Dracula: A Love Tale

Palais-Royal 8 Rue de Montpensier 75001 Paris France

The site of the film's Paris exteriors. AlloCiné reports that the exteriors were shot in the courtyard of the Palais-Royal before June 15. Built in the seventeenth century as Cardinal Richelieu's palace, the surrounding buildings now house the Conseil d'Etat and the Comédie-Française and are not open to visitors. What you can walk into is the courtyard with its striped black and white columns and the garden behind it, both free, open 8.00 to 22.30 from April through September and 8.00 to 20.30 from October through March. The arcades enclose the garden on four sides, so early morning light throws the longest column shadows. The Palais Royal Musée du Louvre metro station comes out at the gate.

Kuhmo Kainuu Finland

The Kainuu town where the film's snow exteriors were shot. AlloCiné names Kuhmo as the place Luc Besson set up his exterior camera, and the Finnish broadcaster Yle confirmed filming in Kajaani and Kuhmo. Only the town name was made public, so no particular forest or lake can be identified. Kuhmo sits against the Russian border, holds fewer than ten thousand people, and turns to conifer forest and water as soon as you leave the centre. Snow usually lasts into March, which is when the unit worked, so late winter is the season that matches the film. In midwinter the sun rises late and sets early, leaving few usable hours of light. In summer the Kuhmo Chamber Music festival fills the beds first. The drive from Kajaani takes about an hour and a half.

Vuokatti Sotkamo Kainuu Finland

Yle identified Vuokatti as the centre of the Finnish shoot. Marko Karvonen, a culture producer in Sotkamo, told Yle the unit filmed for four days but stayed close to two weeks. Some international outlets placed the shoot in Lapland; it was Kainuu from the start. Vuokatti is a ski resort with runs strung along a low ridge and an indoor ski tunnel that stays open when there is no snow outside. Hotels and cabins are clustered in one place, which makes it a workable base for driving out to Kuhmo and Kajaani. The busy weeks are the Christmas holidays and the February to March ski break, when beds need booking ahead. Kajaani is a little over half an hour away by car.

Kajaani Kainuu Finland

Yle reported that filming also took place in Kajaani, again with nothing more specific than the town name. Kajaani is the administrative centre of Kainuu and has both an airport and a railway station, which makes it the gateway to the three locations. Trains and flights both run from Helsinki. On an islet in the rapids through the middle of town stand the ruins of the seventeenth-century Kajaani Castle, unfenced and open at any hour. Rental cars are quickest to collect at the airport, and winter tyres are a legal requirement in the cold months, so the cars come fitted with them. Daylight is short and the roads carry snow, so allow more driving time than the distances suggest.