A bluegrass love story set against the raw backdrop of Ghent and Antwerp. Beautifully shot Flemish landscapes and one of Belgium's most acclaimed films.

Two hitmen hide out in Bruges after a job goes wrong. Dark comedy that became the definitive cinematic portrait of medieval Flemish architecture — Bruges but the Brussels mood is unmistakable.

The canals, belfry, cobblestone lanes and Markt square are essentially the third lead character. Every scene is a walking tour of medieval Bruges.

Belgian teen drama set among the wealthy summer crowd of Knokke-Heist. Sun-bleached villas, the dunes, and the Belgian coast at its most glamorous and dysfunctional.

A Belgian crime film set in the dense forests and isolated villages of the Ardennes. The landscape is dark, wet, and beautiful — exactly the mood of driving those back roads.

The Anne Frank House, Vondelpark, and canal-side streets — Amsterdam through the eyes of two teenagers. Sentimental but visually spot-on.

Gritty Dutch crime series rooted in Amsterdam's underworld. The Jordaan, Bijlmer, and the grey canals in winter — the city nobody puts on a postcard.

Over-saturated and gloriously unrealistic — but every arrondissement looks stunning. A perfect pre-trip mood-setter for the Marais, Montmartre, and the Seine.

Montmartre, the Sacré-Cœur, the Café des Deux Moulins — Jeunet's Paris is a fairy-tale version of the real thing that still holds up as a neighbourhood guide.

Sky Atlantic drama set among the billionaire class of the Côte d'Azur. Cap Ferrat, Monaco, and the coastal D6098 exactly as you'll drive it.

Woody Allen's love letter to French romance and nostalgia. The wine country aesthetic, cobblestones, and golden-hour light are the whole point.

Canal+ drama about the construction of Versailles. The Loire châteaux and formal French gardens are the visual template for the whole region.

HBO's masterpiece follows Easy Company from D-Day through the liberation of Europe. The Normandy coastline and hedgerow country look exactly as they appear on screen.

Documentary following candidates for the Master Sommelier exam. The Champagne and Burgundy terroir shots make you want to get in a car and drive there immediately.

Weimar-era Berlin at its most intoxicating — cabaret, corruption, and stunning period recreation. Watch it before wandering Alexanderplatz and the Tiergarten.

Netflix's German time-travel thriller shot in the forests and towns around Berlin. Brooding, beautiful, and the perfect companion for exploring the city's darker corners.

Thriller series set during the 2022 Munich Olympics anniversary. The Marienplatz, English Garden, and Olympic Park feature prominently.

Filmed partly in the Black Forest region. The dense fir trees, misty valleys, and fairy-tale atmosphere of the film map perfectly onto the B500 scenic route.

Jesse and Céline wander Vienna through a single night — the Prater, the Stadtpark, the old trams. No film captures the romantic pedestrian scale of the city better.

Post-war Vienna, the Riesenrad, the sewers under the Innere Stadt. Carol Reed's masterpiece is still the definitive cinematic vision of the city's grandeur and shadow.

Shot across Salzburg and the Salzkammergut lakes. The opening hillside scene and the abbey sequences trace almost exactly the northern stretch of the Danube route.

Portobello Road, the pastel terraces of Westbourne Park, and the private gardens behind the houses. Still the best neighbourhood portrait of West London.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's London is North London cafés, tube platforms, and family dinners in Chiswick. Brutally funny and geographically very accurate.

The Netflix adaptation opens with Edinburgh University and the Meadows. The grey-golden light of the city on graduation day is shot with real affection.

Leith, Princes Street, and the underside of 1990s Edinburgh. Essential viewing before you walk the Water of Leith and understand what the city has and hasn't changed.

Filmed on location across the Highlands — Doune Castle (Castle Leoch), Glencoe, Culloden Moor, and Loch Lomond. The road trip and the series share the same route.

Shot on Achill Island and Inis Mór — dramatic Atlantic cliffs, stone walls, and empty roads. The Wild Atlantic Way looks exactly like this on a February morning.

John Ford's classic shot in Connemara and County Mayo. The green fields, whitewashed cottages and mountain backdrops are unchanged along the N59 today.

Woody Allen shoots Gaudí's Barcelona, Penélope Cruz, and Barceloneta beach with equal reverence. The perfect 98-minute argument for booking a flight.

