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Two sets of jeep tracks running across red sand towards a flat-topped rock massif under a clear blue sky

David Lean · 1962 · filmed in Jordan, Seville and Almería

Lawrence of Arabia

Aqaba is 3,506 km E of where it was filmed
Peter O’Toole in a sand-coloured headcloth against a deep blue sky, looking into the distance
Peter O’Toole1962
Omar Sharif in a suit and tie, chin on his hand, smiling
Omar Sharif1963
David Lean in a dark overcoat on aircraft steps, Omar Sharif smiling behind him
David Lean1965

The desert is real: it is Wadi Rum, in Jordan. Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem were the 1929 exposition buildings of Seville, and Aqaba was built on a beach in Almería.

Where this comes from

Wadi Rum, Jorge Láscar, CC BY 2.0. Peter O’Toole as Lawrence, a frame from the film’s 1962 trailer, which is in the public domain. Omar Sharif, who played Sherif Ali, photographed in Seattle on 5 April 1963. Gene Weber, Seattle, Public domain. David Lean (front) with Omar Sharif behind him, arriving in Finland in March 1965, three years after the film. Kar-Air Oy (photographer unknown), Public domain.

Southern Jordan · from April 1961

The desert
was the real one.

Principal photography begins in Jordan on 3 April 1961, after two postponements, and runs into the summer of 1962.

Where this comes from
Two sets of jeep tracks running across red sand towards a flat-topped rock massif under a clear blue sky
Wadi Rum today: red sand, jeep tracks and the sandstone massifs. Jorge Láscar · CC BY 2.0

A dot on the horizon, wobbling in the heat.

Two sets of jeep tracks running across red sand towards a flat-topped rock massif under a clear blue sky
Wadi Rum today: red sand, jeep tracks and the sandstone massifs. Jorge Láscar · CC BY 2.0

Jordan · the real desert

Wadi Rum

Lawrence and Auda operated throughout 1917 in this desert landscape, and the strike on Aqaba was launched from here.

Wadi Rum gave David Lean his most memorable locations for the 1962 film. It lies an hour by road east of Aqaba. Wadi Rum is one of Jordan’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 4x4 tours can be booked with a camp or at the visitor centre.

A huge fluted red sandstone mountain rising from the desert floor
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, the massif named after Lawrence’s book, seen from the Wadi Rum visitor centre. Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0

Start at the visitor centre: non-Jordanian visitors pay 5 JD. From there you go on by 4x4 or camel with a camp or a local guide.

Where this comes from
Jordan Tourism Board

A night in a Wadi Rum camp

Wadi Rum, Jordan · Prices set by each camp · area entry 5 JD

Bedouin-style camps in the protected area, with 4x4 tours that can be booked through your camp or the visitor centre.

Plan a stay
A round stone tower and an arched gateway under a carved coat of arms
Aqaba Castle, the Mamluk fort by the Red Sea. Adeeb Atwan · CC BY 3.0

Jordan · the real Aqaba

Aqaba Castle

The castle dates back to the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Qanswah el-Ghawri (1501–1517) and served as a caravanserai and barracks.

The Jordan Tourism Board says the Arab Revolt’s part in Aqaba is immortalised in a memorable scene of the 1962 film.

That scene’s Aqaba was not filmed here: a full replica of the town was built on Algarrobico beach in Spain.

On the Great Arab Revolt Plaza by the Red Sea. Entry 3 JD for foreign visitors, with the museum in Sharif Hussein bin Ali’s house next door.

Where this comes from
Jordan Tourism Board

Aqaba Castle

Aqaba, Jordan · 3 JD for foreign visitors, museum included

The Mamluk fort on the Arab Revolt Plaza, with the museum in Sharif Hussein bin Ali’s house beside it.

About the castle

The bearing

Where the story says.
Where the camera stood.

Spain played four cities in the film. Choose one: the needle turns from the real place in Spain towards the city it was pretending to be.

NESW

Pick a city the story names. The needle points from where the camera really stood.

Four cities, two countries away. None of them was filmed where the story puts it.

Seville · December 1961 to March 1962

Seville in costume.
Five buildings, three capitals.

The production moves to Seville on 18 December 1961, during the worst flooding the city has seen in more than a century. Once the water goes down, filming starts in its Moorish-style buildings.

Where this comes from

Cairo: Allenby’s headquarters

A brick and stone palace front with towers, balconies and tiled panels
The central building of the Plaza de España, Seville, built for the 1929 exposition. o_andras · CC BY-SA 4.0

Plaza de España

The Military Headquarters building on Plaza de España plays General Allenby’s headquarters in Cairo, and its great courtyard becomes the officers’ bar.

