Multiple Marvelous Marvel Locations you can actually visit
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved a good story. Whether it’s an epic audiobook on the road, a fun family movie, or simply catching up with friends after a long time apart, stories have the power to fascinate. Most recently, my family has been enjoying re-watching everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It was during our watch-through of Moon Knight that I mentioned to my wife that the desert scenes looked familiar to me. It turns out that was because they were filming in Wadi Rum, Jordan where we had just been!
We loved our visit to Wadi Rum, and it was lots of fun to see it used as a backdrop for Marvel. And it made me wonder what other Marvel locations around the world we could visit. Here are some of the most popular ones that I found.
Interested in getting the best price on your trip?
I always start my search with Skyscanner to make sure I’m getting the best possible deal on my flights!
California (Malibu, San Francisco)
Iron Man was the MCU movie that started it all off, way back in 2008, so Tony Stark’s iconic house in California seems like a fitting place to begin. Of course, Tony isn’t the only Marvel superhero based out of California. Scott Lang (Ant-man) and Shang Chi (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) also live there!
While the house itself doesn’t actually exist, Marvel decided to put it in a very real spot. Point Dume, in Malibu, is just far enough outside the city to feel a bit secluded, but still close enough to be near all the action. Plus, with a beautiful view of the Pacific, it’s no wonder Tony decided to call it home.
Besides just visiting for the sake of the view, you can also spend some time on Point Dume State Beach, where you can do anything from building a Marvel-themed sand castle to going scuba-diving or whale watching!
If you’re taking your kids along, be sure to check out my article on making your beach trip more educational!
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf features prominently in Ant-Man and the Wasp when Ant-man gets mistaken for a whale by a tour guide on a boat.
Apart from just being a launching-off point for tours in the Bay, it also makes a wonderful place to get great views of San Francisco’s most famous locations, like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.
Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco
Google Maps / Viator
Parts of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings were filmed on location in San Francisco’s Richmond district to give it that distinctly California feel.
The Richmond District was chosen for the scene because it has one of the highest concentrations of Asian Americans in San Francisco while avoiding the somewhat cliche feel of Chinatown.
Richmond District, San Francisco
via Google Maps
With its enormous redwoods and peaceful walking trails, Muir Woods National Monument is a perfect place to hide away from the business of nearby San Francisco. That’s exactly why Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne chose these woods to hide their lab in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
If you’re looking for a Marvel location in California that lets you escape the city, this one needs to be on your list.
Check ticket prices to California via Skyscanner
| Los Angeles | San Diego |
New York City
While the West Coast definitely has its share of Marvel moments, there are few locations that can compare with New York City for having connections to the MCU.
New York is Captain America’s home turf in the MCU, and it’s where SHIELD takes him to wake up after he gets found. Spiderman is likewise from New York, and you can see some of New York’s most famous monuments in his movies. Dr. Strange protects New York from his Sanctum at 177B Bleeker Street, which looks very different from how it appears in the movies, and all of Netflix’s Marvel heroes, the Defenders, call New York home as well.
The French gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States as a gift as a reminder of our country’s friendship, way back in 1884.
In the years since, it has become one of the most well-known monuments in the United States, acting as a reminder of our core value of freedom for all people.
The Statue of Liberty is located near Ellis Island, which welcomed immigrants to the U.S. until it was closed in 1954, and many tours will visit both locations.
In the Marvel Universe, we get a glimpse of Times Square right after Captain America wakes up from his time in the ice, and again during Hawkeye when Clint and Kate are walking through the city.
In real life, Times Square is an extremely popular tourist destination, which unfortunately means that it’s going to be crowded. If you’re just wanting to see it, walking through the square is free, but it’s worth taking some time out to see a Broadway show, since you’re in the area.
One of the more unusual items on this list, there is a statue dedicated to Captain America located in the Liberty View Industrial Plaza in Brooklyn.
Since the MCU’s Steve Rogers grew up in the area, Brooklyn decided to have this statue made to honor Cap, and it has since become an interesting stop for Marvel fans visiting the area.
It’s another free visit, so if you have the time it’s something fun to check out!
While the Sanctum Sanctorum is a prominent building on Bleeker Street in the movies, it sadly doesn’t exist in real life. Instead, the 177B Bleeker Street address was chosen as a homage to the childhood home of the artist who created Dr. Strange.
But it might be worth a visit anyway, just to check.
Rockefeller Center featured heavily in the final episode of Marvel’s Hawkeye series, which included a great view of the Christmas tree.
This one is a must-see for the holiday season, as they have tons of decorations, ice skating, and one of the largest Christmas trees you’ll ever see.
Rockefeller Center Holiday Tour via Viator
(only during the holidays)
Check ticket prices to New York City via Skyscanner
| New York City |
Washington D.C.
