You finish a show, and before the credits stop rolling you’ve already got a browser tab open searching where it was filmed. That instinct now has a name — set-jetting — and it’s become a legitimate way people plan entire trips in 2026. This set-jetting travel guide covers how to actually plan one, including how to avoid the tourist-trap version that ruins half the fun.
Key Takeaways
- Set-jetting means planning a trip around the filming locations of a favorite movie or TV show.
- The best set-jetting trips combine a few filming locations with genuine local experiences, rather than a checklist of photo spots.
- Filming location tourism boards and official maps exist for most major productions and are usually free to use.
- Timing and off-peak visits matter — some locations get overwhelmed shortly after a show airs.
What Set-Jetting Actually Is
Set-jetting is trip planning where the starting point is a piece of entertainment rather than a destination. Instead of picking Croatia and then discovering it was a filming location, you pick Croatia because it was a filming location, and build the itinerary around scenes, towns, and landscapes you recognize. It’s grown fast enough that regional tourism boards now actively court productions specifically for the after-effect: a hit show can do more for a region’s visibility than years of traditional marketing.
It’s closely related to two other trends covered in our full 2026 travel trends roundup: sight-doing, since the best set-jetting trips involve doing something local rather than just posing at a filming spot, and events-driven travel, since some destinations time premieres and fan events around a show’s popularity.
How to Plan a Set-Jetting Trip
1. Start with the official filming location resources
Most major productions have an official or tourism-board-published filming location map, especially once a show becomes popular enough to drive visible tourism. These are usually more accurate than crowd-sourced lists and often include practical details — opening hours, whether a filming location is on private property, and how to get there.
2. Separate “photo spot” locations from “actually worth visiting” locations
Not every filming location is interesting to visit in its own right. A city street used for a five-second establishing shot is very different from a castle, national park, or historic town that was chosen because it’s genuinely remarkable. Build your itinerary around the second category, and treat the first as a bonus stop if it’s on the way.
3. Check whether the location is even open to the public
Some filming locations are private residences, working farms, or restricted sites. Showing up uninvited is both a bad experience for you and genuinely disruptive for the people who live or work there. A quick search for “[location name] visiting hours” before you build it into your itinerary saves a wasted trip.
4. Time your visit around the show’s popularity curve
Locations tend to see the biggest crowd spikes in the first year or two after a show airs, then settle into a steadier, more manageable flow. If a series is brand new, expect the most iconic spots to be busy; if it’s a few years old, you’ll often get a much calmer experience at the same locations.
5. Build in real local time, not just a location checklist
The trips people remember aren’t the ones where they photographed twelve locations in two days — they’re the ones where a filming location visit turned into a proper afternoon in a town they’d never otherwise have picked. Leave room for a local meal, a market, or a snackpacking-style wander through streets that have nothing to do with the show at all.
Set-Jetting Destinations Having a Moment
Fantasy and historical dramas have put Central and Eastern European filming locations firmly on the map, while a wave of crime and mystery series has driven interest toward smaller regional towns across Scandinavia and the UK that were previously off most travelers’ radar entirely — feeding directly into the broader off-the-beaten-path travel trend. Historical epics have also renewed interest in genuinely old filming locations, many of which are converted castles and manor houses you can actually book a room in rather than just photograph from outside the gate.
Set-Jetting on a Budget
You don’t need to visit every location from a season to make a set-jetting trip worthwhile. Picking one or two standout locations and building a broader regional trip around them — rather than chasing a full filming map across multiple countries — keeps costs down and avoids the exhausting, checklist-driven version of the trip. Pair it with smart flight timing and a light carry-on packing strategy and a set-jetting trip is no more expensive than any other regional trip.
Being a Good Guest at a Filming Location
Many popular filming locations are ordinary towns and villages that didn’t ask to become tourist attractions. Respecting posted boundaries, not trespassing on private property for a photo, spending money at local businesses rather than just passing through, and keeping noise down near residential filming spots all matter — and they’re exactly the kind of behavior that keeps a destination welcoming to the next set-jetting traveler instead of resentful of the trend altogether.
Researching Locations Before You Book
Beyond an official filming location map, a few extra research steps make a real difference. Behind-the-scenes featurettes and cast interviews often mention specific towns or regions by name, even when the on-screen setting is fictional. Regional film commissions — the government or tourism-board offices that helped coordinate a production’s shoot — sometimes publish more detailed location breakdowns than the studio itself, since attracting future productions and tourism is part of their mandate. It’s also worth checking whether a production used a mix of real locations and studio sets; some of the most visually striking scenes in a show are built on a soundstage rather than filmed anywhere you can actually visit, and confirming this before booking saves a wasted detour.
Planning Around Multiple Shows in One Trip
Some regions have become filming hubs for several unrelated productions at once, simply because they offer useful, varied scenery within a compact area. Central and Eastern Europe in particular has this advantage — a single regional trip can realistically take in filming locations from more than one well-known series without much extra travel time between them. Researching whether your destination has this kind of overlap before you commit to a single-show itinerary can meaningfully expand what the trip covers without adding extra flights or long transfers.
Fan Events and Premieres
Beyond visiting standing filming locations, some destinations now host dedicated fan events, themed festivals, or premiere-adjacent celebrations tied to a popular production’s success, particularly in locations that have leaned into their newfound fame. These are worth researching specifically if you want a more immersive set-jetting experience than simply visiting locations independently — they often include access to behind-the-scenes exhibits, cast appearances, or guided tours led by people who worked on the actual production, which is a meaningfully different experience from a self-guided location visit.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does set-jetting mean?
Set-jetting is travel planning built around the filming locations of a favorite movie or TV show — choosing a destination because you recognize it from the screen, rather than discovering the connection afterward.
How do I find real filming locations for a show?
Start with the production’s official tourism partnerships or the destination’s tourism board website, which often publish verified filming location maps. These are generally more accurate than crowd-sourced lists and include practical visiting information.
Is set-jetting only for major blockbuster locations?
No. Some of the most rewarding set-jetting trips are built around smaller, less obvious productions filmed in regional towns that get relatively little other tourist attention, which usually means a calmer, more affordable trip.
Can set-jetting work for older or classic films, not just recent shows?
Absolutely — classic film locations often see far less crowding than recent hit shows, since the initial wave of visitor interest has usually passed. Many iconic older filming locations remain fully accessible and are, if anything, an easier and calmer set-jetting experience than a currently trending production’s hotspots.
The best set-jetting trips end up being remembered less for the specific locations checked off a list and more for the unplanned detours a favorite show’s setting happened to lead to — which, in a way, makes set-jetting less about the screen and more about wherever it points you next.
