Love Actually: A London Christmas Romance

The film opens with the Prime Minister recalling scenes of affection at the arrivals gate of London Heathrow, and it returns there a month later, when the characters' stories converge and several reunite with loved ones. The travellers' shots were grabbed documentary-style, and everyone featured gave permission to be in the film. Heathrow lies 14 miles west of central London.

Location precision: The film does not name a terminal, so the pin marks the airport as a whole.

In the weeks before Christmas, the film sketches a festive London, and the central court of Somerset House on the Strand is one of its postcards. Once a car park, the court has been turned into a fountain court and, in winter, an open-air ice rink, which is how it appears in the opening credits. The building stands on the south side of the Strand, overlooking the Thames.

Visitor guidance: The courtyard rink runs in winter; at other times the fountains play and the court hosts outdoor events.

Juliet and Peter have a joyous wedding, organised by Peter's best friend Mark, who acts aloofly towards the bride. The ceremony takes place in Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street in Mayfair, to the unexpected strains of All You Need Is Love. The chapel is much older than the film: its foundation stone was laid on 7 April 1730. Regular music concerts are held there today.

Visitor guidance: An Anglican church on South Audley Street, Mayfair; check opening times and concert dates before you go.

Daniel, recently widowed, struggles to support his stepson Sam in their shared grief. On a bench on the South Bank, east of Waterloo Bridge, the two have a heart-to-heart in which Sam reveals that he is infatuated with an American classmate named Joanna. The spot is in front of the Riviera Restaurant on Upper Ground at Gabriel's Wharf. The benches have since been very slightly re-positioned.

Location precision: The film does not name the spot; a location guide puts the bench in front of the old Riviera Restaurant, and the pin marks 56 Upper Ground.

Visitor guidance: On the riverside walking path along the south bank of the Thames.

Harry's flirtatious secretary Mia hints at a special Christmas gift, and Harry furtively buys her a necklace in Selfridges. Karen later finds evidence of the purchase, which devastates her. Selfridges opened its doors for filming on the strength of Richard Curtis's name. The Oxford Street flagship was designed by Daniel Burnham for Harry Gordon Selfridge and opened in 1909; it is still a working department store.

Visitor guidance: Selfridges is a working department store at 400 Oxford Street, open to shoppers during trading hours.

On Christmas Eve the Prime Minister realises his feelings for Natalie and searches door-to-door for her in her neighbourhood. They reunite during a school nativity play, and their relationship is revealed to the public. The school's assembly hall was the location of the pageant. The school, a Grade II listed building in Putney, became the Ark Putney Academy in 2012.

After heartbreak Jamie retreats to a cottage in France, where he develops a bond with his Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia despite their inability to speak the other's language. Months later he returns to propose, speaking halting Portuguese, and Aurélia accepts in broken English. The proposal scene was filmed at Le Bar de la Marine on the Quai de Rive Neuve, by the Old Port of Marseille, which lies at the end of the Canebière.

Visitor guidance: A bar-restaurant on the quay facing the Old Port, which became mainly pedestrian in 2013.