10 famous Christmas movie locations you can actually visit

Christmas movie: Home Alone
Home Alone is full of iconic scenes: the barrage of attacks against the Wet Bandits, Kevin’s aftershave scream, and the McCallisters’ mad dash through the airport after they overslept (we’re hearing John Williams’s “Holiday Flight” in our heads just thinking about it). The family’s sprint through the terminal was filmed in Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, specifically in the central concourse of the American Airlines terminal. We’re fairly sure that plenty of people recreate the scene (perhaps unintentionally) all the time en route to their flight—run, run, Rudolph!

Christmas movie: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
In the sequel to the wildly popular Home Alone, Kevin McCallister has new stomping grounds but the same bad guys to foil. Kevin—along with his dad’s credit card—accidentally flies from Chicago to New York City for this new round of shenanigans, where much of the action takes place both in and around Central Park. Recognizable spots within the park include Wollman Rink and Bethesda Terrace, while other scenes featured locations nearby like Carnegie Hall and the Plaza Hotel. Currently, The Plaza offers a Home Alone 2 package complete with a limousine ride that visits filming locations around NYC, not to mention a large cheese pizza and a Home Alone-inspired sundae—just try not to tip room service with gum, okay?

Christmas movie: It’s A Wonderful Life
Frank Capra’s classic It’s A Wonderful Life, set in a fictional upstate New York town, was actually filmed in a studio in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the small town of Seneca Falls (the gateway to New York's Finger Lakes region) claims to be the real Bedford Falls. The geography mentioned in the film lines up, and there are unmistakable similarities to the homes, downtown, and even the bridge that’s featured in the film. Capra had family in the area, too, and reportedly stopped to get a haircut in Seneca Falls while working on the movie. The Seneca Falls It’s A Wonderful Life Museum, housed fittingly in what was once the town’s first movie theater, hosts an annual festival in mid-December if you’re keen to see the town it IRL.

Christmas movie: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
If there’s one store in America that screams Christmas, it’s the giant Macy’s flagship in New York. It’s the home base for the Thanksgiving Day Parade, where Santa ushers in the Christmas season each year, and it’s also the setting for one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time, Miracle on 34th Street. Today, shoppers can still ride the original wooden escalators up to the eighth floor to visit Santa (who may or may not be the real Kris Kringle).

Christmas Movie: A Christmas Story
You may think you’re obsessed with your favorite movie, but probably not like this: in 2004, a fan purchased the original house from A Christmas Story on eBay and renovated it to match the movie perfectly. A Christmas Story House, located in Cleveland, offers tours and overnight stays to see that Major Award Leg Lamp in all its glory. They’ve even expanded operations to include the neighboring Bumpus house for overnights and a museum across the street with props and memorabilia. And if you were wondering, yes, the gift shop has leg lamps to decorate your own home (plus bunny suits for Christmas morning, too).

Christmas movie: Die Hard
Welcome to the party, pal. Yes, Die Hard isn’t just a Christmas movie, it’s the third-best Christmas movie (if you ask us, at least). With its holiday-party setting, its soundtrack, and its dialogue (“now I’ve got a machine gun...ho-ho-ho”), screenwriter Steven E. de Souza agrees: it’s not up for debate anymore. Unlike the settings of most holiday flicks, the Fox Plaza Tower in Los Angeles—a.k.a. Nakatomi Plaza, a high-rise in Century City—doesn’t conjure images of fond Christmas memories like opening presents or building snowmen. But Die Hard does have a barefoot John McClane crawling through air ducts and jumping off the building to make you feel warm and fuzzy (if that’s your thing).

Christmas movie: Jingle All the Way
Jingle All the Way was filmed on location in many places around Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, but none more fitting than the Mall of America. What better place to film a satire about the over-commercialization of Christmas than the largest mall in the western hemisphere? Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sinbad begin their slapstick competition to get the coveted Turbo-Man toy in the Twin Cities’ five-million-square-foot shopping center, which has also been used in films like D2: The Mighty Ducks and Wilson. Schwarzenegger was said to frequent the mall’s Planet Hollywood (of which he was part owner) during filming, but even all that Jingle All the Way memorabilia couldn’t save the restaurant's Mall of America location from closure.

Christmas movie: Elf
The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is perhaps the most famous holiday symbol in America, visited by an estimated 125 million people each year. So it’s no surprise when the giant tree pops up in any movie or TV show set in New York during the Christmas season—and Elf is no exception. In the movie, Jovie takes Buddy to see the tree on their first date, and they ice skate at the rink below. Down by the Empire State Building (another Elf location), you can see the revolving door that Buddy loves to run through at 10 West 33rd Street. No word if the building allows visitors dressed as elves to do the same—give it a whirl and let us know how it goes, alright?

Christmas movie: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
One of the goofiest scenes in 1989’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is when Chevy Chase, as bumbling patriarch Clark Griswold, zooms down the sledding hill in an out-of-control saucer greased with a “non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant.” Although it’s set in the Chicago suburbs (like all John Hughes scripts), this scene was actually filmed at the Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado (on Peak 8, to be exact). You can zoom down the mountain just like Clark, although sleds and saucers aren’t exactly allowed (stick to skis and snowboards). Oh, and just don’t end up in the Walmart parking lot.

Christmas movie: Prancer
You may recognize the Devil’s Nose area of Starved Rock State Park from the ending of the family Christmas movie Prancer, where (spoiler alert!) the titular reindeer is released and reunited with Santa. Unfortunately, visitors can no longer access the exact filming location as the trail was rerouted to a raised walkway to help reduce erosion. Prancer was actually the first and last film shot at Starved Rock—the crew cut down a 125-year-old tree while filming, which prompted the park to prohibit further productions.