England and Ireland

For a story about real loyalty, real friendship and real love, of course the shooting locations had to be real as well. (Even if everything else about the story was fantasy).

Very little of the film was shot on soundstages, Reiner opting for the real thing whenever possible. Most of the footage of the Cliffs of Insanity was filmed at the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland; a real medieval manor house was used as Humperdinck's Castle; and the Fire Swamp scene was shot at an actual Fire Swamp in Angola (okay, so only one of those three is a lie).

Shot on film, the use of actual, exotic locales helped craft a faraway, fantastical atmosphere that fit right in with the tone of the movie. Not that there's anything all that "fantastical" about Ireland. We visited, and it was pretty, but it's not like they had dragons or wizards there or anything.

Maybe we're just tough to impress.