Must-See Spots for Families of Doctor Who Fans

If you’re a Doctor Who fan — or anyone in your family is — and you’re headed to the United Kingdom, you’ll likely spot a few filming locations just by going about your normal tourist spots. However, just to make sure you don’t miss some of the easiest and best photo ops, here are the filming locations you can’t miss.

London

One of the landmarks that made a quick appearance in the modern era of Doctor Who is the Coca-Cola London Eye. As you cross over Westminster Bridge to reach it, you’ll likely notice that, yes, you’re walking in The Doctor and Rose’s footsteps, as they raced to reach this iconic spot that doubled as an alien transmitter for the Nestene Consciousness in the 2005 episode “Rose.”

The Shard makes an appearance in “The Bells of Saint John,” when Matt Smith meets sidekick Clara for the first time. We don’t recommend you ride up the side on your bike, but you can visit the rooftop lookout for views of all of London.

Fast-forward into the Peter Capaldi era and you might recognize St. Paul’s Cathedral as the eerie headquarters for Missy and the Cybermen. You can check it out with little danger and be assured it’s much more lovely in person than it was during this sinister scene.

Of course, the Tower of London plays a huge part in both Peter Capaldi and Matt Smith’s seasons, as UNIT’s secret vault and the Black Archives. Don’t worry — you can visit without fear of your memory being erased on the way out.

Wales

You can find lots of Doctor Who filming locations in Wales, as well.

If you’re in Cardiff, visit Westgate Street, where that little secret alleyway where Clara met her untimely fate actually exists.

For Amy Pond and Rory Williams fans, you can visit Llandaff, a small Welsh town that became the fictional Leadworth for the show. It’s where Amy and Rory lived when they first met The Doctor.

St. Fagans National History Museum has made several appearances in the show. The open-air portion of the museum acted as a small village in the early 1900s when David Tennant as The Doctor posed as the adorably innocent John Smith in “Human Nature” and “The Family of Blood.” Later, it was a Viking village for “The Woman Who Lived,” which also guest-starred Maisie Williams.

St. Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff, Wales © Philip Bird | Dreamstime.com

If you really want to have a good sob fest, though, you can head to Southerndown Beach, which acted as Bad Wolf Bay and is the spot where The Doctor and Rose Tyler said their last goodbyes.

Other Locations

You don’t have to visit the United Kingdom to get your Whovian shooting location fix, though. Other notable filming sites have included Croatia, where the crew transformed some streets into the home of Vincent Van Gogh for “Vincent and the Doctor;” Lone Rock Beach in Utah served as the picnic setting in “The Impossible Astronaut;” and Almeria, in southern Spain, became a town called Mercy in the episode by the same name.