Aníbal González built the square for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition: a semicircle about 185 yards across.

An open square in María Luisa Park, free to walk round at any time. The Military Headquarters building is the central block.

Where this comes from

Damascus: the town hall

A white and ochre domed pavilion with arched windows behind palm trees
The entrance to the 1929 Exposition Casino, now part of the Teatro Lope de Vega. El Mono Español · CC BY-SA 4.0

Casino de la Exposición

John Box turns the 1929 Exposition Casino into Damascus town hall; the council chamber is built in the Teatro Lope de Vega next door.

The Casino was built for the 1929 exposition. Its round central hall is crowned by an 18-metre dome.

See it from the gardens on Avenida de María Luisa. The Teatro Lope de Vega next door is a city theatre: buy a ticket for a show to go in.

Where this comes from

Cairo: the officers’ club

The gateway of a white hotel with ironwork balconies and a tiled sign
Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville. CarlosVdeHabsburgo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hotel Alfonso XIII

Hotel Alfonso XIII gives the interiors of the officers’ club in Cairo.

The provincial archive says the hotel’s rooms were used as the interiors of the officers’ club in Cairo.

A working hotel. See the front from the street; the rooms the film used are inside.

Where this comes from
Marriott, The Luxury Collection

Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville

Seville · Rates on booking

The hotel whose rooms played the officers’ club in Cairo. A short walk from the Casino, Plaza de España and Plaza de América.

Check rooms

Jerusalem: an English headquarters

A white arcaded courtyard with a fountain in the middle and statues at the corners
The main patio of the Casa de Pilatos, Seville. o_andras · CC BY-SA 4.0

Casa de Pilatos

A local photographer’s collection keeps six photographs of the filming at Casa de Pilatos: O’Toole and Guinness in a scene, extras at prayer, Guinness resting, and Lean finishing the details of a shot.

During filming a cable caught one of the Roman statues and knocked its head off. The Duchess of Medinaceli played the damage down.

Open every day, 9am–6pm. The main floor is €12, the upper floor €6, with a guide or audio guide; children up to 11 go free with an adult.

Where this comes from
Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli

Casa de Pilatos

Seville · Every day 9am–6pm · main floor €12, upper floor €6

The palace whose patio played an English headquarters in Jerusalem, with a guide or audio guide in English.

Visiting details

Jerusalem: the general’s barracks

A carved stone pavilion front with a deep arched doorway behind cypress trees
The Archaeological Museum on Plaza de América, Seville, designed by Aníbal González. Anual · CC BY 3.0

Plaza de América

Lawrence’s arrival at the English general’s barracks in Jerusalem is filmed in Plaza de América and at the main door of the Archaeological Museum, with thousands of Seville extras.

Lawrence’s arrival at the English general’s barracks in Jerusalem was filmed in Plaza de América and at the main entrance of the Archaeological Museum.

An open square in María Luisa Park, free. The museum front faces it; check the museum’s own notices before planning to go inside.

Where this comes from
A long curving gallery of brick arches with a coffered ceiling
The curved arcade of the Plaza de España, Seville. o_andras · CC BY-SA 4.0

Almería · 21 March to 7 July 1962

Aqaba was built
on a beach in Spain.

Filming in Almería runs from 21 March to 7 July 1962. The Andalucía Film Commission counts about 1,000 extras, 750 horses and 159 camels from the Spanish Sahara.

Where this comes from
A long grey beach curving under brown hills beside a calm sea
The coast at Algarrobico in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park, north of Carboneras. Millars · CC BY-SA 4.0

Carboneras · played Aqaba

Algarrobico beach

  • 300 houses
  • 3 months
  • 200+ workers

More than 200 workers built it in three months at the mouth of the Alías river: about 300 houses, a mosque and official buildings, as Aqaba looked in 1914–1918.

O’Toole, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif ride into the replica town with more than 400 extras from Carboneras, 400 horses and 150 camels.

A long, wild beach inside the natural park, reached from the coast road north of Carboneras. Nothing of the set is left.

Where this comes from
Tufts of grass on a ridge looking over eroded grey hills under a bright sky
The Tabernas desert, Almería: badlands, esparto grass and dry riverbeds. Roy Luck · CC BY 2.0

Tabernas · the oasis

The Tabernas desert

An oasis with tall palms brought from Alicante was built for the film in the Rambla El Cautivo. It still exists and other productions often use it.

