George Michael on one side of the net, Andrew Ridgeley on the other. Keep the shuttle in the air and it lands on the real places of their eleven years together.
Andrew Ridgeley, about 1984–85. Louise Palanker · CC BY-SA 2.0
Twelve places · 1975 to 2024
Keep it in the air.
On their first tour, in 1983, George and Andrew stuffed badminton shuttlecocks down their shorts, and the papers loved it. Here the shuttle goes back and forth between them instead. Serve, hit it back, or play a drop shot into any box.
The crew came in mid-November 1984, when the valley was still green. Snow fell only just before they were due to leave.
The Felskinn cable car above its valley station, Saas-Fee, February 2024. Paradise Chronicle · CC BY-SA 4.0
November 1984 · Valley station, Saas-Fee, Valais
Felskinn cable car
The Last Christmas video opens on a cabin of this cable car. Before filming, the tourist office stuck a Saas-Fee sticker on it.
The film crew rode about 50 metres up and came straight back down.
The driver that day, Charly Schmidt, spoke no English and had never heard of Wham!. He first saw the video 10 to 12 years later.
The valley station is at the top of the car-free village. Ride the red cabins with a lift pass; they take skiers up towards the Metro Alpin.
SourcesThe lit Last Christmas pillar on the village street beside the Walliserhof, Saas-Fee, March 2026. V for Voluminous · CC BY 4.0
November 1984 · Dorfweg 1, Saas-Fee, Valais
Hotel Walliserhof
Wham! and the crew stayed here during the shoot.
George had to leave his stretch limousine behind for a cramped van: only small electric vehicles are allowed in the village.
A brooch went missing in the snow in 1984. A porter found it, and filming went on.
A hotel in the middle of the village. Go in for a meal, a drink or a room.
SourcesSaas-Fee village under snow, December 2025. Urs Schönholzer · CC BY 4.0
November 1984 · The edge of Saas-Fee village: a private home
The Last Christmas chalet
Most of the outdoor scenes were filmed at a wooden house on the edge of the village. The house and its weathered fence, which the cast jump over again and again, are still there.
It is a private home now. The pine trees are taller, and there are new houses next door.
A private home. Named here, never mapped. The WHAM!Walk passes the filming spots on public paths.
SourcesThe Saas Museum on Dorfstrasse, Saas-Fee, January 2020. Daniel Reust · CC BY-SA 4.0
2024 · Dorfstrasse 6, Saas-Fee, Valais
Saas Museum
The museum is in the old parsonage on the main street, built in 1732.
For the 40th anniversary it set the valley’s old farming life beside the arrival of the London pop stars, with the video playing on the ground floor.
A village museum on the main street. Check with the tourist office for opening times.
Sources
Relais & Châteaux
Walliserhof Grand-Hotel & Spa
Saas-Fee, Valais · From $368 a night
Where Wham! and the crew stayed for the Last Christmas shoot: 73 rooms and suites and three restaurants in the middle of car-free Saas-Fee.
A self-guided trail of about 3.9 km to the Last Christmas filming spots, open all year with no time limit. Book through SmartTrails and follow it on your phone.
On 7 April 1985 Wham! played Beijing, the first Western pop act to perform in Communist China, to a crowd of about 15,000.
An announcement said there was to be no dancing. Security left the band alone but took away Chinese fans who danced. Simon Napier-Bell won the date with two brochures: Wham! in wholesome shots, and Queen with Freddie Mercury in his usual flamboyant poses.
Cui Jian, later called the godfather of Chinese rock, was in the audience. A few days later Wham! played a second, smoother show in Guangzhou.
An indoor arena beside the Workers’ Stadium in Dongcheng, Beijing. Go in with a ticket for an event.
Sources
Side AWham! songs, as recorded.
Every fan went home with this tape. Now playing side A.
The Workers’ Gymnasium, Beijing, 2008. Pseudotriton · CC BY-SA 3.0
The trip is now a film, WHAM! 10 Days in China, made with restored archive footage nobody had seen. It opened in cinemas on 28 July 2026.
Wembley · 1984, 1985, 1986
Keep the stub. Go to The Final.
A ticket for Wham!’s Big Tour at Wembley Arena, Monday 24 December 1984: East Terrace, rear view, £6.50. Badgreeb Records · CC BY-SA 2.0
A ticket for Christmas Eve 1984, still whole.
Tear the stub to go to the last night.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium Tour
Wembley, London
A tour behind the scenes of the rebuilt stadium, on the site of The Final and Live Aid. Book online.
