Iceland · England · Chicago · filmed 2004
Carriage 1: Christian Bale, Bruce Wayne, photographed in 2005.
The training ice is a real glacier. The cave was a stage. The slums the train runs over were built inside an airship shed.
East Tilbury, Essex · not Bhutan
The “Bhutanese” prison where Bruce Wayne hits rock bottom, before Henri Ducard finds him, is Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury.
The fort was built between 1861 and 1874 to help defend the Thames estuary, partly under the direction of General Gordon. It is a Scheduled Monument, with Second World War gunnery posts.
Behind bars.
Svínafellsjökull · Vatnajökull National Park
The training scenes were not built: they were filmed on a glacier tongue off Iceland’s Ring Road. Strike the frozen lake 5 times to break through, one fact a crack.
Solid. Strike it.
Skaftafellsstofa, Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park
Skaftafell became a national park on 15 September 1967 and is now part of Vatnajökull National Park, founded on 7 June 2008. Guided walks on the ice meet at Skaftafell: about 3.5 hours in all, 1.5 to 2 of them on the glacier, for ages 10 and up.
Skaftafell base · 3.5 hours, 1.5–2 on the ice · from €128 · age 10+ · parking 1,000 ISK
A guided walk on a Vatnajökull outlet glacier from Skaftafell, with crampons, ice axe and harness. The same company guides on Svínafellsjökull, the film’s training ice.
Book a walkThe League’s monastery
The outside you see on screen is three things laid together. Slide each one in.
0 of 3 in place.
The throne room and courtyard are on Stage C; the outside is Iceland, a miniature and a Cardington set.
Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey
Two monastery interiors went up on Stage C: a candlelit throne room and a three-storey courtyard.
Shortstown, south-east of Bedford
A monastery exterior was built here as well, to be destroyed in an explosion.
The well · the cave · the fear
As a boy, Bruce falls down a well on the estate and a swarm of bats engulfs him. Press and hold in the dark; let go too soon and they come back.
Hold still.
Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey
The Batcave was built on Shepperton’s largest soundstage: sloping rock walls, a river and two waterfalls beneath the foundations of Wayne Manor.
Light came in through cracks in the ground above and from behind the waterfalls, where the crew hid big 20K lamps.
Mentmore, Buckinghamshire · private
Mentmore Towers served as Wayne Manor in Batman Begins. In 2026 inspectors found the house littered with bat droppings; at least two species appear to roost there.
Officials gave the owners until 4 October 2026 to carry out professional bat surveys and urgent roof repairs; the family says surveys and repairs have begun.
Euston Road, King’s Cross
The Arkham staircase, where a SWAT team and a horde of bats attack rioters, is one of the then-disused parts of St Pancras.
The Ridgeway, Mill Hill (the former National Institute for Medical Research)
The exterior of Arkham Asylum is the medical research institute on The Ridgeway at Mill Hill. In April 2018 the buildings around it were coming down for Ridgeway Views, 460 homes by Barratt London. The nine-storey main block, with its massive pitched roof, was to be rebuilt as flats keeping the best of its features.
Gotham · Bedfordshire · the Loop · Clerkenwell
Gotham was stitched together from a Bedfordshire shed and real buildings in Chicago and London. Sort the city: which pieces were built in a shed, and which are real places you can stand in?
Six pieces of Gotham.
122 W Monroe St, the Loop
A 293-room hotel in the 1914 New York Life building at Monroe and LaSalle, on the street the helicopters chased the Batmobile down.
See the hotelFive people, as they looked then
Pick a flower.
Five flowers. Each one is somebody.
The way back up
11 places you can visit, in Iceland, round London and in Chicago. Mentmore Towers, Wayne Manor, is a private house: it is named here but not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from the edge of its lake, a short way off the Ring Road east of Skaftafell. Go onto the ice only with a guide.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open all year: 9am–6pm in October, 9am–5pm in November, 10am–5pm in December and January. Rangers advise on trails and conditions; phone +354 470 8300.
Real ice · Off the Ring Road (Route 1), Öræfi, south-east Iceland
Icelandic Mountain Guides say the film’s Himalaya is Svínafellsjökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull.
Real ice · Skaftafellsstofa, Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park
Skaftafell became a national park on 15 September 1967 and is now part of Vatnajökull National Park, founded on 7 June 2008.
Stay
A glacier-side hotel in south-east Iceland, the old Midland Grand at St Pancras, and a hotel on the Batmobile’s street.
Hnappavellir, Öræfi
A 125-room hotel at Hnappavellir, between Skaftafell and the Jökulsárlón lagoon, under Iceland’s highest peak. Open all year; spa and sauna free for guests.
Check roomsEuston Road, King’s Cross
The old Midland Grand over the station, with the staircase that played Arkham’s. A self-guided QR-code tour tells its history.
Check rooms122 W Monroe St, the Loop
A 293-room hotel in the 1914 New York Life building at Monroe and LaSalle, on the street the helicopters chased the Batmobile down.
See the hotelGo there
A guided walk on a Vatnajökull glacier, and marketplace searches for walks in Skaftafell, Chicago and London.
Skaftafell base · 3.5 hours, 1.5–2 on the ice · from €128 · age 10+ · parking 1,000 ISK
A guided walk on a Vatnajökull outlet glacier from Skaftafell, with crampons, ice axe and harness. The same company guides on Svínafellsjökull, the film’s training ice.
Book a walkSkaftafell, Iceland
Live marketplace results for guided glacier walks from Skaftafell. Check which glacier each one visits.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walksChicago
Live marketplace results for film-location tours in the Loop. None is run by the film’s makers.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLondon
Live marketplace results for London film walks. Check the stops: Clerkenwell and King’s Cross are the Batman Begins ones.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare walksWhat’s on
Wayne Enterprises opens to the public for one free weekend.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
The screenplay and the novel, and the score on CD and vinyl.
Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer
The shooting script, published by Faber in July 2005.
Find the bookDennis O’Neil
The novel of the film, from the screenplay by Nolan and Goyer.
Find the bookHans Zimmer and James Newton Howard · CD, Warner Sunset, 2005
The score on its release day, 14 June 2005.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyHans Zimmer and James Newton Howard · 12-inch vinyl, WaterTower Music, 2014
The score pressed on vinyl in 2014.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 13 of 13 Moments
Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, Essex
Bruce Wayne hits bottom in a Bhutanese prison, and Henri Ducard comes for him.
Off the Ring Road (Route 1), Öræfi, south-east Iceland
Bruce walks up to the League of Shadows and fights Ducard on a frozen lake.
Skaftafellsstofa, Skaftafell, Vatnajökull National Park
Where the national park’s guided glacier walks start today.
Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey
The throne room and courtyard are on Stage C; the outside is Iceland, a miniature and a Cardington set.
A river, two waterfalls and rock walls under Wayne Manor, built on the largest stage.
Shortstown, south-east of Bedford
Gotham’s worst streets, built full size inside an airship shed.
Mentmore, Buckinghamshire
The Wayne family house, outside.
28–36 St John Street, Clerkenwell
Gotham City Police Station, where Gordon works.
Euston Road, King’s Cross
A SWAT team and a swarm of bats hit the rioters on Arkham’s stairs.
The Ridgeway, Mill Hill (the former National Institute for Medical Research)
The front of Arkham Asylum.
Lower Wacker Drive, the Loop
The Batmobile runs from the Cardington set onto Lower Wacker and the freeway.
141 West Jackson Boulevard, at the foot of LaSalle Street
The Wayne company headquarters, at the end of LaSalle Street.
433 West Van Buren Street
Filming in the Old Post Office, 2004.
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