Re -Train Your Brain To Happiness: James Bond: Around The World With 007

You know the drill. Sharp suit, deadly mission, chic companion. On Monday, SPECTRE – the 24th James Bond film, and Daniel Craig’s fourth in the firing line – will be released. But whichever actor has stared down the barrel in the past 53 years – and however high the body count – 007 has long proved a compelling inspiration for travel, his duty to queen and country flinging him from Arctic ice to tropical jungle and everywhere in between. Indeed, each of the Bond films provides a reason to reach for your passport and fly away – without any requirement to wrestle with your foes over a giant shark tank.

1. Dr No (1962)

Much of 007’s first escapade takes place on the north coast of Jamaica. Scenes involving Ursula Andress as Honey Rider were filmed at Dunn’s River Falls, near Ocho Rios, and at Laughing Waters Beach, where her emergence from the sea in a white bikini would come to define Bond-Girl glamour. Ian Fleming had links to the area. His home, Goldeneye, where he wrote 14 of the books, still sits at Oracabessa, now reimagined as a luxury hotel. Nights in the Fleming Villa start at $5,500 (£3,584) a night. Other properties on site cost from $620 per night (goldeneye.com).

2. From Russia with Love (1963)

Sean Connery’s second outing with the Beretta makes use of Istanbul and Venice. But the story accelerates in the moments set (though not shot) on the Orient Express – from the former city to the latter. The scheduled train no longer exists, but its luxury successor, the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express ( belmond.com), will run a rare Istanbul-Bucharest-Budapest-Venice service next autumn (September 2-7). The starting price of £8,559 per person includes hotels in the Romanian and Hungarian capitals (but no flights).

3. Goldfinger (1964)

One of the classics of the franchise, the third Bond film is based around an assault on Fort Knox and its gold reserves, and thus plays out in Kentucky. The real stronghold appears on camera in exterior shots, while the US state’s biggest city Louisville (Auric Goldfinger has a stud farm nearby) and its sibling Lexington (which markets itself as “The Horse Capital of the World”) also grace the screen. America As You Like It (020 8742 8299; americaasyoulikeit.com) offers a 14-night “Bourbon, Bluegrass and Blues” road trip which calls at both as it charts the state in detail. From £1,260 a head including flights, car hire and hotel accommodation.

4. Thunderball (1965)

A plot by crime syndicate SPECTRE involving stolen nuclear weapons drags Bond to the Bahamas for a film partly shot on New Providence Island – in the capital Nassau (where the devices are hidden on the seabed), and at Love Beach (a key scene with the siren Domino). Thomas Cook Signature (thomascook.com) offers breaks a short hop from the latter at Sandals Royal Bahamian Spa Resort. A seven-night, all-inclusive holiday, flying from Heathrow on December 4, costs from £2,553 per person, with transfers.

5. You Only Live Twice (1967)

Japan provided the setting for Connery’s penultimate hurrah – via a car chase through the Akasaka district of Tokyo and 007’s visit to a ninja training school that, in real life, is the fortress of Himeji Castle, near Kobe. This 14th-century hilltop complex appears with the capital in the “World Heritage” tour sold by Inside Japan Tours (insidejapantours.com), an 18-day private trip which also visits Kyoto and Hiroshima. From £2,270 a head (two sharing), including internal travel, but not international flights.

6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

George Lazenby’s one crack at playing 007 involves one of the most famous skiing set pieces in the Bond canon, the spy racing down from a snowbound bunker founded by SPECTRE supremo Ernst Blofeld atop Switzerland’s Schilthorn peak. The location is meant to be St Moritz, but is actually the Muerren ski zone in the Bernese Oberland, with the Piz Gloria summit restaurant reimagined as the criminal genius’s lair. A seven-night, half-board break at the four-star Hotel Eiger in Muerren, flying from Gatwick to Geneva on January 9, including ski pass, costs from £1,115 a head via Inghams (inghams.co.uk).

7. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Another elaborate SPECTRE grand design involving smuggled gemstones and atomic weaponry has Bond prowling Las Vegas, staying at the Tropicana Hotel and searching for clues amid the glitter of the Circus Circus casino. Unusually for a city where the past is bulldozed with regularity, both properties still exist. Virgin Holidays (virginholidays.co.uk) offers escapes to the latter – with a seven-night stay (room only), flying from Gatwick on November 21, costing from £965 per person (two sharing).

8. Live and Let Die (1973)

Roger Moore’s first shift in the lead role pins its tale of Caribbean dictators and voodoo to the fictional island of San Monique, but dips into the real world in Louisiana – not least New Orleans, where Bourbon Street revels in its up-all-night image, and Chartres Street hosts one of the dastardly Kananga’s heroin-dealing eateries. North America Travel Service (northamericatravelservice.co.uk) offers a 12-day “Louisiana Sampler” road trip, which starts in the Big Easy before ticking off Baton Rouge and Lafayette. From £1,885 per person, with flights, car and lodging.

9. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

Christopher Lee steals the show as the titular assassin, but is ably assisted by Thailand, where the limestone islets of Phang Nga Bay – Khao Phing Kan (now commonly called “James Bond Island”) and Ko Tapu – make a superb setting for his lair. Elegant Resorts (elegantresorts.co.uk) offers holidays at the five-star Wanakarn Beach Resort & Spa, an easy, 40-mile drive from the bay. Seven-night breaks cost from £2,115 a head (two sharing), with flights, breakfast and transfers.

10. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The plotline may involve an implausible baddy making mischief in an underwater “Atlantis”, but The Spy Who Loved Me takes Roger Moore to two of Egypt’s greatest sites – the vast religious complex of Abu Simbel on the bank of Lake Nasser, and its sibling, the Karnak temple at Luxor (the latter staging a scene where 007 and KGB agent Anya Amasova track metal-toothed rogue Jaws between ancient pillars). Both places crop up on “Gift of the Nile”, a seven-night, full-board cruise by Voyages Jules Verne vjv.com). Three sailings are due in December, from £845 per person, including flights.

11. Moonraker (1979)

The main moments of this space-race yarn have Bond journeying to Brazil to fight with the indestructible Jaws on the cable-car to Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro before cutting a dash to the breathless splash and crash of Iguazu Falls on the Argentine border. Journey Latin America (020 3582 8958; journeylatinamerica.co.uk) can arrange a “Luxury Brazil” tour that splices both fabled Latin locations with time on the beach at Buzios, east of Rio. From £3,176 a head (two sharing), not including flights.

12. For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Two years after Moonraker, Bond was back on terra firma, chasing an old-school villain through Greece on a hunt for a submarine trigger system. Corfu featured heavily: the pretty village of Bouas-Danilia; the Achilleion palace, built for Austrian royalty in the 19th century; and the soaring bell tower of the Agios Spyridon church in Corfu Town. All can be seen easily during a stint in the sun. Villa Select villaselect.com) offers Villa Sivilla, which peers at Corfu Town from Nisaki, on the east coast. It sleeps eight in four bedrooms and can be rented in April from £395 a week (without flights).

13. Octopussy (1983)

Bond goes to India for this bout of cat-and-mouse with antique-dealing malefactor Kamal Khan – tailing his target through Rajasthan. Udaipur shines on screen, particularly in the form of the Monsoon Palace, a jewel of a building created for the ruling Mewar dynasty in 1884. Cox & Kings (coxandkings.co.uk) serves up a 15-day “Classic Rajasthan” private tour, which spends two days in Udaipur before crossing the state for time in Jodhpur and Jaipur (as well as Delhi). From £1,695 per person, including flights.

14. A View to a Kill (1985)

Moore’s final assignment was to battle Christopher Walken’s enigmatic baddy Max Zorin – whose plans to destroy Silicon Valley found much of their momentum in San Francisco. The film’s fire-engine chase scene barged its way down 3rd Street Bridge and 3rd Street, and in the grand finale Bond and Zorin fight to the death on the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge. A seven-night, room-only break at the four-star Sheraton Fisherman’s Wharf, close to the heart of this action, flying from Heathrow on April 23, costs from £1,400 a head (two sharing) through British Airways Holidays (ba.com/holidays).

15. The Living Daylights (1987)

Timothy Dalton’s first appearance as Bond was a classic tussle with Russian spies that set much of its story in Vienna during the fading hours of the Cold War. The Austrian capital showed its face via the likes of the Schoenbrunn Palace (a 17th-century Baroque joy), leafy Prater Park and the Volksoper opera house (pretending to be in Bratislava, over the Iron Curtain). Kirker Holidays (kirkerholidays.com) is offering three nights at Vienna’s four-star Altstadt hotel from £698 a head, with flights, transfers and breakfast.

16. Licence to Kill (1989)

Dalton’s second outing in the tuxedo pitched its struggle with a Latin druglord in Mexico but also found spectacular context in the Florida Keys, via the Ernest Hemingway Museum in Key West, and the road-trip nirvana of the Overseas Highway (with an armoured car plunging splendidly from the road’s most photogenic stretch, Seven Mile Bridge). Bon Voyage (0800 316 3012; bon-voyage.co.uk) offers “The Florida Keys and the Incredible Overseas Highway”, a nine-day, fly-drive package that blazes south from Miami. From £1,795 a head, with flights, hotels and hire of a convertible.