The night scenes where Lawrence shows Sherif Ali the way to Aqaba, both looking at it from low mounds, were filmed in this desert.

On the first day in Almería, at a pass near Tabernas, a sudden storm floods the set.

A protected natural area of 280 km² north of Almería. Walk or drive the public tracks; take water and sun cover.

Where this comes from
Low sand dunes with tufts of grass at sunset, hills on the horizon
Dunes at Playa del Charco, Cabo de Gata, at the south end of the stretch where the train scenes were shot. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0

Cabo de Gata · the railway

The dunes of Cabo de Gata

  • 2.5 km of track
  • 2 trains
  • 7 cameras

The production laid 2.5 km of track and a special road; more than 60 workers prepared the ground, and two complete Renfe trains were brought in by lorry in pieces.

About 30 riders on chestnut horses cross the dunes and vanish over a hill in a single take.

Walk the Rambla de las Amoladeras trail behind the beaches. The dunes are now held down by plants, so the open sand of 1962 has gone.

Where this comes from

London · 8 to 10 December 1962

Two prints in the world.
One was scratched.

Saturday 8 December 1962: the premiere print is scratched. The only other one is at London Airport, waiting for New York.

A tall dark cinema tower over Leicester Square with people walking by
The Odeon on Leicester Square, where the film had its royal premiere in 1962. Robert Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0

The Odeon, Leicester Square

The royal premiere was held here on Monday 10 December 1962, with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh.

The royal party came through freezing fog. Inside, Sam Spiegel led them along a line of cast and crew in white tie.

After the premiere Lean cut about 20 minutes, but the longer version kept playing in Leicester Square.

A working cinema on the east side of Leicester Square: buy a ticket for any film to go in.

Where this comes from
David Lean and Omar Sharif coming down the steps of a Kar-Air aircraft in winter coats
David Lean and Omar Sharif arriving at Joensuu, Finland, in March 1965, to film Doctor Zhivago together. Kar-Air Oy (photographer unknown) · Public domain
  1. Four months

    Coates spends four months editing with Lean, which leaves Maurice Jarre six weeks to write and record the score for a film of three hours and 42 minutes.

    Where this comes from
  2. Ten nominations

    The film has ten Academy Award nominations and wins seven, Best Picture and Best Director among them.

    Where this comes from
A small white cottage with a brick chimney among trees
Clouds Hill, T. E. Lawrence’s cottage near Bovington, Dorset. DeFacto · CC BY-SA 4.0

Bovington, Dorset

The real man
had a small white cottage.

Clouds Hill was the rural retreat of T. E. Lawrence, the real man the film is about. It was once a woodsman’s cottage.

He furnished the rooms to his own taste and used the cottage to write, read and see friends; they are kept much as he left them. You can also see the shed where he kept his Brough Superior motorbikes.

A National Trust cottage, open 10am–4pm on its open days, last entry 3pm; booking is recommended. Adults £12 (£13.20 with Gift Aid). Free parking.

Where this comes from
National Trust

Clouds Hill

Bovington, Dorset · Adults £12 (£13.20 with Gift Aid) · 10am–4pm on open days · booking recommended

T. E. Lawrence’s own cottage in Dorset, kept much as he left it, and the shed for his motorbikes.

Book a visit

Every bearing, checked.
Every place, as it is now.

Where it is now

12 places you can visit, from the red desert of Wadi Rum to five buildings round María Luisa Park, a beach north of Carboneras and a cinema in Leicester Square. Every one is public.

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. Start at the visitor centre: non-Jordanian visitors pay 5 JD. From there you go on by 4x4 or camel with a camp or a local guide.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. On the Great Arab Revolt Plaza by the Red Sea. Entry 3 JD for foreign visitors, with the museum in Sharif Hussein bin Ali’s house next door.

  1. Two sets of jeep tracks running across red sand towards a flat-topped rock massif under a clear blue sky
    Wadi Rum today: red sand, jeep tracks and the sandstone massifs. Jorge Láscar · CC BY 2.0

    Wadi Rum Protected Area, about an hour east of Aqaba

    Wadi Rum

    Lawrence and Auda operated throughout 1917 in this desert landscape, and the strike on Aqaba was launched from here.

    Start at the visitor centre: non-Jordanian visitors pay 5 JD. From there you go on by 4x4 or camel with a camp or a local guide.

