From zipline parks in Maple Ridge to volcanic black sand beaches in Iceland, here’s where the world of the Gaang actually exists.
If you’ve been watching Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and felt like the landscapes looked almost too real to be a fantasy show, that’s because a lot of them are. While the series leans heavily on cutting-edge LED stage technology, the production also shot across real locations in British Columbia, Canada, and for Season 3, took the whole cast to Iceland.
Here’s a breakdown of every confirmed filming location, by season, and what you can actually do if you visit.
The Home Base: Vancouver, British Columbia
Nearly every season of the live-action Avatar was anchored in Metro Vancouver and the surrounding municipalities in British Columbia. Canada’s West Coast has long been a favorite stand-in for major productions, diverse terrain, no Hollywood price tags, and world-class crew infrastructure.
The indoor heart of the production sits at the Canadian Motion Picture Park in South Burnaby, which houses the largest LED soundstage in the world. The stage spans 22,000 square feet, lined with 2,500 LED wall panels and 760 LED ceiling panels, and holds a Guinness World Record that was confirmed while the show was still shooting Season 1. Most of the sweeping fantasy environments, palace interiors, Fire Nation chambers, the depths of Ba Sing Se, were built here, not on location.
But outside that soundstage, the production spread across four municipalities for outdoor scenes: Burnaby, Maple Ridge, Langley, and Surrey.
Season 1 Filming Locations
Robert Burnaby Park, Burnaby
The 48-hectare forest park in Burnaby doubled as the spirit world for Aang’s encounter with Avatar Kyoshi. The dense canopy and filtered light made it a natural fit for those otherworldly sequences. The park has over 200 km of paths and trails and is open to the public year-round. It’s a straightforward day-trip from downtown Vancouver. 📍 View on Google Maps
WildPlay Maple Ridge, Maple Ridge
This high-rope and zipline park was used extensively in Episode 3 as Jet’s forest hideaway on the outskirts of Omashu. Sections of the course are actually visible on screen when Jet brings Katara to his hideout. The good news: you can book the same courses today as a regular visitor. The backdrop of the Coast Mountain Range only adds to the atmosphere. 📍 View on Google Maps
MacInnes Farms (Jamestown Movie Set), Langley
The cave scenes from Episode 3, where Aang and Teo explore an underground cavern, were filmed at a real cave here on this Langley production property. Not publicly accessible as a tourist stop, but the surrounding Langley area has its own boutiques, eateries, and rural parks worth exploring.
The Farm on 264th, Langley
All the shots of Zuko and Iroh exploring the town of Senlin were filmed at this Langley studio, another frequented location for Canadian and international productions. Again, not a tourist destination in itself, but Langley overall is one of BC’s most scenic rural areas.
Panther Paintball, Surrey
Some of the Spirit World scenes from Episode 5 were shot here, across the property’s 57-acre landscape. The site’s diverse terrain, from supernatural-looking cabins to open dunes, gave the production exactly the surreal quality those scenes needed. Paintball sessions are open to the public. 📍 View on Google Maps
Season 2 Filming Locations
Season 2 expanded the geography slightly, moving into new municipalities including North Vancouver, Squamish, and the Sea to Sky corridor.
Britannia Mine Museum, Britannia Beach, Squamish
This is the most immediately recognizable Season 2 location. The underground fight scene in Episode 2, the “Earth Rumble” arena, was filmed inside the actual mine tunnels of the Britannia Mine Museum. It’s a UNESCO-designated heritage site about an hour north of Vancouver on the Sea to Sky Highway, and it’s fully open to the public with guided mine tours and interactive exhibits. Genuinely one of the cooler real-world filming locations in the whole series. 📍 View on Google Maps
Mount Seymour, North Vancouver
Mount Seymour Provincial Park appears as a filming location for Season 2 and provides exactly the kind of rugged mountain terrain the Earth Kingdom storylines needed. In non-production life, it’s a popular spot for hiking in summer and skiing in winter, about 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver. 📍 View on Google Maps
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver
This confirmed Season 2 location is one of the few authentic Ming Dynasty-style classical Chinese gardens outside of China. It’s located in Vancouver’s Chinatown and open to the public year-round. Given how much of Season 2 is set in Ba Sing Se, a city inspired heavily by Chinese culture and architecture, this one makes complete visual sense. 📍 View on Google Maps
Kawartha Dairy Farm, Surrey
Also confirmed for Season 2 by Netflix’s own location tracker, this Surrey location rounded out the Earth Kingdom’s more rural, village-style settings.
Season 3 Filming Locations
Season 3 broke new ground, literally. Production began in Iceland in May 2025 before returning to Vancouver through November.
Iceland
Season 3 kicked off filming on May 20, 2025, in Iceland, with the cast spending roughly a month there before returning to British Columbia. Iceland’s volcanic black sand beaches, lava fields, and dramatic rugged terrain made it a natural visual stand-in for the Fire Nation, which, in Season 3, is where much of the story takes place. There’s also a neat bit of trivia here: Iceland’s Gullfoss waterfall served as inspiration for scenes in the original animated series’ Book 3 as well, so the live-action production was in some ways returning to a spiritual source.
The specific Icelandic locations haven’t been officially disclosed, but the country’s southern coast, including the black sand beaches of Vík and the volcanic landscapes around the area, are among the most visually striking in the world and accessible to any visitor.
📍 Vík Black Sand Beach — View on Google Maps 📍 Gullfoss Falls — View on Google Maps
Back to Vancouver, Lynn Canyon Park and Port Moody
Production returned to British Columbia in late June 2025, including shooting at Lynn Canyon Park in North Vancouver and at the Flavelle Mill site in Port Moody, where a casting call for Earth Kingdom background performers was posted in May 2025. Lynn Canyon is a free public park with suspension bridges and waterfalls, well worth a visit on its own. 📍 Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge, View on Google Maps
Planning a Trip: The Practical Side
If you’re thinking about turning this into an actual itinerary, British Columbia is a genuinely great travel destination beyond the Avatar connection. Vancouver is easy to fly into, the Sea to Sky Highway (Hwy 99) connecting Vancouver to Squamish and Whistler is one of the most scenic drives in North America, and most of the filming locations are within a 90-minute radius of the city.
A loose route could look like:
Day 1, Burnaby & Vancouver: Morning at Robert Burnaby Park, afternoon at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown, evening in downtown Vancouver.
Day 2, Maple Ridge & Langley: WildPlay Maple Ridge in the morning (book ahead), lunch in Maple Ridge’s downtown, afternoon drive through Langley’s rural areas.
Day 3, Sea to Sky: Drive the Sea to Sky Highway north to Britannia Mine Museum, continue to Squamish for lunch, optional hike at the Sea to Sky Gondola.
For Iceland, any of the major tour operators in Reykjavik offer day trips or multi-day drives along the South Coast, which is where the volcanic scenery most closely resembles what you’d see on screen in Season 3.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
Netflix has an official resource called Netflix in Your Neighbourhood (netflixinyourneighbourhood.ca) that maps out confirmed Canadian filming locations for their productions, including Avatar: The Last Airbender across all seasons. It’s the cleanest single source for verified location data if you want to plan a more detailed visit.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 1 and Season 2 are now streaming on Netflix. Season 3 is expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
