5 Movies With Great Scenery Which Will Inspire You To Travel

Have you ever thought how cool it would be if you could jet set around the world or go on a soul-searching trip just like in the movies? You start envisioning yourself as the lead cast in that movie and off you go on a backpacking trip to discover historical places or hike through beautiful lush green mountains into uncharted territories. As you delve deeper into your imaginary trip of a lifetime, a sudden thought hits you – do those scenic places really exist or are they just a skillfully enhanced CGI backdrop? Well imagine no more, because we’ve listed down a few great movies with actual scenic places that you can visit.

#1 The Grand Budapest Hotel

If you’re a fan of Wes Anderson, you’d probably know by now that he has a penchant for symmetrical cinematography as well as mind-blowing intricate set designs or settings. The Grand Budapest Hotel may be as fictional as the country it’s situated in – The Republic of Zubrowka, but it’s awesome scenic landscape and buildings are no figment of your imagination.

If you’ve never heard of the movie, here’s the official trailer for it:

Scouring for the locations wasn’t an easy feat for Anderson. In an interview with The Telegraph, he told them that “This movie was a complicated puzzle, because the places that I envisioned just didn’t really exist anywhere. So our approach was, “Let’s just create it, through whatever methods we have available.” He ended up taking bits and pieces of places from all over the world from Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany to create the perfect backdrop for Zubrowka. It was then decided that the movie will be filmed mostly in a charming old town of Görlitz in Saxony, Germany and Zubrowka will be based partially on the city of Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic.

Görlitz Warenhaus Department Store was built in 1912 and has an immaculate interior inspired by Nouveau art style. The store ceased its operations in 2009 and was chosen as the primary location for the interior scenes of the Grand Budapest Hotel.

The iconic pink exterior of the hotel however, was completely fabricated. Although there’s no possible way you could stay in the Grand Budapest Hotel, you could alternatively spend a night or two in what inspired it. The designers and Anderson drew inspiration from Grandhotel Pupp in Czech Republic and Palace Bristol Hotel in Karlovy Vary.

In a scene where Deputy Kovacs tried to escape from a stalker, he was filmed around in an art museum’s compound. The museum is actually Zwinger Palace, a former palace that’s been converted into an art museum located in Dresden, Germany.

One of the most delectable scenes you’ll see in this movie involves pastries from Mendl’s especially the coveted Courtesan au Chocolat. You can even learn how to make them through their official tutorial here.

Apart from the mouth-watering pastries, the interior of Mendl’s will also provide you some gastronomical explosion for the eyes. The scenes in the pastry shop were filmed in a real-life famous bakery shop, Pfunds Molkerei in Dresden. The interior of this 19^th century shop is completely covered in stunning hand-painted tiles.

#2 Ola Bola

Director Chiu Keng Guan managed to do something that not everybody can do – unite Malaysians through an inspiring film based on the true story of the Malaysian football team in the late 70s. The film reached critical acclaim following Chiu’s success from The Journey. Ola Bola also recently bagged three awards at the Malaysian Film Festival (FFM28) yesterday for Best Original Theme Song, Best Original Music Score and Best Costume Design. The movie is still up for a few more categories including the coveted Best Malaysian Film award.

The movie uses an uplifting tagline of “You will believe again” and indeed, it will lift your spirits soaring up in the sky and reinstate your faith and hopes that maybe one day, our national football team may qualify to the Olympics or even the World Cup! This heartwarming tale of a group of football players will surely melt even the coldest hearts. Heck, even watching the trailer alone gave us goosebumps. See it for yourself:

The movie was filmed in just 55 days and was shot at various locations including Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Penang, Sabah, and Perak. If you’ve watched the film, you’d probably notice a scene whereby the team had to undergo some early morning training while running up and down a scenic hill. Well that hill is known as Broga Hill which is located in Semenyih.

Another picturesque scene in the movie was when Marianne travelled all the way to Sabah to interview one of the football players, Balak Eric, decades after the historical match. She seems to be enjoying a train ride amidst lush green backdrops and a river by the side. You could also take the very same train she rode between Beaufort and Tenom in Sabah.

The football matches in Ola Bola took place in our iconic Stadium Merdeka. This historical site was the very place that our declaration of independence of the Federation of Malaya was formally declared. It is now widely used for sporting events and even concerts. You can easily access the stadium by taking a ride on the monorail and exit at the Maharajalela station.

