Published: August 31, 2023 | Last Updated: June 27, 2024
From Game of Thrones to Indiana Jones and numerous spaghetti Westerns, you might be surprised by how many movies and television series have been shot in Andalusia, Spain.
It’s a great place to start if you’re production company location scouting for your next Western fantasy movie. If you want to make a film in Andalusia, I recommend contacting the Andalusia Filmcommision, which can help you. On their website, you can also see all the amazing locations.
But also, if you’re a regular cinema lover on a cultural trip, you should check out this Spanish Hollywood.
For those who don’t know, Andalusia (Andalucia in Spanish) is the southernmost region in Spain, including provinces such as Almeria, Malaga, Granada, and Seville.
My in-laws own a small house in a little village (Pueblo) in the Sierra Nevada National Park, so my family and I decided to rent another small house and visit them this summer.
Being a movie buff, I decided to write an article about some of the film locations in the region. I convinced my family that it was a great idea—under the guise of sightseeing trips, not work, of course—*ahem*.
In this article, you can see photos and videos from the locations and read about what movies were shot there.
Here’s the first video:
So, let’s dive in.
La Calahorra Castle
La Calahorra Castle (Castillo de La Calahorra) is a beautiful castle sitting atop a hill in the small town of La Calahorra, in the province of Granada.
When you drive on the freeway, it looks impressive as it rises majestically 1250 meters above sea level from the surrounding town against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
The castle was built between 1491 and 1512 on the ruins of a Moorish (Arab) fortress (the remains of the outer walls are from this fortress).
It’s built as a medieval fortress, with four huge round towers, but the inside is Renaissance with an elegant courtyard and staircase of Italian marble.
This is probably because the owner (and womanizer) at the time, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar y Mendoza (Marqués de Zenete), traveled to Italy after the death of his first wife, where he had an alleged love affair with Lucrezia Borgia.
In its basement, you can still see dark cells, which were used to transfer Moor prisoners, who were to be transferred to the Chancery of Granada.
La Calahorra Castle is a national monument, and until a few years ago, a family of caretakers still lived in it. It is under private ownership under the House of the Duke of the Infantado.
Still, unfortunately, the beautiful Renaissance interior is not being well-taken care of, with pigeon poop all over the place.
Movies and TV shows filmed at La Calahorra Castle
Here’s a list of movies filmed at La Calahorra Castle. As you can see, Spaghetti Westerns dominated the 1960s, with the comedic exploitation of the genre in the following decades.
The fantasy genre has advanced recently, with Assassin’s Creed (2016) and House of the Dragon (2022)—the Game of Thrones prequel spinoff—notable examples.
Here are some scenes shot in La Calahorra Castle:
Stardust (1974) – the retreat of Jim MacLaine:
House of the Dragon (2022) – the city of Pentos:
Assassin’s Creed (2016) – the introduction:
La Calahorra Station and Flagstone
La Calahorra Railway Station (Estación de la Calahorra) lies not far from La Calahorra Castle, just on the other side of the freeway.
It’s a small whistle-stop-like station that feels like you’re in the middle of nowhere. While it’s still in use with four tracks, trains rarely stop there. I think it’s only used for freight trains these days.
But in 1968, La Calahorra Station was the location for one of the coolest opening scenes in cinema history, the arrival of Harmonica in the iconic movie Once Upon a Time in the West.
This blog shows some stills from Once Upon A Time In The West, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, and For a Few Dollars More framed against the current ruins.
Also, check out this guide to the Western movies that changed the genre.
You don’t see film directors taking their time to build suspense in the same way these days:
In 1973, it was also used for The Man Called Noon, directed by Peter Collinson.
And just around the corner – only a few hundred meters – you’ll find the ruins of the town Flagstone from the same movie.
Not much is left today, but you can still see traces of the old set. My in-laws visited the set in the 1970s and should still have some old slides.
I hope to get the opportunity to get them digitalized and preserved for the future at one point.
Even though the station and the film set are decaying, the graffiti shows the love for the movie’s director and composer, i.e., Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone.
Las Tabernas Desert
The Tabernas Desert is located in Southern Spain, in the Almería province. It is one of the only true deserts in Europe, with an annual average rainfall below 250mm. The desert spans about 280 square kilometers and is protected as a nature reserve.
