Filmmakers name their favourite (and least favourite) locations

Remember the stunning scenes of Petra, Jordan, in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Cambodia’s Angkor Wat in Tomb Raider and the images of Christ Church College, Oxford, in the Harry Potter films?

Or how about Italy’s stunning countryside in Under the Tuscan Sun, London’s charming Notting Hill in the movie of the same name, New Zealand’s Hobbiton of Lord of the Rings’ fame, and Kualoa Ranch, Hawaii, the thrilling playground for the creatures of Jurassic Park?

So many movie locations grab our attention on screen so viscerally, they end up topping our travel wish lists.

“I remember when The English Patient came out in 1996 with all those beautiful desert scenes filmed in Morocco,” says Dennis Bunnik, joint chief executive of Bunnik Tours. “We had a lot of clients signing up for Morocco just to see those sights.

Ta Prohm temple, one of the legendary Tomb Raider film locations in the Angkor Wat complex.Credit: Getty Images

“Then The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel in 2011 sparked so much interest in India. Film locations can have a huge influence on people’s travel choices.

“We’re also now seeing TV shows do something similar too, like Game of Thrones with Croatia, Joanna Lumley’s series on the Silk Road for those areas, and The White Lotus for Sicily.”

Tourist authorities all over the world report a surge in visitor numbers following the success of certain films. Rome became a favourite destination in the 1950s following Audrey Hepburn’s Roman Holiday; Austria became popular in the late 1960s as a result of The Sound of Music, and in the 1980s, Kenya reaped the benefits of the worldwide release of Out Of Africa. And a boost to visitor numbers to Paris in 2011, 2012 and 2013 has been attributed to Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris.

But is it the same for those who work in the film industry? Do they similarly fall in love with locations that work in and vow to return for a holiday as soon as they can?

Traveller asked seven of Australia’s’ film industry luminaries for their choice of the movie locations they fell in love with as destinations in their own right.

Robert Connolly, director, producer and writer

Robert Connolly on the set of Force Of Nature.

Robert Connolly’s multi-award-winning movies include The Boys (1998), The Bank (2002), Romulus, My Father (2007), Balibo (2009), Paper Planes (2014), The Dry (2021), Blueback (2022), Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024). His latest work is the children’s film Magic Beach (2024), a mix of live action and animation.

The loved location Bremer Bay, Western Australia, for the feature film Blueback. “I was the director and writer, and it’s based on Tim Winton’s Blueback: a Fable for All Ages, a beautiful novella and love letter to the ocean,” Connolly says.

He says ”It’s stunning. It had the beauty and idyllic landscape we needed for the film, and the occasional muscular visceral moments too. I love its mix of gentle and idyllic little bays with tough surfing beaches and big swells. There’s so much to do and explore: a swim at Little Boat Harbour Beach every day; a boat trip out looking for whales and to see the orcas in the Bremer Canyon; seeking out local knowledge and directions for the secret Champagne Rocks; coffee and cake at the Telegraph Cafe; the Wellstead Museum and Cafe for historic info on the town and area; a beer at the pub with the locals.”

The Bremer River close to the river mouth at Bremer Bay, Western Australia.Credit: Getty Images

We say On the south coast of Western Australia, between Albany and Esperance, and 515 kilometres south-east of Perth, Bremer Bay is a real western gem, with the little coastal town normally home to a population of about 230 – which has been known to reach almost 6500 in holiday periods. And there’s good reason: fabulous beaches, wildlife, wildflowers and (apart from the sharks and orcas) great diving and snorkelling.

Lights, camera...visit There are regular flights to Perth from all of Australia’s capital cities, and from there it’s a five-and-half-hour drive. There are also Orca Air flights for day visits or Orca Bus trips from Perth. The best time to visit is between December and April when the weather is at its finest. See bremerbaykillerwhales.com; australiassouthwest.com

John Collee, screenwriter

John Collee’s Oscar-nominated films are Master and Commander, Happy Feet – which won Best Animation in 2006 – and Tanna, nominated for Best Foreign Language Feature in 2017. His other works include movies Hotel Mumbai, Lee and his acclaimed TV adaptation, Boy Swallows Universe.

John Collee’s Tanna, in Vanuatu, is an improvised love story.

The loved location Collee’s choice is Tanna, an island in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. Collee was at the Cannes Film Festival when he was told that Australian filmmakers Martin Butler and Bentley Dean were planning to make a film in Tanna and needed a screenplay.

