According to Sky News, film- and TV-related tourism is currently worth a massive £892 million a year to the UK alone. More than ever before, we want to incorporate our favourite films and TV shows into our holidays and, when we do, we’ll find that tour guides are waiting.
If you’re planning your 2025 getaway and would like to include a stop-off at the filming location from one of your favourite TV shows, look no further. As so-called “set-jetting” looks likely to become the travel trend of 2025, we have you covered.
Keep reading for five must-visit destinations.
1. Dubrovnik, Croatia – Game of Thrones
Sitting on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, the walled Old Town of Dubrovnik dates back to the 16th century. Its architecture encompasses the Baroque, Renaissance and Gothic periods and it’s an incredibly beautiful place to spend a holiday.
If you’re a fan of HBO’s Game of Thrones, though, you might be in for even more of a treat.
The series, based on George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire saga, used Dubrovnik as a filming location for the fortified port city and centre of Lannister power, King’s Landing.
Walk through the labyrinthine streets and you’ll find yourself suddenly confronted by the Red Keep or the stairs on which Cersei Lannister began her “walk of shame”. At the harbour, you’ll marvel at how the showrunners took the real-world landscape and manmade structures and integrated them into their fantasy world.
2. Bucharest, Romania – Killing Eve
The BBC series based on the Villanelle novels of Luke Jennings ran for four series. Jodie Comer starred as the psychopathic (and petulant) assassin Villanelle, while Sandra Oh played the MI6 agent Eve Polastri, who is tasked with tracking her down.
And tracking her down was no easy task. In this globetrotting series the stunning and picturesque capital city of Romania, Bucharest, stood in for multiple locations.
You’ll encounter locations from the series that will take you to a Moscow restaurant, a Barcelona swimming pool, and the suburbs of Paris.
Once your Killing Eve sightseeing is finished, you’ll plenty of other landmarks to explore, from the Palace of Parliament to the Church of the “Stavropoleos” Monastery. Or you might take a day trip to Dracula’s castle!
3. Barry Island – Gavin & Stacey
Sticking with the BBC but staying much closer to home, the beloved comedy series Gavin & Stacey came to an end on Christmas Day 2024.
The series followed the lives of two families – from Billericay, Essex and Barry Island on the south coast of Wales – brought together by the relationship of its title characters. Its finale attracted more than 19 million viewers.
Glenda Kenyon, 71, of Trinity Street in Barry Island, recently spoke to Sky News about the joy she felt in opening up her home as part of a Gavin & Stacey location tour. She has since been visited by more than 28,000 visitors from as far afield as Hawaii and India.
4. New Zealand – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
Peter Jackson filmed his hugely successful and Oscar-winning The Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand. He returned for the equally epic The Hobbit trilogy that followed.
When news broke that Amazon was making a series based on JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth, expectation was high. Especially when the budget for the first season – a reported $465 million (£399 million) – was announced.
To recreate Middle-earth around 5,000 years before the start of The Lord of the Rings, the production crew for The Rings of Power headed back to New Zealand and you could too.
While your first stop might be the Hobbiton set, you’ll also find plenty of filming locations from the TV series, as well as experience the beauty of the natural New Zealand landscape.
5. Hawaii – Lost
Over six series and 121 episodes, Lost changed the face of television drama. The character-led mystery centred on the survivors of a plane crash as they try to outwit and escape an island shrouded in secrets.
The convoluted plot kept viewers hooked, as did the stunning locations. While some viewers and critics felt that the quality tailed off as the series reached its (for many) disappointing finale, it garnered Emmy awards and a legion of die-hard fans. It has recently been re-explored as part of a 20th-anniversary reappraisal.
Largely shot on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, tours available that will take in some of the most iconic scenes from the series, including Jacob’s lighthouse, and stunning views out to sea and across this beautiful island.