The Tabernas Desert is characterized by its unique landscape of dry riverbeds, rocky formations, and barren slopes, making it a perfect (and cheaper) filming location for movies in the old Wild West of the US or the Middle East.
Because of this, Las Tabernas is one of Andalusia’s most popular filming locations, particularly for western films. Some of the most famous films shot there include Lawrence of Arabia, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and several of Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns.
Also, Season 6 of the HBO series Game of Thrones was shot here, where the Tabernas desert was used to depict the Dothraki Sea in the desert gorges known as the Rambla del Cautivo and La Rambla del Buho near the village of Tabernas:
The desert is also home to “Oasys Mini Hollywood,” a Western-style theme park I’ll return to in a minute.
Oasys Mini Hollywood – more than just a theme park
The next place I went was the Oasys Mini Hollywood. It is a Western-styled theme park located in the desert of Tabernas, Almería, Spain. It’s the perfect location for shooting Westerns.
Originally known as Yucca City, the film set was designed by Carlo Simi and built for Sergio Leone’s For a Few Dollars More (1965). It was also used as a set for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
The Doctor Who TV series episode “A Town Called Mercy” (2012) was filmed at Fort Bravo/Texas Hollywood, which is just around the corner (approximately 3 miles).
If you have to choose between the two locations, I’d say go for Oasys, because you get so much more for your money.
After filming The Good, the Bad, And The Ugly, the project extras bought the set and ran it as a tourist attraction in the 1970s. My parents-in-law visited it then; at that time, it was small and mostly facades. This has certainly changed—and for the better!
I was pleasantly surprised that this was more than a theme park or movie set facade. You can enter every building, and everything looks and feels authentic.
The park features several attractions, including live performances, a zoo for old retired animals, swimming pools, and a museum of Western film history.
It also has several replicas of Western-style buildings, such as a saloon, a jail, and a bank, which were used in many classic Western movies.
For a truly immersive experience, you can explore the sets, enjoy cowboy stunt shows, ride horses, and even dress up in period costumes.
Also, the options were limited since I had only brought a Contax 18mm prime lens and my GH5 to Oasys Mini Hollywood. So, I had to use AI software to scale up some shots to zoom in without losing too much quality.
The park is popular among both local and international tourists, as well as film enthusiasts.
National and international productions can rent the place to shoot movies and commercials.
They also have beautiful old wagons and diligences, but I’m not sure if these are only for the museum or if you can rent them as movie props too.
I enjoyed the cinema museum too, where you can see old movie projectors and other gear. Cool stuff!
Guadix Station
The next stop on my movie location trip was Guadix Station.
Guadix Station is located in the city of Guadix in Granada, Spain. Guadix is known for its cave houses, but I came for the station.
The station building features traditional Spanish architecture, old-world charm, and historic architecture, making it a popular location for period films.
Guadix Station has been used as a filming location for several movies, most notably Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, representing the fictional Iskenderun Station in Hatay.
Summary
Southern Spain and the Andalusian provinces are great places for film fans because so many feature films and recent shows are being shot there, making them great places for cultural trips.
There’s a good chance that the beautiful and warm Spanish landscapes and cultural heritage sites have been the film location for one of your favorite scenes without you even knowing it.
I only stayed near Guadix and the Almeria province this time, but I plan to visit many other places.
Did you know that Kingdom of Heaven (2005), starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, and Liam Neeson, was shot in Seville’s Casa de Pilatos and Alcázar?
And that the latter also was the location for Mission Impossible 2, starring Tom Cruise, Star Wars: Episode VII, and Game of Thrones Season 5?
You could make a whole trip just visiting locations for Game of Thrones in Andalucia, with places such as Mesa Roldán Tower, The Alcazaba of Almeria, and the Osuna Bullring being some of the main points of interest.
Did you know that the city of Almeria has been the setting for Westerns and the James Bond movie Never Say Never Again (1983) starring Sean Connery?
I’ve only scratched the surface of Andalucia, but I can see why all kinds of directors take to this fascinating landscape. The next time I go there, I hope to visit more of these places and walk in the footsteps of the actors I envy.
Up Next: Tips on location scouting.
