The Odyssey: Troy to Ithaca

The film's Trojan prologue was shot here in late February 2025, with the Moroccan ksar standing in for the city at the end of the war. In the story the Greek army, led by Agamemnon, takes Troy with Odysseus' stratagem, the Trojan Horse. Aït Benhaddou is a fortified village of earthen architecture on the old caravan road, its buildings packed inside a defensive wall with corner towers and a gate. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. Few families still live inside; a pedestrian bridge built in 2011 links it to the modern village, and the September 2023 earthquake left cracks and partial collapses.

Visitor guidance: The ksar is open to visitors; the 2011 footbridge crosses from the modern village.

The poem's goat island is usually mapped onto Favignana, one of the Aegadian Islands off Sicily. Its ancient Greek name, Aegusa, means exactly that. Nolan's production moved here on 27 March 2025, after the Greek shoot, to film it as that island. Favignana is known for its calcarenite caves and the old tonnara tuna traps, and it is a popular base for diving, snorkelling and day trips from Sicily.

Location precision: Filming covered the island rather than one landmark; the pin marks Favignana town on its isthmus.

Visitor guidance: Frequent hydrofoils connect Favignana with the mainland; the island is popular for diving and day trips.

The Cyclops sequence was shot in Messenia between 10 and 21 March 2025, with Nestor's Cave above Voidokilia beach standing in for Polyphemus' lair. In the film the Cyclops traps Odysseus' crew in a cave and devours several soldiers before they blind him and escape. The real cave opens beneath a thirteenth-century Frankish castle, measures about 20 by 16 metres and reaches 30 metres high; myth says Hermes hid Apollo's stolen cattle there. Below, the omega-shaped beach is identified with Homer's sandy Pylos.

Visitor guidance: The path to Nestor's Cave begins at the south-west end of Voidokilia beach.

Between 15 April and 15 May 2025 the crew filmed from the water around Lipari, Basiluzzo and Vulcano, standing in for Aeolia, the island of the winds. The largest modern Viking longship, Draken Harald Hårfagre, was sailed between locations and doubled as an ancient Greek warship for Odysseus' crew. Strabo identified Lipari itself with Aeolia, home of Aeolus, and the island's ground is still covered in pumice and obsidian. Its archaeological museum covers the Aeolian Islands from prehistory to classical times.

Location precision: Filming ran across the Aeolian Islands; the pin marks Lipari town.

Visitor guidance: Lipari town's archaeological museum covers the archipelago from prehistory to classical times.

The Laestrygonian ambush was filmed in Culbin Forest between 3 and 16 July 2025. In the film the man-eating giants kill most of Odysseus' crew and sink two of the three ships. Nolan's team built the scale practically: seven-foot stuntmen played the giants against five-foot body doubles, and Damon's double was four-foot-six stuntwoman Devyn Dalton, whose back appears on one of the posters. Culbin is a forest run by Forestry and Land Scotland, with the wooden Hill 99 viewpoint above the canopy and breeding crested tits in the trees.

Visitor guidance: Walks start at Wellhill Car Park and run through the forest to the beach.

For ten days in late June 2025 the production moved through remote Iceland, filming on black sand beaches that stand in for the Greek underworld. Hjörleifshöfði is a 221-metre inselberg of palagonite rising from the Mýrdalssandur plain; at its base sits the lava cave nicknamed Yoda Cave for the shape of its entrance. In the film Circe tells Odysseus that to reach Ithaca he must cross the river Oceanus into Hades. The Icelandic unit also worked at Landeyjahöfn, the river Markarfljót and on Snæfellsnes.

Visitor guidance: The mountain stands about 15 km east of Vík í Mýrdal on the Mýrdalssandur plain.

The Malta leg of the shoot used Calypso's Cave on Gozo. In the film Athena finds Odysseus on Ogygia, where the nymph Calypso keeps him and her lotus flowers leave him amnesic. The real cave opens on the western side of Ramla Bay near Xagħra; tradition identifies it as the cave where Calypso held Odysseus for seven years. It was closed for fear of collapse but has reopened, and it is often confused with Tal' Mixta Cave on the other side of the bay.

Visitor guidance: The cave overlooks Ramla Bay near Xagħra, Gozo, and has reopened to visitors.

Favignana returns at the end of the film: Castello di Santa Caterina and the land around it stood in for the exteriors of Ithaca. Here Odysseus comes ashore disguised as Sinon, strings Penelope's bow when the suitors fail, and then hands the throne to Telemachus. The castle was built by the Saracens on Monte Santa Caterina, the island's highest point at 314 metres. The Italian military later used the fort and closed it to the public; it now stands abandoned above the sea.