Visit These Real Life Alternatives of Iconic Fictional Places!

Have you ever dreamed of visiting the fictional worlds from your favorite film, or favorite book? For many fans, their favorite stories live in the magical fantasy world that they create in their minds, getting inspiration between the lines of a page or behind the glow of the silver screen. The only way to enter their favorite world is to pick up a book or watch the movies, which all of them find a way into your mind map while longing, ‘Mmm…I wish I could ever live these places on my own.’

Well, here’s the good news! They are real. A recent research has revealed the most searched-for fictional locations of all time and have provided some alternative locations around the world that you can visit and can recreate the magic of your favorite fictional destinations in real life. They might not be what the storytellers have depicted, but they come close enough that it’s like being transported all over again. Based on the research, below are the most popular fictional locations based on global search volume that these locations have received and their real life alternatives to provide a world guide to experience these magical and fictional lands for yourself.

Global Search Volume	Film/TV	Fictional Location	Real Life Alternative
283,080	Black Panther	Wakanda	Cape Town, South Africa
127,440	Avatar	Pandora	Tianzi Mountains, China
94,920	Thor	Asgard	Cedar Creek Falls, Australia
79,920	Peter Pan	Neverland	Belize
64,920	The Hunger Games	Capitol	Les Espaces d’Abraxas, France
55,560	Star Wars	Coruscant	Tokyo, Japan
55,200	Harry Potter	Diagon Alley	Edinburgh, UK
51,240	Superman	Metropolis	New York City, US
44,880	Wizard of Oz	Emerald City	Kansas, US
43,800	Batman	Gotham City	New York City, US
43,800	Game of Thrones	Dragonstone	Gaztelugatxe, Spain
29,040	The Lord of the Rings	Rivendell	Kaitoke Regional Park, New Zealand
26,400	Star Wars	Cloud City	La Rinconada, Peru
20,160	Princess Diaries	Genovia	Andorra
20,040	Gulliver’s Travels	Lilliput	Tasmania, Australia

Securing the topmost position, the most popular fictional location (as determined by global search volume) is Wakanda from Black Panther.
Black Panther is an award-winning and record-breaking film, released in 2018, that surpassed the $1 billion mark in less than a month after it’s release. This ground-breaking film is set in a fictional location called Wakanda, a made-up country located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Wakanda has been searched for 283,080 times globally. If you’d like to ever visit Wakanda in reality, the closest real life alternative is the capital of South Africa, Cape Town. The iconic shot of the Black Panther standing on the panther head rock overlooking Birnin Zana looks very similar to the landscape of Cape Town when viewed from Pearl Rock.

The second comes in the list is Pandora, a mythical location from Avatar movie that hosts an array of magical flora such as the Tree of Souls and Panopyra. When Avatar was released in 2009, the James Cameron blockbuster, which generated a whopping $2.788 billion at the box office, it introduced us to the home of the indigenous Nav’ai, Pandora. It’s hard to imagine anywhere on earth as a comparison, but the Tianzi Mountains in China bear a resemblance. The mountains are located in a huge area of fantastical landscape with stacked pillars, caves, subterranean rivers and lakes, making it easy to see why it was the inspiration for Pandora.

Cedar Creek Falls in Australia is known for its beautiful views over the open canyon, waterfalls and rock pools, and is a popular attraction amongst tourists. But for Marvel fans, there’s another reason to visit. Parts of the popular franchise Thor – which is set in the fictional location of Asgard – were filmed on location at Cedar Creek Falls, with the area creating a mythical forest backdrop for the Marvel film. The fictional location of Asgard is ranked as the third most popular fictional location, having received a global search volume of 94,920.

J.K. Rowling’s hugely popular franchise Harry Potter undoubtedly makes the list of films and TV shows with popular fictional locations, as many of the locations in the Harry Potter  books are based on British cities or landmarks. Diagon Alley, a street of shops where Hogwarts’ wizards and witches can buy everything from wands to owls, is known to be inspired by Victoria Street in Edinburgh. The street is full of colorful buildings and cobbled streets and even hosts a Harry Potter themed shop that sells memorabilia fans.

Though not all of the locations were filmed in real life locations, many are based on non-fictional destinations across the world, so you are still able to explore some of the places from your favorite books, TV shows and films. Some of these iconic locations include:  

• Diagon Alley from Harry Potter – based on a street in Edinburgh
• The country of Genovia from Princess Diaries – based on the country of Andorra
• Lilliput from ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ – based on the island of Tasmania in Australia

It’s fascinating to learn that a lot of the fictional locations in these films and books are based on places where it’s possible to travel to, especially when taking into account some of the more fantastical locations like Lilliput and Pandora. Isn’t it exciting to think that you can actually recreate the magic of your favorite fictional destinations in real life and live your dreamland in reality?

With so many fictional locations taking inspiration from real life places, from Andorra to Tokyo and Peru to New Zealand, which film will inspire your next trip? Do you now plan to visit some of your favorite fictional locations mentioned here? Tell us what you think about these locations and which one is your favorite in the comments section down below or you can also tweet to us at @fuzzable

Source: Images taken from Google, copyrights are reserved with the owner. Data collected by On The Go Tours