Most popular real-life locations that inspired famous books

Although books often transport readers to another world, they are frequently inspired by real-life locations. All great ideas stem from somewhere, and many authors spend months studying to determine the perfect location that inspires a successful and captivating novel.

As a result, OnBuy.com located the destinations that birthed the world most popular books and analysed Instagram activity to discover which is the most popular!

Taking the top spot is Piazza Navona (Fountain of the Four Rivers) in Rome, Italy, which features in Dan Brown’s bestselling mystery-thriller, Angels and Demons. Although this is a huge tourist attraction in itself, many visitors attend to follow the footsteps of Robert Langdon and contribute to the fountain’s huge 395,507 hashtags and posts on Instagram.

OnBuy.com found that the second most popular real-life book-related location is Glencoe in Scotland, with 384,369 Instagram hashtags. Author J.K. Rowling convinced thousands of Harry Potter fans to make the trip to see Hagrid’s Hut in Glencoe, making it one of the most visited novel spots!

George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones book series was inspired by elements of Giant’s Causeway in Bushmills, Northern Ireland – placing it in third. The world-famous stones have amassed a huge 288,839 hashtags on Instagram.

Platform 9¾ at Kings Cross Station (203,977 hashtags), Forest Dean in Gloucestershire (191,275 hashtags) and Top Whitens in Yorkshire (100,905 hashtags) place in fourth, fifth and sixth due to their features that inspired the authors of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Wuthering Heights.