The sets are still standing. So is the hillside that played Rohan.
Which studio keeps its sets up. What the Hobbiton coach from Auckland costs. Whether Dubrovnik needs a guide or just a map. Reviews of the film and TV location tours you can book, priced and honest about what survives on the ground.
The sign, from Griffith
The Shire, Waikato
Leavesden, Hobbiton, the Dubrovnik staircase, the Edinburgh closes.
The four location days people plan a whole trip around. What each costs, and what is actually there when you arrive.
01The one everybody booksHarry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourWarner Bros Leavesden, where the eight films were shot. The Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the model castle, on a timed slot out of London.
02The set that stayed upHobbiton Movie Set: Guided Tour TicketHobbiton was rebuilt in timber and brick for the second trilogy, so 44 finished hobbit holes sit on a working Waikato sheep farm.
03The capital, on footEpic Game of Thrones Tour + Lokrum & Saver OptionDubrovnik needed almost no dressing to play the capital. Pile Gate, the Jesuit staircase and the Lokrum crossing fit into one morning.
04Two hours, after darkHarry Potter Magical Guided Walking TourThe Edinburgh closes, the graveyard names and the school on the hill. Cheaper than a cinema ticket for the film.
Six productions carry most of the location circuit.
A studio in Hertfordshire, a farm in the Waikato, a walled city in Dalmatia, a stretch of Californian suburb and two Scottish counties. Start with whichever one you already love.
Britain shot most of it, and most of it is still standing.
A studio in Hertfordshire with the sets left up, a capital whose doorways have doubled for four centuries, and a coast road in Antrim that plays the North. Three kinds of British location day, and what it costs to join each one.
Hollywood is a working suburb with a tram running through it.
Warner Bros and Universal open their backlots between shoots, the sign reads best from the Griffith side at dusk, and the celebrity-homes loop is only as good as the driver. The lot tours are the part that sells out.
The location tours more people take than any others.
Every review we have written →The ones that fill first, and the single thing that earns each of them the slot.
1
Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour
Travel from Victoria Coach Station to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London by air-conditioned coach. Spend at least four hours exploring Diagon Alley, Gringotts, Platform 9¾, Hogwarts sets, props, costumes, and seasonal displays at your own pace. A representative handles ticket exchange, while audio guides cost extra.
From · $117
Read our review →
2
Magical London: Harry Potter Guided Walking Tour
from $20
3
Hobbiton Movie Set: Guided Tour Ticket
from $71
4
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
from $76
5
Giant’s Causeway and Game of Thrones Day Tour
from $26
6
Full-Day Iconic Sights of LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Beaches and More
from $99
7
Epic Game of Thrones Tour + Lokrum & Saver Option
from $25
8
Warner Bros. Studio Tour with Return Transportation
from $117
Middle-earth is a sheep farm, and the farm runs the tours.
The first Shire was plywood and came down after filming. The second was built to last, so 44 hobbit holes, the mill and the Green Dragon sit finished in the Waikato hills. Everything else, the passes and the braided rivers, is national park reached from Queenstown.
Every New Zealand location tour →
Dubrovnik has been the capital longer than it was a film set.
The walls, the Jesuit staircase and the Lokrum crossing fit inside one morning, and a good share of the guides were extras in the crowd scenes they are standing in. Belfast handles the North, Andalusia handles the south, and Girona is the cheap surprise.
- 1Epic Game of Thrones Tour + Lokrum & Saver Optionfrom $25
- 2Dubrovnik Game of Thrones Tour & Optional Lokrum Island Visitfrom $24
- 3Game of Thrones Extended Tour with Swords and Propsfrom $66
What a day on location actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. A good share of the best location days cost less than the cinema ticket for the film.
City walks, graveyard tours, the closes and the borrowed doorways. On foot, two hours, no transport.
Studio entry, Hobbiton with the coach from Auckland, the full Antrim coast loop.
Private drivers, two days in the Highlands, and the studio tickets that arrive with transfers attached.
Three things a location tour does that a rewatch cannot.
Most travel is about places. This is about places that spent a year pretending to be somewhere else, and what is left standing once the crew has gone.
The sets they never struck
Warner Bros left the Great Hall, Diagon Alley and the Gringotts vault standing when the eighth film wrapped and built a hangar around them instead. The model castle at the end is a 1:24 build that took a workshop of artists the better part of a year, and it is still lit through dawn, dusk and night on a twenty-minute cycle.
- 1Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 26,588 reviews
- 2Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 7,191 reviews
- 3Harry Potter: Warner Bros. Studio Tour from King’s Cross★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 6,442 reviews
A village built twice
The Alexander farm was scouted from the air for the hills behind it, and the first Shire was dressed in polystyrene and taken down after filming. When the second trilogy needed it back the rebuild used timber, brick and real plaster, so the gardens are planted to a schedule and the Green Dragon pours its own ale.
- 1Hobbiton Movie Set: Guided Tour Ticket★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 8,167 reviews
- 2Hobbiton™ Movie Set Walking Tour from Shires Rest★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 3,577 reviews
- 3Hobbiton & Waitomo Caves Guided Day Trip from Auckland incl lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,677 reviews
A city that plays itself
Dubrovnik needed almost nothing added to become the capital: the walls were already there, the Jesuit staircase was already theatrical, and Lokrum is a fifteen-minute boat across the harbour. The crowd scenes were filled by locals, which is why so many of the guides can tell you where they were standing.
- 1Epic Game of Thrones Tour + Lokrum & Saver Option★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 5,995 reviews
- 2Dubrovnik Game of Thrones Tour & Optional Lokrum Island Visit★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 4,702 reviews
- 3Game of Thrones Extended Tour with Swords and Props★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,118 reviews
Four location bookings that will not wait.
Most of this can be arranged from a hotel lobby the night before. These four run on timed entry, a coach seat and a set that closes whenever something is being shot on it.
- 01Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio TourLeavesden releases its timed slots months ahead and sells nothing at the door. Every coach version is the same ticket with transport bolted on.
- 02Hobbiton Movie Set: Guided Tour TicketThe Shire runs fixed departures from the Shires Rest gate, and the summer coaches out of Auckland go first because they are the only way there without a car.
- 03Epic Game of Thrones Tour + Lokrum & Saver OptionThe Lokrum boat stops for the winter and the city walls shut in high wind, so the shoulder-season dates are the ones that vanish.
- 04The Outlander Experience Guided TourDoune, Culross and Falkland are small places with tight coach parking, so the Highland day trips cap their numbers and stay capped.
Some sets are standing. Some are a field with a very good story.
Three things decide whether a location day lands. Whether the set survived the wrap, whether the owner lets anyone inside, and whether the production has been back since. The studio tours are indoors, ticketed and run all year. The landscapes are a coach seat, a walk and whatever the weather is doing.
- 1Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tourfrom $117
- 2Hobbiton Movie Set: Guided Tour Ticketfrom $71
- 3Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywoodfrom $76
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