Best Countries for Set-Jetting Ranked

Have you ever had an irresistible urge to step into the screen when watching your favorite TV show or movie? To visit New Zealand and walk amongst the hobbits, journey across Scotland’s hills to revisit history, or see the front of Walter White’s house in Albuquerque? For many travelers, this has always been the perfect inspiration when picking a trip, but in recent years, interest has surged, especially with the rise of streaming services and the popularity of on-location shows like The White Lotus and Game of Thrones.

Researchers at InsureMyTrip used IMDB to create a list from the top 250 TV and film in the world to find the best countries to visit for travelers looking to immerse themselves in the set of their favorite movies and TV shows, as well as other travel metrics such as cost and crime to find the best for screen tourism. For the main index, the United States and the United Kingdom were removed to establish the best countries away from the undisputed global hubs of screen productions.

Top 10 Best Countries for Set-Jetting

Canada ranks first with an overall score of 7.7 with a total of 149 filming locations across 18 TV shows, along with 68 filming locations across 12 movies. It hosts locations for shows such as The X Files and The Last of Us and films that include Catch Me If You Can, Interstellar and Good Will Hunting. For travel-specific metrics, it also has one of the lowest average daily costs in the top 10 with $197 and a crime index of 41.4 out of 100.

Second is Germany with an overall score of 6.7, with 48 filming locations for 4 TV shows and 132 filming locations across 17 movies. Shows filmed here include The Queen’s Gambit and Dark, as well as films such as Barry Lyndon, Inglorious Basterds and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Germany’s average daily travel costs are marked at $206 as well as been ranked 30th globally for Culture Global Contribution.

In joint third with an overall score of 5.7, is Spain, Italy, and New Zealand. Spain leads for TV show filming locations with 33 across 4 shows that include Game of Thrones and Black Mirror, while Italy has 9 filming locations across the same number of shows such as My Brilliant Friend and Friends. New Zealand tops across the three with 103 filming locations across only 4 movies, due to the expansive Lord of the Rings trilogy, followed by Italy with 101 across 16 movies, like Dune: Part Two, The Godfather and The Wolf of Wall Street and then Spain with 86 across 6 movies that include Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Lawrence of Arabia and Pan’s Labyrinth. Spain is also ranked 13th for Culture Global Contribution, with Italy following at 16th and New Zealand at 33rd. New Zealand has the lowest average daily travel cost of the three with $156, followed by Spain with $216, and Italy with $233.

France and Japan are in 6th place with an overall score of 5.3, with France hosting 3 TV shows across 6 locations, such as Twin Peaks and Das Boot and 17 movies across 94 locations, including La haine and Saving Private Ryan. Japan has one TV show included in the study, the recently produced Shōgun, along with 54 filming locations across 13 films that includes Ikiru, Harakiri and Kill Bill: Vol 1. Japan has a low average daily travel cost of $140 as well as a low crime score of 35.9 out of 100, while France is ranked 18th for Culture Global Contribution.

Finally, Norway, Austria, and South Korea all have an overall score of 5.1 at joint 8th place to round off the top 10. Norway has a grand total of 6 filming locations across 4 TV shows and movies, with Austria having a total of 48 filming locations across 6 TV shows and movies, and South Korea providing 31 filming locations across 7 screen productions. Norway also has one of the lowest crime scores with 22.6 out of 100 and Austria has been ranked 4th for Culture Global Contribution.

Filming Hot Spots

As the top worldwide centers for film and TV show production, the United States and the United Kingdom have their own status for set-jetting.

For the United States, it tops for the total filming locations with 2,763, split with 610 for TV shows and 2,153 for movies, across a grand total of 201 productions, which is made up of 66 TV shows and 135 movies.

Drama is the U.S.’s top genre for both TV and film, across shows like Succession and Breaking Bad, as well as films like the famous Shawshank Redemption and The Godfather.

Comedy is the UK’s top TV genre, with the likes of Ted Lasso and Fleabag being filmed across England’s capital and Father Ted, while drama tops the film category, with movies like The Dark Knight and Trainspotting.

For filming locations, the United Kingdom has a grand total of 944 across a combined number of 84 TV shows and films. It breaks down for a total of 377 filming locations across 44 TV shows and 567 filming locations across 40 films.

Movies with the Most Filming Locations

Research was conducted into which movies productions had the most filming locations, which is led by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, filmed across 77 locations across 6 countries which include Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Barry Lyndon follows, produced across 56 different filming locations in 3 countries, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

In third is The Godfather, filmed across 53 locations across Dominica, Italy, and the United States.

TV Shows with the Most Filming Locations

For TV, Game of Thrones and The Crown match in top position for the highest number of filming locations with 63, however Game of Thrones is filmed across a total of 7 countries, which includes Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, while The Crown is filmed across 4: Hungary, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Following on is the anthology series True Detective, which is filmed across 47 locations in 2 countries, both Iceland and the United States.

Methodology

For this study, IMDB was scraped for the top 250 Films and TV Shows (excluding documentary/animation/reality tv shows/those without locations). Their recorded filming locations were then scraped using the Screaming Frog Spider. These locations were then broken into their countries. Countries were then counted to find the number of filming locations per country and the number of films that were filmed in each country. These countries were then supplemented with travel metrics to discover the best countries for set-jetting.