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.
Atlantis comes from two dialogues by Plato, Timaeus and Critias, and searchers have placed it at Santorini, the Strait of Gibraltar, Spartel Bank, Doñana in Spain and the Richat Structure in Mauritania.
This route starts with Plato's own frame in Sais, Egypt, then visits five of the proposed locations. Every pin after the first is a theory, not a find.
The Trail of Tears, the forced removal of the Cherokee from Georgia to Indian Territory (Oklahoma), runs from New Echota, Red Clay and Fort Cass to Blythe Ferry in Tennessee and 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Shunji Iwai's Love Letter (1995) is set in snowy Otaru and Kobe, but Otaru stands in for both. This route follows the filming locations: the Former Nippon Yusen Otaru Branch as the library, Otaru City Hall as the hospital, Irinai crossing and Temiya Park.
It starts at the Former Suhara Residence, which doubles as the Fujii house in Kobe, and follows Hiroko's letters to Itsuki. Some sites are open to visitors; others are a city office or a public street.
Kusunoki Masashige, Japan's famous loyal samurai, fought from Akasaka and Chihaya Castle in Osaka Prefecture and died at Minatogawa in Kobe in 1336. Five stops follow his life from a temple school to his statue in Tokyo.
The route runs from Kanshin-ji in Kawachinagano, where he studied, through the two mountain fortresses that made his name, to the shrine at Minatogawa and the bronze monument beside the Imperial Palace. Where the exact spot is not known, the pin marks the area.
Shakushain's War (1669) was the Ainu uprising against the Matsumae clan of Japan, fought between Shinhidaka, Matsumae Castle and Kunnui in Hokkaido.
The route follows the revolt from the feud on the Shibechari River to the mediation at Matsumae, the fighting at Kunnui and the leader's death at Piypok. It ends with the Shakushain statue in Shinhidaka. Several sites are approximate and are marked as such.
Tokyo Story (1953) follows an elderly couple from Onomichi to Tokyo and the hot spring town of Atami, with filming at Jōdo-ji temple, Ueno Park, Tokyo Station and Osaka Castle.
The route follows the film in order: the Onomichi temple of its famous dawn scene, the Adachi suburbs, the Atami seawall, Ueno Park, Tokyo Station and Osaka Castle. Several original film spots, such as the Atami seawall, are gone.
The true story behind Hachi: A Dog's Tale and Hachikō Monogatari runs from Ōdate, Akita, where the dog was born, to the Hachikō statue at Shibuya Station in Tokyo, Aoyama Cemetery, and a Rhode Island depot that played "Bedridge" in the 2009 film.
The route follows Hachikō, the Akita who kept waiting for his owner Hidesaburō Ueno, a Tokyo Imperial University professor, long after Ueno failed to return on 21 May 1925. It covers the birthplace, the station, the final morning, the grave and the 2009 film's location. Film details differ from the real history in places.
The Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05 was fought at Port Arthur, on the Yalu River, at Mukden and in the Tsushima Strait, and ended at Portsmouth, Maine.
This route follows the war from the first night attack on Port Arthur in February 1904 to the peace treaty signed in September 1905. Battlefields are pinned approximately; only the Mikasa and the Portsmouth shipyard are exact.
The Wolverine (2013) is set in Tokyo and Nagasaki, but it was filmed at Zojo-ji Temple, Nakagin Capsule Tower, Fukuyama Station and the port of Tomonoura, plus a reserve near Sydney standing in for 1945.
The route follows Logan from a prisoner-of-war camp in August 1945 to Yashida's funeral in Tokyo, a bullet-train fight and a hideout in a love hotel, ending in the fishing port of Tomonoura. Several scenes were shot in Australia, and the Nakagin tower no longer stands.
The Battle of Iwo Jima was fought in February and March 1945 on a small volcanic island in Japan's Ogasawara group, from the black-sand landing beaches to the summit of Mount Suribachi. Its famous flag-raising photograph became the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.
This route follows the battle from the landing on 19 February, through the Suribachi flag-raising and the fight for the northern gorge, to the memorial in Arlington and the 1985 Reunion of Honor, where veterans of both sides met on the same beach. Iwo Jima itself is not open to ordinary visitors.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is set in Tokyo, but most of it was shot in Los Angeles; Shibuya Crossing is the best-known real Tokyo spot.
This route follows Sean Boswell from his Arizona school to the car meets, garages and mountain pass of the film, and shows the Los Angeles locations that stood in for Tokyo, from Hawthorne Plaza to San Gabriel Dam. Several scenes are pinned to the stand-in, not the story setting.
The Battle of Okinawa, fought from March to June 1945, ran from the Kerama Islands and the Kadena landing beaches to Shuri Castle and Mabuni Hill in the south of the island.
This route follows the land campaign through six places you can find on a map today, from the first landing to the Cornerstone of Peace, where the names of those who died on all sides are inscribed. Several sites are memorials, and the pins for the Kerama Islands and Kakazu Ridge are approximate.
NHK's 2008 drama Atsuhime follows Tenshō-in from Kagoshima and Sakurajima in Satsuma to Edo Castle in Tokyo, where she became wife of the 13th shōgun.
Born Okatsu in the Imaizumi branch of the Shimazu clan, she is adopted by Shimazu Nariakira, moves into Tsurumaru Castle and leaves for the shōgun's court in 1853, the year of Perry's Black Ships. The route follows five places from the drama's first half in Satsuma to the Ōoku. The Imaizumi pin and the Kurihama stop are approximate.
Sanada Yukimura's story runs from Ueda Castle to exile in Kudoyama and a last stand at Osaka Castle, Sanada Maru and Tennōji. He held Ueda against a far larger Tokugawa army in 1600, then died in 1615.
The route follows him from the Sekigahara campaign through exile below Mount Kōya to the Winter and Summer sieges of Osaka. Some sites are marked approximately, because the sources do not give exact spots.
