10 Famous Movies Filmed in Spain
Ten well-known films—and one television series—that used Spanish cities, monuments, beaches, and deserts as filming locations.
Spain has often stood in for places elsewhere: a Seville plaza became a planet in Star Wars, and the Tabernas Desert represented landscapes from the Middle East to the American West. This list is about filming locations, so several selections are English-language productions rather than Spanish-language films.
For trip planning and updated visitor information, consult Spain’s official guides to screen tourism and film locations in Almería.
1. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Woody Allen’s film stars Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz. Much of it was filmed in Barcelona, where recognizable locations include the Sagrada Família, Park Güell, and La Pedrera (Casa Milà).
The production also used Oviedo and Avilés in Asturias. The film therefore ranges beyond the city named in its title.
2. Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Plaza de España in Seville appears as part of Theed on the planet Naboo. The semicircular complex was digitally extended for the film, but its bridges, tiled alcoves, and galleries remain easy to recognize.
The alcoves around the plaza represent Spain’s provinces through maps and ceramic decoration. The scene is brief, but it made the monument one of Spain’s best-known science-fiction locations.
3. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
David Lean’s adaptation used a large Moscow street set built at Canillas on the outskirts of Madrid. Production also took place in the province of Soria, whose railway and winter landscapes doubled for Russia.
The Aldeadávila Dam, near the Portuguese border in Salamanca province, appears in the opening and closing portions of the film. Spain supplied many of the film’s exteriors even though the story is set mainly in Russia.
4. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Another David Lean epic, Lawrence of Arabia filmed extensively in Seville and Almería as well as in Jordan and Morocco. Seville locations included Plaza de España, the Real Alcázar, Casa de Pilatos, and Parque de María Luisa.
Almería’s Tabernas Desert and coastline provided arid landscapes for the production. The film won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director, and Cinematography.
5. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
The long tank pursuit was filmed in the Tabernas Desert in Almería province. Mónsul Beach in Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park is the setting for the scene in which Henry Jones Sr. uses an umbrella to startle a flock of birds toward a pursuing aircraft.
Other Spanish locations included Guadix in Granada province. The film also used locations in several other countries, including Italy and Jordan.
6. Empire of the Sun (1987)
Steven Spielberg’s wartime drama stars Christian Bale as a British boy separated from his parents in Japanese-occupied Shanghai. The production filmed in China, England, and Spain.
Marshland near Trebujena, a municipality in Cádiz province, was transformed into the internment-camp set. Trebujena is its own municipality; it is not a village of Jerez de la Frontera.
7. Camelot (1967)
This musical adaptation of the Arthurian legend stars Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. Spanish filming included the Alcázar of Segovia, whose distinctive towers appear in exterior scenes.
Several locations contributed to the film’s fictional Britain, so a monument on screen should not automatically be treated as the historical place represented in the story.
8. Clash of the Titans (2010)
The 2010 film used volcanic and coastal landscapes in the Canary Islands, including Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Lanzarote. Teide National Park on Tenerife supplied some of its most distinctive scenery.
Mount Teide is Spain’s highest peak. The islands’ landscapes were used to represent the film’s mythological world rather than modern Spain.
9. The Others (2001)
Alejandro Amenábar directed this English-language supernatural film starring Nicole Kidman. The principal house exterior is Palacio de los Hornillos in Las Fraguas, Cantabria.
Amenábar also directed Spanish-language films including Tesis, Abre los ojos, and Mar adentro. Penélope Cruz later reprised her Abre los ojos role in the American remake, Vanilla Sky.
10. Sergio Leone’s westerns
Sergio Leone’s westerns helped make southeastern Spain famous as a filming region. The Tabernas Desert and other sites in Almería province appear in the Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Leone also filmed parts of Once Upon a Time in the West and Duck, You Sucker! (also released as A Fistful of Dynamite) in Spain. Oasys MiniHollywood and Fort Bravo preserve western sets in the Tabernas area, but individual films used many separate locations across the region.
Bonus: Game of Thrones
Beginning with season five, Game of Thrones used numerous Spanish locations. The Real Alcázar of Seville represented the Water Gardens of Dorne, while later seasons used the cathedral steps in Girona and the old town of Cáceres for parts of King’s Landing.
Other locations included Bardenas Reales in Navarre and the Tabernas Desert in Almería. The series used Spanish architecture and landscapes to represent several different fictional regions, so Spain was not limited to Dorne.
A language-learning note
Most titles in this list were produced mainly in English. If you use them for Spanish practice, select a Spanish audio track and compare it with Spanish subtitles, which may not match word for word because dubbing and subtitling have different timing constraints.
For Spanish-original viewing, choose films made in Spanish and check the country of production so that the vocabulary and accent match your learning goals.
