London, Mexico, Ötztal: James Bond is perhaps the world’s most famous traveler, having flown around the world at least eight and a half times. For fans of 007, now there is finally a proper travel guide to the film’s most important spots.
He has visited at least 67 countries and 80 real cities (plus the fictional Isthmus City). For his 27 films, he easily covered a distance of 340,000 kilometers, the equivalent of eight and a half times around the world. Along the way he stayed at countless luxury hotels, flirting or sipping his vodka martinis.
This disaster left a trail of snow and destruction on around 20 mountain ranges around the world. He loves fast cars and flying; he has traveled many times by helicopter, propeller plane, private jet, airplane, and military aircraft. He was already on the Orient Express.
We are talking about James Bond, the most famous British MI6 agent, who worked on behalf of Queens and Kings around the world in spectacular locations to save them. Books have been written about his cars, his cocktails, his women and his style, but strangely nothing relevant has been published about the well-travelled Bond.
In 2023, New York publisher Assouline published the English-language picture book “James Bond Destinations,” but this coffee table mostly featured decorative film photos – pretty, but shallow. A bit of content for anyone who wants to follow a secret agent and check out the locations of a cult film.
Film tourism to original locations is booming
And these are just some of them: So far, six billion 007 cinema tickets have been sold worldwide – and since film tourism is booming, you can imagine how huge the tourism potential of the James Bond series is. In 2023, an international survey conducted by the online travel platform Expedia showed that so-called set jetting, namely trips to film and series locations, became more popular than ever: Two-thirds of travelers worldwide have considered visiting a place they know about from the cinema or from streaming. 39 percent have taken at least one tour of a film location.
There are no reliable figures regarding how many jetters are credited to James Bond. But there will be more soon. Thanks to Heidelberg writer Cornelia Lohs. He visited the most interesting locations in the 007 series and prepared them for the “Unofficial James Bond Travel Guide”, which was just published by Bruckmann Verlag.
One wonders why no one thought of this great idea before. Maybe because it’s too difficult. Lohs describes 100 important locations around the world “that Bond immortalized,” and some of them he began researching several years ago.
The spectrum ranges from A for Amsterdam (where Sean Connery stood in front of the camera for “Diamond Fever” in 1971) to Z for Zócalo, the main square in Mexico City, where the opening scene of “Spectre” was filmed in 2015 with 1,500 extras. Unfortunately, I for Istanbul is missing, although there were three 007 films filmed here, the most recent being “Skyfall” (2012). Another minor criticism: the readers in the book are referred to by initials – this may bother some people, but this is “a requirement of the publisher,” explains the author.
However, the positive impacts far outweigh the negative impacts. This book cleverly combines film history, travel guide lore, and loving detail. For example, you learn that “Spectre” has changed the daily lives of Mexicans permanently: The first scene is a stunning parade on the “Day of the Dead.” “Día de los Muertos” has been around in Mexico for a long time, but there has never been a mass viewing like the one in the film. The people of the capital were so enthusiastic about the 007 show that they have celebrated brightly colored parades every year since the day of his death, Lohs wrote.
Jamaica appears in the first chapter of the book; after all, James Bond was invented on the Caribbean island: Ian Fleming wrote several 007 novels here, in his remote villa “Goldeneye” on the north coast. Lohs not only introduces the “paradise” property, but also explains Fleming’s love of this “uncanny emptiness” – and what it takes to spend the night in the crime writer’s former residence: at least 7,000 euros. Per night.
There are no filming permits for certain countries
Anyone wondering why Cuba didn’t show up will find the answer in the book: “In fact, no filming was ever done in Cuba” – there was no permission to make a film. Instead, parts of Jamaica and Cadiz in Andalusia became substitutes for the communist island.
The same is true in Vietnam: scenes from “Tomorrow Never Dies” were supposed to be shot in the spectacular Halong Bay in northern Vietnam, but the government refused for political reasons. The filmmakers moved to Phang Nga Bay in Thailand with its striking limestone cliffs.
Lohs introduces another exotic filming location that fuels wanderlust and fantasy at the same time, where you can perfectly imagine yourself back in the film’s story, and peppers the text with practical uses. For example, you find out at which hotel in the Bahamas you can enjoy Bond’s “Casino Royale” cocktail at the bar without having to check in as a guest (at “The Ocean Club” from the Four Seasons). Or why you shouldn’t look for the “Fillet of Soul” restaurant where Bond drinks Sazerac cocktails in New Orleans, where “Live and Let Die” was filmed: it’s fictional and doesn’t exist.
Apart from the glamorous islands, big cities also form the main backdrop. Paris, Rome, Vienna, New York and Bangkok appear in travel guides. And also Berlin, which was the location of “Octopussy” in 1982 – Roger Moore was observed by eager GDR border guards with binoculars during filming at Checkpoint Charlie.
Lohs tip for film fans: Original props from the 007 films are on display at the German Spy Museum. He recommended his favorite hotel for Venice: “Danieli”. A night in a palazzo costs at least 650 euros, but you’re staying in the same place Bond lived in “From With Love” and “Moonraker.”
Bond’s London home address is revealed
London plays a major role in films and travel guides. In any case, James Bond is right at home here: Lohs revealed that in “Spectre” he lived at 1 Stanley Gardens in the Notting Hill district — even though the house was only used for exterior shots and was filmed at Pinewood Studios. That hasn’t stopped fans from taking photos of the glorious old building.
Another highlight is the headquarters of the British foreign secret service MI6 with its striking facade, located on the south bank of the River Thames next to Vauxhall Bridge. Unfortunately you can’t visit the spy headquarters, but Lohs revealed the best photo spots at other banks. If you want to take a selfie with 007, he recommends Madame Tussauds wax museum, where “six Bond actors stand in a row next to each other, three are even ready to take pictures”.
Of course, the versatile Bond can also ski perfectly – he has his inventor Ian Fleming to thank, who attended a private school in Tyrol, discovered the mountains there and incorporated their charm into his novels. So it’s no surprise that the most beautiful mountain chase scene in “Spectre” takes place in Gaislachkogel, 3,048 meters above Sölden in Ötztal. The futuristic glass cube of the film clinic really exists, it is actually a luxury restaurant, “ice Q”.
Right next door, “007 Elements” opened in 2018, an interactive production of James Bond’s cosmos that attracts about 100,000 guests per year. The museum is one of the most important places in the world, containing not only the locations, but also a wealth of background information and film installations from almost all the Bond films.
The book also recommends the Faroe Island of Kalsoy in the North Atlantic as a tourist destination. It serves as a stand-in for the fictional Pacific island in “No Time to Die” and is the setting for Bond’s departure. With steep cliffs and dark clouds, it fits perfectly with the dark ending: Daniel Craig is hit by a rocket and dies – staged as a self-sacrifice to save the world.
In fact, Craig himself was never there; “he was digitally edited into the final scene,” Lohs wrote. The islanders don’t care. They erected a memorial stone on the cliff where he died in the film (“In Memory of James Bond, 1962-2021”).
The tourists don’t care about reality either. “The tombstone boosted tourism,” the book says, “since it was erected in 2022, Bond fans from around the world have flocked to the remote Faroe Islands.”
Luckily, 007 remains immortal even though he died in the film – the next Bond film with a new lead actor will probably hit cinemas in 2028. Movie buffs can already look forward to a stunning new tourist destination.
