If you’re craving a trip to somewhere exotic but don’t have the time to travel, there are plenty of movies that can transport you there with a click of a button. Some movies have larger budgets that allow them to choose from a variety of locations around the world to set their stories in the perfect setting for their story. In Lord of the Rings, the expanse of greenery in New Zealand acts as a fairytale setting for magical creatures such as hobbits and dwarves. Many movies, such as several of the James Bond films, were created in the islands of the Bahamas or Jamaica, offering gorgeous backdrops for both action and romance to take place.
Other movies were filmed in dry, desert parts of the world such as The Martian which was filmed in Wadi Rum in Jordan. Whether you’re wanting to see the extent of nature’s beauty on Earth, experience adventure on a tropical island, or feel like you are a stranger on a Martian planet, here are some movies to help you transport somewhere exotic.
12 Dr. No
Filming Dr. No in Jamaica made sense as Ian Fleming wrote the book there in early 1957, inspired by the white sands and turquoise waters that surrounded him. In a Variety article, Renee Robinson, the Film Commissioner of Jamaica talked about the importance of Jamaican culture to the James Bond franchise. “There’s something magical about Jamaica, and it’s fed into the mythology of James Bond over the years,” she said. Since Bond is a larger-than-life figure, his character matches the global brand of Jamaica, which also works in a magnificent way to impact people all over the world.
Dr. No introduced audiences to many of the hallmarks of the Bond series - the exotic locales, the over-the-top villains, and of course, the iconic theme song. Many of the movie locations took place in Kingston on the south side of the island, others were close to Ochos Rios on the north side. One such scene was one which took place at “Crab Key,” a fictional island invented for the movie. The opening scene with the “three blind mice” takes place in South Parade Square in Downtown Kingston. Bond arrives at the Norman Manley Airport in Kingston and then drives along Norman Manley Highway east of the airport. Another location includes “Pussfeller’s Bar,” located at Morgan’s Harbour Hotel.
11 50 First Dates
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Sandler once confessed that he chooses where to film movies depending on where he’s interested in traveling. Reflecting on filming 50 First Dates, Sandler told how he presented his team with the idea: “imagine if we did it in Hawaii, how great that movie would be.” When 50 First Dates first came out, fans of the on-screen couple from the Wedding Singer were happy for the chemistry between Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler to return. Much of the movie was filmed in Hawaii at Sea Life Park between Koolau Range and Makapuu Beach.
The setting for Lucy’s (Drew Barrymore) family home was filmed in Waikane at Kaneohe Bay, while other scenes were filmed in Ka’a’awa Valley, more famously known as Jurassic Valley for the Jurassic Park scenes filmed there. A kissing montage includes the historic Makapuu Point Lighthouse on the easternmost point of Oahu Much, a spot you can hike to see in person. Sea Life Park where Henry (Adam Sandler) works is also real, and can be found in Waimanalo, not too far from Makapuu Point. Most of the supporting cast of the movie was made up of native Hawaiians. Sandler kept the tradition of filming in an exotic location with his next rom-com with Barrymore, Blended, filmed in Africa in 2014.
10 The Martian
Wadi Rum, a desert valley in Jordan, has played the part of Mars and distant planets in several movies including The Martian, Star Wars: Rogue One, Prometheus, and Red Planet. In The Martian, an extremely scientifically accurate film, an astronaut named Mark Watney (Matt Damon) becomes stranded on Mars after his team assumes he died. He must rely on his smarts to send a signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
The dry landscape, which features sand with a reddish hue, has massive granite rock faces and sandstone mesas that make for an otherworldly landscape. The desert valley has been used for several science fiction movies; it figured prominently in the 1962 classic Lawrence of Arabia, based on the life of T.E. Lawrence. The country of Jordan was given a Mars rover model built specifically for the film, and can now be found in Jordan’s Royal Automobile Museum. Many of the interior scenes were filmed in Korda Studios in Hungary, near Budapest.