As one of the most important cities in the United States, it isn’t really surprising to learn that Washington D.C. plays a part in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well. Not only is it still the capital of the US in the MCU, but it also turns out that SHIELD headquarters are located there. Those facts together have brought several different heroes to the area.
The National Mall makes a couple of appearances in the MCU, both in Spiderman: Homecoming and in Captain America and the Winter Soldier.
Captain America runs around the Lincoln Reflecting Pool as part of his exercise routine, and it’s where he first meets Sam Wilson. Spiderman’s visit to the Mall focuses on the Washington Monument as he works to rescue his friends who are trapped inside.
In the MCU, the Smithsonian gets visited pretty regularly by Steve Rogers and his crew, but in the movies, they focus almost entirely on the fictional Captain America exhibits.
That’s too bad, though, because there are 19 separate Smithsonian museums in D.C. and each one could be a full day’s trip on its own. Plus, they’re all free!
Smithsonian National Museum
of American History
via Google Maps
In the MCU, the Triskelion, which houses SHIELD, is located on Little Island in the Theodore Roosevelt Island National Park.
In reality, this small National Park offers some of the best nature trails in the D.C. area, as well as a Junior Ranger program for the kids.
Check ticket prices to DC via Skyscanner
| Washington D.C. |
The Last Blockbuster
Worth visiting simply for the nostalgia, the world’s last Blockbuster Video in Bend, OR was featured prominently during Captain Marvel’s return to Earth. Since it was set in 1995, Marvel needed a set-piece that screamed mid-90s to really sell it. Landing in a Blockbuster did the trick!
When you’re done getting your movie, there are plenty of other great places to check out in the area, especially for nature lovers. However, the Pacific Northwest is sadly underrepresented in the MCU.
Check ticket prices to Oregon via Skyscanner
| Oregon |
Atlanta, Georgia
While not a single one of the current Marvel Movies is actually set in Georgia, a surprisingly large number of them have scenes that were shot there! That’s because Pinewood Studios in Atlanta has had their hands on a lot of Marvel movies.
Starting with Ant-Man, most Marvel movies have ended up having at least some scenes shot around Atlanta, even when they were supposedly set somewhere else. The Museum of Great Britain in Black Panther? Actually the High Museum in Atlanta. That cliff in Norway where Odin died? Really a heavily edited field located in Georgia. While the exterior shots of Spiderman’s school were from New York, it turns out that all the hallways and classrooms were in Georgia, too.
There’s a decent list of filming locations at WABE.org, if you’re interested, though it hasn’t been updated since 2019.
Essentially, if you’re looking for a single place where you can see as many Marvel locations as possible, Atlanta is where you want to go!
Check ticket prices to Atlanta via Skyscanner
| Atlanta |
London, England
Starting in Phase 2, the MCU began spending a lot more of its time overseas, and a fair amount of that time was in London. Scenes from both Thor: The Dark World and Spiderman: Far From Home were shot here, while Black Panther features a short scene in London, though that one was actually shot in Atlanta.
Fun Fact: There are a ton of MCU actors who hail from London, including Tom Hiddleston, Tom Holland, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the Salisbury plain in England, but despite its age, there is still a lot of mystery surrounding its purpose and origin.
In Thor: The Dark World, Dr. Selvig visited the monument in his attempt to understand the convergence, and it was used as a coordinate to find the exact location where the convergence would occur.
When the Convergence occurs in Thor: The Dark World, the Old Royal Naval College becomes ground zero for Thor’s battle with the dark elves, causing massive damage to the classic architecture of the college. Luckily, in our world, the college remains undamaged and ready to host guests!
The Naval College is one of the most popular destinations in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and has served as the backdrop for a large number of movies and TV series over the years.
The climactic final battle in Spiderman: Far From Home takes place in and around the Tower Bridge, while Happy and the school kids duck into the nearby Tower of London. Both are popular destinations in London and well worth the visit!
The crown jewel of the Tower of London is, of course, the actual Crown Jewels collection which has been kept there since the 1600s.
Black Panther may have done their filming in Atlanta, but apparently, that didn’t keep London’s Science Museum from falling in love with the movie.
Opening in November of 2022, the Science Museum will have a reconstructed set of Shuri’s Lab for its visitors to explore!
Check ticket prices to London, England via Skyscanner
| London |
The European Union
While Europe didn’t play a huge role in Phase 1 of the MCU, Phase 2 and beyond gave it increasingly more screen time, culminating in the wild ride around Europe that was Spiderman: Far From Home! The places in Europe that Marvel visits are each impressive in their own way, and include a wide variety of cultures and monuments.
Would any Marvel locations list be complete with mentioning Budapest?
Budapest was featured heavily in the Black Widow movie, with scenes shot in the City’s Keleti Railway Stations, the Adria Palace, and the Budapest Stock Exchange Palace. Finally, Natasha and Yelena end up hiding out in an air duct in the Nyugati Subway station.
