Travel with the movies: from The Lion King’s Africa to St Moritz with Hitchcock

The Lion King, East Africa

Disney’s remake of The Lion King presents the story of Simba and Mufasa in photorealistic CGI, but nothing compares with the emotional impact of seeing lions and other wild animals. The Pride Lands of the film were modelled on Hell’s Gate national park, near Nairobi - ideal for cycling and horse riding, but not the best place to observe the circle of life. Instead head 100 miles southwest to the 50,000-acre Naboisho conservancy, bordering the Masai Mara, and its flourishing lion population. The largest pride consists of 12 adults, including four majestic males. Stay at Hemingways Ol Seki Mara (below), one of a handful of camps in the conservancy (from about £1,475pp for two nights at Ol Seki Mara, full board, and three nights half board at sister property Hemingways Watamu, a boutique beach retreat) including full board and game drives.

Safari specialist &Beyond is offering a nine-night Lion King-themed expedition, encompassing both the Masai Mara and, over the border in Tanzania, the Serengeti. Highlights include two nights at &Beyond Grumeti Serengeti Tented Camp, where you will spend your days tracking “large lion prides, bounding Simbas and Nalas and giggling clans of Shenzi and his hyena buddies up to a hundred strong” (from about £8,085 per person, full board, including activities and local flights).

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Yesterday, Suffolk and Liverpool

In Yesterday, Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis imagine that a mysterious global blackout has erased the Beatles from existence - and from the memories of everyone but Suffolk singer-songwriter Jack Malik. The rolling coast landscape provided a picturesque backdrop to Jack’s soulful reinterpretation of the Fab Four - and a reminder of the beauty of the British seaside. Stay at The Swan in Southwold (below) - used by many of Yesterday’s cast and crew during filming - where a team of butlers, many who grew up in the town, are on hand with information and advice about the areas featured in the movie (two nights for two people, including breakfast and dinner, for £560).

For those unsettled by the premise of the film, a visit to Merseyside will provide the necessary corrective. Fly in through Liverpool John Lennon airport (slogan “above us only sky”) and visit The Beatles Story in Albert Dock, join a Magical Mystery Tour, stop off at the Cavern Club and make a pilgrimage to Penny Lane and Strawberry Field.

Abominable, the Himalayas

Due out in September, the animated Dreamworks film Abominable follows the story of a teenage girl who embarks on a 3,000-mile trek in an attempt to reunite a lost yeti with his family, who happen to live on the world’s highest mountain. The cast includes Eddie Izzard and Tenzing Norgay Trainor, the young American actor whose grandfather conquered Everest alongside Sir Edmund Hillary.

You can seek a lost yeti of your own with National Geographic Expeditions, which offer a ten-day tour of Nepal and the Himalayas (above), including two days in Chitwan National Park and a visit to Neydo Monastery (from £1,384 per person, including transfers, accommodation and activities).

Hitchcock, St. Moritz

Alfred Hitchcock first visited the Swiss town of St. Moritz almost a century ago, to film the 1924 film The Prude’s Fall. He returned many times, both for business and pleasure: he spent his honeymoon in the Alpine resort and set the opening scenes of The Man Who Knew too Much there (although the sequence was actually filmed at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd’s Bush).

His hotel of choice, Badrutt’s Palace, celebrates his patronage with screenings of several Hitchcock films in its Embassy Ballroom this summer. Guests can stay in his suite (room 501, above) and feast on some of his favourite dishes in the hotel restaurant, including wiener schnitzel and tagliolini with truffle (three-night Holiday Like Hitchcock programme from £4,835 per room for two people in the Hitchcock Suite, including breakfast, film screenings and a cocktail-making class).

Casino Royale, Bodrum

Would-be secret agents can don their Speedos and jump aboard a 007-approved yacht at Caresse in Bodrum, Turkey, where a cruise aboard a Sunseeker XS 2000 is just one way to relax. James Bond himself is no stranger to the Aegean coast - in Skyfall, he takes a break from saving the world on the Turkish riviera - but it was in Casino Royale that the Sunseeker made its debut. After an afternoon exploring the bays and islands around Bodrum, you can return to your suite - and cinematic ocean views (rooms from about £225 per night, including breakfast; private yacht hire about £800 for two hours, up to four people).