17. Goldeneye (1995)

The Pierce Brosnan era arrived in style with a bungee-jump down the Verzasca Dam, in southern Switzerland (trekking.ch; from 195 Swiss Francs/£132). But Goldeneye asserted its post-Cold War credentials with scenes shot in St Petersburg – taking in the Hermitage, the broad avenue of Nevsky Prospekt, Dvortsovaya Square, and a tank chase that barrelled along the Moika Canal. Regent Holidays (regent-holidays.co.uk) offers three-night stays at the city’s gilded Hotel Astoria, from £745 a head, with flights and breakfast.

18. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Brosnan’s battle with Jonathan Pryce’s media mogul Elliot Carver blurred its Far Eastern coordinates (set in Vietnam, filmed in Thailand), but created one of the best car chases of the series in Europe, with Bond piloting a BMW around a multistorey car park in Hamburg by hand-held device, then smashing it through a window on Moenckebergstrasse. The Galeria Kaufhof department store appeared on screen, while Bond rested his head at the Hotel Atlantic. A three-night, room-only break at this five-star dame, flying from Gatwick on November 26, costs from £373 per head via Last Minute (lastminute.com).

19. The World Is Not Enough (1999)

The final Bond film of the 20th century followed From Russia with Love back to Istanbul, flickering on both sides of the Bosporus via the Maiden’s Tower (a striking structure on an islet in the river), and the 19th-century wonder of the Kucuksu Palace, in the Beykoz district. Martin Randall Travel (martinrandall.com) is offering “Istanbul – Byzantine and Ottoman Metropolis”, a seven-day group trip which will analyse the heritage of Turkey’s greatest city next autumn (September 27-October 3 2016), including visits to the Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque, from £2,620 per person with flights.

20. Die Another Day (2002)

Brosnan’s last stand planted its narrative flag in North Korea and Iceland. However, it looked at its best in Cadiz, which did an excellent impression of Havana, with Halle Berry striding out of the sea in homage to Ursula Andress at Playa de la Caleta; the 17th-century Castillo de Santa Catalina ably impersonated the harbour walls of the Cuban capital. This tiny sliver of a city is Spain at its most historic and is well worth exploring. A three-night stay at the four-star Hotel Monte Puertatierra (room only), flying from Heathrow to Jerez on November 19, starts at £269 a head via Expedia (expedia.co.uk).

21. Casino Royale (2006)

Enter Daniel Craig for a grittier version of Bond which haunted Venice and Madagascar (the Bahamas doubling as the latter), but shone brightest at Lake Como – 007 recovering from torture amid the 18th-century majesty of Villa del Balbianello (fondoambiente.it; entry €15/£11), and apprehending the elusive Mr White at Villa Gaeta, on the west side of the water, near Menaggio. The latter, a one-bedroom pile, can be rented through Lake Como Homes (020 7099 0868; lakecomohomes.com). Four-night stays start at €1,350/£977 (without flights).

22. Quantum of Solace (2008)

The uninspiring sequel to Casino Royale meandered complicatedly through Italy, Austria and Haiti, but found a widescreen arena for its denouement, with eco-villain Dominic Greene being left to die in the Bolivian portion of the Atacama Desert, although the sequence was filmed across the Chilean border. Explore ( explore.co.uk) will provide snapshots of this arid realm on both sides of the frontier via “Atacama to Machu Picchu” – a 19-day, three-country group odyssey that will also venture into Peru when it starts its journey on March 19. From £4,290 per person (based on two sharing), including flights.

23. Skyfall (2012)

This Oscar winner revisited Bond staple Istanbul and flirted with Shanghai. But its showpiece location, even if only for exterior shots, was the island of Hashima, off Nagasaki in south-western Japan, whose abandoned mine and empty buildings made a ghostly base for Javier Bardem’s bad guy Raoul Silva. It can be visited from Nagasaki via Gunkanjima Concierge (0081 95 895 9300; gunkanjima-concierge.com; £21. Audley Travel (audleytravel.com) offers a 17-day “Ultimate Kyushu” private tour which spends three days in the city, from £3,165 per person, including flights.

24. SPECTRE (2015)

This autumn’s most anticipated movie begins with a bang, turning the camera on Day of the Dead, Mexico’s tribute to its dearly departed (October 31-November 2). Those seeking to learn more about this extravaganza may be attracted to the “Day of the Dead Culture and History Tour” slated for next year (October 28-November 5) by Rainbow Tours
(rainbowtours.co.uk). This nine-day group trip will travel to Oaxaca and guests will stay in a family home for a closer glimpse of the rituals involved. From £2,795 per person, with flights.

And back in London…

While his lethal wanderings have taken him across the planet, every film, at some point, finds Bond touching base in London. Dukes Bar, at the Dukes Hotel in Mayfair, is one place to sample the spirit of 007. Ian Fleming used to drink here, and the bar is believed to have been the inspiration for the line “shaken, not stirred”. Unsurprisingly, it makes a fine fist of vodka martinis – and is serving a white truffle martini until the end of this month. Double rooms cost from £281, accommodation only (dukeshotel.com).