    Where this comes from
  2. A round stone tower and an arched gateway under a carved coat of arms
    Aqaba Castle, the Mamluk fort by the Red Sea. Adeeb Atwan · CC BY 3.0

    Arab Revolt Plaza, Aqaba

    Aqaba Castle

    The castle dates back to the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Qanswah el-Ghawri (1501–1517) and served as a caravanserai and barracks.

    On the Great Arab Revolt Plaza by the Red Sea. Entry 3 JD for foreign visitors, with the museum in Sharif Hussein bin Ali’s house next door.

    Where this comes from

Stay

The officers’ club, or a desert camp.

Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville, whose rooms played the officers’ club in Cairo, or a Bedouin-style camp in Wadi Rum.

Marriott, The Luxury Collection

Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville

Seville · Rates on booking

The hotel whose rooms played the officers’ club in Cairo. A short walk from the Casino, Plaza de España and Plaza de América.

Check rooms
Jordan Tourism Board

A night in a Wadi Rum camp

Wadi Rum, Jordan · Prices set by each camp · area entry 5 JD

Bedouin-style camps in the protected area, with 4x4 tours that can be booked through your camp or the visitor centre.

Plan a stay

Go there

A palace, a desert, a fort and a cottage.

Casa de Pilatos, the Wadi Rum Protected Area, Aqaba Castle and Clouds Hill, with guided walks in Seville and jeep days in Wadi Rum.

Fundación Casa Ducal de Medinaceli

Casa de Pilatos

Seville · Every day 9am–6pm · main floor €12, upper floor €6

The palace whose patio played an English headquarters in Jerusalem, with a guide or audio guide in English.

Visiting details
Jordan Tourism Board

Wadi Rum Protected Area

Wadi Rum, Jordan · 5 JD for foreign visitors, 1 JD for Jordanians

Pay at the visitor centre, under the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, then go on by 4x4 or camel.

Entrance fees
Jordan Tourism Board

Aqaba Castle

Aqaba, Jordan · 3 JD for foreign visitors, museum included

The Mamluk fort on the Arab Revolt Plaza, with the museum in Sharif Hussein bin Ali’s house beside it.

About the castle
National Trust

Clouds Hill

Bovington, Dorset · Adults £12 (£13.20 with Gift Aid) · 10am–4pm on open days · booking recommended

T. E. Lawrence’s own cottage in Dorset, kept much as he left it, and the shed for his motorbikes.

Book a visit
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Seville walking tours

Seville

Live marketplace results for guided walks round María Luisa Park and Plaza de España. None is a Lawrence of Arabia tour as such: check each itinerary.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

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Wadi Rum jeep tours

Wadi Rum, Jordan

Live marketplace results for jeep days and overnight trips in Wadi Rum. Check what each includes.

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What’s on

Seville, in November.

The Seville European Film Festival runs from 6 to 14 November 2026.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

Two original posters, the book and the score.

A 1962 American one-sheet and a 1980 German re-release poster from our store, Lawrence’s own book, Kevin Brownlow’s life of David Lean, and Maurice Jarre’s score on the 1962 LP.

Printed Originals · Our poster store

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) — US one-sheet

An original 1962 American one-sheet, 27 × 41 inches, with art by Howard Terpning. Rolled, previously folded, mint.

In stock

View poster
Printed Originals · Our poster store

Lawrence of Arabia (1980) — German re-release

A German poster from the 1980 re-release, 23.5 × 33 inches, with art by Georges Kerfyser. Rolled, mint.

In stock

View poster
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

T. E. Lawrence

Lawrence’s own account of the Arab Revolt, in the Anchor Books paperback.

Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

David Lean: A Biography

Kevin Brownlow

The standard life of the director, one of the BFI’s sources for the premiere story.

Find the book
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Lawrence of Arabia

Maurice Jarre · LP, Colpix, 1962

Maurice Jarre’s score, written and recorded in six weeks, on the 1962 American LP.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy

Dates, 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.

The desert is still there. So is the patio, and the cottage.

Where this comes from

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

12 of 12 places · 26 of 26 Moments

  • Wadi Rum

    Wadi Rum Protected Area, about an hour east of Aqaba

    • The camera starts in Jordan

      Principal photography begins in Jordan on 3 April 1961, after two postponements, and runs into the summer of 1962.

    • The real desert

      Wadi Rum, where Lawrence and Auda operated in 1917, gives David Lean his most memorable locations.