10 places you can visit. The Last Christmas chalet in Saas-Fee is a private home and is not mapped; follow the WHAM!Walk instead.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working secondary school on Coldharbour Lane, near Watford. There is no way in: see it from the road, and leave the pupils be.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A former chapel on a quiet Notting Hill street, now flats. See the front and its plaque from the pavement; there is no way in.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working concert hall on Stockwell Road, now O2 Academy Brixton. Go in for a gig.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The stadium was rebuilt on the old site. Tours go behind the scenes; book on the stadium’s site.
1Coldharbour Lane, Bushey, the road the school stands on, September 2012. David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0
Coldharbour Lane, Bushey, Hertfordshire
Bushey Meads School
In 1975 Andrew Ridgeley took a shy new boy at Bushey Meads School under his wing. They found they shared a love of music, and later formed Wham!
A working secondary school on Coldharbour Lane, near Watford. There is no way in: see it from the road, and leave the pupils be.
Sources
28–10 Basing Street, Notting Hill, once Sarm West, June 2021. Hassocks5489 · CC0
8–10 Basing Street, Notting Hill, London W11
Sarm West Studios
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go was recorded here in Studio 2 within a couple of days, with a live band. George had most of it in his head already.
A former chapel on a quiet Notting Hill street, now flats. See the front and its plaque from the pavement; there is no way in.
Sources
3Brixton Academy on Stockwell Road, November 2019. Drew de F Fawkes · CC BY 2.0
211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London SW9
Brixton Academy
The Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go video was filmed here: George, Andrew and their band playing to a hall full of teenagers.
A working concert hall on Stockwell Road, now O2 Academy Brixton. Go in for a gig.
Sources
4Wembley Stadium down Olympic Way, November 2019. N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0
Wembley, north-west London
Wembley Stadium
Wham!’s last concert, The Final, was here on 28 June 1986. Elton John played piano in the encore, and George sang Elton’s Candle in the Wind.
The stadium was rebuilt on the old site. Tours go behind the scenes; book on the stadium’s site.
Sources
Stay
Sleep where they slept, swim where they filmed.
The Walliserhof in Saas-Fee, where they stayed for Last Christmas, and Pikes on Ibiza, the hotel of Club Tropicana.
Relais & Châteaux
Walliserhof Grand-Hotel & Spa
Saas-Fee, Valais · From $368 a night
Where Wham! and the crew stayed for the Last Christmas shoot: 73 rooms and suites and three restaurants in the middle of car-free Saas-Fee.
The WHAM!Walk round the Saas-Fee filming spots, the Wembley Stadium tour, and London and Saas valley trips on the marketplace.
Saas-Fee tourism
WHAM!Walk, Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee, Valais · CHF 5 a person
A self-guided trail of about 3.9 km to the Last Christmas filming spots, open all year with no time limit. Book through SmartTrails and follow it on your phone.
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 sources
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
11 of 11 places · 12 of 12 Moments
Bushey Meads School
Coldharbour Lane, Bushey, Hertfordshire
The new boy
Andrew Ridgeley takes a shy new boy under his wing at Bushey Meads.
Sarm West Studios
8–10 Basing Street, Notting Hill, London W11
A couple of days
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go recorded in Studio 2 with a live band.
Brixton Academy
211 Stockwell Road, Brixton, London SW9
A hall of teenagers
The Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go video filmed at Brixton Academy.
Pikes
Camí de sa Vorera, above Sant Antoni de Portmany, Ibiza
Pilots by the pool
The Club Tropicana video is shot at Pikes.
Studio Miraval
Château de Miraval, Correns, Var, Provence
Six weeks in Provence
George writes the songs for the second album at Studio Miraval, with no demos.
Workers’ Gymnasium
Gongti, Dongcheng, Beijing
No dancing
Wham! play Beijing, the first Western pop act in Communist China.
Felskinn cable car
Valley station, Saas-Fee, Valais
Fifty metres up
The Last Christmas crew ride a Felskinn cabin up and straight back down.
Hotel Walliserhof
Dorfweg 1, Saas-Fee, Valais
The lost brooch
Wham! stay at the Walliserhof; a brooch lost in the snow turns up.
Saas Museum
Dorfstrasse 6, Saas-Fee, Valais
Forty years on
The Saas Museum sets the village’s old life beside the 1984 shoot.
The Last Christmas chalet
The edge of Saas-Fee village: a private home
Over the fence
Outdoor scenes filmed at a wooden house on the edge of the village.
Wembley Stadium
Wembley, north-west London
The microphone
At Live Aid, Elton John hands George the microphone.
The Final
Wham!’s last concert, with Elton John at the piano for the encore.
