The four members of Led Zeppelin against a pale wall: Jones, Page, Bonham seated, and Plant with his hands on his hips — Led Zeppelin for Atlantic Records, 1971: John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Robert Plant. Atlantic Records · Public domain

Led ZeppelinThe rooms, coasts and arenas, 1968–2007

Moored. John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and Robert Plant for Atlantic, 1971.

A studio in Barnes, a drum kit at the foot of a Hampshire stairwell, five wet days on the Antrim coast, two tenements one floor short. Climb the house, then go and stand where it happened.

The red-brick front of Olympic Studios on a Barnes high street — Olympic Studios on Church Road, Barnes, May 2026. Matt Brown · CC BY 4.0

117–123 Church Road, Barnes · 1968 – July 1974

Four tracks in Barnes.

Olympic StudiosTrack sheet

11966—
21968—
31974—
42013—

A blank sheet. Four tracks to fill.

Today it is a cinema, a bar and bistro and a members’ club.

A cinema with a bar and bistro on Church Road; book a film to go in.

Sources

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South Kensington and mid-Wales · 1970

A hall. A hill.

9 January 1970

Royal Albert Hall

The band played here on 9 January 1970. The show was professionally recorded and filmed.

The film sat on a shelf for decades, then came out on the official DVD in 2003.

A working concert hall; book a show to go in.

Sources

Bracken-covered hillside falling to a wooded valley under hazy hills — The hillside above Bron-yr-Aur, looking over the valley near Machynlleth, 2016. The cottage is private and not shown. Michael Graham · CC BY-SA 2.0

Bron-yr-AurNear Machynlleth, mid-Wales · private

1970

Golden hill

A cottage between Aberystwyth and Machynlleth, in south Snowdonia. Page and Plant wrote and rehearsed songs for Led Zeppelin III here.

The Welsh name means golden hill, or hill of the gold.

A private cottage. Named here, never mapped.

Sources

Headley Grange, Hampshire · January 1971

Hang the mics up the stairs.

Page wanted an isolated house where bands had rehearsed. He heard of Headley Grange in Hampshire, where Fleetwood Mac had rehearsed but nobody had recorded. In January 1971 the band spent several weeks here with the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, and made most of the fourth album.

Hang the pair from:

The kit is set up in the lobby. Choose where to hang the pair.

They came back in October 1973 and January 1974 with Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio, for Physical Graffiti. The band also recorded here for III and Houses of the Holy.

A village crossroads with a red-brick pub, a shop and a red telephone box — The crossroads by the Holly Bush in Headley village, 2012. Headley Grange itself is private and not shown. David Gearing · CC BY-SA 2.0

A private house. Named here, never mapped.

Sources

Stepped hexagonal basalt columns running down into the sea under a grey sky — Basalt columns at Port Granny, the Giant’s Causeway, 2013. Joseph Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0

DAY 1 · RAIN

Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim · Late 1972

Five days of rain.

Aubrey Powell of Hipgnosis shot the cover of Houses of the Holy here in late 1972.

Late 1972. The cast are on the rocks.

More than 40,000 basalt columns, formed some 60 million years ago.

The coast is open dawn to dusk and walking to the stones is free. Visitor centre 9am–5pm, adults from £16; its car park is for ticket holders.

Sources

The Causeway Hotel

Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim

Twenty-eight bedrooms on the World Heritage site itself. It began taking in visitors to the Causeway in 1836; walk down to the columns where the Houses of the Holy cover was shot.

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Lakehurst, New Jersey · 6 May 1937

Fire, dot by dot.

The airship Hindenburg bursting into flames over the mooring mast at Lakehurst — The Hindenburg on fire at Lakehurst, New Jersey, 6 May 1937. Sam Shere’s photograph. Sam Shere · Public domain

PHOTOGRAPH · 1937

Sam Shere’s photograph, the day it happened.

In May 1937 the Hindenburg caught fire as it came in to dock in New Jersey after crossing from Frankfurt. Thirty-six people died.

Sam Shere photographed it that day. George Hardie redrew the picture in ink with a radiograph pen for the cover of Led Zeppelin’s first album.

A low outline marker on grass marking where the Hindenburg came down, a hangar in the distance — The marker on the Hindenburg crash site at Lakehurst, with Hangar No. 1 behind. Mpftmead (English Wikipedia) · Public domain

The Navy Lakehurst Historical Society walks visitors to Historic Hangar One, the Hindenburg crash site and the Cathedral of the Air. Tours run on Wednesdays and some Saturdays, 9.30am to 1pm, and are donation-based. Register at least two weeks before for security.

An active military base: guided walking tours only, booked at least two weeks ahead.

Sources

Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

Historic Lakehurst walking tour

Lakehurst, New Jersey · Donation-based · Wednesdays and some Saturdays, 9.30am–1pm

A guided walk to Hangar One, the Hindenburg crash site and the Cathedral of the Air, on an active base. Register at least two weeks ahead for security; tours may change with military operations or weather.

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96 and 98 St Mark’s Place, East Village · February 1975

One floor short.

Five floors of brick and fire escapes.

The Physical Graffiti sleeve used these twin tenements, built in 1890, with their windows cut out to show the inner sleeve.

The album came out on 24 February 1975 in the US, and four days later in Britain.

Two five-storey brick tenements with fire escapes and stoops on St Mark’s Place — 96 and 98 St Mark’s Place in the East Village, 2020. Nestor Galina · CC BY 2.0

The buildings survive much as they were. A tea shop, Physical Graffitea, replaced a long-running clothes shop called Physical Graffiti.

