The place Was The Princess Bride Filmed? Each Main Location Defined

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2025 closed out on a bitter notice for movie followers all over the place as filmmaker Rob Reiner died beneath tragic circumstances. In life, Reiner directed a number of the finest Hollywood movies of the Nineteen Eighties and ’90s, together with the 1987 romantic fantasy “The Princess Bride.” The film simply ranks amongst Reiner’s absolute best to this present day. Reiner, together with his forged and crew, spellbound audiences just like the kindly man (Peter Falk) studying the in-universe “Princess Bride” guide to his grandson (Fred Savage).

“The Princess Bride” is explicitly set in the actual medieval Europe, not a fantasy world like Center-earth in “The Lord of the Rings” or Westeros in “A Track of Ice and Fireplace.” Nonetheless, zooming in, it additionally takes place within the fictional nations of Florin and Guilder. Between that and the occasional heightened fantasy parts, you would be forgiven for considering the film was set in a completely fictional world.

With no actual nations or Florin landmarks to tug from, the place was “The Princess Bride” filmed? Predictably, all through England and Eire, together with on units at Shepperton Studios. Followers may also rejoice in understanding that a number of the main places within the movie are pure or artifical landmarks that you could add to a sightseeing wishlist should you ever go to England and/or Eire.

Early in “The Princess Bride,” three brigands — Vizzini (Wallace Shawn, forged after authentic alternative Danny DeVito did not work out), Fezzik (André the Big), and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) — abduct Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright). Crusing her to Guilder, they attain the “Cliffs of Madness” however are pursued by the “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Buttercup’s beloved Westley in disguise. There’s an prolonged sequence of all of the characters climbing the cliffs by rope, after which atop the cliffs Westley and Inigo duel. Patinkin has cited Inigo as certainly one of his most life-affecting roles, and this scene solidifies that he is greater than a scoundrel.

The Cliffs of Madness are a number of hundred ft excessive; their identify probably stems from you needing to be insane to try to climb them, or to go shut sufficient to them to danger falling. To seize the absurd top, “The Princess Bride” was filmed on the Cliffs of Moher in Eire’s County Clare. 5 miles lengthy and about 700 ft excessive, the Cliffs of Moher are probably the most fashionable vacationer locations in Eire.

I visited Eire in December 2022/January 2023, and stopped by the Cliffs of Moher. The wind is so sturdy you are feeling as if it might raise you off the bottom and ship you barreling down these oh-so-steep cliffs. I am positive security is another excuse that the highest of the cliffs, the place Westley and Inigo duel, was really filmed on a set.

England has no scarcity of actual castles, and one specifically was chosen to signify the outside of Florin’s fortress, house of Buttercup’s treacherous fiancé, Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Particularly, Haddon Corridor, a fortress within the English county of Derbyshire. 

Movies and tv made earlier than and after “The Princess Bride” have used it as a filming location; although believed to have been constructed within the eleventh century, the fortress nonetheless stands largely intact at the moment. Which means it does the job of mimicking an energetic, well-maintained medieval fortress house to aristocrats, as in “The Princess Bride.”

The outside of Florin Fortress, performed by Haddon Corridor, is seen throughout a royal procession early within the movie when Humperdinck presents Buttercup as his bride to the Florin folks. One essential scene set infacet the fortress, although, was shot elsewhere. 

Close to the top of the movie, Inigo lastly confronts the six-fingered Depend Rugen (Christopher Visitor), who killed his father. Their duel was filmed in a special English fortress: Penshurst Place, situated within the English county of Kent.

The English countryside boasts loads of scenic landscapes and distinctive landmarks to supply the outside scenes of “The Princess Bride.” With Haddon Corridor chosen for the movie’s fortress scenes, the crew didn’t wander far and filmed in landscapes (or landmarks) in Derbyshire as properly. The movie’s opening scenes, set at Buttercup’s childhood farm house the place she and Westley first fall in love, had been filmed close to the Bradley Rocks in Derbyshire. 

After “The Princess Bride” leaves the Cliffs of Madness behind, Westley pursues Vizzini and Fezzik into Guilder. Westley’s bout with Fezzik came about at Robin Hood’s Stride, a rock formation in Derbyshire. These rocks had a storied historical past centuries earlier than “The Princess Bride” — the identify supposedly comes from a legend that Robin Hood as soon as efficiently jumped between the 2 highest factors of the formation (about 50 ft aside).

Westley and Vizzini’s subsequent battle of wits and poisoned wine was filmed at Lathkill Dale, a valley created by the river Lathkill. The valley has traditionally been used for mining (significantly lead) and the panorama’s rocky terrain is obvious within the film. To this present day, Lathkill Dale is a part of the Derbyshire Dales Nationwide Nature Reserve.

Buttercup and Westley’s reunion, together with the scene the place she pushes him down a steep hill with out realizing who he’s, was filmed at places close to Lathkill: Carl Wark, a big rock protrusion within the Peak District Nationwide Park, and Cave Dale, one other valley.

One of the crucial fantastical sequences in “The Princess Bride” is when Westley and Buttercup should traverse a “hearth swamp” collectively. In a fantasy film comparatively mild on magic, the hearth spewing out of the swamp like a geyser and the large rats stand out. So, you is perhaps relieved (however unsurprised) to know that there is no such thing as a such actual hearth swamp. 

The wooded space crammed with autumn leaves the place Buttercup and Westley exit the hearth swamp, solely to fulfill Humperdinck and Depend Rugan, is actual, granted. That’s Burnham Beeches, a Nationwide Nature Reserve situated within the County Buckinghamshire village of Burnham.

However the hearth swamp? That was created on a stage at Shepperton Studios. Situated in Surrey, England, Shepperton has been in enterprise since 1931, and too many well-known films to checklist have been filmed there. The fireplace swamp wasn’t the one a part of the “Princess Bride” filmed on a stage at Shepperton. 

One of many others filmed on the studio was the least fantastical a part of the film: its framing machine, wherein Peter Falk’s character reads the guide to his grandson. Removed from the dreamy landscapes and castles in the remainder of “The Princess Bride,” these scenes simply wanted to resemble a up to date 10-year-old boy’s bed room.

“The Princess Bride” is on the market for buy as a Blu-ray and will also be streamed on Hulu.