castle which became the town of York. Dunsoghly Castle stood in for the more famous Edinburgh Castle of Scotland, the base of Robert the Bruce. Either way, travels to one or both of these countries would satisfy the appetite for what the British Isles have to offer.

The Harry Potter Saga: Speaking of the British Isles, consider the recently popular movie series, Harry Potter. The beautiful U-shaped gulley at Glen Coe in Scotland provided the backdrop for the area around Hogwarts Castle, although the castle is strictly a CGI creation. Scotland also provided the Glenfinnan Viaduct, the 21-arch viaduct that the Hogwarts Express steamed across. In England, swing by Alnwick Castle in Northumberland to see where Harry first rode a broomstick, Christ Church at the University of Oxford which provided the inspiration for the Great Hall of Hogwarts, and Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire which became the setting for many of the classrooms and hallways at Hogwarts.

These are just a handful of the wonderful movies that have graced the silver screen and inspired movie goers to pack their bags.