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HistoryApproximate

The Pony Express: St. Joseph to Sacramento

For eighteen months in 1860 and 1861, relays of light riders on fast horses carried letters 1,900 miles from the Missouri River to California. It took about ten days, was never profitable, and was made obsolete by the telegraph within a year and a half — yet it became one of the great legends of the Old West. The route follows the mail west through eight places: the stables where the first rider set out, a surviving station in Kansas, Fort Kearny, Julesburg, the plains where Mark Twain saw a rider flash past his stagecoach, Utah, the Nevada desert and the terminus in Sacramento. Where legend (Buffalo Bill, Twain's eight days) outruns the record, the text says so.

8 locations8/8 visitable

BooksApproximate

Three Men in a Boat: Kingston to Oxford

Jerome K. Jerome's 1889 comic novel sends three friends, J., George and Harris, and the dog Montmorency up the Thames in a rowing skiff, from Kingston to Oxford, camping out for a fortnight. What follows is one of the funniest books ever written about getting nowhere fast: a hedge maze with a guide who cannot find the exit, a punt run down at sunset, a dog who treats every cat as a personal enemy, and a provision-buying procession that staggers the whole town. The route follows the boat in the book's own order: Kingston's back streets, Hampton Court's maze, the lock opposite Weybridge where George joins them, the island where King John is said to have signed the Charter, tea below Cookham, a night in Marlow, Henley before the regatta, the old walls of Wallingford, and the difficult last mile into Oxford.

9 locations8/9 visitable

BooksApproximate

Little Women: Concord, Orchard House and Beyond

Little Women is set in a Massachusetts town loosely based on Concord, and Louisa May Alcott wrote it at Orchard House, the Alcott family home that is now a museum. Follow the March sisters from Concord to Washington, Nice and Lake Geneva. The route visits Orchard House and The Wayside, where the Alcott family lived and acted out scenes later used in the book, then follows the story abroad: a Washington hospital, the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and Chillon on Lake Geneva. The Concord stops are the real houses behind the March family's home.

5 locations4/5 visitable

MoviesApproximate

Beverly Hills Cop: Detroit to Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) is set in Detroit and Beverly Hills, but most of it was shot around Los Angeles: the Biltmore Hotel downtown, Beverly Hills City Hall and the Athenaeum in Pasadena. Detroit detective Axel Foley travels to California to find the killer of his friend Mikey. The route follows him from the opening chase and his apartment to the hotel, the police station, Maitland's club and the final shootout. Only the Biltmore, City Hall and the Athenaeum are places you can visit.

6 locations2/6 visitable

GamesApproximate

Company of Heroes: Normandy 1944

Company of Heroes is set in Normandy in 1944, from Omaha Beach and Carentan to Cherbourg, Saint-Lô, Mortain and Chambois. Its Able Company missions follow real battles of the Normandy campaign. The route follows the game's single-player story in order, pairing each mission with what the real fight there looked like. The game simplifies events.

6 locations6/6 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Trail of Tears: The Cherokee Removal, 1835–1838

The Trail of Tears was the forced removal of the Cherokee from their homeland in the southeastern United States to present-day Oklahoma. This route follows it from the capital at New Echota, Georgia, through Red Clay, Fort Cass and Blythe Ferry in Tennessee to Fort Gibson. Each stop ties to a documented moment: a treaty signed by a minority, a council that rejected it, the camps of summer 1838, a river crossing and the arrival in Indian Territory. Some sites are memorials today and others are only markers; the Fort Cass and Fort Gibson pins are approximate.

5 locations4/5 visitable

BooksSpeculative

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Tarrytown to the Church Bridge

Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set around 1790 near Tarrytown, New York, and you can visit its places today: Philipsburg Manor, Patriot's Park, the Old Dutch Church and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Ichabod rides to a party at the Van Tassel farm, then home through a haunted glen and over a bridge by the church. The route follows his night, with Raven Rock first. Some places are only visitor tradition, and each stop says so.

5 locations5/5 visitable

MoviesApproximate

Pretty Woman: Beverly Hills and Hollywood Locations

Pretty Woman is set in Los Angeles, mostly around Hollywood Boulevard, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, with one night at the San Francisco Opera. This route follows Vivian and Edward's week in story order, from the Hollywood street where they meet to the opera house. Some scenes were filmed elsewhere, such as the Ambassador Hotel lobby and the Cicada dinner, and the stops say so.

