Lights. Camera. Action! On her trip through Norway, German travel blogger Andrea David let herself be guided by films and TV series. From beautiful fjord landscapes to architectural highlights – here are some of the locations she visited.
You can admire these film locations on the screen at home or see them at the cinema. Better yet, experience them in real life when you travel to Norway!
1. Tenet
There was a lot of buzz around Christopher Nolan’s film Tenet upon its release in August 2020. Starring John David Washington, the protagonist has to fulfil quite the task: save the entire planet from collapse. However, the laws of time no longer seem to apply to his mission.
One of the locations in the film is Norway’s capital Oslo. More precisely, it is one of the most impressive architectural icons in Oslo: The Opera House. In the scene in which John David Washington and Robert Pattinson in the role of Neil are talking about an aeroplane accident, they are standing on the opera roof.
The building features futuristic architecture and a gleaming white marble facade. Apart from being the perfect location for a Nolan film, it has served as the venue for the Norwegian National Opera & Ballet since 2008. The roof is freely accessible to visitors and offers a beautiful view of the city and the Oslofjord.
When you visit the Bjørvika area, you should also pause to admire the new building right next to the opera: the Deichman Library, which opened in June 2020. In addition to an extensive book collection, it has both a cinema, seriously fun play areas, a gift shop, restaurant, and more.
2. No Time to Die
James Bond’s latest adventure, No Time to Die, is another film that was hotly anticipated prior to its release. It was the last time that Daniel Craig played the role of agent 007. In this film, James Bond has already retired in Jamaica when he is suddenly given another risky mission to save a scientist.
In the film, you can see a girl fleeing from a masked man on a frozen lake. This quiet lake is called Langvann and is located near Hakadal, a village in Viken county, north of Oslo. It is only a one-hour hike through the forest away from Hakadal’s train station.
You can discover yet another location in Norway in the film: the Atlantic Roadis one of the most beautiful roads in the world. As many as seven bridges take you from island to island – the perfect setting for a dramatic car chase!
Storseisundbrua, the longest bridge on the route, is particularly impressive and the most iconic landmark of the Norwegian Scenic Route.
3. Snowman
In the Harry Hole series by Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø, Oslo plays a key role. Many details of the stories relate to real places in the city, and parts of the film adaption of the book Snowman, starring Michael Fassbender as investigator Harry Hole, were of course also filmed there.
These include Restaurant Schrøder in Waldemar Thranes gate 8, the Fram Museum, the Henie Onstad Art Centre, the Oslo Spektrum Arena, the Holmenkollen ski jump, and Oslo City Hall in which Oslo’s candidacy for the Winter Olympics is celebrated with a grand gala in the film.
Other locations worth a visit include the harbour in Bergen, Mount Ulriken, the Bergen Railway, and, again, the Atlantic Road.
4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The magical world around the famous wizard Harry Potter is located in the UK, but one scene was actually filmed in Norway.
The Rauma Railway near the village of Bjorli served as a backdrop for the train ride on board the Hogwarts Express through a snowy landscape in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film in the series.
The scene in which Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Ron (Rupert Grint) are talking about the unbreakable curse of Snape was shot inside a museum train owned by the Norwegian Railway Club.
During the shooting, the crew stayed at the Bjorligard Hotel, which unfortunately has since been closed down.
Anyone who doesn’t plan to travel the scenic route with the Rauma Railway can still enjoy it by car. We recommend that you make a few stops along the Rauma river to see and hear how the wild water rustles through the beautiful Romsdalen valley.
5. Ex Machina
In the science fiction thriller Ex Machina, programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a stay at the private refuge of super-rich company boss Nathan (Oscar Isaac). His task is to evaluate the artificial intelligence of female robot Ava (Alicia Vikander). Almost the entire plot of the film takes place on a high-tech property in the heart of Alaska. But the mysterious setting in the middle of the untouched wilderness is, in fact, shot at the Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldal, north of the Norddalsfjord. The hotel is embedded in a breathtaking landscape with fantastic views from the modern, individually designed chalets.
The hotel was designed by Norwegian architects Jensen & Skodvin. They also designed the hotel’s spa area, where most of the scenes were shot. On the small terrace in front of the spa, Caleb meets Nathan for the very first time. From the whirlpool of this very spa, guests enjoy excellent views of the river and the impressive mountain scenery.
Of course, a few scenes of Ex Machina were shot in the studio and in another private house. But the meadow where the helicopter drops Caleb as well as the spot at the river where Ava waits for the helicopter, are both just a short walk away from the spa in Valldal.
Depending on which direction you are travelling to from, we recommend that you drive the Norwegian Scenic Route Trollstigen either to or from Juvet Hotel. On the steep mountain road with eleven hairpin bends, you’ll get dramatic views of rocks and waterfalls – true film material! At the top, there is a visitor centre with several viewing platforms.
6. The Wave
Roar Uthaug's Norwegian disaster film The Wave takes place on the shores of the Geirangerfjord. It was inspired by a real rockfall which resulted in a giant tidal wave and devastated a village in Tafjord in 1934. A crevice in the Åkernes mountain on the Geirangerfjord has been monitored constantly ever since.
The main character in the film is an experienced geologist named Kristian, played by Kristoffer Joner. It is his last day of work at the Åkerneset monitoring station in Geiranger when the catastrophe occurs: huge boulders fall into the fjord and trigger the tsunami he has always feared. In the midst of panic, Kristian tries to take his family to safety.
