Money Heist, or La Casa de Papel in its native Spanish, is one of the hit series everyone is watching on Netflix during this quarantine season. Started in 2017, the series have had 4 seasons (or parts), the latest released earlier this April, just in time for our quarantine watch list! The series chronicles two meticullously planned bank robberies in Spain led by The Professor (played by Alvaro Morte); one on the Royal Mint of Spain, the other on the Bank of Spain, carried out by 8 individuals who took city names as their aliases: Berlin, Lisbon, Nairobi, Rio, Tokyo, Moscow, Denver, and Stockholm.
But beyond the robberies, Money Heist is also filled with drama between its characters, especially the 'forbidden' relationship between Rio and Tokyo (which played a huge part in the course of the first heist and became one of the main reasons of the second heist) and the many flash backs, time jumps, and Tokyo's unreliable narrator role to complicate the plot lines. Also, even though most of the story happens in Madrid, Spain, a lot of beautiful locations also appear in the series, and this is where our interest piqued.
On this second edition of our Netlifx and Travel series, we invite you our readers to jump to these amazing locations from the series and join the red jump-suited thieves in their adventure once the quarantine has been lifted. Bella Ciao! Alert! The article contains some spoilers!
The Royal Mint of Spain is the target of operation for the thieves in season 1. The team planned to break into the mint and escape with €2.4 billion. After taking 67 people hostage inside the Mint, the team plans to remain inside for 11 days to print the money as they deal with elite police forces.
While tourists can visit The actual Royal Mint daily, shooting at the Royal Mint of Spain is prohibited for security reasons, so the actual filming location was actually at the Spanish National Research Center, while the interior was shot in a studio. However, you can still recreate the scenes from season 1 at the nearby Royal Palace of Spain, with its grandiose staircase and majestic pillars. Just don't forget to wear your red jumpsuits!
As mentioned earlier, the series incorporates some back and forth flashback scenes, and one of the first flashbacks we see in Season 3 is Berlin, dressed up in Italian suits and fedora hat, planning the heist on the Bank of Spain some five years earlier, with the famous Piazza del Duomo in Florence, Italy as the background.
Piazza del Duomo is the heart of the historic center of Florence, with the unique Florence Cathedral with its beautiful façade being the centerpiece. The next time you visit Florence, make some time to dress up properly in Italian suits and dresses, and stroll in this beautiful square while sipping some delicious Italian cappucinno or espresso.
At the end of Season 2, we see the police officer Raquel meet up with The Professor in Palawan, The Philippines. Although rumor has it that the shooting location of the series is not in the actual Palawan and was in Thailand, we still recommend you to visit Palawan nonetheless!
Palawan is a very popular tourist destination in the Philippines even before they were featured (or not) in Money Heist. There are a lot of beautiful places to visit in Palawan, from El Nido to Puerto Princesa to Coron to San Vicente, and you can find the complete list here!
There are a few Indonesian touches in the series. One example is when the team met up over dinner, and the menu on the table is Liwetan, a traditional Javanese dinner setting. Others including the Indonesian hospital where Stockholm gave birth, the mention of Jakarta during the tense exchange between Raquel and Alicia, and when Stockholm, Denver, and their son raced on a traditional Indonesian ricksaw called Becak while on holiday in Java.
For Indonesians, recreating these scenes are simple, especiallyLiwetan which can be done at home with simply presenting the rice and many dishes on a banana leaf bed. But to recreate everything in one place, we would recommend you to visit Solo, Central Java, where you can find Becaks everywhere on the street, and can eat famous Nasi Liwet in the city. Solo is also the home of Indonesia's current president Mr. Joko Widodo, and there are many beautiful places to visit, and delicious street foods to eat!
With Rio captured and tortured after Tokyo left him, in season 3 we see Tokyo met with The Professor to start planning their rescue and second heist on The Bank of Spain. The location of this meet up was shot in the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya, Thailand, one of the most iconic temples in Pattaya.
Although visiting Pattaya is definitely a great option after the quarantine is over, if you want to take the less mainstream approach on recreating the scene, you can visit the equally beautiful Bagan Temple Ruins in Bagan, Myanmar. Other than the beautiful earthly coloured temple ruins, you can stay a little longer to watch colourful hot air balloons decorating the skies!
Ready to recreate your Money Heist moments? Hang on a little longer during this quarantine! We're sure that everything will get back to normal without we know it, and when all of this is over, SweetEscape will be ready to have your moments #CapturedPerfectly again, soon!