6 locations5/6 visitable

GamesApproximate

Overwatch maps in Africa and Asia: real-life locations

Overwatch (called Overwatch 2 until February 2026) sets maps in real places across Africa and Asia: the Temple of Anubis is on the Giza Plateau near Cairo, Petra is in Jordan, Busan is in South Korea, and Neon Junction is inspired by Tokyo. This route follows ten maps west to east, from Morocco to Tokyo, with the mode, the date each arrived and the real place behind it. Other routes cover Overwatch maps in Europe and in the Americas. Aatlis has no pin because Blizzard names no city in Morocco; Oasis and Suravasa pin only their country.

10 locations3/10 visitable

GamesApproximate

Overwatch maps in the Americas: real-life locations

Overwatch (called Overwatch 2 until February 2026) sets its American maps in real places: Midtown ends at Grand Central in New York, New Queen Street is Toronto, Havana is in Cuba, Paraíso is Rio de Janeiro and Hollywood is a Los Angeles movie lot. This route follows seven maps west to east from Hollywood to Rio, including Dorado, a Mexican town whose look came from a photo of Italy. Other routes cover Overwatch maps in Europe and in Africa and Asia. Pins mark a real model place, not a copied district; Dorado and Runasapi have no pin because they are invented towns with no named real place.

7 locations1/7 visitable

GamesApproximate

Overwatch maps in Europe: real-life locations

Overwatch (called Overwatch 2 until February 2026) sets its European maps in real places: King's Row is a London neighborhood, Circuit Royal is Monte Carlo, Colosseo is Rome, Rialto is Venice and Esperança is inspired by Porto. This route follows eleven maps west to east, from Grímsvötn in Iceland to Volskaya Industries near St. Petersburg, with the mode, the date each arrived and the real place behind it. Other routes cover Overwatch maps in the Americas and in Africa and Asia. Pins mark a real model place or landmark, not a copied district.

11 locations4/11 visitable

GamesApproximate

War Thunder: Real Places Behind the Ground Maps

War Thunder's tank maps are based on real places: Stalingrad Tractor Plant, Bastogne, Hürtgen Forest, Cologne Cathedral, Berlin's Reichstag, Novorossiysk, Volokolamsk, Breslau (Wrocław), Darwin Hill in the Falklands and the Fulda Gap. The developers say how close each map is to its original, from rebuilt photographs of the Stalingrad factory to a layout only inspired by the real ground. This route follows ten of them in the order of their history, with a short note on what happened at each real place. Maps are classed here as exact only where the developers copy a real district; the rest are marked approximate.

10 locations0/10 visitable

MoviesExact

Look Back: Nikaho, Akita

Look Back is set around the hometown of manga artist Tatsuki Fujimoto, Nikaho in Akita Prefecture, and the live-action film of 2026 was shot mainly there, from the cherry-tree lane at Kunpuen to Nikaho Station. The story follows Fujino and Kyomoto, two girls who draw manga together. It became an anime film in June 2024. The route follows the story from Fujino's childhood walks in Nikaho and the bookshop in Hirasawa, to the rebuilt bedroom sets at the station and the Smile centre, and on to the art university in Yamagata where the story turns.

5 locations4/5 visitable

MoviesApproximate

Seven Samurai: Kurosawa's Filming Locations

Seven Samurai was filmed at Toho Studios in Tokyo and in Shizuoka and Hakone, because no single location could cover the whole area. Kurosawa's 1954 film has one mountain village, but it was stitched together from different places: studio rice fields in Setagaya, a valley above the Tanna Tunnel, a mill site in Izu, a waterfall in Shizuoka and a mountain pass in Hakone. The stops are approximate because the screen village never existed as one place.

5 locations2/5 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Kūkai: From Shikoku to China and Mount Kōya

Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) was born in Shikoku, studied in Xi'an and founded Shingon Buddhism at Jingo-ji, Tō-ji and Mount Kōya, where he is entombed at Okunoin. The route follows the monk from his birthplace at Zentsū-ji to Qinglong Temple in Tang China, then back to the temples near Kyoto and the mountain retreat he asked for in 816. It ends at his mausoleum, where monks still bring him meals.

6 locations6/6 visitable

HistorySpeculative

Himiko and Yamatai: Yoshinogari vs Makimuku

Where was Yamatai, the kingdom of Queen Himiko? The two leading answers are Yoshinogari in Saga, northern Kyushu, and Makimuku beside the Hashihaka Kofun in Sakurai, Nara. The route follows the Wei Zhi account of Himiko from Iki Island and the Shikanoshima gold seal to the two rival sites, and ends at the burial mound often linked with her grave. The location of Yamatai is still unsettled.

