Where was Casino Royale filmed? Not in Montenegro. The country Bond and Vesper travel to for the poker game never appears on screen: its station, its hotel and its casino are all in the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary, and its sleepy little town is Loket, just up the river. Madagascar is the Bahamas, Uganda is a country park in Buckinghamshire, and the Venice hotel lobby is in Prague. Lake Como and Venice, at least, are playing themselves. This list asks the question that comes after where: once you get there, how close can you actually get?
So we ranked seventeen real places from the film by how close a fan can get today to the spot where the character actually is in the scene, the same ladder we used for our Skyfall filming locations. A place you can walk into, open to the public for free or an ordinary ticket, beats one you have to book, which beats one you can only see from the pavement, which beats one where the thing on screen is gone, even if you can still walk the ground. When two places sit on the same rung, the one that lets you recreate more of the shot ranks higher: more of what’s on screen still standing, and you closer to where the camera was. Studio sets don’t count, so the inside of the sinking house in Venice isn’t here. Spoilers throughout. Travel details were checked in October 2026 and change often, so confirm before you go.
17 to 14: Nothing Left to Get Close To
17. Coral Harbour, New Providence: The Crane Chase
The film’s first big chase starts at a snake fight somewhere in Madagascar, where Carter’s earpiece gives the game away, and runs up and across two construction cranes as Bond goes after the bomb maker Mollaka. The snake fight and the crane chase were shot at Coral Harbour on New Providence in the Bahamas, around the shell of an unfinished hotel. The two tower cranes were hired in for the shoot, a crane trade magazine reported at the time, and the shanty town set around them was built for the film.
How close you get: You don’t. The site is inside the Royal Bahamas Defence Force base at Coral Harbour, which is generally off limits, and the cranes were never staying anyway.
Getting there: You can’t. The Defence Force’s own news pages show visits as organised tours, for school groups and visiting ministers, and we found no public visitor access.
16. Danube House, Prague: The Second Kill
The black-and-white opening is set in Prague, and so was the filming. Dryden, the MI6 section chief who has been selling secrets, arrives at his office building at night and finds Bond already sitting in the dark. Bond has one kill behind him. Dryden is about to be the second, which is what earns Bond his double-0 status. The building is Danube House, an office block by the river in the Karlín district.
How close you get: The office block is still there, but its face isn’t. The owner announced in 2024 that it was replacing the stone facade with terracotta, and its March 2026 update put completion in the second quarter of the year. Either way, the front Dryden walked up to isn’t the one you’ll see.
Getting there: It’s in Karlín, by the Vltava, a short ride east of the old town. The owner’s refurbishment announcement shows the new look.
15. Black Park, Buckinghamshire: The Rebel Camp in Uganda
Mr. White brings the rebel leader Obanno to meet Le Chiffre at a camp in the Ugandan jungle, where a case of money changes hands for Le Chiffre to invest. The jungle is Black Park, a country park in Buckinghamshire next to Pinewood Studios, with set dressing added for the scene.
How close you get: The camp is gone. The trees behind it are not.
Getting there: The park opens daily at 8am, entry is free and parking is £4.20 for up to two hours. Forestry work is due north of the main car park from 2 to 27 November 2026. The council’s Black Park page has the rest. It’s a long way from Uganda and a very short way from Pinewood.
14. Palazzo Lion Morosini, Venice: The House That Sinks
The Venice building that crumbles into the Grand Canal stands, on screen, across the water from the Rialto market. It never stood there at all. A production location list puts the sinking house at Palazzo Lion Morosini, and the production’s notes say the collapse was filmed on the 007 Stage at Pinewood, with a model laid over the real view. The building it replaced is still there, perfectly upright.
How close you get: The house you see falling is gone because it was never there. Its neighbours and the bell tower behind them are all real, and you can line up the view from the market side of the canal.
Getting there: Take vaporetto Line 1 to Rialto Mercato and look across the water. The real palazzo is now a guest house, according to the Veneto region’s listing, so you can sleep in the building the film quietly deleted.
13 to 12: Pavement Only
13. Villa La Gaeta, Lake Como: The Last Scene
The film ends on Lake Como. Mr. White pulls up at his villa, takes a phone call, takes a bullet in the leg, and looks up to see Bond, ready to introduce himself properly: “The name’s Bond. James Bond.” The villa is Villa La Gaeta, on its own small headland at Acquaseria in San Siro. Italy’s official tourism site names it as the setting for that final scene.
