10 Best Fictional Places in Movies and TV
Part of the fun of any movie, book, or TV show is the suspension of belief – letting yourself be completely transported to magical lands through the lens of a story. It’s why we loved to play pretend as kids, and dress up as our favorite characters. We can all remember how it felt to convince ourselves that we were actually part of a story, even if it was just for a little while. As teenagers and young adults, we still enjoy playing pretend – only now, we do it through the pages of a book or through our television screens.
Over time, we’ve been exposed to some incredible magical places, be it through a Harry Potter book, or Netflix’s Stranger Things. We’d love to have a magical time and space machine that could transport us to some of these fantastical lands IRL. Here are 10 fictional places that we desperately wish we could visit right now.
1/11Middle Earth
J.R.R. Tolkien’s world from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit has limitless possibilities for adventure. Wouldn’t it be fun to hang out in the Shire with Frodo and the other hobbits? We’d definitely want to stay away from Mordor, and we’d probably steer clear of Isengard too, but we’d sure have a blast at Bilbo’s birthday party, or having a spa day in Rivendell with the elves. (Seriously, what type of hair products does Legolas use in his hair?)
2/11Hogwarts
Sign us up for classes at Hogwarts immediately, please. The school of witchcraft and wizardry from Harry Potter is definitely on our bucket list of fictional places. We’d pay literal money to travel in one of those small boats towards the entrance of the school, and we’d be so excited to see which house we’d be assigned to. And then of course, we would play Quidditch all day every day. Can’t someone just build a real Hogwarts already?
3/11Narnia
OK, raise your hand if you’ve ever tried to look for Narnia in the back of your closet. We won’t judge – we’ve all been there. Of course, if we ever actually ended up in Narnia, we’d have to avoid the Witch at all cost (and not be tempted by her offerings of Turkish Delight). TBH, we’d rather hang out with Aslan or Prince Caspian any day.
4/11Stars Hollow
Technically, Stars Hollow is real (it’s called Washington Depot, we’ve been there, and it’s amazing), but we’d be lying if we said we never dreamed about getting coffee at Luke’s Diner or eating take-out from Al’s Pancake World. We’re just not sure if we could keep up with all the fast talking.
5/11The Upside Down
Thanks to Stranger Things, we can’t stop wondering about alternate dimensions within our own world. Like, is that an actual thing? While we’re not sure we’d want to battle that scary monster that Eleven battled at the end of season 1, we can’t help but feel rather curious about the whole concept of alternate realities. One thing’s for sure: hanging Christmas lights this holiday season will take on a whole new meaning.
6/11Oz
At the end of The Wizard of Oz, it sure seems like that Emerald City was just a figment of Dorothy’s imagination. But as anyone who has ever taken a creative writing class knows, the “omg it was all a dream” ending is a total cop-out, so we’re going to assume Oz was a real place. Thanks to the musical Wicked, we’re not really afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West (AKA Elphaba) so we’d definitely want to go kick it with her and Fiyero up in their palace.
7/11Wonderland
It kind of blows our minds that Alice in Wonderland has had so many adaptations for children because it is downright scary at times. (Two words: broom dog.) That said, we think it would be pretty fun to go to that tea party or celebrate an un-birthday. And, P.S., just think of the Instagram possibilities!
8/11Rosewood, Pennsylvania
Rosewood is not a real town (trust us, we’ve looked it up on Google Maps dozens of times). The fictional setting for Pretty Little Liars is based on an actual town in Pennsylvania called Rosemont, which is a suburb of Philadelphia. Despite the fact that some pretty shady stuff happens in Rosewood, we’d definitely be psyched to grab a cup of coffee at the Brew or go ghost-hunting at the Radley.
9/11A galaxy far, far away
Technically, there are dozens of places to visit from Star Wars, so it would be hard to pick just one. Hopefully we’d have access to the Millennium Falcon so we could easily transport ourselves back and forth – and get the heck out of the way if we spotted any Stormtroopers. And if we’re being honest, the only reason we’d really want to go here is to hang out with BB-8 and then bring him back to live with us forever and ever.
10/11Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory
Hello, calling all candy addicts. Visiting Wonka’s Chocolate Factory IRL would be like going to Hershey Park – but ten times more intense. Sure, it’s kind of dangerous, and we’d have to be careful not to turn into blueberries or fall into the Chocolate River, but think of how many delicious things there are to eat. Also, the trip would make for a pretty epic Snapchat story.
11/11Halloweentown
TBH, we’ll never get sick of watching The Nightmare Before Christmas, even if we can’t agree as to whether it’s a Halloween or Christmas movie. Visiting Halloweentown would be amazing, but we also have to admit that we’re dying to know what’s behind the other doors in the magical forest. What’s in Eastertown? Valentinestown? Thanksgivingtown? These questions have been plaguing us for pretty much our entire lives, so obviously the only answer is to visit and find out.