Besides the Geirangerfjord, Havila Hotel Geiranger is also an important location for the film. Kristian’s wife Idun (Ane Dahl Torp) works there and manages to hunker down inside a bunker when the tidal wave approaches. In the film, the hotel's entrance is on Maråkvegen, but in reality, it is at the upper main building.
The Geirangerfjord is without doubt one of the most beautiful fjords in all of Norway. We highly recommend a trip around the area. Here, you can admire numerous steep waterfalls, including the famous Seven Sisters and get amazing views from the viewpoints at Flydalsjuvet and Ørnesvingen, which means 'eagle’s curve' in Norwegian.
Hot tip: Set in Oslo, the sequel, The Quake, tells the story of what happens three years after the natural disaster at Geirangerfjord.
7. Dune
Based on the popular sci-fi novel of the same name and directed by Denis Villeneuve, Dune is the story of a talented young man who has to travel to one of the most dangerous planets in the universe to secure the future of his family and his people.
In one of the first photos published of the film, we see Timothée Chalamet as protagonist Paul Atreides walking on a beach on his home planet of Caladan before embarking for Arrakis.
The beautiful beach with the green hills in the background has a touch of Hawaii, but it is actually in Norway. We found it on the west coast of the peninsula Stadlandet in the northwestern part of Nordfjord.
If you pay a visit to Stadlandet, you should plan a stop at Vestkapp, too. Although it’s not the westernmost point of Norway (which is further south), its striking cape towers 500 metres above sea level. On a clear day, you can see far into the distance in all directions.
8. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
As the Star Wars universe continues to grow, the locations of the original trilogy have long since become iconic. This also includes the ice planet Hoth, on which the new secret base of the rebels is tracked down by Darth Vader's forces in The Empire Strikes Back.
The legendary scenes in which Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) have to brave both the cold and the onslaught of the Imperial All Terrain Armoured Transports were filmed in Norway in 1979. In fact, it was in and around the village of Finse on the edge of the glacier Hardangerjøkulen.
Star Wars fans will easily recognise the mountain landscape here. There are a number hiking trails around Finsevatnet lake and the glacier area. However, you shouldn’t go on a hike without a guide in winter. The train station in Finse is located 1,222 metres above sea level, and right next to it lies the hotel Finse 1222 in which the film crew stayed during the production.
Right behind the hotel, the scenes were created in which, after his rough encounter with a wampa, Luke crawls exhausted through the snow, and Obi-Wan Kenobi instructs him to go to Master Yoda’s Dagobah system. The hotel occasionally organises fan events in February, including a film location tour with a dog sled. Fans even converge in full storm trooper uniforms!
By the way, getting to Finse is a highlight on its own. We recommend taking the Flåm Railway from Flåm up into the high mountains at Myrdal. From there you can change to the Bergen Railway which stops at Finse. Both connections are among the most beautiful train routes in the world and will take you to a galaxy far, far away.
9. Ragnarök
Ragnarök is the legend of the fall of the gods in Norse mythology. In the Netflix series of the same name, however, these gods and giants deal with conflicts in modern times.
The story takes place in Edda, where brothers Magne (David Stakston) and Laurits (Jonas Strand Gravli) return to with their widowed mother. The small fjord town is suffering from puzzling environmental damage. Magne investigates, setting him on a collision course with the wealthy Jutul family.
Almost all the locations in the series, from the port to the school, are in Odda. The town lies by the Sørfjord, which is a branch of the Hardangerfjord. Except for the Jutul family estate, the locations didn’t even have to be changed much for the series. In the town centre, near Torget by the water, Netflix has erected a stone in honour of the series.
Odda is also a popular base for the famous hike to Trolltunga. The impressive rock formation is located ten kilometres northeast of the city and can also be seen in Ragnarök.
10. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
If you want to visit the location where secret agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is hanging from a cliff, you’re better off if you have no fear of heights. The battle scene between Hunt and villain John Lark (Henry Cavill) at the end of Mission: Impossible – Fallout takes place on the edge of a 600-metre-high razor-sharp cliff in the Himalayan mountains in Kashmir.
In reality, the spectacular showdown was filmed on Preikestolen, the famous Pulpit Rock in Norway. On the shortest route, the hike to the plateau takes approximately two hours. The reward is a magnificent view of the Lysefjord. Alternatively, you can see Preikestolen from a boat that departs from Stavanger.
Tom Cruise has clearly enjoyed Norway very much. He returned to Norway for his seventh cinematic mission, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Part One. And this time, the mission was more dangerous than ever before, featuring one of the biggest stunts in cinema history with a motorcycle jump off a cliff ending in a base jump from Helsetkopen mountain in Sunnmøre. There's also an intense action scene at the Rauma Railway in Åndalsnes.
Check out Norway's spectacular Mission: Impossible locations!
More locations to discover ...
Those were only a few iconic Norwegian locations. Many other features and series have showcased Norway, including:
* The movie Munch about the life of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (Viaplay).
* The WWII dramaNarvik, from Narvik in Northern Norway (Netflix).
* Netflix's fantasy action film Troll. Check out all the stunning "Troll" film locations i Eastern Norway.
* The sci-fi tragicomedy Downsizing with Matt Damon, in Lofoten.
* The series Vikings, in the southwest of Norway.
* HBO's smash hit Succession, featuring scenes in Romsdalen.
* The Marvel film Black Widow with Scarlett Johansson, in the coastal region of Sunnmøre.
The list goes on...
Find your dream location in Norway
Search for more
There is no need to wait until you’re here to find out what you’d like to!
Take advantage of top offers
See our selection of trusted companies that work hard to make you happy all through your trip.