How close you get: You can’t go in. The Lombardy region’s heritage record lists it as private property, used as a home, and Italian press reported this year that it was split into five apartments after a 2023 renovation. It’s the nearest thing Casino Royale has to a villain’s lair, and unlike most of the villain lairs you can visit, this one stays shut. We couldn’t confirm a public spot with a clear view of the steps.
Getting there: It’s on the SS340dir lake road in Acquaseria, north of Menaggio. Italy’s official tourism site has a one-day Casino Royale drive that ends here.
12. Strahov Library, Prague: Where M Misses the Cold War
After Bond’s embassy shootout makes the news, M storms along with Villiers and ends her rant with the film’s most heartfelt line: “Christ, I miss the Cold War.” The scene is set in Westminster. It was filmed in the library of Strahov Monastery in Prague.
How close you get: The doorway is your pavement. The monastery says its regular library tour doesn’t go into the two Baroque halls, to protect the books, and that a limited number of special tours can look into them. M got a lot further in than you will.
Getting there: The library is open daily from 9am to 5pm, last entry 4:30pm, and a library ticket is 220 crowns. Details are on Prague City Tourism’s Strahov Library page, and the special tours are on the monastery’s library page.
11 to 9: Booking Required
11. Albany, New Providence: Dimitrios’s Beach House
Bond walks out of the sea in front of the beach house of Alex Dimitrios, the arms dealer he’s tracking. The house is at Albany on the south coast of New Providence, which is now a resort community.
How close you get: Albany says it rents its private residences to visitors year round. Its site doesn’t say which house was Dimitrios’s or whether that one is on the list.
Getting there: Enquiries go through Albany’s accommodations page. Swimming trunks are your own business.
10. The Ocean Club, Paradise Island: Bond’s Bahamas Hotel
The rare location on this list playing itself. Bond arrives at the Ocean Club in the Bahamas, teaches a rude Range Rover owner a lesson in the car park, climbs the steps of the resort’s Versailles Gardens at night, places his first drink order of the film and wins Dimitrios’s Aston Martin DB5 at cards. It was the One&Only Ocean Club when the film was shot. Since 2017 it has been The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, and Four Seasons’ own press office says Casino Royale was “filmed on site at the Resort.”
How close you get: The resort’s restaurants take reservations, and its DUNE Bar is open daily from 10am to midnight. Its pages don’t say whether non-guests can walk in, so call ahead before you try the garden steps.
Getting there: Paradise Island is across the bridge from Nassau. The bar’s number is on the DUNE Bar page. Valet parking is recommended. Bond’s way of parking is not.
9. Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como: Bond’s Recovery
After the torture, Bond recovers at a lakeside clinic. He sits in its gardens, sees Mathis taken away, completes the transfer of his winnings with the Swiss banker Mendel and falls for Vesper. The clinic is Villa del Balbianello at Lenno, now run by FAI, Italy’s national trust. Italy’s official tourism site says the famous kiss was filmed under the villa’s loggia.
How close you get: Close enough to recreate the garden and loggia scenes. The garden ticket covers the terraces and the Loggia Durini. It would sit higher on this list if you could just walk in, but FAI has capped visitor numbers since 2023 and says booking is required.
Getting there: A garden ticket is €15, or €25 with a guided tour of the villa, bought online from FAI’s Balbianello page. FAI lists 10am to 5pm in November and opening on selected days in December. Cars can’t reach the villa: park in Lenno and walk about a kilometre uphill, or book a taxi boat from Lenno’s lido.
8 to 1: Step Into the Shot
8. John Watling’s Distillery, Nassau: The Nambutu Embassy
At the end of the crane chase, Mollaka runs for the Nambutu embassy, and Bond follows him in. The embassy was the old Buena Vista hotel on Delancy Street in Nassau, which reopened in 2013 as John Watling’s Distillery. The shootout inside was filmed at Barrandov Studios in Prague, according to the production’s notes.
How close you get: You can walk the grounds Mollaka ran into, for free. The buildings are a lot more colourful than the embassy was, so the shot needs some squinting.
Getting there: The Bahamas tourism board’s listing says the distillery is open daily from 10am to 6pm, with a free self-guided tour of the estate. It’s in downtown Nassau.
7. Loket Town Square, Bohemia: Meeting Mathis
Bond drives Vesper to a small Montenegrin town to meet their contact, Mathis. Over a drink at a café on the square, the local police arrive and arrest the chief of police, who was on Le Chiffre’s payroll, thanks to a tip from Mathis. The town is Loket, a medieval town in a bend of the Ohře river near Karlovy Vary.
