Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life was more like the Hollywood big screen blockbusters?
As we get set for the virtual Oscars on Sunday April 25 - with the 2021 Covid-delayed 93rd Academy Awards hosted at the Dolby Theatre and Union Station in Los Angeles, California - why not get in the movies mood with our backlot trips to authentic film tours?
Here, from Groundhog Day to the Sound of Music via Lord of the Rings, Dirty Dancing and Field of Dreams, film fans can leave reality behind for a taste of the on-screen action.
Check out our top picks below...
1. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
During the 1960s, Italian film director Sergio Leone sought a location to shoot his Spaghetti Westerns. But instead of setting up camp in the real American West, he chose the enigmatic landscapes of the Tabernas Desert in southern Spain.
He and his team constructed life-sized towns in this semi-arid location near Almeria, which feature in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars and A Few Dollars More, as well as many other cowboy classics. You can still visit the dusty, decaying sets to re-enact those epic gunfights or do your best Clint Eastwood impression.
While you’re there, stop by at nearby Oasys Mini Hollywood, another filming location, with its Wild West theme park and zoological nature reserve.
You can find out more on oasysparquetematico.com.
2. Groundhog Day
While the setting for the 1993 movie Groundhog Day is Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the action was almost entirely filmed in Woodstock, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago.
The bed and breakfast where Bill Murray’s character, cynical TV weatherman Phil Connors, stays is now the Cherry Tree Inn B&B, at 344 Fremont Street.
Promising “no rigid schedules, stuffiness or hovering”, guests are invited to sit back and enjoy an iced tea on the front porch as star-spangled banners fly in the breeze over this historic Victorian home.
Guests can also book a private Groundhog Day tour and stay in the $199 per night Magnolia Suite to stare out of the exact same bay windows as Connors did each morning in the fantasy comedy.
The real town of Punxsutawney, about 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, is not seen in the film but, yes, Groundhog Day is celebrated there every year on February 2.
You can find out more at cherrytreeinnbnb.com.
3. Field of Dreams
The baseball field built for the 1989 Kevin Costner movie was originally farmland in Dubuque County, Iowa. When the film wrapped, it was left behind for the landowners – the Lansing family, who owned the house, infield and right field, and the Ameskamp family, who maintained the left and centre sections.
The film’s classic line "If you build it, they will come" became reality when each family transformed their part of the set into a separate tourist attraction.
There were two driveways, two gift shops and two car parks. Equipment bought from the left side was not permitted to be used in the right. In 2007, the Ameskamps sold their portion to the Lansings and it remains a fan favourite.
Book in for a night in the farmhouse, enjoy a guided tour and browse the on-site shop. You can get married there or rent the baseball field for $125 per hour.
You can find out more at fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com.
4. Pirates of the Caribbean
The set and props from the 2003 blockbuster are still standing at Wallilabou Bay on the tropical island of St Vincent.
Scenes for the swashbucking adventure were shot around the Wallilabou Anchorage Hotel and restaurant, its bedrooms were used as green rooms for the actors and the whole bay was bustling with cast and crew during filming.
When the cameras stopped rolling, the hotel decided to keep the set and has tried to preserve it – it is constantly in the process of restoration.
Along with visiting the museum, pirate fans can take the self-guided movie tour, try on original costumes from the film and pose for photos next to the cannon or inside the coffins. Rooms from $50 per night.
You can find out more at wallilabou.com.
St Vincent is currently affected by La Soufriere volcano. Aid donations can be made at facebook.com/nemosvg.
5. Lord of the Rings
When movie maker Sir Peter Jackson sent a team of location scouts on the hunt for rolling hills and green pastures to feature in the epic fantasy adventure, an aerial search over the mountains and valleys of New Zealand revealed the Alexander farm, a 1,250-acre sheep farm in lush Waikato.
Bearing a striking similarity to The Shire, as described by JRR Tolkien, the hometown of the novel’s Hobbit heroes was created, with 39 temporary Hobbit holes.
After an initial attempt at demolition, 17 bare plywood facades remained, which became the catalyst for the guided tours beginning in 2002.
In 2009, Jackson returned to The Hobbit Trilogy and he left behind the beautiful movie set, which became the tourist attraction that still stands today. It features 44 permanent Hobbit holes and The Green Dragon Inn, which was opened in 2012, is the finale to the $89 two-hour fan tours.
You can find out more at hobbitontours.com.
6. The Sound of Music
Fairytale Rococo palace Schloss Leopoldskron in Salzburg, Austria, was the von Trapp family home in the iconic 1965 musical. Set on the banks of the Leopoldskroner Weiher lake, the scene where children’s governess Maria falls into the water was shot here.
However the glass pavilion in its seven-hectare park, where characters Liesl and Rolf sang Sixteen Going on Seventeen, proved so popular with fans it had to be moved to Hellbrunn Palace, just outside the city, in order to reduce congestion.
Movie lovers can follow in Julie Andrews’ footsteps on a two-night Sound of Music package at the palace. One of the highlights for guests is the chance to have their photo taken on the terrace between the two seahorses in front of the mountains.
Costing €414 per double, the deal also includes B&B in one of the historic palace rooms and a four-hour Sound of Music bus tour.
You can find out more at schloss-leopoldskron.com.
7. Dirty Dancing
In the heart of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, the Mountain Lake Lodge hotel is the ideal location to have the time of your life.
Rewind to the summer of 1963, “before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came” and stay in Baby’s Cabin where Jennifer Grey gave her tearful “sorry I lied” speech. The newly renovated three-bedroom Virginia Cottage sleeps 10 and overlooks the hotel’s lake.
Contrary to popular belief, the water here was never used to film Johnny and Baby’s lift practise scenes for the 1987 flick – they were shot in Lake Lure in North Carolina.
Fans can also mambo in their dancing shoes when the hotel morphs into the film’s Kellerman’s resort for its Dirty Dancing Themed Weekends, available to book for 2021 (June 25-27, July 30-August 1, August 27-29).
There’s a full itinerary of Dirty Dancing activities including a DD-inspired scavenger hunt and quiz, group and private dance lessons plus dance parties in the barn. You can even create your own happy ending and tie the knot in the gazebo used for one of Penny’s dance classes.
You can find out more at mtnlakelodge.com.
Which of the locations would be your top choice to visit? Let us know in the comments below.