9 Black Panther
Much of Black Panther was filmed in Uganda. The Waterfalls of Wakanda were filmed at the Iguazu, which is on the border of Argentina and Brazil, in South America. Panoramas of Wakanda were filmed in Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Zambia and southwest Uganda at the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Other lush jungle scenes from the air show footage are of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Kanungu District. In the same area is Rwenzori Mountains National Park, which provides aerial views of Wakanda's mountains.
Not much of the movie takes place in Africa after that, as much of the rest of the movie was filmed around Atlanta and on set. In the present day, an artifact made of vibranium is stolen by Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and Erik Stevens/Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) from the ‘Museum of Great Britain’ in London, which is actually the exterior of the High Museum of Art in the Ansley Park area, north of downtown Atlanta. The sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was also filmed in Atlanta, as well as Massachusetts and Puerto Rico.
8 Predator
Filming for Predator took place in Mexico which was a nightmare for the cast and crew. For one thing, Richard Chaves, who played Poncho in the film, told a nightmare story involving ants. When taking a break after rehearsing, Chaves was bitten almost 100 times on his arms by red ants, and then went into shock. Along with ants, another thing that was unbearable was the heat. Bill Duke who played Mac struggled with the heavy gear along with the guns they had to wear and carry in the heat. He also struggled with the exotic creatures he came across while climbing on the jungle floor such as coral snakes, spiders, and scorpions.
Some of the film locations in Mexico included the popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, on the coast 400 miles west of Mexico City. Jungle and waterfall scenes took place in the south of the country around Palenque, in the state of Chiapas. A series of smaller cascades included the Cascadas de Agua Azul (Blue Water Falls), part of a National Park 10 miles further southwest. This is where Dutch, frequently thought of as the best protagonist in the Predator franchise, had his final confrontation with the Predator.
7 Casino Royale
While plenty of movies have been filmed in Nassau, the movie character that has visited the most is James Bond. In 1965, Thunderball was filmed in parts of central Nassau, including a shipwreck made famous by the film’s incredible underwater fight scene. 007 returned in 1977 in The Spy Who Loved Me with more underwater shenanigans. 1983’s Never Say Never Again, featuring more underwater fights, was the last Bond film for Sean Connery.
Casino Royale (2006) was one of the most recent Bond films starring Daniel Craig which featured the beautiful beachfront hotel, The One and Only Ocean Club (Bond’s Bahamas villa). Some of the other Bahama locations included Versailles Gardens on Paradise Island, Nassau when Bond walks through gardens, and the Albany Golf and Beach Club, on New Providence Island, Nassau, the home of Dimitrios. Parts of the film are also filmed in other countries including the Czech Republic, Italy and England.
6 Apocalypse Now
Most of the filming for Apocalypse Now movie was mostly carried out on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. Coppola shot almost 200 hours of footage in a filming schedule that was nothing less than the nightmare depicted on the screen. The cinematic story is supposed to be unfolding somewhere on the border of Vietnam and Cambodia, as Coppola initially thought of filming in Vietnam. Once they weighed the dangers, the cast and crew decided to film most of the sequences in the Philippines. The early helicopter bombing on the sleepy villages was filmed in Baler Bay, located in the northeastern region of Luzon (in the province of Aurora). Some of the early surfing scenes were also filmed in the same area. Another filmed area was Zambales, north of Subic Bay, otherwise known as the location of a U.S. Navy base.
The medevac scene where the soldiers meet a group of women was filmed on a beach near Iba, the capital of the Zambales Province, but Typhoon Olga interrupted things. Most of the sets were destroyed and needed to be recreated.A lot of these issues caused stress for the crew: Coppola lost around 100 pounds and Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming. The troubles were worth it, as the director came back with a lasting achievement of cinema, and art director Dean Tavoularis and his team got an Academy nomination.
