Almost nothing was shot where it happens · 1963
The camp was built in a forest clearing beside a studio. The chase wire was rubber. The real camp stood in Poland. Tie the wire to find where each piece stood.
Tie the wire
The film’s barbed wire was rubber strips tied to barbless wire. This one has a strip for each place. Tie one on to see what it plays and where it stands.
0 of 10 strips tied · Bare wire between them
Ten rubber strips hang loose from the wire. Tie one on.
Nothing tied yet.
Each strip is a place the film used, or the real camp it retells.
Set and ground
The film’s camp, 1962
Wikipedia says the camp was built in a clearing of the Perlacher Forst, near the studio.
Barrack interiors and tunnels were built at the studio, Wikipedia says.
The fan location list says the trees were replanted afterwards and no trace of the set remains.
The real camp, March 1944
On the night of 24–25 March 1944, 76 men got out through Harry. Of those, 73 were recaptured.
Prisoners dug three tunnels, Tom, Dick and Harry. Tom was found and blown up, Dick was given up as an escape route, and Harry was used.
Three got away: two reached Sweden and one reached a British consulate in Spain. Wikipedia says the film is right that only three men got home, but they were not the film’s men. They were two Norwegians and a Dutchman.
Go and see
The stations, the river and the villages are open to walk. The studio is a working site, the camp clearing is unmarked woodland and the chase meadows are not pinned. Żagań is the real camp, not a film place.
8 places you can visit in Bavaria and Poland, plus two more named by their area only.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
Site reference · Restricted access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working film-studio site. Check the studio’s own pages for tours before you go; the camp itself is gone.
Area reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Bahnhofplatz is a public street. The platforms have gone, and the station buildings on it are not open to visit as far as the list says.
Munich and the studio · Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, south of Munich
Wikipedia says filming took place mainly at the Bavaria Film Studio in Geiselgasteig, a Munich suburb.
A working film-studio site. Check the studio’s own pages for tours before you go; the camp itself is gone.
Munich and the studio · Bahnhofplatz, Großhesselohe, Pullach im Isartal
Wikipedia puts railway scenes on the Munich–Holzkirchen line, at Großhesselohe station and near Deisenhofen.
Bahnhofplatz is a public street. The platforms have gone, and the station buildings on it are not open to visit as far as the list says.
Stay
The town’s official accommodation search; the station, the Lech and the old town are all on foot.
Füssen, Bavaria
The town’s official accommodation search. Füssen station, where the film’s group gets off, is in the town; no prices are shown here. Pictured: Füssen station, 2019.
Search roomsGo there
Day trips to Füssen and visits to the former camp; neither is a film tour.
Füssen, Bavaria
Live marketplace results for guided days out to Füssen. None is a film tour; pick one that spends time in the old town by the Lech.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tripsŻagań, Poland
Live marketplace results for visits to the former camp. Check each itinerary before you book, since results may be sparse.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated for the film is listed at these places now.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
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.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 14 of 14 stories
Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, south of Munich
Barrack interiors and tunnels are built inside the Bavaria studio.
Perlacher Forst, near the studio, south of Munich
The film’s camp is put up in a Perlacher Forst clearing beside the studio, then removed and replanted.
Bahnhofplatz, Großhesselohe, Pullach im Isartal
The old Großhesselohe station plays Neustadt.
Bahnhofstraße, Füssen
Füssen station plays the arrival station, Erzingen.
Lechhalde and Sebastianstraße, Füssen
Danny and Willie take a rowboat on the Lech at Füssen.
Meadows outside Füssen
The chase wire is rubber strips tied to barbless wire on meadows outside Füssen.
Bud Ekins rides the famous jump because of insurance worries; McQueen rides much of the rest.
A Triumph TR6 Trophy is painted to look German and now sits at the Hinckley factory.
Bahnhofstraße, Ried, Pfronten
Sedgwick boards a goods train at Pfronten-Ried.
Speiden, Eisenberg, Ostallgäu
Sedgwick steals a bicycle at Markt Schwaben and cycles through Speiden.
Frauenried am Irschenberg, south-east of Munich
The plane is taken at Landsberg air base and lands in a field outside Frauenried.
Lotników Alianckich, Żagań, Poland
76 men leave Stalag Luft III through tunnel Harry; three get home.
Fifty of the recaptured men are killed; a memorial to them stands on the road toward Żagań.
A model of the film’s set is now at a museum near the real camp.
Every place in The Great Escape leads somewhere else.
