Top Five Places You Can Visit That Look Like They Belong in a Fantasy Film
- jamiecrow2
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Some places are so spectacular, strange or otherworldly that they seem impossible to be real. Towering castles, mist-covered mountains, colourful villages and landscapes that appear to have been created by a computer rather than nature.
You don't need a film set or a special effects department to find them. Around the world, there are real places that look as though they've been borrowed from a fantasy story.
Here are five destinations where reality might just be stranger than fiction:
1. Cappadocia, Turkey
With its strange rock formations, underground cities and cave dwellings, Cappadocia looks like somewhere designed for a fantasy epic.
The landscape was shaped by volcanic activity and erosion, creating the famous "fairy chimneys" that rise from the valleys. Ancient homes and churches were carved directly into the rock, while entire underground settlements were built beneath the surface.
And then there are the hundreds of hot-air balloons drifting above the landscape at sunrise, adding another layer of unreality.
It's difficult to decide whether you're visiting a real place or wandering into a particularly elaborate film set.
2. Neuschwanstein Castle, Bavaria
Perched dramatically on a wooded hillside in Bavaria, Neuschwanstein looks almost too perfect to exist.
Built for King Ludwig II in the 19th century, the castle was inspired by medieval architecture and romantic ideas of what a fairytale castle should look like. Turrets rise above the surrounding forest, while the Alps provide a spectacular backdrop.
It's hardly surprising that the castle helped inspire the visual design of Disney's famous Sleeping Beauty Castle.
3. Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia
If fantasy films require enchanted forests, waterfalls and impossibly blue water, Plitvice Lakes seems to have been designed with the genre in mind.
A series of interconnected turquoise lakes cascade through dense woodland, linked by waterfalls and wooden walkways. The colours change depending on the minerals, sunlight and organisms in the water, creating an almost surreal effect.
Walk through the park early in the day and it's easy to imagine a mythical creature appearing from between the trees.
4. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China
Few landscapes look as though they've escaped from a fantasy film as Zhangjiajie.
Thousands of towering sandstone pillars rise dramatically from misty valleys, creating a landscape unlike almost anywhere else on Earth. Their strange shapes inspired the floating mountains seen in the film Avatar.
Take a cable car or walk along one of the park's trails and you'll understand why the landscape has inspired so much fantasy imagery.
5. Lauterbrunnen Valley, Switzerland
Surrounded by enormous cliffs and dotted with waterfalls, Lauterbrunnen Valley feels like the setting for an alpine fairytale.
Traditional Swiss villages sit beneath dramatic mountains, while waterfalls plunge hundreds of metres down the sheer rock faces. The combination of green meadows, snow-capped peaks and wooden chalets is almost impossibly picturesque.
It's the sort of landscape where you half expect to see a dragon flying between the mountains.
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