✦ Where the worlds came from

Inspired the story

Not where it was filmed — where it was imagined. The real valleys, castles and streets that authors and animators drew on to dream up fictional worlds. Tolkien hiking Lauterbrunnen into Rivendell; Walt Disney touring Neuschwanstein into the castle on the logo.

18 places · 14 stories

Beauty and the Beast
✦·INSPIRATION
Alsace villages (Riquewihr / Eguisheim)inspiredBelle's 'poor provincial town'
Alsace, France
The half-timbered villages of Alsace are cited as the model for Belle's storybook French village.
Brave
✦·INSPIRATION
Dunnottar CastleinspiredDunBroch — the clan's clifftop castle
Stonehaven, Scotland
Pixar's team toured Scottish castles; the dramatic clifftop ruin is cited among the references for Merida's family seat.
✦·INSPIRATION
Eilean Donan CastleinspiredHighland castle imagery
Dornie, Scotland
The much-photographed island castle is among the Highland references behind Brave's setting.
Cinderella
✦·INSPIRATION
Alcázar of SegoviainspiredThe royal palace
Segovia, Spain
The prow-shaped Spanish fortress-palace is frequently cited among the castles that informed Disney's fairy-tale palace silhouettes.
Finding Nemo
✦·INSPIRATION
Sydney Harbour & the Opera HouseinspiredSydney — 'P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way'
Sydney, Australia
Nemo's journey surfaces in a faithfully recreated Sydney Harbour, with the Opera House and bridge as landmarks.
Frozen
✦·INSPIRATION
Bryggen wharfinspiredArendelle's harbour town
Bergen, Norway
Bergen's colourful Hanseatic wharf informed Arendelle's harbourfront architecture.
✦·INSPIRATION
NærøyfjordinspiredArendelle's fjord
Aurland, Norway
Disney's team travelled Norway for Frozen; this UNESCO fjord shaped Arendelle's sweeping fjord setting.
Game of Thrones
✦·INSPIRATION
Ait Benhaddou & Moroccan ksourinspiredAstapor / the Slaver's Bay cities (book imagery)
Ouarzazate, Morocco
George R.R. Martin and the production drew on real desert citadels; the mud-brick ksar evokes Essos's slaver cities.
Pinocchio
✦·INSPIRATION
Collodi villageinspiredGeppetto's Tuscan world
Collodi, Tuscany, Italy
The hometown of author Carlo Collodi (Carlo Lorenzini) lends its name and Tuscan character to the Pinocchio story.
Sleeping Beauty
✦·INSPIRATION
Neuschwanstein CastleinspiredKing Stefan's castle / the Disney castle
Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany
Walt Disney toured this Bavarian fantasy castle of King Ludwig II before building Disneyland; it shaped the film's castle and the studio logo.
Spirited Away
✦·INSPIRATION
Dogo OnseninspiredThe bathhouse (Aburaya)
Matsuyama, Japan
Japan's oldest hot-spring bathhouse is widely cited among the inspirations for the film's grand bathhouse.
✦·INSPIRATION
Jiufen old streetinspiredThe spirit-world bathhouse town
Jiufen, Taiwan
The lantern-lit teahouse hillside in Taiwan is the fan-favourite (if studio-unconfirmed) muse for the film's bathhouse town.
Tangled
✦·INSPIRATION
Mont-Saint-MichelinspiredThe Kingdom of Corona
Normandy, France
Disney's art team confirmed they wanted a Renaissance castle on a tidal island, with Mont-Saint-Michel as the anchor for Rapunzel's kingdom.
The Hobbit
✦·INSPIRATION
Cheddar Gorge cavesinspiredThe Glittering Caves of Aglarond
Cheddar, Somerset, England
Tolkien honeymooned near here in 1916; the limestone caverns are cited as inspiration for Helm's Deep's glittering caves.
The Little Mermaid
✦·INSPIRATION
Château de ChilloninspiredPrince Eric's castle
Veytaux, Switzerland
The lakeside castle on Lake Geneva is widely cited as the model for Prince Eric's seaside palace.
The Lord of the Rings
✦·INSPIRATION
Lauterbrunnen ValleyinspiredRivendell (Imladris)
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland
Tolkien hiked this cliff-walled valley of 72 waterfalls in 1911; his own letters confirm it shaped his vision of the Elven refuge.
✦·INSPIRATION
The Jungfrau & SilberhorninspiredThe Misty Mountains / Silvertine
Bernese Oberland, Switzerland
The peaks above Lauterbrunnen — Eiger, Mönch, Jungfrau — are widely read as the models for Tolkien's Misty Mountains.
Up
✦·INSPIRATION
Angel Falls (Salto Ángel)inspiredParadise Falls
Canaima, Venezuela
The world's tallest waterfall in Venezuela's tepui country is the acknowledged inspiration for Carl's dreamed-of Paradise Falls.