9 Incredible James Bond locations
1st Jan 2015 Travel
No Time To Die continues a strong Bond tradition—incredible filming locations. Here are nine of the most gobsmacking from 007’s globetrotting career.
James Bond Beach, Jamaica (Dr No, 1962)
Image via Creative Lunatics
That beach! That bikini!
On the heavenly white-sand fringes of Dr No’s Crab Key, Bond is shaken and stirred when a scantily clad Honey Rider (Ursula Andress) emerges from the aquamarine water.
The iconic scene was actually shot on mainland Jamaica, near Ocho Rios at Oracabessa Bay. Money-smelling marketers hastily renamed the beach.
Himeji Castle, Japan (You Only Live Twice, 1967)
The brilliantly white UNESCO-protected Himeji hosts a Ninja training camp run by agent Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba).
At the idyllic fortress—actually a network of 83 buildings, erected in 1333 and surrounded by three moats—Tanaka trains Sean Connery’s agent in ninjitsu and posing as Japanese.
Khao Phing Kan, Thailand (The Man With the Golden Gun, 1974)
Part of an Andaman Sea bay and locally referred to as ‘James Bond Island’, Khao Phing Kan boasts 42 limestone monoliths rising steeple-straight out of its turquoise sea.
One such is Ko Tapu, into which the dastardly Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) has cunningly stowed a solar-energy collector. He can’t fool Bond, though, who also finds time to lunch and lose a plane.
Iguazu Falls, Brazil (Moonraker, 1979)
Following some earlier grappling on the cable-car ride up Rio’s Sugarloaf Mountain, Bond and Jaws (Richard Kiel) get familiar again at the vast cascades marking Brazil’s Argentinian border.
Our hero alights his boat yards from the 82-metre drop. His metal-toothed foe is less lucky, taking a heavy—yet somehow un-fatal—plunge.
Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur, India (Octopussy, 1983)
Still open today, this ultra-luxury island hotel doubled as Octopussy’s floating palace. It’s a paradise of sun-kissed terraces, manicured courtyards, mango trees, marbled walls and, very probably, a smuggled Fabergé egg. Alas, the pad is for women-only. Refusing to be put off, 007 disguises himself as a crocodile, and swims up for a closer look…
Jökulsárlón, Iceland (A View to a Kill, 1985)
Image via Gen Vagula
In the pre-credit sequences, Bond sneaks into a Siberian base to track down 003 and recover a microchip.
Spotted by KGB troops, he skis into an iceberg-ridden bay and vanishes into an iceberg-imitating submarine, much to his pursuers’ bemusement.
The spectacular glacial lagoon can be found in northern Iceland, and was later used for Die Another Day’s incredible car chase.
Cerro Paranal, Chile (Quantum of Solace, 2008)
A vast, otherworldly expanse where it almost never rains, the unforgiving Atacama Desert lent a ferocious edge to 007’s concluding battle with Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric).
After razing Greene’s hotel home, a particularly unforgiving Bond leaves his enemy hopelessly stranded amid hundreds of arid miles of sand, dust and rock.
Glen Etive, Scotland (Skyfall, 2012)
Bond and M’s (Judi Dench) showdown with Silva (Javier Bardem) takes place at the agent’s old family home: a lonely mansion set within heather-covered hills and rugged peaks.
The real-life property is Dalness Lodge, owned for generations by Ian Fleming’s family.
Rome, Italy (Spectre, 2015)
Details of Daniel Craig’s latest adventures remain scant, but high-speed car chases (what other kind are there?) through the Tiber River and the Vatican were recorded in Italy’s capital.
007 will also parachute from a helicopter onto the 15th century, pedestrian-only Ponte Sisto bridge.
