James Bond Filming Locations: Iconic Movie Sets Around the World

PUGLIA AND SOUTHERN ITALY

No Time to Die (2012)

Some of the most dramatic scenes in No Time to Die take place in and around northern Puglia. Just across the border in Basilicata, Bond and Madeleine arrive in Matera for a romantic break. The town’s remarkably photogenic old centre, with its ravines, hillsides of tumbling houses, sassi (caves), piazze, and venerable churches provides a stunning backdrop to the action.

Perhaps the most spectacular scene in the film, however, was shot on the narrow Ponte Acquedotto bridge in Gravina di Puglia, where Bond is attacked by men in a car and on a motorbike. After nearly getting run over, he grabs a cable and throws himself into the ravine below.

Other scenes from No Time to Die were filmed in Maratea and Sapri on the Tyrrhenian Coast to the south of Salerno.

TUSCANY

Quantum of Solace (2008)

One of the big stars of Quantum of Solace is Tuscany. Several scenes – rooftop chases, safehouse struggles, and the city’s mediaeval horserace, the Palio – play out in and around Siena’s Piazza del Campo and the Palazzo Pubblico.

Also featured are the marble quarries of Carrara in northwest Tuscany (car chase), and, just round the headland from our very own Villa Talamo, Torre di Talamonaccio, where Bond’s friend, Reneé Mathis, lives.

VENICE

From Russia With Love (1963)

Italy’s debut in the James Bond franchise comes in the closing scenes of From Russia With Love. Rosa Klebb activates the poisoned daggers in her shoes and takes the fight to Bond in a hotel room in Venice. Out of the window behind the action, you’ll catch a glimpse of the gorgeous Palladian Church of San Giorgio Maggiore.

A little later, fight won, Bond and Tatiana are seen floating in a gondola up the Rio del Palazzo canal. Above them is the Ponte dei Sospiri (the Bridge of Sighs).

Moonraker (1979)

Venice makes a return appearance in Moonraker with one of the funniest chases in the entire Bond catalogue. Aboard his trusty motorised gondola, 007 races around the canals of Dorsoduro and Cannaregio before arriving at the Canal Grande. As he approaches the Doge’s palace, his vessel magically transforms into a hovercraft, allowing him to whizz across St Mark’s square.

Other scenes in Moonraker are shot on Murano in the Venini Glass Furnace and in the courtyard of the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello (a building that also makes an appearance in Casino Royale).

Finally, heading across the lagoon to the Lido, it’s the turn of the Monastery of San Nicolo, which is used as the location for a secret MI6 base in Brazil’s Amazonian forests.

Casino Royale (2006)

Venice’s most recent incarnation as a film location for James Bond is in Casino Royale, where our hero enjoys a romantic time with Vesper Lynd. Unbeknown to Bond, however, his lover has betrayed him and flees. He pursues her to a house on the Grand Canal, which dramatically crumbles into the water, drowning Vesper in the process.

SARDINIA

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

White sandy beaches and transparent turquoise waters: the winding littoral roads of northern Sardinia and the Costa Smeralda provide the perfect backdrop for the scene in The Spy Who Loved Me in which Bond and agent Triple X attempt to flee the unwanted attentions of a gun helicopter in a white Lotus Esprit. The car in question had previously been consigned to Bond on the harbour front of Palau, and the scene ends with Bond driving into the sea from the jetty at Liscia di Vacco. At the touch of a switch, the car converts into a subaquatic vessel and Bond completes his escape.

THE ITALIAN LAKES

Casino Royale (2006)

Incorporating dramatic scenery, serpentine roads, and pretty towns and villages, the mountain-fringed lakes in the north of Italy are well-suited to Bond films. In Casino Royale (2006) the action twice heads to Lago di Como: in the first, Bond is recovering his energies in Villa del Balbianello after a painful run-in with his nemesis Le Chiffre; in the second, just down western shoreline of the lake, Bond arrives at Villa la Gaeta, the home of Mr White, a high-ranking member of SPECTRE. As Bond trains his gun on him, Mr White warns him, “You are a kite... dancing in a hurricane, Mr Bond. So long."

Quantum of Solace (2008)

The high-octane opening scenes of Quantum of Solace, meanwhile, are filmed on the shores of Lake Garda. It’s another car chase, this time along the winding lakeside road that connects Melcesina to Riva del Garda. As if by magic, the action is transported seamlessly to the marble quarries in Tuscany (see above).