Of course, while those are the only Marvel-centric locations in town, there’s a ton of amazing architecture here, so take a few days to really get the whole experience!
Venice is the jumping-off point for Spiderman in Europe, if you don’t count his appearance in Civil War. And honestly, it’s a pretty great place to start.
Venice is a city of canals and bridges, making it one of the most unique places in Europe to visit.
Some of the places visited in the movie include the Santa Maria Formosa Church, the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum, and the Ponte di Rialto.
Spiderman also turns up in Prague during Far From Home, just in time for the city’s annual SIGNAL Festival, which is absolutely a real festival you can attend!
Of course, most of his class ends up at the State Opera instead. Far from being boring, Opera performances at this opera house are some of the best in Europe, performed in an architecturally stunning setting.
Germany has been something of a popular destination for the MCU as well, with several different locations being used.
Moon Knight features the beautiful Eltz Castle (which I would very much like to visit) in one of its episodes, but it’s overshadowed by the all-out airport battle from Civil War.
The shots inside the airport terminal were filmed on-site at the Leipzig-Halle Airport, in Schkeuditz, though the external scenes were not.
Probably worth a layover, for sure!
Leipzig/Halle Airport via Google Maps
IATA code: LEJ
Flights to Leipzig/Halle Airport
In Spiderman: Far From Home, Peter wakes up in this small town in the north of the Netherlands. He soon discovers how genuinely kind the Dutch can be!
While there isn’t much to do there, Broek op Langedijk is beautiful, making it a great place to retreat. Tulip fields are common in the area and make for a great backdrop for a walk. Just avoid landing a jet in them!
Check ticket prices to Europe via Skyscanner
| Budapest | Venice | Prague | Germany (LEJ) | Netherlands |
Kathmandu, Nepal
Dr. Strange was a sort of turning point for the MCU where they moved away from more physical threats to enemies that are more mystical. The place they chose as a setting for that change was Kathmandu.
Nepal is filled to bursting with religious pilgrims and Buddhist temples, which is what brought Stephen Strange to the area in the first place. But it’s also the launching place for some amazing hikes through surrounding areas, including to Mt. Everest itself!
Check ticket prices to Kathmandu, Nepal via Skyscanner
| Nepal |
The Great Pyramid, Egypt
Moon Knight quickly became one of my favorite new shows, in large part because of its ties to Egyptian mythology. During the course of the show, there are times when different characters meet together inside the Great Pyramid in Giza.
I truly wish that the inside of the Great Pyramid was as beautiful as it is in Moon Knight, but having been inside myself, I can attest that it is not. Still, as the last remaining Wonder of the Ancient World, the Great Pyramid is definitely worth a visit, and a peek inside if you’re curious!
Check ticket prices to Cairo, Egypt via Skyscanner
| Cairo |
Fictional Places
Unfortunately, some of the most beautiful and intriguing places in the MCU aren’t real places at all! From the African kingdom of Wakanda to small-town Rose Hill, Tennessee, Marvel has created tons of interesting locations that would be worth visiting, if only they were real.
Wakanda is a fictional African country and the home of T’Challa in the movie Black Panther. But while the country of Wakanda is fictional, the beauty of the African continent remains real.
The tribes in Wakanda seemed to mostly revere panthers (obviously) or gorillas, while the border patrol had trained rhinos as mounts.
If you want these three animals together in one country, as well as breathtaking views, you probably want to visit Uganda. In fact, there are shots from the movie that were filmed in Uganda, at Lake Bunyonyi!
Rhino Sanctuary via Viator
Gorilla Safari via Viator
Lake Buyonyi Trip via Viator
Sokovia is the home country of Wanda Maximoff, and is first seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It is portrayed as a war-torn country in Eastern Europe, somewhere near the Czech Republic.
I’ve already mentioned Prague above, but there’s so much more to the Czech Republic than its capital! The country has 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and far more castles than you could hope to see in a single trip.
After the events of Thor: Ragnarok, the Asgardians rebuilt the town of Tønsberg, Norway, renaming it New Asgard. However, this fictional village was actually filmed in Scotland, in a fishing village called St. Abbs!
Visitors to the village can even find signs proclaiming it to be “twinned” with New Asgard, which is a fun nod to the movies.
The fictional island of Madripoor is supposed to be somewhere in the Indonesian islands and was founded as a pirate safe haven during the 1800s. It is lawless and dangerous, and I could not in good conscience recommend anyone to visit. However, the city it was based on is a different story entirely!
Singapore is a high-tech city in southeast Asia that is essentially the opposite of a lawless pirate port. As one of the safest cities in the world, I can easily recommend Singapore to those who can make it.
Check ticket prices to Marvel Destinations via Skyscanner
Uganda | Czech Republic | Scotland | Singapore
