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2025 closed out on a bitter note for film fans everywhere as filmmaker Rob Reiner died under tragic circumstances. In life, Reiner directed some of the best Hollywood films of the 1980s and ’90s, including the 1987 romantic fantasy “The Princess Bride.” The movie easily ranks among Reiner’s very best to this day. Reiner, with his cast and crew, spellbound audiences like the kindly man (Peter Falk) reading the in-universe “Princess Bride” book to his grandson (Fred Savage).
“The Princess Bride” is explicitly set in the real medieval Europe, not a fantasy world like Middle-earth in “The Lord of the Rings” or Westeros in “A Song of Ice and Fire.” However, zooming in, it also takes place in the fictional countries of Florin and Guilder. Between that and the occasional heightened fantasy elements, you’d be forgiven for thinking the movie was set in a wholly fictional world.
With no real countries or Florin landmarks to pull from, where was “The Princess Bride” filmed? Predictably, throughout England and Ireland, including on sets at Shepperton Studios. Fans can also rejoice in knowing that some of the major locations in the film are natural or manmade landmarks that you can add to a sightseeing wishlist if you ever visit England and/or Ireland.
The Princess Bride’s Cliffs of Insanity are really Ireland’s Cliffs of Moher
Early in “The Princess Bride,” three brigands — Vizzini (Wallace Shawn, cast after original choice Danny DeVito didn’t work out), Fezzik (André the Giant), and Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin) — abduct Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright). Sailing her to Guilder, they reach the “Cliffs of Insanity” but are pursued by the “Dread Pirate Roberts,” Buttercup’s beloved Westley in disguise. There’s an extended sequence of all the characters climbing the cliffs by rope, and then atop the cliffs Westley and Inigo duel. Patinkin has cited Inigo as one of his most life-affecting roles, and this scene solidifies that he’s more than a scoundrel.
The Cliffs of Insanity are several hundred feet high; their name likely stems from you needing to be insane to try and climb them, or to go close enough to them to risk falling. To capture the absurd height, “The Princess Bride” was filmed at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland’s County Clare. Five miles long and about 700 feet high, the Cliffs of Moher are one of the most popular tourist destinations in Ireland.
I visited Ireland in December 2022/January 2023, and stopped by the Cliffs of Moher. The wind is so strong you feel as if it could lift you off the ground and send you barreling down those oh-so-steep cliffs. I’m sure safety is another reason that the top of the cliffs, where Westley and Inigo duel, was actually filmed on a set.
Florin Castle in the Princess Bride is truly Haddon Hall
England has no shortage of real castles, and one in particular was chosen to represent the exterior of Florin’s castle, home of Buttercup’s treacherous fiancé, Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon). Namely, Haddon Hall, a castle in the English county of Derbyshire.
Films and television made before and after “The Princess Bride” have used it as a filming location; though believed to have been built in the 11th century, the castle still stands largely intact today. That means it does the job of mimicking an active, well-maintained medieval castle home to aristocrats, as in “The Princess Bride.”
The exterior of Florin Castle, played by Haddon Hall, is seen during a royal procession early in the film when Humperdinck presents Buttercup as his bride to the Florin people. One crucial scene set inside the castle, though, was shot elsewhere.
Near the end of the film, Inigo finally confronts the six-fingered Count Rugen (Christopher Guest), who killed his father. Their duel was filmed in a different English castle: Penshurst Place, located in the English county of Kent.
Most of The Princess Bride was shot in the English countryside
The English countryside boasts plenty of scenic landscapes and distinctive landmarks to offer the exterior scenes of “The Princess Bride.” With Haddon Hall chosen for the film’s castle scenes, the crew did not wander far and filmed in landscapes (or landmarks) in Derbyshire as well. The film’s opening scenes, set at Buttercup’s childhood farm home where she and Westley first fall in love, were filmed near the Bradley Rocks in Derbyshire.
After “The Princess Bride” leaves the Cliffs of Insanity behind, Westley pursues Vizzini and Fezzik into Guilder. Westley’s bout with Fezzik took place at Robin Hood’s Stride, a rock formation in Derbyshire. These rocks had a storied history centuries before “The Princess Bride” — the name supposedly comes from a legend that Robin Hood once successfully jumped between the two highest points of the formation (about 50 feet apart).
Westley and Vizzini’s subsequent battle of wits and poisoned wine was filmed at Lathkill Dale, a valley created by the river Lathkill. The valley has historically been used for mining (particularly lead) and the landscape’s rocky terrain is evident in the movie. To this day, Lathkill Dale is part of the Derbyshire Dales National Nature Reserve.
Buttercup and Westley’s reunion, including the scene where she pushes him down a steep hill without realizing who he is, was filmed at locations near Lathkill: Carl Wark, a large rock protrusion in the Peak District National Park, and Cave Dale, another valley.
The framing device — and fire swamp — in Princess Bride was filmed at Shepperton Studios
One of the most fantastical sequences in “The Princess Bride” is when Westley and Buttercup have to traverse a “fire swamp” together. In a fantasy movie relatively light on magic, the fire spewing out of the swamp like a geyser and the giant rats stand out. So, you might be relieved (but unsurprised) to know that there is no such real fire swamp.
The wooded area filled with autumn leaves where Buttercup and Westley exit the fire swamp, only to meet Humperdinck and Count Rugan, is real, granted. That is Burnham Beeches, a National Nature Reserve located in the County Buckinghamshire village of Burnham.
But the fire swamp? That was created on a stage at Shepperton Studios. Located in Surrey, England, Shepperton has been in business since 1931, and too many famous movies to list have been filmed there. The fire swamp wasn’t the only part of the “Princess Bride” filmed on a stage at Shepperton.
One of the others filmed at the studio was the least fantastical part of the movie: its framing device, in which Peter Falk’s character reads the book to his grandson. Far from the dreamy landscapes and castles in the rest of “The Princess Bride,” these scenes just needed to resemble a contemporary 10-year-old boy’s bedroom.
“The Princess Bride” is available for purchase as a Blu-ray and can also be streamed on Hulu.
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