'Set-jetting' — travelling to the places a film or series made famous — is booming, but a beautiful backdrop isn't a safety rating. We scored the screen-famous destinations for real safety: Tokyo tops the list at 94/100, while the most cinematic name of all, Mexico City, scores lowest at 59.
Of the screen-famous destinations we scored, Tokyo (Lost in Translation) ranks safest at 94/100 — while the most cinematic name on the list, Mexico City (Narcos: Mexico), scores lowest at 59, the only one to slip below a passing grade.
Television and film move tourists like nothing else: a hit series can turn a quiet old town into a bucket-list stop inside a single season. The problem is that a beautiful shot and a safe street are two different things, and the show never tells you which you're getting. So we took the destinations that have gone viral on screen and sorted them by their live Kakapo safety score — highest first.
| Destination | As seen in | Safety | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tokyo, Japan | Lost in Translation | 94 | Screen-famous and genuinely safe — top of the list |
| Reykjavík, Iceland | A frequent film backdrop | 93 | As safe as the scenery is cinematic |
| Dubrovnik, Croatia | Game of Thrones (King's Landing) | 89 | Beautiful and safe; the crowds are the real hazard |
| Vienna, Austria | Before Sunrise | 88 | Romantic on screen, reassuringly calm after dark |
| Edinburgh, United Kingdom | Outlander / One Day | 86 | Safe stroll, day or night |
| London, United Kingdom | The Crown | 81 | Broadly safe; ordinary big-city street smarts |
| Paris, France | Emily in Paris | 80 | The show skips the pickpockets — mind your bag |
| Seville, Spain | Game of Thrones (Dorne) | 79 | Easygoing and safe; watch bags in old-town crowds |
| Rome, Italy | A frequent film backdrop | 79 | Safe enough; the tourist crush is a pickpocket's office |
| New York City, United States | Countless — Friends to Sex and the City | 77 | Safer than its reputation; stay switched on late |
| Bangkok, Thailand | The White Lotus S3 | 76 | Fine by day; scams and traffic are the real risk |
| Palermo, Italy | The White Lotus S2 (Sicily) | 76 | Warmer than its rep; keep valuables close at night |
| Barcelona, Spain | Vicky Cristina Barcelona | 76 | Gorgeous, but Europe's pickpocket capital — mind yourself |
| Marrakesh, Morocco | A frequent film backdrop | 70 | Dazzling; expect hustle and stay alert in the medina |
| Cartagena, Colombia | A frequent screen stand-in for Colombia | 69 | Postcard by day; keep your wits after dark |
| Naples, Italy | My Brilliant Friend | 69 | Full of character; petty theft and traffic demand care |
| Mexico City, Mexico | Narcos: Mexico | 59 | The most cinematic name here scores lowest — real caution |
This is the whole point of the study. A camera crew lights a plaza at golden hour, shoots the flattering angles, and cuts before the pickpocket lifts a phone. Tokyo earns its 94 honestly — it's as safe as it is photogenic. But further down the list the picture and the reality diverge. Emily in Paris sells a city of café terraces and Seine-side strolls; Paris scores a solid 80 overall, yet its 63/100 night-safety figure is a reminder that the same streets thin out and change character after midnight. Barcelona, the sun-soaked star of countless films, is genuinely one of Europe's pickpocketing capitals — the score (76, dropping to 59 at night) says what the postcard won't.
And then there's the twist at the bottom of the table. The most instantly cinematic name here — Mexico City, the backdrop of Narcos: Mexico — is the single destination on the list to score below a passing grade, at 59/100 and just 41 after dark. That's not a reason to skip it; it's a reason to treat a screen credit as an invitation to check the real number, not a substitute for it.
Every Kakapo city carries a live overall safety score from 0–100, built from national travel advisories, local crime data, healthcare infrastructure and a dedicated night-safety measure, plus sub-scores for personal safety, transport and after-dark risk. We matched well-known, real on-screen associations to the cities in our database, pulled each one's live score (August 2026), dropped any destination without a scored database row, and ranked what remained. Full weighting is at https://kakapo.travel/about/methodology. Scores are comparative model estimates, not a guarantee of any individual trip.
Free to cite in journalism, research or content — all we ask is a link back. Copy the attribution below:
Kakapo Editorial Team (2026). Set-Jetting: The Screen-Famous Destinations, and Whether They're Actually Safe. Kakapo. https://kakapo.travel/blog/set-jetting-2026
Writing a travel-trends, streaming or destination story? We give journalists custom data pulls at no cost — the full set-jetting table, night-safety breakdowns, or the score for any city a show has just made famous. Email [email protected] and we usually reply the same day.
Kakapo publishes real safety scores for every destination, drawing on national travel advisories, local crime data, healthcare infrastructure, and night-safety measures. Kakapo Studies is our research imprint — independent editorial, no advertiser influence on scores. Contact: [email protected].