Flats above a basement tea shop, between First Avenue and Avenue A. See them from the pavement. 3 km from Madison Square Garden as the crow flies.

Sources

London · Inglewood · New York · 1970–1973

Three nights on tape.

Three stubs, uncut.

Robert Plant clapping at a microphone beside Jimmy Page seated with an acoustic guitar — Robert Plant and Jimmy Page in the acoustic set, Hamburg, 21 March 1973. Heinrich Klaffs · CC BY-SA 2.0

Steps up to the Madison Square Garden entrance under a broad canopy on Seventh Avenue — Madison Square Garden, Seventh Avenue entrance, May 2024. Richiekim · CC0

The round Forum arena lit up at night, seen from above — The Forum in Inglewood, from the air at night. Northwalker · CC0

Earls Court · Munich · Knebworth · Greenwich · 1975–2007

The last landings.

The broad curved front of Earls Court Exhibition Centre — Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 2011, three years before it was taken down. Richard Rogerson · CC BY-SA 2.0

5 sold-out nights

Warwick Road, Earl’s Court · May 1975

Earls Court

Led Zeppelin played five sold-out nights here in May 1975.

Two songs from these shows are on the Live E.P. of 2025. Until then they were only on the 2003 DVD.

Contractors began taking the 1930s exhibition centre down in December 2014. Pink Floyd, Queen, Madonna and Oasis had all played it.

The exhibition centre has gone. Earls Court station, on Warwick Road, is the nearest public spot.

Sources

The long ribbed facade of the Arabella high-rise tower in Munich — The Arabella high-rise in Munich, 2022. Rob Oo · CC BY 2.0

18 days in a basement

Arabellapark, Bogenhausen, Munich · 1975

Musicland Studios

Presence was recorded here in an 18-day session, and came out in 1976.

Giorgio Moroder founded the studio in the early 1970s, in the basement of the Arabella high-rise.

It closed at the start of the 1990s. Accounts differ: noise from the U4 underground line, or a rent rise of almost 100 per cent.

A working high-rise in Arabellapark; the basement studio has gone. See it from the street.

Sources

The turreted Gothic front of Knebworth House across a lawn — The west front of Knebworth House, 2007. Heron2 · CC BY-SA 3.0

2 Saturdays

Old Knebworth, Hertfordshire · 4 and 11 August 1979

Knebworth House

Led Zeppelin headlined the Knebworth Festival on 4 and 11 August 1979.

Knebworth lists it as the band’s last UK show in the original line-up.

The house had held its first rock concert in 1974.

Gardens and Dinosaur Trail open daily 24–30 October 2026. Gardens and park from £15.50 online; check the day picker for other dates.

Sources

The white tented dome of the O2 with its yellow masts beside the Thames — The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula, 2014. Lewis Hulbert · CC BY-SA 3.0

16 songs, one more time

Greenwich Peninsula · 10 December 2007

The O2

On 10 December 2007 the band reunited for the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert, with Jason Bonham on drums.

They played 16 songs. The show came out as Celebration Day on 19 November 2012.

17 km across London from Olympic, where it started.

A working arena on the Greenwich Peninsula; book a show to go in.

Sources

Visit

Where it is now

11 places you can visit. Headley Grange and Bron-yr-Aur are private homes and are not on the map.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A cinema with a bar and bistro on Church Road; book a film to go in.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working concert hall; book a show to go in.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The exhibition centre has gone. Earls Court station, on Warwick Road, is the nearest public spot.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working arena on the Greenwich Peninsula; book a show to go in.

Olympic Studios on Church Road, Barnes, May 2026. Matt Brown · CC BY 4.0
117–123 Church Road, Barnes
Olympic Studios
Olympic Sound Studios opened here in 1966. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen and the Who all recorded in the building.
A cinema with a bar and bistro on Church Road; book a film to go in.
Sources
The Royal Albert Hall, November 2022. Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Kensington Gore, South Kensington
Royal Albert Hall
The band played here on 9 January 1970. The show was professionally recorded and filmed.
A working concert hall; book a show to go in.
Sources
Earls Court Exhibition Centre in 2011, three years before it was taken down. Richard Rogerson · CC BY-SA 2.0
Warwick Road, Earl’s Court
Earls Court
Led Zeppelin played five sold-out nights here in May 1975.
The exhibition centre has gone. Earls Court station, on Warwick Road, is the nearest public spot.
Sources
The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula, 2014. Lewis Hulbert · CC BY-SA 3.0
Greenwich Peninsula
The O2
On 10 December 2007 the band reunited for the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert, with Jason Bonham on drums.
A working arena on the Greenwich Peninsula; book a show to go in.
Sources

Stay

Sleep by the columns.

A hotel on the Causeway itself.

The Causeway Hotel

Giant’s Causeway, County Antrim

Twenty-eight bedrooms on the World Heritage site itself. It began taking in visitors to the Causeway in 1836; walk down to the columns where the Houses of the Holy cover was shot.

Check rates

Go there

Walk it with a guide.

The Lakehurst crash-site walk, Causeway day trips and rock history walks in London.

Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

Historic Lakehurst walking tour

Lakehurst, New Jersey · Donation-based · Wednesdays and some Saturdays, 9.30am–1pm

A guided walk to Hangar One, the Hindenburg crash site and the Cathedral of the Air, on an active base. Register at least two weeks ahead for security; tours may change with military operations or weather.

Request a tour

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Day trips to the Giant’s Causeway

County Antrim

Live marketplace results for Causeway day trips from Belfast and Dublin. Walking to the stones is free once you are there.

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