
Thingvellir National Park. A number of scenes from the popular Game of Thrones have been shot here. PIC Axel Kristinsson
J ust fifteen years ago nobody came to Iceland to make movies. This place was far away, expensive and local know-how was limited to the extreme. That has taken quite a U-turn. Nowadays, it seems, not a major movie is made without this country playing a leading role.
For our part this is understandable. Being among the youngest land masses in this world Iceland is changing and taking shape every minute which is the main reason for amazingly varied landscapes. From the moon-like highlands and Sahara-like deserts to the icy-world of glaciers and everything in between. The country could probably substitute any other place on earth with the exception of rain forests.
But that´s not really why movie-makers are heading here en-masse. No, sir. They are doing so mostly because of tax rebates. While still pretty expensive, now producers of movies get up to 50% refunds of money spent here shooting films. That´s a lot of money.
The country could probably substitute any other place on earth
In any case, there is more and more interest in the country because of this fact and thousands of people are specially fascinated with visiting the spots where their favorite movies or TV shows were made. Ergo; this map.
Here we´ve marked the spots where many of the more recent movies have been shot in Iceland. Since a lot are shot in various locations we list only the major locations and not every single shot. For instance, the movie Noah was shot in five or six places but only one was really seen in the movie itself.
Be aware the list is not exhaustive. A lot of little known and by now forgotten films have been taken here. We only list those known worldwide at this point.
Enjoy and share if you deem this stuff worthy.