Five seasons and a stage play into its journey, the immense world-building of the Netflix hit “Stranger Things,” inspired by Amblin, is rivaled only by its enormous fanbase. Rooted firmly in the heart of the 1980s, the show brings to life a series of unforgettable settings. At the heart of it all is the quaint, picturesque town of Hawkins, Indiana, which draws inspiration from the imaginations of Steven Spielberg, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King—the latter’s works were assigned reading material for the cast by the creators, the Duffer Brothers.

The series thrives on its nostalgic, quintessential locations, reminiscent of the beloved haunts of Gen Xers: the tree-lined streets where children pedaled their bikes until dusk, the vibrant roller skating rink, the buzzing arcade, the neighborhood high schools, the California skate park, and especially the 1980s defining social center, the mall food court. This is not to overlook the show’s darker venues, which include the eerie Upside Down, the sinister Hawkins Laboratory, and a Russian prison echoing the direst fears of the Cold War era under Ronald Reagan.

A significant factor in the show’s captivating nature is the producers’ ability to convincingly bring these settings to life. This was achieved by using some standout locations across Georgia, New Mexico, and even Lithuania, many of which are accessible to fans today. If you plan to explore these sites, here’s a full list to guide you—just make sure to carry your D20 in case you need to roll for initiative.

With its lucrative tax incentives for production studios, historic architecture, diverse landscapes, endless acreage of lush green forest, and coastal ecosystems that include tidal pools, barrier islands, estuaries, and miles of gold sand beaches, Georgia has become a important filming location in recent decades. “Stranger Things” is part of a long list of TV shows filmed in the production-friendly Peach State, like “Ozark,” “The Walking Dead,” and “The Vampire Diaries,” with many of the show’s sites filmed in or around Atlanta.

The intrusive five-story Late Modernist exterior for the ominous Hawkins National Laboratory is that of Building A of the Georgia Mental Health Institute. The Brutalist facade was also used in the 2017 “The Ring” sequel “Rings” and the Kirsten Dunst-starring “Civil War,” as well as “Hidden Figures,” “Ozark,” and “WandaVision,” among others. The mental health hospital was, at the time of production, located on the Briarcliff campus of Emory University at 1256 Briarcliff Road in Atlanta. However, the building is slated for demolition at some indeterminate time in the future as part of a senior living community project.

Other key sites around Atlanta include Eddie Munson’s secret spot Skull Rock. Located in Southwest Atlanta at 1238 Boat Rock Road SW, its real-world counterpart is a nearly mile-long boulder field called Boat Rock Bouldering Area. The Bingham and Lonnie Byers home exteriors are also in Atlanta at 835 Oakdale Rd NE and 930 Garibaldi Street SW, respectively.

Sattler Quarry, the surreal-looking reservoir where Will Byers’ (Noah Schnapp) fake body is found in “Holly, Jolly” — courtesy of the freaks over at Hawkins Lab — was filmed in another spot that’s pretty popular among TV and film production teams for obvious reasons. Located at 1660 Johnson Rd NW in Atlanta, Sattler Quarry was filmed at the former site of Bellwood Quarry. The northwest Atlanta granite quarry where Fulton Prison inmates once labored had been operational for more than a century before the city of Atlanta purchased it for conversion into a park and water reservoir in 2006.

Now kitted out with winding trails and gazebos — not to mention the site of a future bike park — the stunning 35-acre green space, the city’s largest, is part of the Atlanta park system called the Atlanta Beltline. The site, which was renamed for former Atlanta mayor Shirley Clarke Franklin in 2024, can be seen in dozens of films and TV series. The reservoir features heavily in “The Walking Dead” episode “Tell it to the Frogs,” and it is also the site where Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) sang “The Hanging Tree” in “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1.” It also showed up in “The Vampire Diaries” as Steven’s Quarry, where Salvatore brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) underwent their vampiric transitions.

Many “Stranger Things” sites can be found in Atlanta’s suburbs, starting with Starcourt Mall. Unlike the vibrant 1980s hotspot in “Stranger Things,” Starcourt’s real-world version, called Gwinnett Place Mall, is — like far too many once-great malls these days — a forgotten liminal space. Located at 2100 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, Georgia, its last store closed in 2025, with an imminent demolition and redevelopment on the horizon. 

Meanwhile, Patrick Henry High School, a Stockbridge school located at 109 S. Lee Street that doubled as both Hawkins Middle and High Schools, was demolished in 2024 to make room for a $73 million STEM high school. Stockbridge is also home to Smokin’ Cues, the real-world counterpart of Hawkins bar Hideaway. 

Before closing its doors after nearly 70 years thanks to online sellers, longtime Marietta, Georgia staple Hodge Army Navy at 507 Cobb Parkway SE served as Hawkins’ weapons shop, The War Zone. Other spots near Atlanta include Conyers’ Georgia International Horse Park, which doubled as woods, and the Harrington home at 8253 Carlton Road in Riverdale. The real Tiffany’s Kitchen in Lithia Springs served as Eleven’s (Millie Bobbie Brown) meal site Benny’s Burgers, and Palmetto’s Bradley’s Big Buy is a real spot near Weathertop, where Dustin and Mike look for Eleven on bikes in Season 1. Winston’s now-closed Fair Mart in Winston was also real, and Tucker’s Joppa and Sarahs Lane was the site of Eleven’s van-flipping Season 1 bike chase.

