People We Meet on Vacation, the Netflix movie adaptation of Emily Henry’s bestselling romance novel, may feel like a globe-trotting love story, but its actual production was smartly concentrated in just a few key real-world places.
Rather than filming in every destination the characters visit in the book (like Switzerland, Croatia, Sweden, Norway, or Italy), the creative team used clever location doubles and practical sites to bring most of the story to life while staying mostly in New Orleans (USA) and Spain.
People We Meet on Vacation Filming Locations
New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
People We Meet on Vacation was primarily shot in New Orleans, Louisiana making it one of the film’s main on-location sites.
Filming Highlights in New Orleans
- French Quarter & Bourbon Street: The film captures the city’s vibrant nightlife, jazz energy, and colorful streets exactly as they are with Poppy and Alex wandering through iconic Bourbon Street spots.
- Café Du Monde (Decatur Street): A real local favourite, this famed beignet café appears in scenes that underline the characters’ carefree travel moments.
- Neighborhoods as Stand-Ins: Areas like St. Johns and parts of the Lower Garden District help portray a fictional mid-western hometown and other story settings.
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport: Some of the travel sequences – departures and arrivals, were filmed here to show the jet-set aspect of the story.
New Orleans was chosen not just for its cinematic look but because it could double for different types of settings in the narrative, creating both urban atmosphere and hometown feel without costly multiple sets.
See also: Love on the Amazon Filming Locations
Barcelona & Costa Brava, Catalonia, Spain
The European vacation segments, including weddings, beach scenes, and “Canada” or “Tuscany” moments from the book, were all filmed in Spain, most notably around Barcelona and the Costa Brava region.
Barcelona
Barcelona was used for filming the following scenes:
- The destination wedding, including city and scenic backdrops.
- Rooftop and romantic European scenes (such as a luxury hotel pool and city skyline shots used in the story).
- Modern architecture landmarks like the Museum of Natural Sciences (Museu Blau) for rehearsal dinner visuals.
The production shifted settings from the book’s original Palm Springs wedding location to Barcelona – a choice that offered more visual grandeur and Mediterranean vibes.
See also: Love on the Amazon Filming Locations, Cast, Plot Details
Costa Brava (Girona), Spain
Much of the vacation feel in the movie People We Meet on Vacation was filmed along the stunning Costa Brava coastline, about an hour north of Barcelona, including:
- Platja de sa Boadella: This beautiful beach serves as the backdrop for key seaside scenes in People We Meet on Vacation, including the iconic moment recreated from the novel’s cover.
- Casa de Santa Clotilde: The clifftop villa here hosts the wedding and delivers dramatic Mediterranean views.
- Masjoan Arboretum: Located inland, this forest site doubled for the scenes meant to represent Canada, cleverly substituting tall trees and natural terrain for British Columbia’s wilderness.
- Can Llambí: A historic Catalan villa that stands in for a Tuscany-style location from the book’s flashbacks.
Spain’s Costa Brava offered the production a range of landscapes. From cliffside beaches to forested groves, allowing many story destinations to be filmed without having to travel to multiple countries.
Filming Timeline
Principal photography of People We Meet on Vacation took place in the fall of 2024 (October 15 – November 3, 2024), using a streamlined schedule that allowed the team to shoot most scenes across these key locations in under three weeks.
Quick Summary
| Region | Real Location | Story Portrayal |
|---|---|---|
| New Orleans, USA | French Quarter, Bourbon Street, local neighborhoods, airport | Characters’ hometown and travel segments in early story |
| Barcelona, Spain | City streets, rooftop, wedding sites | European vacation & wedding location |
| Costa Brava, Spain | Beaches, villas, forests | Beach scenes, Tuscany and Canada stand-ins |
All together, these locations provided a rich backdrop for a story that feels like a world tour, but was grounded in just a few spectacular places.
Sources
- Filming of People We Meet on Vacation took place in New Orleans (Louisiana, USA), Barcelona (Spain), and Costa Brava (Spain).
- Spain’s locations doubled for multiple international settings like Canada and Tuscany.
- Barcelona replaced the book’s Palm Springs wedding locale to elevate the film’s European feel.
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