Amazon's billion-dollar prequel is back for a third season, and while the first run stuck to New Zealand, the series has since come home to Tolkien. Season three, airing this month, was shot largely across the UK, with two European outliers — and several locations are genuinely visitable.

The move makes sense beyond logistics. Showrunner Patrick McKay told GQ in 2024 that filming among ancient British woodland felt like returning the story to the landscape Tolkien knew. He pointed to Windsor Great Park's thousand-year-old trees, which the author may well have walked past while writing. Add shifting Covid rules in New Zealand and Amazon's broader UK production strategy, and the relocation was almost inevitable.

So where should fans point their satnavs? Windsor Great Park in Berkshire is the headline site — 5,000 acres of ancient oak woodland that doubled for the Ents' territory in season two, with reports of fresh filming there for season three. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and World War Z both shot here too, so it's a proven screen magnet.

Hankley Common in Surrey hosted what looked like a large-scale battle sequence. It's a favourite of blockbuster directors: three James Bond films (Skyfall among them), Gladiator's opening battles, 1917 and both Wicked films all used its open heathland. Nearby Frensham Common appeared in season two, so the crew clearly likes the area.

Over in South Wales, the stark Trefil Quarries near Blaenau Gwent — a disused 18th-century limestone quarry — was almost certainly standing in for dwarf country, judging by the setting's bleak, rocky drama. Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy have filmed there before.

For coastal drama, Portland Bill on Dorset's Jurassic Coast hosted scenes with Robert Aramayo's Elrond and Trystan Gravelle's Pharazôn, with the pair spotted by Pulpit Rock alongside Benjamin Walker's Gil-galad. And the most poetic pick is Switzerland: the U-shaped Lauterbrunnen valley, which Tolkien visited in 1911 and which inspired Rivendell, appears in season three as the elven refuge is founded. Cast and crew were seen filming there last year.

For travellers, this is a tidy themed itinerary: a weekend in Berkshire and Surrey, a detour into the Welsh valleys, a walk along the Dorset coast, or — if budget allows — the Swiss Alps, where the Tolkien connection is a nice bonus on top of genuinely spectacular hiking. None of these spots require special access; they're public or easily visited countryside, which is exactly why productions keep returning to them.

Season three lands this month, with two more seasons still planned. Expect more location reveals as filming continues.