Across India to Europe: Where Film Fans Connect With Bollywood

Published on December 6, 2025

Mumbai remains the primary centre for Bollywood tourism. Travellers often begin with Film City, a large studio complex used for many productions. The site includes historical sets and active shooting areas. Guided tours have been offered since 2014, allowing visitors to move through different environments that support on-going filming work. These tours help tourists observe controlled sets and learn how scenes are constructed.

Visitors also explore the National Museum of Indian Cinema. The museum contains artefacts, digital installations and displays on the development of Indian cinema. Tourists walk through sections that outline early filmmaking practices and evolving technologies. Exhibits allow travellers to connect production history with modern screen culture.

Influential Locations Across India

Several destinations beyond Mumbai contribute to Bollywood travel experiences. Lucknow is visited by travellers due to its strong link to film culture. It has produced many actors, and several movies have been filmed in the city. Tourists move through neighbourhoods that have appeared on screen and observe spaces associated with actors who were born there.

Nearby Delhi, tourists find Noida Film City, a production complex featuring studios and constructed sets. It has hosted numerous Bollywood and other Indian productions outside Mumbai. Visitors observe exterior sets used in different films and experience working environments where technicians manage daily shoots.

Ramoji Film City, located near Hyderabad in Telangana, attracts domestic and international tourists. It is considered the largest studio complex in the world and includes a film-themed park. The site contains landscaped gardens, large buildings and extensive sets. Visitors recognise locations used in Telugu and Hindi films and explore thematic sections modelled after global studio formats. Many travellers spend full days moving through its varied film zones.

Kolkata’s Tollygunge is another major location in Indian film heritage. It played a central role in early Hindi cinema during the 1930s when several leading actors and directors worked there. Tourists visit the area to understand how the New Theatres studio shaped early filmmaking. Although the industry shifted to Bombay by the mid-1940s, Tollygunge continues to represent the base of Bengali cinema, drawing visitors who study its historical significance.

International Destination Featured in Bollywood Films

Bollywood fans also travel abroad to experience locations seen in films. Gstaad, a mountain resort town in Switzerland, attracts travellers familiar with its recurring presence in major productions. Guided tours lead visitors to places where famous scenes were shot. Tourists move through alpine views that have appeared in numerous blockbusters, making the town a notable stop in the global Bollywood travel circuit.

Bollywood Tourism as Part of Fiction Travel

Bollywood travel aligns with broader fiction tourism, where fans explore destinations connected with movies, literature, television or video games. Such travel includes film sets, active studios, museums and theme parks. Bollywood locations form a distinct branch within this trend because many tourists seek spaces linked directly to their favourite scenes or stars. Set-based tourism encourages travellers to view filming environments as attractions in their own right.

How These Locations Shape Traveller Experiences

Travellers benefit from structured tours, accessible museums and preserved film sites. Many of these destinations allow visitors to see the scale of production infrastructure. Film cities offer insights into controlled environments used for shooting, while museums provide historical context. International sites give travellers landscapes familiar from movie scenes. These varied experiences strengthen the appeal of Bollywood-related travel and expand tourism routes within India and abroad.

Image Source: AI