It’s season break for my favorite American TV shows. A perfect reason to rediscover my fondness over K-Drama.
Before the age of mobile internet, your first-born Filipino millennial (*ahem* myself included) had to rush home from school to watch Meteor Garden (okay, that’s Taiwanese), and stay a little late for Endless Love, Full House, Jewel in the Palance, Princess Hours, and a lot more. Now, with faster internet speeds, free streaming sites and mobile applications, catching up on more k-drama has been easier.
After watching Descendants of the Sun starring the classic and timeless Song Hye Kyo and the most adorable Song Joong Ki, I have rejoined this generation’s addiction to Korean story lines and Hallyu stars. Not only are the plots adorable enough to make you smile the whole 60-minute episode, they also showcase beautiful destinations in and outside ROK.
I have come to a whole new appreciation of the beauty of South Korea and how its screenwriters effectively promote their culture and tourism. I like that some series would shoot on similar locations, making fans of the place and not just the characters. No wonder, South Korea is a dream destination for most, if not all, k-drama fans.
Now, outside ROK, three beautifully written series featured some breathtaking scenery in Canada, Greece, and Spain. These three were all a hit and have convinced me to add their filming locations to my travel dreams.
1. Legend of the Blue Sea in Spain
Lee Min Ho and Jun Ji-hyun’s story involved a lot of magical and mysterious elements. Mermaids, connected lives from and across time, hypnosis. It was fitting to have filmed the first few episodes in an equally enchanted location.
Spain is one of the few countries in the world to embrace an old soul’s identity. And while I was only thinking of Barcelona and Madrid when dreaming of Spain, The Legend of the Blue Sea has definitely vintaged up my travel goals.
Here are some screen grabs from the series’ episode 2 that I streamed via KissAsian.com.



insiders said that while this shot was taken from Spain, the close-up scenes with the lead stars were filmed in Mazeland in Jeju Island.

Dubbed as the “end of the world,” this tower overlooks the North Atlantic Coast of Spain. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ancient Romans said to have a lot of shipwrecks in this area which earned it the name, “end of the world.”
From this show’s shots, the ocean looked terrifying indeed, but it is as captivating, too.
2. Goblin in Québec, Canada
I think the creative team behind Goblin was genius to choose Quebec during autumn as the filming location for where the Goblin and his bride would begin to connect. It’s autumn in a vibrant city. It is, like the whole Goblin story, a sad sad but beautiful love affair. Here are screen grabs from the mobile app, Viu.












3. Descendants of the Sun in Greece
I’ve always wanted to visit Greece so with DOTS as an extra inspiration, I might just craft my itinerary around the misadventures of the SongSong couple. Now, this might take a little bit more research because their creative team also recreated some of the places when they got back in Korea. Nonetheless, here are my saved screenshots from the super handy Viu app.


From blue waters and beautiful ruins, DOTS also made sure to feature the sand dunes, desert parts of Greece. Points of interests in Si Jin and Mo-yeon scenes were Arachova, Myrina and Gomati. In the finale special, the director explained why they chose Greece as the location–the sun is really huge and bright in this part of the world, giving justice to their title–Descendants of the Sun.
Did you like this post? Pin the image below and save this for your next travel planning sesh!
Spain is a fabulous country. I’m not sure about the mermaids, but according to legend the exist in the Rhine.
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I love KDramas too. One thing that struck me the most were the picturesque film locations not only around South Korea but also in some parts of the world. I wish I can visit them all someday.
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Hey you have such a wonderful pictures here! I loved them all!
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Though I am ignorant of the TV scene in the Philippines, what I can see is that the producers have chosen some magnificent settings for filming their serials. Greece, Spain and Canada make such surreal backdrops for the on screen drama, I am sure the outdoor locations must be one of the highlights of these shows.
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I loved Spain while watching a Bollywood movie ‘Zindagi na milegi dobara’ and I loved reading about it here as well. Hercules tower is true to its name “end of the world” It’s actually scary looking at the sea from that angle. Thanks for the blog post and specially the pics. There are many pics and all seem better than the previous one!
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Thank you for sharing this list! I only watched Descendants of the sun and I tried to search where they took those episodes. And finally! I found the answer! Hahaha. Also, I will try to watch the other k-drama soon. Thanks again!
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I normally don’t get time to watch TV. But this serial interests me..looking at your pictures..the kind of landscape that they are using is really breathtaking.
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Your post surely has one of the awesome pictures and the producer too has taken extra care while choosing the backdrops and landscapes. Seeing them even I need to ass Spain, Greece and Canada to my bucket list.
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KDRAMA FANATIC HERE!!! Fave ko ng sobra ung sa DOTS! 💘
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