He went along and met the tribal group there who’d been given a special dispensation to continue to live in their traditional way, growing taro root, fishing and collecting honey. He collaborated with the locals – who didn’t speak English – to come up with a story about forbidden love, a la Romeo and Juliet, and an improvised script. The final film, Tanna, was nominated for an Oscar.

He says “Tanna is a really lovely and idyllic island,” Collee says. “And the people are so warm and open-hearted and welcoming. It’s just a fabulous place, really magical. Being there felt like a really transformative experience. There’s a live volcano, Mount Yasur, there too – worth the trip there for that alone. There are also some fabulous tropical lagoons.”

Filming on Tanna Island, Vanuatu.

We say Tanna is a beautiful island, with a black sand beach, blue waters, waterfalls, great snorkelling, lush forest, underground caves for swimming, a lake and that active, constantly smoking volcano. It’s always recommended to take a guide on a hike to the top. The island’s also fascinating for its Melanesian dancing, festivals and its history of cargo cults, like that of the late Prince Philip, and … cannibalism.

Local women and children, Tanna.Credit: Getty Images

Lights, camera...visit Tanna is a 45-minute flight from the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila, and there’s a choice of four resorts on the island. Summer can be hot, wet and humid, and cyclones can hit, like Cyclone Pam in 2015, so it’s best to visit between June and October. Most resorts have resumed operation after the December 2024 earthquake, but check for updates. See vanuatu.travel/au

Rachel Ward, actor, director, writer

Rachel Ward in her documentary Rachel’s Farm.

Rachel Ward is best known as a multi-Golden Globe-nominated actor for Sharky’s Machine (1981), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), The Thorn Birds (1983), Against All Odds (1984), The Umbrella Woman (1987) and On The Beach (2000). As a director, she won the Australian Film Institute Award for her short film The Big House, and made Beautiful Kate in 2009, Palm Beach in 2019 and her documentary Rachel’s Farm in 2023 about her regeneration of farmland.

The loved location The Nambucca Valley in the Mid North Coast of NSW. Ward first visited for The Umbrella Woman, made in the region’s heritage town of Bowraville. “The film was set in the 1940s and we could still shoot 350 degrees without any contemporary blights on the screen,” Ward says. “The surrounding landscape in the Nambucca Valley is so astonishingly beautiful that we bought a farming property there 40 years ago and are still there; it was the subject of Rachel’s Farm.”

Bowraville, NSW… location for The Umbrella Woman.Credit: Getty Images

She says “The area has several arms that meander back into The Great Dividing Range and is made up of narrow green valleys with clear gravel streams filled with wading cattle and saucy birds,” Ward says. “There’s one bird that sounds like a wolf-whistle. I first heard it when I was putting out the washing and was convinced there was someone spying on me. Then there’s Scotts Head, a so-far unspoilt beach with an old-fashioned caravan park and some excellent coffee shops. You can buy local regenerative steaks for your barbie at the Galeria in the very quaint riverside town of Macksville and nearby Bellingen is another beauty. All in all, it’s an undeveloped gem of an area; a classic Aussie summer holiday location still retaining old-fashioned charm.”

We say The area, half-way between Sydney and Brisbane, is indeed a great holiday destination with hikes through stunning forests, gorgeous natural beauty, birdwatching, dolphin watching, surfing, the Nambucca River, history walks and a buzzy arts scene.

The scenic Nambucca River, Nambucca Heads.

Lights, camera...visit There are direct flights to Coffs Harbour from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, or there’s a train from Sydney, or take a five-and-half-hour drive. For a taste of the region, you can have Rachel’s Farm regenerated beef delivered. See levenvalefarm.com.au and nambuccavalley.com.au

Bonnie Elliott, cinematographer

Bonnie Elliott on location in Cambodia.

Bonnie Elliott’s credits include My Tehran For Sale (2009); These Final Hours (2014), selected for the Cannes Film Festival; The Last Reel (2014); Undertow (2018); Slam (2018); Palm Beach (2019); H Is For Happiness (2019), and Run Rabbit Run (2023). She’s also worked on many TV series, including the recent Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story, documentaries and video art projects. She’s the first female cinematographer to win the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) award for best cinematography.