How close you get: The square, its burgher houses and the hotel where Mathis greets them are all still there and free to walk. The café was set up for the film, so the tables won’t be, and the hotel’s name was changed for filming.
Getting there: Loket is about 10km from Karlovy Vary along the Ohře cycling trail, according to VisitCzechia’s Loket page. Have a drink on the square. Try not to get anyone arrested.
6. The National Museum, Prague: The Venice Hotel Lobby
Bond and Vesper’s Venice hotel is fictional, and so is its location on St Mark’s Square. The lobby was filmed in the historic building of the National Museum in Prague, at the top of Wenceslas Square.
How close you get: The building is fully standing, and an ordinary museum ticket gets you inside.
Getting there: The museum is open daily from 10am to 6pm, and an adult ticket is 360 crowns on the National Museum’s visitor page. No room keys are issued.
5. The Grand Canal, Venice: Sailing In
Bond has just resigned, and he and Vesper sail into Venice on a yacht, up the Grand Canal past the palazzi, until Vesper spots Gettler, the man watching them.
How close you get: You can ride the same stretch of water past the same buildings for the price of a bus ticket. Your boat will be slower and more crowded than theirs.
Getting there: Vaporetto Line 1 runs the length of the Grand Canal, stopping at Rialto Mercato and San Silvestro along the stretch they sail. A single 75-minute ticket is €9.50 on the Venice transport operator’s fares page.
4. St Mark’s Square, Venice: The Run to the Bank
From the hotel, Bond looks out over St Mark’s Square. When he realises something is wrong with the money, he runs across the square to the bank, then spots Vesper slipping away into the alleys nearby.
How close you get: It’s a public square, and the alleys are public streets. You can stand exactly where Bond did, though rarely with as much elbow room.
Getting there: On certain days, day-trippers pay Venice’s access fee, €5 if paid at least four days ahead and €10 after that. The city’s access fee page has the calendar. Vaporetto stops on the waterfront are a short walk from the square.
3. The Mill Colonnade, Karlovy Vary: Montenegro’s Railway Station
Bond and Vesper arrive in Montenegro by train and are picked up outside the station by car, working out their cover story on the drive to the hotel. The station is the Mill Colonnade, a long row of columns in the middle of Karlovy Vary that shelters five of the town’s mineral springs. There was never a train.
How close you get: The town says the colonnade is freely accessible, and the pickup was filmed on Lázeňská, the street right beside it. Both look much as they did on screen.
Getting there: It’s a ten-minute walk from the town’s Hot Spring, according to the Karlovy Vary tourism page. You’ll have to arrive on foot.
2. Grandhotel Pupp, Karlovy Vary: Hotel Splendide
Bond and Vesper’s hotel in Montenegro, the Hotel Splendide, is the Grandhotel Pupp. Its forecourt is where they arrive, the car park opposite is where Bond finds his new Aston Martin DBS waiting, and it’s outside the hotel that Vesper is later taken. The hotel’s own site lists Casino Royale among its films.
How close you get: The forecourt is open to anyone, and the hotel’s restaurants and bars welcome outside guests. Since 2025 it has also had the Splendid Bar, a hidden, Bond-themed speakeasy with twelve cocktails inspired by the films and a thirteenth, the Vintage Vesper, for anyone who wants to try the original order.
Getting there: The Splendid Bar opens Friday and Saturday from 7pm to 2am, by reservation only, through the hotel’s Splendid Bar page. Smart casual. Shaken or stirred is up to you.
1. Kaiserbad Spa, Karlovy Vary: The Casino Royale
The casino itself. Bond walks up to the Casino Royale for the big game, and later, poisoned, staggers back out of it to his car, where Vesper saves his life. The building is Kaiserbad, the Imperial Spa, across the river from the Grandhotel Pupp. It closed in 1994, more than a decade before filming. The Karlovy Vary Region restored it and reopened it on 17 June 2023.
How close you get: The outside, where Bond walks in and staggers back out, is free to walk up to, and it’s all there, restored. Then you can do something fans couldn’t for years: go inside, on the building’s one-hour tour.
Getting there: The tour is 250 crowns. CzechTourism’s listing for the spa gives weekday hours, 10am to 6pm, while another of its pages says daily, so check before you plan a weekend visit.
The Verdict
Seventeen places, four rungs, and not one of them in Montenegro. The casino itself tops the list: the outside Bond walks past is free to stand in front of, and the inside is finally open again. The hardest is the crane chase, which happened on what is now a military base. Next on the same ladder: No Time to Die’s filming locations, where the bridge Bond jumps from isn’t in the town the film says it is.