  • Aqaba Castle

    Arab Revolt Plaza, Aqaba

    • The real Aqaba

      The Jordan Tourism Board says the Arab Revolt’s part in Aqaba, at its Mamluk castle, is immortalised in a scene of the film.

  • Plaza de España

    Parque de María Luisa, Seville

    • Seville in flood

      The production moves to Seville on 18 December 1961, during the worst flooding the city has seen in more than a century. Once the water goes down, filming starts in its Moorish-style buildings.

    • Cairo headquarters

      The Military Headquarters building on Plaza de España plays General Allenby’s headquarters in Cairo, and its great courtyard becomes the officers’ bar.

    • Cheer as for Ordóñez

      More than 2,000 people sign up as extras on Plaza de España. They are told to cheer as if for the bullfighter Antonio Ordóñez.

    • Walking 100 km to watch

      When the Arab charge with camels and horses is filmed in Seville, people come up to 100 km on mules, bicycles and carts to watch it, the archive says, the greatest free show of their lives.

  • Casino de la Exposición

    Avenida de María Luisa, beside the Teatro Lope de Vega

    • Damascus town hall

      John Box turns the 1929 Exposition Casino into Damascus town hall; the council chamber is built in the Teatro Lope de Vega next door.

  • Hotel Alfonso XIII

    Calle San Fernando, Seville

    • The officers’ club

      Hotel Alfonso XIII gives the interiors of the officers’ club in Cairo.

  • Casa de Pilatos

    Plaza de Pilatos 1, Seville

    • Six photographs in a patio

      A local photographer’s collection keeps six photographs of the filming at Casa de Pilatos: O’Toole and Guinness in a scene, extras at prayer, Guinness resting, and Lean finishing the details of a shot.

    • An English headquarters in Jerusalem

      Casa de Pilatos plays an English army headquarters in Jerusalem.

    • The statue’s head

      A cable catches one of the patio’s Roman statues and knocks its head off. The Duchess of Medinaceli plays it down.

  • Plaza de América

    South end of María Luisa Park, Seville

    • The barracks in Jerusalem

      Lawrence’s arrival at the English general’s barracks in Jerusalem is filmed in Plaza de América and at the main door of the Archaeological Museum, with thousands of Seville extras.

  • Algarrobico beach

    4 km north of Carboneras, Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park

    • Aqaba, built in three months

      More than 200 workers build Aqaba on Algarrobico beach in three months: about 300 houses, a mosque and official buildings.

    • The taking of Aqaba

      O’Toole, Anthony Quinn and Omar Sharif ride into the replica town with more than 400 extras from Carboneras, 400 horses and 150 camels.

  • The Tabernas desert

    Paraje Natural del Desierto de Tabernas, about 30 km from Almería

    • Almería

      Filming in Almería runs from 21 March to 7 July 1962. The Andalucía Film Commission counts about 1,000 extras, 750 horses and 159 camels from the Spanish Sahara.

    • A storm on day one

      On the first day in Almería, at a pass near Tabernas, a sudden storm floods the set.

    • The oasis

      Palms brought from Alicante make an oasis in the Rambla El Cautivo. It is still there.

    • The way to Aqaba

      At night, from low mounds in this desert, Lawrence shows Sherif Ali the way to Aqaba.

  • The dunes of Cabo de Gata

    Between Torregarcía (Retamar) and San Miguel de Cabo de Gata, Níjar

    • A railway in the dunes

      Two complete trains arrive in pieces by lorry and run on 2.5 km of new track; seven cameras film the sequence while TVE and the BBC watch.

    • Thirty riders

      About 30 riders on chestnut horses cross the dunes and vanish over a hill in a single take.

  • The Odeon, Leicester Square

    Leicester Square, London

    • The scratched print

      Two nights before the premiere the 70mm print is scratched. The only other one is locked up at London Airport for New York; Anne V. Coates drives out and brings it back.

    • The royal premiere

      The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh come through freezing fog to the Odeon. Spiegel had wanted Omar Sharif to stay away so the press would look at O’Toole; Sharif came anyway.

    • Six weeks for the score

      Coates spends four months editing with Lean, which leaves Maurice Jarre six weeks to write and record the score for a film of three hours and 42 minutes.

    • Seven Oscars

      The film has ten Academy Award nominations and wins seven, Best Picture and Best Director among them.

  • Clouds Hill

    King George V Road, Bovington, Dorset BH20 7NQ

    • The real man’s cottage

      Clouds Hill in Dorset was T. E. Lawrence’s own retreat, with the shed for his Brough Superior motorbikes.

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