The loved location Cambodia for The Last Reel, which won an award at the Tokyo Film Festival. “It was a very low-budget film but the director, Kulikar Sotho, wanted to tell the story of her country with the ghosts of the Khmer Rouge,” Elliott says. “We filmed in Battambang where there was an old cinema, full of dust and cobwebs. [There] an incomplete film is discovered, starring the main character’s actor mother. We then also shot in Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat.”

She says “Battambang is a beautiful town, and it’s full of lovely, preserved historical buildings and is charming. But [Phnom Penh] the capital is fascinating, too, full of scooters, and Angkor Watt is just an amazing sight. Most of our crew was Cambodian so it was an interesting way of learning about the beautiful culture, too.”

Phnom Penh traffic outside Wat Ounalom.Credit: Getty Images

We say Battambang is Cambodia’s third-largest city, and has a great art, culture and food scene. It also has fabulous temples, lovely colonial buildings and bat caves, with an estimated 1.5 million bats flying out each day.

Lights, camera...visit Several airlines fly to Phnom Penh. From there it’s a six-hour and 20-minute train ride to the north-west to Battambang, a bus ride of five to six hours, or there are sightseeing transfers, with stops to see the floating villages of the Tonle Sap River. There are regular buses for the three-hour trip from Battambang to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. The dry season from November to May is a good time to visit. See tourismcambodia.com; getyourguide.com

Kate Woods, director

Kate Woods... love of the outback.

Kate Woods directed Looking For Alibrandi (2000), and TV dramas such as Persons of Interest, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Umbrella Academy, Messiah, The Lincoln Lawyer and The Good Lord Bird. Her most recent film is Kangaroo (out September 2025), inspired by the real-life founder of a kangaroo sanctuary in Central Australia.

The loved location The Australian outback. “When I was just starting out, I travelled with a small Japanese film crew in central Australia making a TV drama,” Woods says. “It made me feel different being there, and I’ve wanted to revisit ever since. Kangaroo gave me that opportunity. We filmed around Alice Springs, Mparntwe, in Central Australia.”

She says “It wasn’t just the breathtaking beauty of the landscape; it was the sky that held me in awe. I have never seen such vivid colour. During the day it was like being under a huge, perfectly made vibrant blue bowl, and at either end of the day the colours changed by the minute and seemed to be different every day. There is nothing like being in the desert. It makes you feel part of something, and you can’t help but engage with it on a deeper level. It has been home to Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years who thrived within it without changing it. And there’s the Kangaroo Sanctuary just outside Alice Springs, taking care of orphaned joeys. A unique experience.”

Striking skies of the outback.Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto

We say The Red Centre is one of Australia’s true treasures, with Uluru and Alice Springs at its heart. The scenery is breathtaking and there’s the Larapinta Trail for those who want to actively explore, while there’s a range of accommodation around Uluru and Alice, with walks, Indigenous experiences and cultural activities galore.

Film-star kangaroos on location.

Lights, camera...visit There are regular flights to Alice Springs via Qantas and Virgin Australia, and flights to Uluru with Jetstar and Virgin Australia. Accommodation options range from budget-minded camping to the five-star luxury Longitude 131, near Uluru. The coolest months for a visit are March to May, and September to November. See voyages.com.au; northernterritory.com

Tom Zubrycki, documentary maker

Tom Zubrycki... “I like the cultural life of Hanoi.”

Tom Zubrycki has made many films over his 45-year, much-awarded career, including Bran Nue Dae (1991), Homelands (1993), Hope Road (2017), The Diplomat (2000), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), The Hungry Tide (2011), Senses of Cinema (2022), Vietnam Symphony (2024), and Aquarius (2024).

The loved location Hanoi in Vietnam, for Vietnam Symphony, the story of the students from the National Conservatory of Music who fled the city because of the Vietnam War and built an entire music campus underground in the country instead. “I spent a lot of time around the conservatory [now the National Academy] and filmed a concert at the Opera House which was very special,” Zubrycki says.

He says “I like the cultural life of Hanoi and I loved going for a stroll and a coffee around the beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake very early in the morning where there was so much going on: joggers; people doing tai chi; families playing. It’s all so vibrant. Each street in the old quarter had its own craft speciality, and the food was amazing, and there were some great jazz clubs in Hanoi too, with so many fabulous museums and Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum.”

“Train street” in Hanoi’s old quarter.Credit: iStock

We say Hanoi is one of the world’s most fascinating capitals, a dramatic contrast between ancient and modern. Founded in ancient times, with many sites still remaining from the ninth century, the Old Quarter has flourished since the 15th century, and yet modernity exists comfortably alongside it all.

