New York: The city of Baba Yaga
The capital of the John Wick universe is unquestionably New York. The first film was shot almost entirely in the city, and much of the third film, Parabellum, unfolds on its streets. The series’ rain-slicked asphalt, yellow taxis, and shadowy Art Deco facades create one of the city’s darkest and most stylish on-screen portrayals.
Continental Hotel: Beaver Building and Cunard Building
The Continental Hotel, the assassins’ neutral ground where gold coins are the only valid currency, is the series’ most iconic location. The Beaver Building in Manhattan’s Financial District serves as the hotel’s exterior. This 15-story building, built in 1904 and located at 1 Wall Street Court, resembles a smaller cousin of the famous Flatiron Building because of its triangular form. New Yorkers also call it the “Small Flatiron.” The building has been an official New York City landmark since 1996. Do not expect Charon to welcome you at the door, but a photo in front of the facade will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has watched the series.
The hotel’s magnificent lobby, meanwhile, was filmed a few blocks away at the Cunard Building, located at 25 Broadway. The vaulted ceilings of this 1921 building, where transatlantic ship tickets were once sold, are adorned with maritime motifs. When you think of the lobby’s dim grandeur on screen, you see that the place is no different from a film set.
From the Red Circle club to Bethesda Fountain
The unforgettable club sequence in the first film, Red Circle, unfolds in two distinct locations. The Surrogate’s Court building in Lower Manhattan, at 31 Chambers Street, served as the club’s exterior, while the Edison Ballroom near Times Square, at 240 West 47th Street, stood in for the neon-red bathhouse and dance-floor scenes. Those who remember the Edison Hotel next to the Edison Ballroom in The Godfather and the hotel bar in Birdman will recognize this corner; it is practically a crossroads worthy of cinematic history.
The Bethesda Fountain terrace in Central Park also features one of the film’s key scenes. By day, it fills with street musicians and wedding photographers, making it one of the park’s most peaceful corners. The film’s finale was shot at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and on the Brooklyn Bridge Park promenade along the East River. This waterfront promenade, where you can walk with the Manhattan skyline on your left, serves as the backdrop for the closing scene, in which John, wounded, walks toward his dog.
Parabellum’s New York: Grand Central Terminal and the Public Library
The third film, Parabellum, places New York’s landmarks at the center of the action. In John’s final minutes before being declared “excommunicado,” he runs through Grand Central Terminal. Because it is a live station used by hundreds of thousands of passengers every day, the crew had to work quickly and plan carefully. Cinematographer Dan Laustsen says that lighting the station to match the series’ shadowy aesthetic was one of the most challenging tasks. The library fight in the film’s opening, meanwhile, takes place at the New York Public Library. This Beaux-Arts masterpiece, guarded by marble lions, takes on an entirely different meaning for cinephiles after that scene among the bookshelves. The film also features rainy streets in Chinatown and a horseback chase filmed in Brooklyn.
Starting your New York route in the Financial District and finishing it by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to the opposite shore is the most enjoyable way to capture both the film’s spirit and the city in a single day. You, too, can step into the city of Baba Yaga by booking a flight to New York.
Rome: An assassin among ancient stones
John Wick: Chapter 2 takes its hero across the Atlantic to Rome, the “Eternal City.” The series’ visual ambition peaks here, as the crew filmed within the city’s historic fabric rather than on studio sets. The result is an unforgettable atmosphere, with film lights falling on stones dating back two thousand years.
Baths of Caracalla: The stage of a coronation ceremony
At the heart of the film’s Rome section are the Baths of Caracalla. Completed in AD 217 and used for three centuries, the massive Roman bath complex hosts Gianna D’Antonio’s coronation party in the film. That night scene, set among brick walls that still retain their original height in places, is one of the most striking encounters between ancient architecture and contemporary action. Given that the baths’ classical architecture inspired structures such as the old Pennsylvania Station in New York, the series also builds an elegant bridge between the two cities. Today, the ruins are open to visitors, and opera performances and concerts are held here during the summer months.
In the film, the “catacomb” entrance where John descends into the underworld was filmed at Clivo Argentario near the Forum of Caesar, and Caracalla’s underground galleries were used again for the tunnel scenes.
Piazza Navona, the antique bookshop and the Rome Continental
The square John walks through in Rome before his “shopping” for weapons and a suit is Piazza Navona, the city’s Baroque jewel. Just along the edge of the square, at Largo Febo 15, Antica Libreria Cascianelli, which has been in business since 1837, appears in the film as the antique bookshop where the maps are purchased. Spending a few minutes among old engravings, leather-bound books, and wooden shelves is the quickest way to feel as if you are inside the film.
