James Bond Filming Locations — Nassau, Tokyo and Piz Gloria

The James Bond franchise has filmed in 52 countries. This is an extraordinary statistic that reflects both the ambition of the EON Productions team and their commendable commitment to the proposition that a spy thriller needs to look like it could only be set in one place. The Connery-Lazenby era — the films from 1962 to 1969 that established the Bond template — established equally the franchise's relationship with locations that were not merely backdrops but arguments. The Bahamas meant glamour and warmth and danger in shallow clear water. Tokyo meant exoticism and scale and postwar modernity. Switzerland meant cold and isolation and a mountaintop lair that required the producers to finance the completion of a revolving restaurant in exchange for filming rights. These were not locations chosen because they were available. They were chosen because they were the best possible physical expression of what the films were about.

This guide covers three of the great Connery-Lazenby era filming locations and how to visit them now, sixty years after the films were made.

Location 01Nassau and the Bahamas — Thunderball (1965)

Thunderball — the fourth official Bond film and the one that introduced the underwater action sequence as a franchise staple — was filmed extensively in Nassau, Paradise Island and the surrounding Exuma Cays in 1964. The film used Nassau in a way that no previous major Hollywood production had done, making the Bahamas' crystal-clear shallow waters and tropical architecture central to the film's visual identity rather than merely decorative. Tourism to the Bahamas increased significantly after the film's release. The relationship between Bond and the Bahamas was established for the rest of the franchise's existence.

Rock Point Villa, Nassau — the pink painted house on the road between Cable Beach and Nassau that served as Emilio Largo's Palmyra lair is still there, still pink, still privately owned. You cannot visit the interior but the exterior is visible from the adjacent public beach, where the outline of the swimming pool that appears in the film can also be seen. A number of guided Bond tours in Nassau cover this location specifically.

Paradise Beach — where Bond first meets Domino on the beach is now part of the Atlantis Paradise Island resort complex. The resort itself occupies much of what was formerly the privately owned Hog Island and the surrounding beach. Guests of the Atlantis have access to the beach areas. The Café Martinique — the casino restaurant where Bond meets Domino in the film — was rebuilt as part of the Atlantis development and operates under the same name, a piece of continuity that is either charming or a very long game of brand recognition.

Thunderball Grotto, Staniel Cay — the underwater grotto that features in the film's most celebrated underwater sequence is at Staniel Cay in the Exumas, about 80 miles southeast of Nassau. The grotto is a natural cavern below a small island, accessible by boat and — crucially — by diving and snorkelling, making it one of the most directly experiential Bond filming locations available. Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas runs diving packages to the grotto and to the wrecks of the Vulcan bomber used in the film's underwater action sequences, which still sit on the seabed off the coast of New Providence.

Sean Connery liked Nassau so much during the Thunderball shoot that he bought a home in the exclusive Lyford Cay community at the western end of New Providence, where he lived periodically until his death in October 2020. He died at his Nassau home. The Bahamas reciprocated the affection appropriately.

🇧🇸 Nassau — book it

Location 02Tokyo — You Only Live Twice (1967)

You Only Live Twice sent Bond to Japan for a film scripted by Roald Dahl — with, as Dahl himself noted, very little connection to the Ian Fleming novel — and the result was one of the most visually spectacular entries in the franchise, using Tokyo's postwar modernity and the rural Japanese landscape to create a Bond film that looked entirely unlike any of its predecessors. The film used real Tokyo locations including the Kokugikan sumo arena in Ryogoku, the New Otani Hotel as the exterior of Osato Chemicals, and real footage of the Tokyo cityscape that captured the city in the mid-1960s with an authenticity that studio sets could not have approximated.

Kokugikan Sumo Arena — the national sumo arena in Ryogoku at 1-3-28 Yokoami in Sumida ward appears in the film when Bond attends a sumo match as part of his initial Tokyo briefing. The current Kokugikan was built in 1985, replacing the original that appeared in the film, but sumo tournaments continue to be held here three times a year — in January, May and September. A ticket to a tournament is one of the more distinctive experiences available to visitors in Tokyo and one that carries a more direct film connection than most.

Hotel New Otani Tokyo — the hotel at 4-1 Kioi-cho in Chiyoda was used as the exterior of Osato Chemicals and Engineering, the front company for SPECTRE's Japanese operation. The New Otani opened in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympics and is still operating as a luxury hotel with a 10-acre Japanese garden. The distinctive rooftop disc visible in the film has been modified but the building is still immediately recognisable to anyone who has watched the film recently.

Himeji Castle — the castle where Bond undergoes ninja training with Tiger Tanaka's forces is Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Hyogo Prefecture about three and a half hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen. Himeji is consistently cited as the finest surviving example of Japanese feudal castle architecture. It was used in the film because it was the finest surviving example of Japanese feudal castle architecture. The castle's West Bailey — where Bond trains — is exactly as it appears on screen and remains one of the most beautiful historical spaces in Japan.

🇯🇵 Tokyo & Japan — book it

Location 03Piz Gloria, Schilthorn, Switzerland — On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service contains the most extraordinary filming location in the entire Bond franchise — a revolving restaurant atop the Schilthorn mountain in the Swiss Bernese Alps at 2,970 metres above sea level, accessible only by cable car, used as Blofeld's Alpine research institute and the setting for one of the most visually distinctive sequences in any Bond film.

The backstory of the location is more improbable than the film. The Schilthorn summit restaurant was under construction when the Bond producers were scouting locations. EON Productions offered to finance the completion of the restaurant in exchange for the right to use it as a filming location. The deal was agreed. The restaurant was completed. The film was made. The restaurant opened to the public in 1967 as Piz Gloria, named by the Bond production team. It has operated continuously since then with the Bond connection as a central part of its identity — there is a Bond museum within the restaurant, Bond-themed menus and a James Bond-branded experience that includes archive footage of the filming.

Piz Gloria is reached by cable car from Stechelberg at the bottom of the valley, via Gimmelwald and Mürren. The journey takes about 30 minutes and involves intermediate transfers. Mürren, the car-free village on the ledge above Lauterbrunnen Valley, is one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland regardless of any Bond context, and staying there overnight gives you the mountain environment in its fullest form rather than merely as a day trip summit experience.

The skiing sequences from OHMSS — which used George Lazenby's Bond for the only time and which remains one of the franchise's most emotionally complex entries — were shot on the slopes below the Schilthorn and on the Piz Gloria plateau itself. The ski runs are operational for winter visitors. The cable car runs year-round. The revolving restaurant turns continuously, completing a full rotation roughly every 45 minutes, giving you the full panoramic view of the Alps that the film used as Blofeld's background throughout.

🇨🇭 Mürren & Schilthorn — book it

The Connery Legacy

The three films covered in this guide established the Bond template that has endured for sixty years: the exotic location, the underwater sequence, the mountaintop lair, the Japanese authenticity. Every subsequent Bond film owes something to the geography of these three productions. The Bahamas were so successful that the franchise returned to Nassau for Casino Royale in 2006. The Swiss Alps returned in The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only. Japan has not been revisited as a primary location in the same way, which is arguably the franchise's single largest remaining geographical gap.

Connery died in Nassau in October 2020. His connection to the city, which began when he filmed Thunderball in 1964 and deepened when he bought a home there, lasted over fifty years. Some filming locations leave a mark on the people who use them as well as the other way around. The Bahamas left its mark on Connery in a way that few locations manage. He stayed.