5 TV Show Filming Locations You Can Visit in Real Life
Watching your favorite television shows is more than just entertaining, it’s a temporary escape from the everyday. For 30 minutes or an hour we are immersed in worlds of comedy and drama. In many cases, we feel like we are really there, hanging out with the characters. Have you ever imagined how much fun it would be to actually visit the places where the shows were filmed? Take selfies at the sites where big scenes took place? In many cases, you can! Here are five TV show locations you can visit in real life.
- Iceland & Northern Ireland – Game of Thrones
This mythical HBO series has been filmed in stunning locations, including Northern Ireland, Malta, Croatia and Iceland. If you want to go on your own Viking trek, there are several tours GoT fans can take. The Dublin Winterfell Locations Trek is a Northern Ireland journey that brings you to Tollymore Forest Park, Castle Ward Estate and the 12th-century Cistercian Abbey which are the locations of many important scenes. Head on over to Iceland to explore the captivating landscapes, the gorges of Thingvellir, and the place where many of the most violent scenes were filmed.
- New York City & NJ – Seinfeld, Girls, Sex and The City, Sopranos
NYC has been the set for so many of the most popular television shows it was hard to just choose one to feature in this list. Visit the Big Apple for an opportunity to have a bite at Seinfeld’s “Monk’s Café.” While the café is fictional and the inside scenes were shot on a sound stage, the exterior shots were of a real-life restaurant named “Tom’s Restaurant” which is located in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan.
Having an all-girls getaway? Join the Upper East Siders on a Gossip Girls tour where you’ll see spots like the Met Steps, The Empire Hotel, and Constance Billard and St. Jude’s Schools. Is Sex and the City more your style? Follow in Carrie Bradshaw’s steps by doing some retail therapy at Century 21, indulging your sweet tooth at Magnolia Bakery, and visiting the location of her fictional apartment at 66 Perry Street.
Fan of The Sopranos? There are plenty of filming locations to see that are in NJ, just a short ride from NYC through the Lincoln Tunnel. Eat at the Skyway Diner, drive past the Cleveland Auto Body shop and St. Cecilia’s, and visit Holsten’s Brookdale Confectionery Ice Cream Parlor, the site of the show’s final scene. To see it all, take a Sopranos tour.
- Great Britain – Downton Abbey
This award-winning British drama series has loyal followers throughout the world who have made pilgrimages to Great Britain to see sites where scenes were filmed. Fans can visit the Oxfordshire town of Bampton which is the setting for many exterior village scenes. You can also see the pub, the church and the location for the Downton Abbey hospital. Of course, no Downton Abbey tour would be complete without visiting the exquisite Highclere Castle in Berkshire. The 1000-year old castle is the “real” Downton Abbey that was used as the set for the series. It is one of the most spectacular homes in the world and its owners, the Carnarvons, live there part time. The castle is open for visitors at select times.
- New Orleans – American Horror Story
The FX series, American Horror Story: Coven took place in New Orleans. While Miss Robichaux’s Academy is fictional and the interior was shot on a stage, the exterior is the real-life Buckner Mansion in the Garden District. This beautiful and historic estate was built in 1856 and is a popular place for tourists to take pictures. It is a private home and tours are not given, but it is being offered as a vacation rental.
- Senoia, Georgia – The Walking Dead
This town about 50 miles south of Atlanta is the major location shoot for AMC’s zombie apocalypse series, The Walking Dead. Senoia has turned into the fictional town of Woodbury and some of the storefronts are fake and were built just for filming. If you want to visit Senoia and channel your inner zombie, your tour itinerary could take you to Rick’s house, Morgan’s house, and Senoia Coffee & Café, which was the location used for the Woodbury Coffee House, and many other scene locations fans are sure to recognize. Senoia is sometimes called “Hollywood South” and many television shows and movies have been filmed here, including Sweet Home Alabama, Driving Miss Daisy, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Footloose (2011 remake).
Visit your favorite TV locations by winning a PCH sweepstakes!
It can seem as if there is never enough money to travel to all the places you want to see. But if you won a Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes, you could be rolling in the cash. You would have enough money to visit all your favorite TV show locations wherever in the world they might be. The more sweepstakes you enter, the more chances you have to win. Enter our First Class Sweepstakes for a chance to win up to $90,000.00 toward travel to your favorite TV show locations. Or enter to win $50,000 Carefree Cash so you can go “on location” wherever you please!
Dave D.
For PCH Creative