The facade of Rome’s Continental, also known as “Il Continentale,” was filmed at the Central Museum of the Risorgimento, part of the magnificent Vittoriano complex in Piazza Venezia. For the hotel interiors, the historic Grand Hotel Plaza in the city center was used. John’s room, overlooking the dome of the Church of San Carlo al Corso, is one of the hotel’s suites. Gianna’s private apartment, with its brick texture, comes to life at the Horti Sallustiani in Piazza Sallustio, the ancient Gardens of Sallust.
The Rome route offers an almost ready-made walking itinerary for those already visiting the city: The Colosseum and the forums in the morning, Caracalla in the afternoon, and Piazza Navona and its surroundings in the evening. The beauty of this route is that the film locations align almost exactly with the city’s classic sightseeing route, so that while following in John Wick’s footsteps, you are actually seeing Rome at its best. You can experience this cinematic journey firsthand by booking a flight to Rome. For more tips about the Eternal City, check out our 1 City 3 Days: Rome article.
Morocco: Essaouira, the city behind Casablanca on screen
In Parabellum, John’s path leads him to North Africa, to Casablanca. But there is a sweet cinematic secret: almost all of the streets we see on screen as Casablanca were actually filmed in the coastal city of Essaouira, west of Marrakesh. With its walled medina on the UNESCO World Heritage List, arched passageways, and maze-like narrow streets, Essaouira offers exactly the “mysterious Morocco” atmosphere the camera loves.
From the clock tower to the ocean ramparts
The entrance to the Moroccan Continental, run by Sofia, played by Halle Berry, was filmed at the clock tower, one of the Essaouira medina’s monumental gates. The foundry scene, in which Sofia and John meet Berrada, takes place on the city’s bastions and walls overlooking the Atlantic. These walls may feel familiar to cinephiles; the Astapor scenes in the third season of Game of Thrones were filmed at the same location. Looking out from a single bastion onto two distinct fictional universes captures Essaouira’s place in cinema. If you are curious about other Game of Thrones filming locations, you can read our article, “Travel along cinematic routes: Game of Thrones filming locations.”
The city’s fishing port, with its blue boats and the sound of seagulls, is a photo stop in its own right. Essaouira is also one of Morocco’s most tranquil cities. After the intense pace of Marrakesh, the calm medina, the cafés along the coast, and the rhythm of gnaoua music spilling into the streets slow you down immediately. The city, also a favorite among surfers, is almost never without wind. The locals did not call it “Africa’s windy city” for nothing. The sunset you watch over the ocean from the ramparts in the late afternoon is every bit as striking as the film’s golden-toned scenes of Morocco.
Toward the Sahara: Erfoud and the dunes
The vast desert scenes in which John searches for the Elder were filmed in the dunes around Erfoud, an oasis town in southeastern Morocco. The production team also considered Abu Dhabi and Spain for the desert sequences but found the “magic of the Sahara” in Morocco. The film’s producer, Basil Iwanyk, explains how striking the contrast is when the story shifts from the rainy gray concrete of New York to the heat, color, and dunes of Morocco. Erfoud remains one of the main departure points for Sahara tours today, and the Merzouga dunes are reached from there.
The most practical gateway to Morocco is Marrakesh. Essaouira can be reached from here in about a three-hour journey. If you would like to add the real Casablanca to your route as well, you can book a flight to Casablanca and see both the city the film is named after and behind-the-scenes Essaouira in one trip.
Paris: The series’ most spectacular act
John Wick: Chapter 4 stages its finale in Paris, featuring some of the most beloved scenes in film history. Shot on the city’s streets in the summer of 2021, the film turns the City of Light into a vast stage for action choreography. Moreover, almost all the locations are already indispensable stops on any trip to Paris.
Arc de Triomphe and Trocadéro
One of the film’s most talked-about sequences is the “car-fu” fight set amid the traffic whirlpool around the Arc de Triomphe. The story behind the scenes is at least as interesting as the scene itself: Because it was not possible to close the six- to eight-lane giant intersection on the Champs-Élysées for weeks, the crew carried out a significant part of the stunt work on the runway of Berlin’s disused Tegel Airport and combined that footage with real Paris footage. Still, you should go up to the Arc de Triomphe’s terrace and look down at that intersection from above; watching the scene in its real-life setting is an entirely different pleasure.