5 Eat, Pray, Love
Eat Pray Love was filmed in multiple locations across the world, including Bali, Italy, and India. Julie Roberts plays a woman named Elizabeth who goes on a spiritual journey, so it felt right for the creators to include the cities and places that she travels to in the movie. Most of the Bali locations for Eat, Pray Love were filmed in and around Ubud, the cultural heart of Bali, leading to a spike in tourism after the film was made. The first place that Elizabeth travels to in Eat Pray Love is Bali in Indonesia. While most of the filming in Bali was done in the Ubud region, other areas included the Tegalalang Rice Terrace, which is one of the most scenic locations in Bali.
The second place that Elizabeth travels to after Bali is Italy, where she challenges herself to find the best foods, including the best pizza. She also travels to various monuments like the Castel Sant’Angelo of Rome. The last place that Elizabeth visited in the film is India. After visiting an ashram that is situated near New Delhi, she travels further and visits the region of Uttar Pradesh. Most of the filming for the movie is done in North India.
4 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, a Jason Segel movie was filmed on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu at Turtle Bay Resort, a real 410-room resort which was the setting of the movie. An hour drive from Honolulu on Oahu, it's been the site of many "Survivor" episodes as well as other film and TV projects (the property was in the original Hawaii Five-O series). Other spots filmed in the movie include the dramatic coastline at Laie Point, which is where Peter leaps from the 30-foot cliffs on the northwest coast. You can also travel west to see the white sandy beaches of Keawa'ula Bay.
The film doesn’t just take place in Hawaii, of course. Peter’s nice Los Angeles home is just north of Franklin Avenue, in Los Feliz. Other LA landmarks include the Dresden Restaurant, in Los Feliz, where Peter and brother Brian (Bill Hader) have a boys' night out.
3 Pirates of the Caribbean
Between the four Pirates of the Caribbean films, what islands haven’t they used? The cast and crew have shot on St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Tortuga, Dominica, the Bahamas, Singapore, Molokai, Puerto Rico, and even England. Although most of the fourth film (2011) was filmed in Hawaii, the movie's final beach scene was filmed near the East Coast city of Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Other scenes were shot in Old San Juan, at the San Cristobal Fort.
To find their lush greenery, major sequences of the original film were shot in the jungle island of Dominica. In the second film, Dominica's northeast coast, with its dramatic cliffs and lush foliage, provides the backdrop for some of the dramatic moments including boat scenes filmed on the Indian River, a cannibal village where Jack almost becomes dinner, and a fight sequence involving a huge water wheel.
2 Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit Trilogy as well as The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power show was all filmed entirely in New Zealand. Filming locations included more than 150 locations in both the North and the South Islands. Matamata, which includes a lush dairy farming landscape, was used to portray the peaceful Shire region of Middle‑earth. The village of Hobbiton was created here with brilliant attention to detail.
The village was later rebuilt for The Hobbit Trilogy and is now a permanent tourist attraction. Other areas filmed include Mount Victoria in Wellington, which is within walking distance of the central city. Wellington’s Kaitoke Regional Park became Rivendell, where Frodo recovered from the knife attack. Drive up the west coast to Queen Elizabeth Park near Paraparaumu, which was used for filming the Nazgul and mumakil in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. Further up the coast is Waitarere Forest (Osgiliath Wood), where Frodo, Sam and Gollum walked after leaving Faramir.
1 The Revenant
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the role that earned him an Oscar, The Revenant is a film that questions which is scarier: man or nature? This movie was filmed in remote areas Argentina, Italy and Montana, as well as in the Canadian Rockies, where it was mostly shot. The spectacular scenery of Bow Valley was shot in the Canadian Rockies west of Calgary, Alberta. The opening bloody ambush on fur-traders by the Arikara Native Americans was shot in Stoney First Nations Reserve, a real Native American reserve near Morley, about 20 miles west of Calgary.
In a scene filmed in the USA, Glass (DiCaprio) escapes using the rapids of Kootenai Falls, just downstream from Libby, Montana, one of the largest free-flowing waterfalls in the Northwest with a 90-feet drop. As filming continued, the warm Chinook winds in southern Alberta resulted in a sudden melting of the snow. This forced production to relocate. The crew was forced to film the final scenes over four days on Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago split between Argentina and Chile off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan.
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