Tags
007, 007 location, Casino Royale, Czech Republic, film travel, filming location, James Bond, James Bond filming location, James Bond location, James Bond travel, Karlovy Vary, Karlsbad, movie location, travel
James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) arrived by train to Montenegro. They got into the black limousine parked at the railway station and drove to the Hotel Splendide. 007 was sent to the Balkans to play poker against Le Chiffre in the titled Casino Royale.
In the film James Bond made journey to Montenegro, but it was filmed mostly in spa-town of Karlovy Vary in Bohemia, west Czech Republic. The Montenegrin train station was in reality the Mill Colonnade.
There was a scene with Bond and Vesper walking and talking on their way to the limousine filmed between columns of the Mill Colonnade, however it was deleted from the final version of the film.
The limousine waiting for James Bond and Vesper Lynd was filmed at Lazenska street next to the Mill Colonnade. The street in reality is not much different from the film shot.
Next scene with the limousine on the the way to the Hotel Splendide was filmed at Trziste street with the Holy Trinity Column and the Castle Tower in background. The limousine turned right and drove towards the Market Colonnade. In reality the car would be shortly at the starting point. The Mill Colonnade is at the end of the street.
The building that appeared in the film as the Hotel Splendide was the Grandhotel Pupp. The limousine with 007 and Vesper arrived at the entrance to the hotel. In the film there was asphalt square. Currently there are cobblestones. Walking on them you can find several plates with names of famous hotel guests. ‘Daniel Craig’ is engraved on one of them.
When I visited the hotel in2017, the lobby looked pretty similar to the one from 2006, when it was the film set. James Bond and Vesper Lynd were standing at the reception desk that you can see below. When Bond asked Vesper to pay for their stay, there were stairs and corridor visible in background.
Elevator doors look the same as in the film.Vesper Lynd got into the elevator alone and asked Bond to take another one. As you can see, currently there is a mirror inside the elevator. In the film there was wooden wall. When the elevator doors closed the receptionist came up to Bond and gave him an envelope with car keys.
Bond went to the parking lot where Aston Martin DBS was parked. It was real parking lot at Goethova Stezka street in front of the Gradhotel Pupp.
In the evening James Bond walked from the hotel to Casino Royale. In background you could see Grandhotel Pupp as in the photo below.
Magnificent spa house located very close to the Granhotel Pupp was used for the titled Casino Royale. The Imperial Spa was built at the end of the 19th century. In 1922 it was renamed to Spa I. At the end of 20th century the building gradually fell into disrepair. The overall restoration of the spa began in 2019. In 2023 it was reopened to the public.
You can recognize the facade of the building from the ‘Casino Royale’ poster as well as DVD and Blu-ray covers. There was no access to the building for several years. In 2017 it was opened for visitors. In the corner of a large room upstairs there is a poster with photos from the film set. You can see there how the interior of the building became interior of Casino Royale. General casino room and the staircase were filmed in that building. The room where Bond and Le Chiffre were playing poker was built in film studio in Prague.
There were film lights mounted over the set, therefore magnificent ceiling in the room was not visible in the film. There were tables in the middle of the room and bar counter between columns, all the rest such as paintings on a wall and lamp were unchanged. It still looks as in the film. James Bond walked along the room. At the beginning of the shot you could see the painting over the door on the right in photo below.
Below you can see the opposite side of the room. There was the entrance to the ‘SALON PRIVE’ where 007 was playing poker.
During a break in the game of poker James Bond and Vesper Lynd were attacked at the hotel by two assasins. Bond killed them both in the fight in the stairwell. Rene Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) hid their bodies into the trunk of the car parked in front of the hotel. Mathis told Bond about that while they were standing on a balcony (see photo below).
James Bond returned to the poker game and lost all the money. 007 and Vesper went to the balcony. He tried to convince her that she would give him more money, but with no success.
Bond returned to the main room in the casino and ordered a drink. Bar counter was built between columns that you can see in next two photos.
James Bond was standing by the column, when he saw Le Chiffre with Valenka (Ivana Milicevic) and Kratt (Clemens Schick) leaving the casino. Next photo was taken from the place where the bar counter was located. You can see on the left the door where Le Chiffre was heading to.
Bond took a knife from a table and went to the door after the villain. James Bond ran down the stairs. In the next photo you can see where that scene was filmed. On the right you can see opened door to the room where the scene with 007 at the bar counter was filmed.On the staircase Bond met Felix Leiter from CIA. Jeffrey Right, who played ‘brother from Langley’, walked the stairs that you can see in the next photo covered with red carpet.
Felix Leiter offered Bond money for the poker game. In the next two photos you can see where they were standing and talking.
Bond won the game. He left the casino with Vesper to celebrate at the dinner. The scene in the restaurant was filmed in the Granhotel Pupp. Below you can see the table where the scene was filmed.
Go to LOCATIONS GALLERY – ‘CASINO ROYALE’ to see locations photos compared with movie scenes.
Sources:
– www.karlovyvary.cz/en
– cisarskelazne.cz
– www.pupp.cz
More photos from Karlovy Vary:
In Barrandov Studio logo (photo above) you can see the studio main building (photo below) that is located at Krizeneckeho namesti.
Inside the building, in front of the reception desk, there are film posters, with “Casino Royale’ in the middle, hanging on the wall. It is worth mentioning that there were also other international films shot at Barrandov Studio such as ‘Mission: Impossible’, ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’, ‘The Bourne Identity’ etc.
Streets inside the Barrandov Studio are named after famous Czech film directors. Below you can see a photo of Otakar Vavra street sign. 
Next photos show the building where ‘Casino Royale’ was shot. It was built in 1940’s. There is a hudge Barrandov Studios logo on the roof of the building that can be seen i.e. on 
There is an entrance to the offices in the building at Otakar Vavra street.
On the other side of the building, at Frantisek Vlacil street, there are large entry gates to three stages.
‘Casino Royale’ was shot in Stage Number 6, where main decoration was built. Total area of the stage is 40 meters x 50 meters with construction area 36 meters x 46 meters and a height of 12 meters.
‘Casino Royale’ was also shot in Stage Number 7, where main decoration was built. Total area of the stage is 29 meters x 40 meters with construction area 25 meters x 36 meters and a height of 12 meters. Photo below shows film decorations in that stage.
It is worth to visit empty stage to see how big that is. Below you can see part of the Stage MAX that is the largest stage in Europe at 4,000 square metres at height of 13,75 meters. It was oficially opened on December 2006, a few months after ‘Casino Royale’ was shot.
I have also visited furniture warehouse looking for some props from ‘Casino Royale’. 
I would like to thank Jakub Zika and Lubomir Konecny from Barrandov Studio.
