James Bond is back after the Cold War – with bungee-jumps in Switzerland, tank cruises in Russia and telescope fights in the Caribbean. Here are the Goldeneye movie locations!
In Goldeneye, James Bond jumps from a dam, infiltrates a Soviet base, visits the casino in Monaco, drives a tank through St. Petersburg and gets lost in the Caribbean jungle. The first movie outing of Pierce Brosnan as 007 has a lot going on – and brings the travel agent once again around the globe.
Here are all Goldeneye movie locations in Switzerland, Monaco, France, Russia, the UK and Puerto Rico:
SWITZERLAND
The famous bungee jump from the pre-title sequence had been filmed at the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland – also known as Contra Dam or Locarno Dam. At the time, it was the highest bungee jump with a 220 meters depth. Nowaday the local bungee operator trekking.com offers jumps there.
The later escape with the plane had been filmed atop Tällistock mountain (for the motorcycle ride) and down the Eiger North Face (for the free fall).
MONACO & FRANCE
The car chase between Bond in his Aston Martin DB5 and Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) in her Ferrari F355 was filmed along Route de Gentelly above Gréolières, France.
Later on, both meet again in Monaco. Scenes had been filmed at the viewing point close to the Vista Palace Hotel and in the Casino Monte-Carlo. The stealth helicopter gets taken at the yacht harbour Port Hercule.
RUSSIA
Russia both offers fictional and real locations in Goldeneye. In the pre-title sequence Bond may jump from the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland, but is supposed to infiltrate a fictional Chemical Weapons Facility up north in Arkhangelsk. The satellite station Sewernaja that hosts the GoldenEye program is also made up. The real Sewernaja is a Russian island in the Kara Strait, the movie depicts the station in the middle of Krasnojarsk region, close to a river called Sewernaja.
Real though is the action that takes place in St. Petersburg. The Russian Defense Ministry meet inside the Winter Palace or Eremitage, later on Bond gets imprisoned at Saint Michael’s Castle. The bridge at the beginning of the St. Petersburg sequence is Birzhevoy Bridge, connecting the city center with Petrograd.
The action scene with the tank had been filmed along the banks of Moyka river, in front of the St. Isaac’s Cathedral, around the Constitutional Court and the Main Post Office at Pochtamtskaya Street. We collected all the spots here. The location with the horse statue is a bit off the old city center at Preobrazhenskaya Square in front of the Transfiguration Cathedral. There is no statue there though, it was only a prop.
The statue park where Bond meets Janus aka 006 again is not a real place, but a set in Pinewood. It had been inspired by a real locations though – the Memento Park in Hungary, a wild hodgepodge of old Soviet statues.
UNITED KINGDOM
With the MI6 moving its headquarter to Vauxhall in 1994, the futuristic building at Thames river also became the icon in all Brosnan and Craig Bond movies.
All other London locations double for spots in Russia: The Somerset House was reshaped to look like a St. Petersburg square – it is the place, where the “stiff-ass brit” Bond meets Muffy’s ex-husband and now CIA-operative Jack Wade (Jon Doe Baker). Draper’s Hall doubles for the KGB office, Langham Hotel for the fictional “Grand Hotel Europe” in St. Petersburg. And the little church, where Natalya (Izabella Scorupco) and Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) meet, are the chapel from Brompton Cemetery on the outside and the St. Sofia Greek Cathedral for the interior scenes.
Also the Nene Valley Railway was used for the action scenes with Janus’ stealth train. The train left at the now torn down Old Sugar Factory in Petersborough and then heads west along the tracks.
PUERTO RICO
Janus hideout is supposed to be in the Cuban jungle – Bond and Natalya start their journey from Guantanamo Bay. In reality it is Vega Baja in Puerto Rico, where both the scenes with the BMW roadster and with the US Marines had been filmed. The scenes at the beach were filmed on Playa Ojo de Agua nearby.
The climax itself with the hidden satellite telescope had been filmed on Puerto Rico as well. It is the famous Arecibo Telescope – that sadly will be demolished after two cables broke in 2020.
For the Goldeneye movie locations and all other locations of James Bond films, also check our location map right here!
© 1995 Danjaq Inc. and United Artists Pictures Inc.