Filmed across Madrid and Barcelona — the Mint, the Bank of Spain, and city streets that become a maze. The Barcelona harbour scenes are unmistakable.

Netflix thriller set on the island — Ibiza Town, the fincas, the club circuit, and the agricultural interior. Shows every side of the island from Es Vedrà to Dalt Vila.

The Real Alcázar of Seville is Dorne. The Castillo de Zafra is the Tower of Joy. The Caminito del Rey gorge doubles for the Eyrie. Andalucía is basically Westeros.

Gabe Klinger's quiet drama shot entirely in Porto — the Ribeira waterfront, Miragaia, the Douro at night. Unhurried and exactly as melancholic as the city feels in winter.

Several episodes use the Algarve's limestone sea stacks and hidden cove beaches as backdrop. The Ponta da Piedade cliffs near Lagos are the most recognisable shots.

Sorrentino's Oscar-winner is an extended nocturnal walk through Rome — terraces above the Forum, the Janiculum at sunrise, and the Palazzo Colonna. Nothing captures the city's decadence better.

Audrey Hepburn on a Vespa — the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Bocca della Verità. A checklist of Rome disguised as a film.

Shot in Verona, the Valpolicella wine country, and Siena. Juliet's courtyard, the Roman Arena, and the Adige river feature throughout.

Positano, Ravello, and the clifftop road between them — Minghella's 1999 film is essentially a love letter to the Amalfi Coast shot before mass tourism changed it.

Diane Lane buys a crumbling villa near Cortona. The cypress alleys of the Val d'Orcia, Montepulciano, and the rolling Crete Senesi are all here.

Shot in Crema in Lombardy but the landscapes — the peach orchards, the bike rides, the long summer afternoons — are quintessentially northern Tuscan in feel.

Brazilian Netflix series filmed on Mykonos — the windmills, Little Venice, the narrow whitewashed lanes. All the sun-drenched glamour of the island in July.

Shot on Skopelos and Skiathos — the donkey paths, the blue-domed chapels, and the harbour tavernas. The perfect argument for renting a car and driving the Pelion Peninsula.

Netflix fantasy series shot across Istanbul — the Grand Bazaar, the Bosphorus bridges, Karaköy, and the backstreets of Beyoğlu. A cinematic tour of the whole city.

The opening motorcycle chase across the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar and the motorbike sequence through Sultanahmet remain the most stylish thing ever shot in Istanbul.

The Folketing, Christiansborg Palace, and the cycling infrastructure of inner Copenhagen. Danish politics has never looked so architecturally appealing.

Norwegian teen drama shot around Hartvig Nissen School and Grünerløkka. The tram lines, the Akerselva river path, and Oslo's understated street life are all captured naturally.

Fincher's adaptation is shot in Stockholm, Gamla Stan, Södermalm, and the frozen archipelago. The winter light and the granite city are exactly right.

Norwegian adventure epic — the fjord and coastal sequences near Bergen and northward are visually identical to what you see driving the Kystriksveien towards Lofoten.

Shot almost entirely in Prague standing in for 18th-century Vienna. The Stavovské Theatre (where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni), Hradčany, and the Baroque streets are all real.

Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, and the Vltava waterfront doubled for a fictional Czech city. The most expensive tourist board advert Prague never paid for.

Wes Anderson's fictional Republic of Zubrowka draws heavily on Bohemian and Moravian castle towns. Ceský Krumlov's cliff-top château is the closest real-world analogue to the film's aesthetic.

Polanski's masterpiece reconstructs wartime Warsaw in meticulous detail. Walking the rebuilt Old Town today, the contrast with what Szpilman survived is overwhelming.

Romanian crime drama shot across Bucharest — the communist-era apartment blocks, the Floreasca district, the Dâmbovița riverbank. Raw and authentic city television.

Clarkson called the Transfăgărășan "the best road in the world." The episode drives it end to end in three different cars. Required viewing before you attempt it yourself.

Estonian-Georgian Oscar nominee set in the Abkhazia conflict. The landscapes — the walnut forests, the stone villages — read as the wilder countryside beyond Tbilisi's old town.

Dubrovnik is King's Landing. Split's Diocletian's Palace is Meereen's fighting pits. Šibenik Cathedral appears as Braavos. The entire Dalmatian coast is essentially a GoT backlot.