Christopher Nolan’s sweeping adaptation of Homer’s ancient poem was filmed on location across six countries, each one boasting its own mythical allure.
Films and TV series are bottomless pools of travel inspiration. Breathtaking aerial shots, intimate street scenes, and intriguing snippets of local life invite us, even for a short while, to step outside our everyday routines and into those imagined worlds.
When a location is as much a character as the actual characters are, it acts as a travel guide, inspiring us to turn a passing daydream into the first draft of an itinerary.
How many Before Sunrise trilogy fans have retraced Celine and Jesse’s steps across Vienna, Paris, and the Greek island of Kefalonia? I’m among those besotted by the films’ locations, insisting to my mom that Vienna must be a part of our second trip to Europe. Countless Game of Thrones geeks have flocked to Northern Ireland, Iceland, Croatia, Spain, Malta, and Morocco, my editor at The POST being one of them.
Christopher Nolan’s 2026 epic The Odyssey will surely be among those films and series that double as travel inspirations—if it isn’t already. The sweeping, IMAX-shot adaptation of Homer’s ancient poem was filmed on location across six countries, each of which boasts its own mythical allure. Some are fictional; others, like Ithaca, really exist.
From the sun-baked villages of Morocco to Iceland’s otherworldly black-sand shores, retrace Odysseus’ epic journey on your next trip.
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1. Morocco
It was in Morocco where Nolan started filming The Odyssey in February 2025. The North African country’s undulating dunes and centuries-old enclaves became the canvas for some of the film’s most pivotal settings.
The centuries-old, UNESCO-inscribed fortified village (ksar) of Aït Benhaddou, near the Atlas Mountains, stood in for the legendary city of Troy. Its earthen buildings surrounded by high walls also served as the filming location for other blockbusters such as Gladiator, The Mummy, Lawrence of Arabia, and even Game of Thrones.
Along the Atlantic, Essaouira’s beaches became the shore where the Trojans discovered the wooden horse, and also where Odysseus began his voyage home.
Additional scenes were captured in Marrakech, Tahannaout, and El Haouz, while the windswept shores near Dakhla (in the disputed territory of Western Sahara, administered by Morocco) were used for some seafaring sequences.
Ogygia, the island of Calypso who held Odysseus captive for seven years, was also partially filmed in Morocco’s coastal regions.
2. Greece
Of course, no film adapted from Greek mythology should skip on Greece as a filming location. In fact, the Mediterranean country hosted the bulk of principal photography in March and April 2025, particularly in the Peloponnese region, according to the Hellenic Film Commission.
The film’s harrowing Cyclops sequence, where Odysseus and his men encounter the one-eyed giant Polyphemus, was reportedly shot inside Nestor’s Cave, a vast Neolithic cavern near Pylos overlooking Voidokilia Beach. Thousands of bees swarming the entrance heightened the cave’s ominous atmosphere, a detail Nolan leaned into for authenticity.
Other Greek locations included Almyrolaka Beach, the medieval Methoni Castle, used for Agamemnon’s homecoming, and the monolithic Acrocorinth fortress near Corinth, which doubled as a site for Telemachus’ visit to Sparta and scenes involving King Menelaus and Helen.
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3. Italy
The boot-shaped country, with its striking and varied landscapes, is another no-brainer of a location for a Greek myth-inspired film. Although Ithaca is a real Greek island, Nolan picked Sicily and several surrounding islands to stand in for Odysseus’ kingdom and the mythical isles of his journey.
The 15th-century Castello di Santa Caterina on Favignana, known in antiquity as “Goat Island,” served as the royal seat where Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Telemachus (Tom Holland) await Odysseus’ return. With no access roads to the castle, the cast and crew trekked up 900 feet daily for three weeks while helicopters ferried the gear.
The sun-baked Aeolian Islands, specifically Lipari, Vulcano, and the uninhabited Basiluzzo, were the film’s Aeolia, the domain of Aeolus, keeper of the winds.
Fun fact: The production used the Draken Harald Hårfagre, a modern Viking longship built to ancient specifications, which sailed from Norway to these Mediterranean locations.
4. Iceland
Iceland’s stark, volcanic landscapes provided the perfect stand-in for the Greek underworld. “I knew early I wanted the landscape of Iceland to portray Hades. This journey north, further and further into the cold, couldn’t be further away from Odysseus’ home in Ithaca,” Nolan explains in the production notes of the movie.
In June 2025, the crew filmed Odysseus’s katabasis—his journey to Hades to consult the blind prophet Tiresias—across multiple remote sites.
Key locations included the black-sand beaches and sea caves of Hjörleifshöfði, the Snæfellsnes peninsula, the glacial Markarfljót river, and the harbor of Landeyjahöfn, where a large ship set was constructed. The midnight sun provided an eerie, ethereal glow, adding to the scenes’ bleak atmosphere.
In the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Zendaya, who plays Athena, recalled Iceland’s extreme cold, noting her dialogue was nearly unintelligible due to frozen lips.
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5. Scotland
Scotland may not have the natural charm of sun-kissed Mediterranean isles or the breathtaking grandeur of Morocco’s desertscapes, but its lush forests and thick woodlands were perfect stand-ins for some of The Odyssey’s famous locations.
There’s Moray Firth, whose rugged coast and inland woodlands also served as the location of Ithaca and of Aeaea, home of the sorceress Circe (Samantha Morton), where Odysseus stayed for a full year. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Morton, who has personal ties to Scotland through her foster parents, described the set for Circe’s home as so convincing she initially believed it was a real ancient structure.
Findlater Castle, a 15th-century cliffside ruin overlooking the Moray Firth, featured prominently in scenes depicting Odysseus’ kingdom. Culbin Forest, on the same coast, was where the crew filmed a fierce battle between Odysseus’ warriors and the cannibalistic Laestrygonian giants.
A word of caution! The castle’s ruins are a protected archaeological site, so visitors should admire the view from a distance and avoid stepping onto the ruins themselves.
Additional filming in Scotland took place in Buckie Harbour and the secluded Sunnyside Beach near Cullen.
6. Malta
For The Odyssey, the small island nation of Malta served as a stand-in and a production hub. The island of Gozo was the location for Calypso’s Cave, perched above the red sands of Ramla Bay near Xagħra. This natural limestone cavern is also traditionally identified with Calypso’s island Ogygia.
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara boast some of the world’s largest specialized water tanks. These were used to shoot storm sequences and close-range sea battles. The production facility was also used by other blockbusters, including Gladiator, Troy, Napoleon, and Jurassic World Rebirth.
Phew! That was quite an odyssey, right? So whether you’re chasing myths or just inspired by a great film, let Nolan’s vision and The Odyssey guide your next epic journey. After all, the real world still outdoes the reel!