Hanoi’s Beer Street in the Old Quarter, also Ta Hien Street.Credit: Getty Images

Lights, camera...visit Many airlines fly from Australia to Hanoi. The best time to visit is during autumn or spring – September to November or February to April. See vietnam.travel

Tony Ayres, producer, director and writer

Tony Ayres’ directing debut, Walking on Water (2002), won five AFI Awards with The Home Song Stories (2007) winning eight awards after premiering in Berlin. Cut Snake (2014) was launched at the Toronto International Film Festival. His TV credits include The Slap; Underground: The Julian Assange Story; The Straits; Saved; Clickbait and Fires. He’s just finished The Survivors, based on Jane Harper’s novel.

Tony Ayres... drawn to Tasmania’s brutal landscapes.

The loved location Tasmania. “For The Survivors, where I was a writer and also the show runner (aka the creative boss), I spent a fair bit of time in Tasmania where both the book and the show are set,” Ayres says. “We shot a substantial number of scenes at Eaglehawk Neck, an east-coast region known for its cinematic and brutal landscapes.”

He says “This part of Tasmania is legendary for the visual drama of its coastal cliffs, and the seismic power of the ocean as it batters against ancient rock formations. I felt in awe of the majesty and scale of the natural world, and humbled by the inescapable recognition of my tiny place in it. As a setting for a murder mystery, it was utterly appropriate – both pretty and welcoming, but with a palpable feeling of the gothic lurking just below the surface. I hope to go back for a holiday in the near future. Its proximity to Hobart makes it accessible, and there’s a charming resort near Port Arthur.”

We say That juxtaposition of beauty and beastliness does indeed make this area a fascinating place to visit. The narrow isthmus connecting the Tasman Peninsula to the Forestier Peninsula is spectacular – but there’s also a sculpture reminding us of the pack of dogs that stopped convicts escaping.

Red rocks, Bay of Fires, Tasmania.Credit: Getty Images

Lights, camera...visit Eaglehawk Neck is just a one-hour drive south-east of Hobart, and only 25 minutes to the convict penal ruins Port Arthur, another must-visit location in the area. So take your own car on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry or fly to Hobart with Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin Australia, and rent a car. December to February are the warmest months. See discovertasmania.com.au; spiritoftasmania.com.au

No way back: my one less-loved film location

Mountain climber Simon Yates in Touching the Void.

John Collee “I wrote the film Touching the Void (2003), about the near-fatal descent off a mountain in the Peruvian Andes. To find out how climbing on vertical ice faces felt, I went to the Torridon mountains in the north-west highlands of Scotland. It was great for entering the mindset of what it would be like to be beyond exhausted, but it was terrifying.”

Rachel Ward “Filming is always such a fun experience that every location you shoot in becomes imbued with magic. But maybe one I wasn’t so keen on was Calgary, Canada, where I shot a western. It was so cold, the dialogue froze in my mouth.”

Kate Woods “I was once put up for a shoot somewhere in Georgia, in the US, in a car racetrack hotel where the living room was literally an observation deck to the racetrack. So my time there was accompanied by racing cars practising all day and a full-scale race meeting on the last weekend. It’s not somewhere I’d be keen to revisit.”

Tony Ayres “One location that felt particularly challenging was Port Augusta in South Australia, where we built a detention centre in the desert for the TV series, Stateless, about Australia’s shameful detention policy against refugees. It’s one of the projects I’m most proud of, and which still holds the record for the most AACTA awards won by a single show, but in [putting the scripts together] we heard traumatic stories.”

Bonnie Elliott ″⁣I recently did a six-part TV series for Apple TV, The Dispatcher, and that involved filming in Guangzhou in China. The air quality was so bad the time we were there from all the industry. There was a lot that was good about it but [not] the air quality.”

Tom Zubrycki “For Hope Road, [my] film about a refugee from the Sudanese civil war, we did some filming in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. During that time, the war was raging, and we had to be so watchful and careful all the time. It was extremely edgy.”

Robert Connolly “We did name a valley on The Dry 2 ‘Leech Gully’ for obvious reasons, but even on that film I would encourage people to travel to the Dandenong Ranges, Yarra Valley and beyond, and also the Otways. I have a great love of these extraordinary, sub-tropical rainforests and extraordinary landscapes.”