5 locations1/5 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Emperor Shōmu and the Great Buddha of Nara

The Great Buddha of Nara at Tōdai-ji was the work of Emperor Shōmu, who also ordered a temple in every province and moved his capital from Heijō Palace to Kuni-kyō and Shigaraki. After smallpox, rebellion and poor harvests, Shōmu turned to Buddhism for protection. This route follows him from Nara through two short-lived capitals and a provincial temple in today's Tokyo, back to the Eye-opening Ceremony of 752. Some sites are only ruins or remain approximate.

5 locations4/5 visitable

HistorySpeculative

Prince Shōtoku: Asuka, Ikaruga and Hōryū-ji

Prince Shōtoku's temples in Japan run from Tachibana-dera and Asuka-dera in Asuka to Hōryū-ji and Chūgū-ji in Ikaruga, plus Shitennō-ji in Osaka. The route follows the regent who promoted Buddhism, from the place said to be his birthplace to his palace site at Ikaruga and the embroidery made after his death in 622. Several dates rest on temple tradition rather than firm records, and the birthplace is marked as traditional.

6 locations2/6 visitable

MoviesApproximate

Massan: From Glasgow to Yoichi Distillery

Massan, the NHK drama of 2014–2015, is set in Glasgow, Takehara, Osaka and Yoichi, and is based on the life of Nikka Whisky founder Masataka Taketsuru and his Scottish wife Rita. The route follows Masaharu and Ellie from Scotland and Japan's early whisky years at Yamazaki to the Yoichi Distillery in Hokkaido, with notes on what the real couple did. Scenes set in Scotland were not filmed there.

5 locations2/5 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Hiroo Onoda: Holdout on Lubang Island

Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who kept fighting on Lubang Island in the Philippines until 1974, is traced here from the Nakano School in Tokyo to Lubang's mountains and Manila's Malacañang Palace. Sent to Lubang on 26 December 1944 with orders never to surrender, Onoda stayed in hiding for 28 years, 6 months and 8 days after Japan's surrender. The route follows his training, his years in the hills, his surrender in March 1974 and a disputed return visit in 1996. Several locations are approximate, and accounts of the violence on the island are contested.

5 locations0/5 visitable

MoviesApproximate

Amachan: Kuji and the Sanriku Coast

Amachan, the 2013 NHK morning drama, is set in Kitasanriku, a fictional town modelled on Kuji, Iwate; this route visits Kuji Station, Kosode Coast and railway stations along the Sanriku Coast. Aki, a shy Tokyo girl, becomes a sea-urchin diver and a local idol in a small seaside town. This route follows the hometown chapter through five real places: Kuji Station, Kosode Coast, Horinai Station, Tanohata Station and Taneichi High School. Several stand in for places the drama names differently.

5 locations4/5 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Hashima (Gunkanjima): Nagasaki's Coal and Shipyard Story

Hashima, nicknamed Gunkanjima or Battleship Island, lies about 15 km off Nagasaki, and its coal mine grew from the same story as Glover Garden, the Kosuge Slip Dock and the Takashima mine. The route follows Nagasaki's industrial rise from 1859: the Scottish merchant Thomas Blake Glover, Japan's first western-style dock, a pioneering coal shaft, the Mitsubishi shipyard and finally Hashima, packed with 5,259 people in 1959 and empty after 1974. It also records the wartime forced labour of Korean civilians and Chinese prisoners of war on Hashima.

5 locations3/5 visitable

MoviesFictional

The Last Samurai: Filming Locations from Taranaki to Kyoto

The Last Samurai (2003) is set in Japan in 1876 but was filmed mostly in Taranaki, New Zealand, where Mount Taranaki stands in for Mount Fuji, plus Engyō-ji near Himeji, Chion-in in Kyoto and Castle Green in Pasadena. This route follows Nathan Algren's story from the opening restaurant scene to the parade ground, the fog battle, Katsumoto's village, his temple and the emperor's palace, and shows where each one really is. Several stops are sets or stand-ins.

6 locations3/6 visitable

HistoryApproximate

Emperor Go-Daigo: From Oki Exile to Yoshino

Emperor Go-Daigo overthrew the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 after holding out at Kasagi Temple, being exiled to the Oki Islands and escaping to Mount Funanoue, and he ended his life at Yoshino. This route follows him from Kasagi to Kyoto and the Southern Court. The six stops trace 1331 to 1339: the failed stand at Kasagi, exile on Oki, the escape to Mount Funanoue, the short Kenmu Restoration in Kyoto, the temporary palace at Yoshimizu Shrine and the emperor's tomb at Nyoirin-ji. Several pins are approximate because the sources describe regions or traditions, not exact spots.

6 locations2/6 visitable