#3 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Ben Stiller’s role as Walter Mitty, a negative assets manager at Life arguably may be his best one yet after showcasing his talent on a more serious side while maintaining his comical persona. The movie sees Walter Mitty embarking on a journey of a lifetime travelling across the world to search the last negative that has the “quintessence” of Life that should be used as the cover of their final print issue.

To be honest, before watching the movie, we only know Iceland as a really cold country and saw a couple of aurora borealis photos. But The Secret Life of Walter Mitty changed our perception! The movie managed to capture Iceland’s alluring natural beauty, from the untouched green landscapes to the unique glacial formations, and it was basically love at first sight! Although some of the scenes was set in Afghanistan, Greenland, and the Himalaya mountains, most of the scenic filming was in fact done in Iceland.

In the scene where Mitty grabs his bicycle to chase his photographer mate, Sean O’Connell, he was seen cycling through a road surrounded by green hills, icy mountains, and azure blue waters. The scene was shot in Grundarfjörður, west of Iceland.

During his longboarding sequence where he continues his quest to find his photographer friend, we were all in awe of the charming scenery that surrounded him. That scene was shot in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland. This was our favourite scene and has inspired many people to visit the same location and to shoot a video of themselves skateboarding or longboarding along the road.

Check out the whole scene here (prepare to be speechless):

Lastly, who could forget the scene where Walter travelled across Afghanistan and the Himalaya mountains in pursuit of his final negative? The scene as you guessed it, was also shot in Iceland at the Vatnajökull National Park. The outstanding scenery seems like a dream, a dream that Walter Mitty helped realized on behalf of all of us.

#4 Lord of The Rings

The first installment of the movie, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in 2001. That’s 15 years ago! Perhaps it’s time to rekindle our love for the hobbits by doing a Lord of The Rings movie marathon this weekend. Here’s the trailer to refresh your memory:

Now, who wouldn’t agree that this movie was one of the most enchantingly beautiful movies ever made in history? The trilogy movie directed by Peter Jackson was based on J.R.R Tolkien’s original book series. The movie was shot entirely in New Zealand in a Middle-Earth setting. If you’d like to relive the whole tale of the ring, you can look no further now, as you can explore the respective shooting locations in only one country!

Where do you think you could possibly find those cute homes the hobbits lived in? Definitely in Hobbiton! The set was built on a private land at Alexander Farm, near Matamata. They waited out for about a year to cultivate the crops and plants that complemented Hobbiton in the movie. You can now visit the place through its organised tours and prance around the area pretending that you’re a hobbit!

One of things that stood out during the scene where the Fellowship of the Ring was greeted by two majestic gigantic statues while paddling through a river. Well the statues were fictional elements that were added digitally later on but the calming blue river is real! The scene was shot at Kawarau Gorge or known as Anduin River and Waiau River.

If you’d wish to explore the darker side of The Lord of the Rings in the other worlds, Mordor, you can take a trip to Tongariro National Park. The park is the home of Mount Ngauruhoe which was used as the stand for Mount Doom. You can also climb up the mountain and experience the breath-taking scenery from the top.

#5 Puteri Gunung Ledang

Puteri Gunung Ledang used to be a Malay folklore about a princess who lived at the top of Gunung Ledang and was courted by a Malaccan sultan. The story then became a movie in the 1960s and in 2004, Mamat Khalid pitched it for a TV series. Tiara Jacquelina heard his pitch and insisted that it was meant for the silver screen. The movie went on to be the first big-budget Malaysian movie costing a whopping USD $4 million (RM16.37 million)! But the big price tag paid off when Puteri Gunung Ledang gained critical acclaim and won numerous awards at Malaysian Film Festival (FFM 2004) as well as an award from the 50^th Asian Pacific Film Festival.

The movie was shot for a duration of nine months all over Malaysia in Tasik Kenyir, Pulau Perhentian, Gunung Jasar, Gunung Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, Gunung Ledang, Lata Kinjang, Port Dickson, and many more.

More than a decade ago, Mossy Forest might not be as popular as it is now, but that was the very place this movie was filmed at. If you remember the scene where the princess performed her silat and caused harm to Laksamana Hang Tuah and his subordinates in the forest, you will notice the familiar whimsical dangling trees surrounding it. If you can’t recall the scene, you can watch it here.

As for the iconic scene where Hang Tuah was seen ‘dating’ with the Princess nearby a waterfall, it was filmed at none other than the majestic Gunung Ledang.

In a fighting sequence between Hang Tuah and Gusti Adipati, the two men took their fight to a lake where you could see both of them jumping or sort of ‘flying’ in between one wooden pole to another. The scene took place at Tasik Kenyir in Terengganu.