Have Any Movie Locations Ever Inspired You To Go And Visit?
Having grown up watching Star Wars I always wanted to go and see Rainbow Canyon or its nickname ‘Star Wars Canyon’ which is located in Death Valley National Park about 160 miles north of Los Angeles. The ravine got its nickname of Star Wars Canyon, owing to the resemblance of the fictional planet of Tatooine, Luke Sky walker’s home world in the original Star Wars film.
Although most of fictional Tatooine was shot in Tunisia, crucial scenes in ‘A New Hope’ were filmed in Death Valley between the Sierra Nevada mountains and Mojave Desert.
Twenty Mule Team Canyon was used for ‘Return Of The Jedi’, the scenes with C-3PO and R2-D2 travelling to Jabba the Hut’s palace. Other areas in the park that seem familiar from the movies are Dante’s View and Mesquite Sand Dunes.
Some photos of our trip to Death Valley and in particular Rainbow Canyon AKA Star Wars Canyon. 
Another film that inspired us to visit two of its filming locations was Casino Royale.
The first location is the beautiful Villa La Gaeta on Lake Como in Italy. In the Spring of 2006 the film Casino Royale was filmed in front of this villa. In the last scene of the movie when Bond shoots and meets Mr White and utters the famous words, “Bond… James Bond”.
This is a video I filmed of the stunning Villa La Gaeta on Lake Como from a fantastic private tour by Taxi Boat Varenna. What a brilliant day!
The second location is The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort in The Bahamas which has now become our favourite place to stay whenever we visit! 
The Ocean Club featured prominently in Casino Royale, several scenes were filmed in and around the Club. First Bond arrives with a water plane and drives in his Ford Mondeo to the club. After he causes some car damage at the parking area, Bond goes in to the lobby, where he finds out that it is Alex Dimitrios who received the sms sent by Mollaka. Later Bond plays a short poker game against Dimitrios in The Library, (which is located just off the lobby), and wins his Aston Martin DB5!
These are some photos takes from our various trips to The Ocean Club.
My next film location is Bodega Bay and nearby Bodega which was used in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed film The Birds in 1963.
This is us outside The Potter School building which was made famous as a filming location in Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie The Birds. In the movie the location was Bodega Bay, but the actual location is in the smaller town of Bodega a few miles inland from the coast. Building construction was completed in 1873 when it became a primary school for children in Bodega and the surrounding area. Potter Schoolhouse is now privately owned and it is protected as a historic landmark and easily viewed from the street.
Some more photos from Bodega and Bodega Bay, the last photo is the view from the car park at the Bodega Head trail.
My final film location is Fort Point in San Francisco from another Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo. This location is from the iconic scene where Scottie saves Madeleine from San Francisco Bay.
These photos were taken by me one one of our visits to San Francisco.
So the question is have any movie locations ever inspired you to go and visit and if not then perhaps you have seen a film and would now like to go and visit the location?
What film?
Which location?
