Iconic James Bond locations in real life: How to travel like 007

First postponed to November, and now scheduled to hit theaters on April 2, 2021, No Time to Die is one of many films delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The next James Bond installment will be the 25th film in the 007 franchise and the fifth and final (so he says) starring Daniel Craig as the British secret agent. 

Like every Bond movie, No Time to Die will span the globe, showing viewers not just London, but also far-flung locations like Italy, Jamaica, Norway and Scotland. From Dr. No to Spectre, each Bond is enough to give you the serious travel bug, even if you can’t afford the luxury hotels someone on a government payroll seems to be able to manage. 

As a Bond fan, I try to seek out sights shown in the series when I travel. And though local or international travel isn’t recommended or responsible until the planet gets the pandemic under control, you can always visit virtually from home. Here are a few incredible places I’ve been so far and one I have yet to see in person. Keep them in mind for when you can travel again, and hope that the businesses I mention will reopen. 

A word of warning, though: Abundant spoilers below.

James Bond movies, ranked, from Sean Connery to Daniel Craig

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From Russia With Love

Istanbul

The ancient city at the mouth of the Bosporus is as much a character in the second Bond installment as Bond or snarling henchman Donald Grant. Sean Connery traverses many of the city’s top tourist sights like the Grand Bazaar and the Hagia Sophia, where one of the film’s pivotal scenes — he gets the plans for the Soviet embassy from Tatiana Romanova — takes place. Completed in 537, the Hagia Sophia served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral when the city was called Constantinople and was the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Four centuries later, after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453, it became a mosque and gained minarets. Now a museum, it has an immense scale that’s as dazzling and as impressive as the Parthenon or the Colosseum. Walk in, stand under the 183-foot dome and just take it in. Yeah, there are exhibits to read, but just gawking is fine.

Your next stop is nearby at the Basilica Cistern, where Bond and MI6 station chief Kerim Bey embark on a boat to sneak under the…