The sunrise scene between the Marquis de Gramont and John was filmed at Trocadéro Square, which offers a view of the Eiffel Tower. In the early morning, the square is as calm as it appears in the film. It is already the go-to spot in Paris for the best angle for an Eiffel photo.
From the Louvre to the Palais Garnier, from the ghost metro to the canal
The fourth film also brings the camera into some of Paris’s most prestigious interiors. One scene in which John and Caine meet was filmed in the Louvre Museum’s Denon Wing, in front of large canvases. The grand staircase where De Gramont’s phone scene is set is at the Palais Garnier, the home of the Paris Opera. The Gothic Saint-Eustache Church in the Les Halles district also appears in the film as one of the locations where John and Caine confront each other.
The underground scenes showing the Bowery King opening his Paris branch were filmed at Porte des Lilas, the city’s ghost station reserved for filmmakers. This platform, which has not carried passengers since 1939, has appeared in many films, including Amélie. The waterside scene in which Winston and the Bowery King leave John is set at Canal Saint-Martin.
Sacré-Cœur and the 222 steps
And of course, the finale: the Rue Foyatier steps leading up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica on Montmartre hill. In the film, John has to climb these steps again and again as he tries to reach the duel. With their steep slope and the steps running alongside the funicular, they are among the most cinematic corners in Paris. At the hilltop, overlooking the city panorama, Sacré-Cœur awaits you with its white domes. Going up here at sunrise means catching exactly the orange light from the film’s final duel.
Montmartre itself is like a film set in its own right: Place du Tertre, where painters set up their easels; narrow streets wrapped in vine leaves; and Café des 2 Moulins, familiar from Amélie, turn the hill into a layered stop for cinephiles. Ending the John Wick route in Montmartre and closing the evening at one of the bistros here make for the perfect finale to a Paris day.
By booking a flight to Paris, you can plan your own route through the city where the series’ most spectacular act unfolds. To explore the French capital in more depth, read our 1 City 3 Days: Paris article.
Berlin, Tokyo, and Jordan: The hidden heroes of the fourth film
The world of Chapter 4 extends beyond Paris. The desert scenes at the opening of the film were shot in Jordan’s epic dunes; this red desert landscape, familiar to cinephiles from many productions, from Lawrence of Arabia to Dune, lends a mythological air to the scene where John confronts the Elder. By booking a flight to Amman, you can reach Jordan’s desert landscapes and ancient treasures, including Petra.
The film’s Osaka Continental also features a clever production trick. For the hotel’s futuristic exterior, the undulating glass facade of Tokyo’s National Art Center served as a model. The interior and rooftop fights were filmed on massive sets built in a former convention center in Berlin. Those in Tokyo can visit this art center in the Roppongi district for its architecture and exhibitions. The club scene in the Berlin section was also filmed at Kraftwerk, a former power plant that embodies the city’s industrial spirit and is now an event venue. The crowd’s indifference as it dances among the assassins can be read as an elegant nod to Berlin’s nightlife.
By booking a flight to Tokyo or to Berlin, you can add these two poles of the fourth film to your route.
A John Wick route suggestion for cinephiles
Planning a world tour covering the entire series is, of course, possible, but for a more realistic start, you can split the route into two parts.
America leg (4 to 5 days): In New York, two full days can be devoted to the Financial District, Midtown, and Central Park. The third day can be reserved for the Brooklyn waterfront and Chinatown. When the walk that begins in front of the Beaver Building continues through the Cunard Building, Surrogate’s Court, and the Brooklyn Bridge, you have almost completed the first film.
Europe and Africa leg (8 to 10 days): Two days in Rome, including Caracalla, Piazza Navona, and Vittoriano; three days in Paris, including Montmartre, Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, and Canal Saint-Martin; and, if you wish, two days in Essaouira via Marrakesh. This route brings together the strongest scenes from the second, third, and fourth films in one trip.
A few practical notes for visiting the locations: Buying tickets in advance for the Baths of Caracalla and the Louvre eliminates the need to wait in line. Grand Central and the New York Public Library can be visited at no charge. For those who do not want to climb the Rue Foyatier steps, the Montmartre funicular, right next to them, runs on a standard metro ticket. Since the medina in Essaouira is closed to vehicle traffic, choosing your accommodation in one of the riads inside the walls offers the experience closest to both the film’s atmosphere and the spirit of the city. For photography lovers, the golden rule is the same in every city: evening hours after rain in New York, late afternoon in Rome, sunset in Essaouira, and sunrise in Paris. And of course, the most enjoyable preparation: watching the series from the beginning before setting out.
