Starring Liam Hemsworth and Laura Dern in the main roles, Netflix’s new romantic drama movie Lonely Planet follows the respected author Katherine Loewe, as she travels to Morocco in order to get away from her rocky divorce and find a way out of her writer’s block. Owen Brophy is staying at the same resort together with his girlfriend, up-and-coming author Lily Kemp. The already strained relationship between Owen and Lily ends up completely crumbling under the realization that Owen doesn’t fit into her changing lifestyle and vice versa. Amid their very own struggles, Katherine and Owen somehow find comfort in each other, slowly but surely falling in love and trying to navigate the beginning of what could be a new relationship.

The Netflix movie was at the center of public scrutiny from the very start, and it wasn’t long until the first issues were discovered. However, not everything went downhill with the movie. The age-gap romantic movie, for example, tackles the topic of different-aged love rather well by portraying the older woman as equally desirable and avoiding highlighting the age gap. More importantly, though, Lonely Planet scored with its stunning shooting locations.

The Vibrant Culture of Marrakesh

Even if Lonely Planet felt way too long, is filled with tropes and the two main characters share close to no chemistry at all, Netflix’s new romantic drama movie is still jaw-dropping due to its stunning filming locations. Lonely Planet‘s Rotten Tomato flop aside, the movie truly delivers some marvelous visuals, and it’s all thanks to Morocco’s beautiful cities.

The most well known filming location of Lonely Planet is definitely the city of Marrakesh. Known for its mesmerizing riads, which are traditional houses, luxurious restaurants, and marvelous hammams (bathhouses), Marrakesh is filled with culture. The Netflix movie manages to highlight some of the most famous aspects of the city, such as its breathtaking architecture and, especially, its jaw-dropping markets. Katherine and Owen can actually be seen visiting a market in the city, which captures the fast-paced lifestyle and vibrant culture.

The Blue Beauty of Chefchaouen

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Another beautiful and recognizable location in Lonely Planet is definitely Chefchaouen. The small city in the northwestern region of Morocco stands out with its breathtaking blue buildings, which are a famous hotspot for tourists from all around the world. The scenes that were shot in Chefchaouen are not only the most visually pleasing ones, but they are arguably also the most important ones. There are key moments that took place in this location, in which Katherine and Owen truly started to get to know each other on a deeper level and develop feelings for each other. Chefchaouen is where the love between the two started to blossom.

Since Hemsworth and Dern were able to spend a few days on sight, it allowed them to fully immerse themselves in their surroundings and connect to the place. While, overall, Lonely Planet lacks believable intimacy, the scenes in Chefchaouen offer the most chemistry in the romantic movie, which could be tied to the fact that both actors felt comfortable there.

The Sea-Side of Essaouira

Lonely Planet is also one of those movies with beautiful beaches featured at some point, which immediately evoke the desire to travel somewhere similar. In Hemsworth and Dern’s romantic drama movie, the couple travels to a breathtaking city called Essaouria, which is located on the west-coast of Morocco. Essaouira is, in fact, known for its stunning beach and wind, and travelers as well as inhabitants love to make use of both by going kitesurfing.

The new Netflix movie, of course, shows the wonderful, long beach, when Katherine and Owen take a heart-warming walk through the sand and embrace each other as their feelings continue to grow. They can also be seen strolling through a dark alley in the city during the nighttime, where they share a kiss. The beauty of Essaouira doesn’t end there though, because the couple is also shown sitting by the beachfront, lost in conversation and in each other.

Unfortunately, while the city is one of those places in Morocco where their love reached a more intimate level, it is also the place that temporarily ended their connection. When Katherine’s bag with her laptop which contains all her written work is snatched from behind her while they are enjoying the view, Owen fails to retrieve it despite chasing after the thief. Katherine is completely crushed by the fact that her work for the past two years is just gone, and she immediately decides to go back home, but without Owen.

Remote Filming Locations and Los Angeles

Apart from the previously mentioned main filming locations of Lonely Planet, there are also a few other spots featured in the movie. While they are not as important as the rest, they are still special on their own. Some of the scenes are shot in the countryside of Morocco, but it is impossible to say where exactly the couple went. Katherine and Owen ended up in the middle of nowhere at some point, when their tour guides’ car broke down and couldn’t be fixed right away. Instead, the driver’s brother came to fetch the two and took them to his family’s house in a remote village.

A different shooting location is shown more towards the ending, as the story brings the audience right back to the United States. The last part of the movie is set in Los Angeles, where Katherine speaks in front of a huge audience about her new book. In order to celebrate, she then went to a bar with her friends and randomly bumped into Owen there. Even though Owen was seemingly set on not interrupting her quality time, Katherine came after him and confessed her feelings to him. In the streets of Los Angeles, she explains how she let fear of comfort take over back in Morocco and tells him that she was scared to face him because of how she behaved.

At the end of the day, Lonely Planet ended on a wonderful note with a passionate kiss between Katherine and Owen somewhere in Los Angeles, leaving their shared future open for viewers’ imagination. Lonely Planet really features some wonderful shooting locations, which certainly add a stunning flair to the movie. Lonely Planet is available to stream on Netflix.