11 Magical Places That Inspired Fairy Tale Movies

Imagine a place so beautiful that you think it doesn’t seem real. There are many locations around the world that look like they were straight out of a fairy tale. These charming villages, ancient castles and hidden forests have served as inspiration for film designers, creators and producers, tasked with creating kingdoms that amaze us on screen. Today we decided to visit some of them.

At the awesome.club we want to show you that there really are magical places on Earth. These are some of the most amazing ones that have served as inspiration for fairytale movies.

Bonjour, Alsace! The French region famous for its picturesque villages. The film is based on the original story written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, a 19th-century French writer. So the “little village” of Bela is, in fact, a small provincial town. The producers chose places like Colmar and Eguisheim to portray the original village of the film and we can only say that we believe the result would have pleased the author, Barbot de Villeneuve, very much.

Can you imagine Snow White singing to her prince from that balcony? Our eldest princess was an inspiration from a German folk tale, recorded by the Brothers Grimm. Some research shows that the story could have been true and that the dark forest, boar meat, dwarves and glass coffin all point to events that took place around Lohr Castle and Spessrt Forest.

John Muske, one of the directors, got the idea for the film from a book that describes the mythical Polynesian hero, Māui. He had the “difficult” task of traveling to many of the idyllic islands of the South Pacific to do some research. Fiji, Samoa and Tahiti were some of the places he visited to learn about the culture and traditions of indigenous peoples and reproduce the breathtaking landscapes of Motunui, the island of Moana.

Disney based the film on the children’s novel The Adventures of Pinocchio, by Carlo Lorenzini, who centered the plot on his mother’s homeland, the Italian town of Collodi. The place was so special to Carlo that he started signing his name, changing it to Carlo Collodi. Its small houses, narrow cobbled streets and arches made this Tuscan village the perfect starting point to create the character of Pinocchio.

It is no secret that the film takes place in the Scottish Highlands, even Disney designed the Merida clan tartan, with official registration of Scottish tartans. Dunnottar’s medieval castle, surrounded by the greenest landscape in the world, is the perfect place for Merida’s adventures. It seems obvious to expect spells, spells, archery contests, and English and Scottish accents.

The setting was taken from Norway’s rural villages and their magnificent fjords. You can see the resemblance to the natural landscape, the wooden churches, the brick architecture, the textile patterns and even the animals (remember Sven). Because? Because the story was inspired by the Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen in the snow queen🇧🇷 So it seems natural that Michael Giaimo, the art director of Frozen a freezing adventuretraveled to Scandinavia in search of inspiration.

It is very difficult to be closer to a fairytale location than this one. It was Herbert Ryman who designed the original Cinderella castle, which was later built as part of Disneyland. His main inspiration was the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. It was originally built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a summer residence. Its high pointed towers, its arched entrance and the surrounding forest perfectly match those of the home of the Prince of Cinderella.

Mulan’s ancestors must be proud. The film is an adaptation of the ancient Chinese tale The Ballad of Hua Mulan, which dates back to the 6th century. The producers did some historical research and placed the narrative right where it happened, between the Ming and Qing dynasties. Famous landscapes portrayed in the film, such as the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City of Beijing, had already been built at this time.

This castle is next to a lake, not very close to the ocean, but it’s almost a copy of the movie. The Swiss castle of Chillon, on the shores of Lake Geneva, was the inspiration for Prince Eric’s sweet home. The building is surrounded by water, its wide towers correspond to those in the film and the narrow windows complete the atmosphere. However, unfortunately, there is no Prince Eric to welcome us.

Where is this place? India? arabia? The fictional city of Agrabah is somewhere in the Middle East. The song “Arabian Nights” confirms it. But the Jasmine palace and the Taj Mahal in India are uniquely similar. This is due to the fact that the royal palace was built during the Indian Mongol Empire, when Islam was the official religion and Muslim architecture prevailed.

Yes, these towers exist. Rapunzel was an adaptation of French medieval towers such as those of Chenonceau. There is also a strong resemblance to the impressive Irish towers built to defend their communities from the Vikings, but we can only assume that the creators were also inspired by them. For the castle, on the other hand, the idea of ​​the creative staff was definitely a victory to have an island similar to that of Mont Saint-Michel, in the Normandy region.

Do you know a place that is so impressive it could inspire a fairy tale? Please describe it in the comments section!