Hobbiton Movie Set

Cinema transforms real places into legendary sets, and some filming locations have become as famous as the movies themselves. From Hobbiton in New Zealand, with its round-door houses built for Tolkien adaptations, to the Nabataean temple of Al Khazneh in Jordan, memorable from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, these sites showcase the intersection of fiction and reality. Film enthusiasts can walk beneath the hundred-year-old beech trees of The Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland, a scene from Game of Thrones, seek out Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross Station in London, or explore the Tunisian landscapes that brought Tatooine in Star Wars to life. Other destinations include Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, the deserted island of Monuriki in Fiji, where Cast Away was filmed, or the streets of Salzburg that hosted The Sound of Music. These locations offer visitors the chance to relive iconic scenes and understand how filmmakers utilized authentic sites to craft unforgettable cinematic worlds.

This collection brings together locations that challenge the norms of conventional tourism. It offers the chance to discover places where nature, history, and human activities have created astonishing sites: a complex of 732 unfinished villas in Turkey, a Mexican island where hundreds of dolls are hung in trees, a Canadian lake with mineral-formed multicolored basins, and a Polish forest of 400 pines with mysteriously bent trunks facing north. The route also includes unique human-made creations, such as an art installation representing an isolated Prada store in the Texas desert, or the Japanese village of Nagoro where an artist populated the streets with 350 dolls after the residents left. Geological phenomena are also featured, including Darvaza crater in Turkmenistan, which has been burning continuously since 1971, the Great Blue Hole in Belize, a 124-meter-deep underwater cavity, and Colombia’s Caño Cristales river that changes color to red, yellow, and green from July to November. These destinations provide a different perspective on our planet and invite exploration of lesser-known facets of our world.

Earth presents numerous geological formations, natural phenomena, and architectural structures that stand out through their exceptional characteristics. This collection documents such sites across all continents: the Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan, burning for decades; the luminescent glowworms in New Zealand's Waitomo Caves; the terraced limestone pools of Pamukkale in Turkey; and the layered sediment patterns of The Wave in Arizona. Additional locations include the basalt columns at Bushmills in Northern Ireland, the deep blue expanse of Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji, the Chocolate Hills in the Philippines with their conical mounds, and the acidic turquoise waters of Kawah Ijen crater lake in Indonesia. The collection also features human-made curiosities such as Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra with its spiral initiation well, the Winchester Mystery House in California with its unusual architecture, and Las Pozas in Mexico, a surrealist garden of concrete constructions in the jungle. Natural phenomena are equally represented: the Racetrack Playa in California with its moving rocks, the optical illusion of Magnetic Hill in New Brunswick, the Caño Cristales in Colombia whose riverbed appears in bright colors, and Lake Natron in Tanzania with its high alkaline content. Each location demonstrates specific geological processes, climatic conditions, or cultural developments that distinguish these places from typical travel destinations.

New Zealand provides photographic subjects ranging from the Southern Alps to sand beaches on both coastlines. The landscape includes thermal springs in Rotorua, glaciers like Franz Josef and Tasman, and fjords in Fiordland. Mount Cook dominates the alpine region while the Coromandel Peninsula holds beaches including Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove. The Tongariro Alpine Crossing traverses volcanic terrain and Mount Taranaki rises above Taranaki. Coastal formations like the Moeraki Boulders, Split Apple Rock and Nugget Point demonstrate geological variety. Natural waterfalls including Purakaunui Falls and Whangarei Falls sit among native forests. Cultural sites complement the natural geography. The Hobbiton Movie Set near Matamata displays the film location from the Tolkien adaptation. Larnach Castle near Dunedin represents colonial architecture. Te Puia and Wai-O-Tapu demonstrate geothermal activity with geysers and colored pools. Waitomo Caves contains glowworm caverns. Lake Tekapo offers clear night skies for stargazing. Viewpoints like Roy's Peak near Wanaka and Queenstown Hill sit above lake landscapes. Remote regions including Cape Reinga at the northern tip and Cape Palliser in the Wairarapa show different coastal environments. The Forgotten World Highway crosses historic mountain country on the North Island.