ROME

Spectre (2015)

If you close your eyes and think of the perfect city for some archetypal Bond action, Rome must rank in the high on the list. It certainly did for the producers of Spectre, where the Eternal City’s ravishing beauty, iconic buildings, meandering river, and bustling labyrinth of streets combine to create the perfect setting for one of the franchise’s most brutal car chases.

In his special, Q-adapted Aston Martin DB10, Bond takes in the sights at breakneck speed, whooshing past the Vatican, screaming through various quarters of the old town, and speeding along the banks of the Tiber.

Also featured in the film is the Colosseum and Porto San Pancrazio in Trastevere, both of which Bond passes on his arrival into Rome; Villa di Fiorano, where he tracks down Lucia Sciarra; and Museo della Civilta Roma in the southern EUR area.

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

A great many of the most iconic scenes in Bond films take place in snowy mountains, and For Your Eyes Only includes one of them.

Numerous scenes are filmed high up in the Dolomites in an around Cortina d’Ampezzo, whose winter sports infrastructure (the town hosted the Winter Olympics in 1956, and will do so again in 2026) takes a starring role.

The rugged peaks of the Tofana mountains, the ski jump, the bobsled run, the ice stadium, the Miramonti Majestic Grand Hotel, and the slopes of Col Druscié provide plenty of opportunities for adventures and escapades.

CORFU

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Our beloved Corfu plays a starring role in For Your Eyes Only, with much of the action taking place near many of our villas.

Kalami Bay is where Melina’s archaeologist parents moor their boat while diving for ancient treasures. They are killed when the Cuban hitman Hector Gonzales opens fire on their ship from his plane.

Other memorable locations from the film include: the olive groves around the small town of Pagi, scene of the famous car chase in a Citroën 2CV; the Achilleion Palace, built as a holiday retreat by the Empress Sisi and transformed into a casino for the film; the gorgeous centre of Corfu Town, including the Church of Saint Spiridion and Platia Leonida Vlachou (the little park between the old fortress and the Liston); Villa Sylva, Gonzales’s mansion where bikini-clad ladies hang out around the pool; and the all-white monastery of Vlacherna.

METÉORA

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

One of the most breathtaking scenes in For Your Eyes Only (and arguably in all Bond films) takes place at Metéora in western Thessaly. To reach the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, which perches atop a gargantuan, 400m-high, sheer-sided stone column, Bond has to don his climbing shoes and bring out his ropes. He makes it, of course (rock-climbing being one of his many talents), and single-handedly storms the stronghold.

PARIS

Thunderball (1965)

The City of Light and its surroundings lends its many beautiful buildings and streets to numerous scenes. In Thunderball, SPECTRE’s headquarters are located in 35, Avenue d’Eylau.

Moonraker (1967)

In Moonraker (1967), several scenes are shot in the Cirque de Paname, the Bois de Boulogne, the Centre Pompidou (Hugo Drax’s industrial complex), the catacombs and the Coltrival quarry (Drax’s space rocket station), and a few chateaux just out of town, including Château de Vaux le Vicomte in Melun (Drax’s Californian home).

A View to a Kill (1985)

In A View to a Kill, meanwhile, the Jules Verne restaurant up the Eiffel Tower serves as an aperitif to the obligatory chase scene, which shows off two gorgeous bridges, Pont d'Iéna and Pont Alexandre III, the Palais de Justice, and the banks of the River Seine. Also featured, as the home of the villain Max Zorin, was the Château de Chantilly, some 35km north of Paris.

CHAMONIX AND AROUND

The World is Not Enough (1999)

In The World is Not Enough Bond spends time in the French Alps skiing with Elektra. Soon after jumping out of a helicopter straight onto an off-piste slope, the pair are chased by gun-toting henchmen in paragliders. Locations used for the various scenes include the peak of Rochers de Leschaux, the Glacier du Tour, and the area around the Refuges de Mayères.

THE CÔTE D’AZUR

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

The glamour of the Côte d'Azur proved irresistible to the location managers working on two Bond films and Cap d’Antibes provides the ravishing setting for the opening scenes of Diamonds Are Forever.

GoldenEye (1995)

In GoldenEye, Bond spends time in and around Monaco, where he frequents the Vista Palace Hotel, the Casino de Monte-Carlo, Port Hercule yachting harbour, and the Fort Antoine Theatre.

Nobody does villa experiences better than us, so why not follow in the footsteps of James Bond and book one of our stylish, sophisticated and alluring Mediterranean properties for your next escape?