Downtown Hawkins is one of those iconic Main Street, U.S.A. sort of towns where just about everything its residents need can be found in the cute little shops lining its main drag. The real downtown Hawkins is the charming town of Jackson, Georgia, located a little less than an hour’s drive from Atlanta. Every site in Jackson can be seen in the span of a leisurely afternoon walk or via the Stranger Things Guided Tour.

Start in the town square on Mulberry Street, located near 2nd Street and Oak Street. Take a stroll through Jackson, where you’ll see the site of Hawk Theater, the town’s charming main local movie theater until Starcourt’s big cinema arrived. It’s actually Bradley’s on the Square, a highly reviewed restaurant and pub you can dine in. 

Nearby, you’ll find Butts County Probate Court, which served as the exterior for Hawkins Public Library. You’ll also spot the place, near Butts County Water and Sewer Authority, where Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) get into it after Will’s funeral in “The Body,” as well as the alley where Jonathan and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) fight it out in “The Monster.” And down at 4 Second Street is Joyce’s workplace, Melvaid’s General Store — called Jackson Drug in the real world.

Most of the houses used in “Stranger Things” tend to be private residences. While you can drive around and see them, it’s important to do it from a distance and be respectful of the residents who live there, instead of terrorizing them like the folks throwing pizzas on top of Walter White’s house from “Breaking Bad.” With that said, you can see quite a few “Stranger Things” houses on a casual drive around Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Lucas’s (Caleb McLaughlin) neighborhood in East Point, Georgia, a suburban community just 13 minutes from Atlanta.

Start on Piney Wood Lane, where you’ll find Mike and Nancy Wheeler’s (Natalia Dyer) house (2530), the Sinclair house (2550), and between them at 2545, the house where Will, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Mike, and Lucas, dressed as “Ghostbusters,” get called exterminators by an older lady. On Piney Wood Drive, you’ll find the home of the late Barb Holland (Shannon Purser) at 2980 and the home of Dustin Henderson’s family just a bit down the road at 2886. Then head to 2461 McAlpine Terrace to find the lookout point that overlooks the Wheeler home.

While in East Point, be sure to check out the rest of the Hawkins spots that can be found here. At 2903 RN Martin Street, there’s the abandoned Old Atlanta Utility Works, which became Brimborn Steel Works and served as the Mind Flayer’s lair in Seasons 2 and 3. Down at 2813 East Point Street, you’ll find the town’s First Baptist Church. The series used exterior shots of this building as Hawkins General Hospital, where Hopper (David Harbour) apprehensively steps into the Hawkins National Laboratory vehicle in “The Upside Down” to make a deal with Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine). Travel down Thompson Avenue and you’ll eventually find the view seen in the series.

The East Point Historic Civic Block, which sits between East Point Street, West Cleveland Avenue, Church Street, and Linwood Avenue, is home to Old East Point Library. Although it won’t look familiar from the outside, the interior was used for Hawkins Public Library. East Point City Hall, which narrowly escaped demolition in 2011 thanks to a community outcry, served as Hawkins Town Hall.

Located about 20 minutes south of downtown Atlanta, Georgia suburb Fayetteville is yet another hotspot for “Stranger Things” filming locations. The home of the Byers family can be found at 149 Coastline Road. The best part? It’s a three-bedroom Airbnb you can rent with up to six people in your party, and the owners have managed to recreate the set fairly faithfully right down to the Christmas light alphabet and BMX bikes.

Nearby at 422 Lees Lake Road is the Ives family home, which includes Eleven’s biological mom Terry (Aimee Mullins) and aunt Becky (Amy Seimetz). Over on the botanically-named corner of Dogwood Trail and Flower Road is the spot where Hopper stops to make a call while en route to the Ives home with Joyce. Bethany Cemetery, the site used for Will Byers’ funeral in Season 1, is a Fayetteville cemetery dating back to the Civil War.

Head out about 20 minutes or so west of Atlanta and you’ll find Douglasville, a cute little suburb that is home to two major “Stranger Things” filming locations. The first is the dual-purpose building that serves as both Family Video and the adjacent Palace Arcade, where Dustin saw his Dragon’s Lair score bested by Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). To create the teen hangout, the show’s producers transformed a former laundromat and dry cleaning establishment located at 6501 E. Church Street that had sat vacant for a couple of years before filming.

Head over to Courthouse Square to see the updated exterior of the building used for Hawkins Police Department. Located at 8549 Courthouse Square West, the building has been renovated over the past few years to the point that it’s hardly recognizable. But if you look closely, you can see that the window and door placement look awfully familiar — almost like an Upside Down version of the Hawkins law enforcement hub.

A half hour northeast of Atlanta is the sleepy community of Stone Mountain. The town stands adjacent to Stone Mountain Park, a sprawling Georgia state park situated around its titular mass of granite and its massive rock relief featuring Confederate leaders Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee.

Several sites around Stone Mountain are featured in “Stranger Things.” The Sears home where Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery), Max, and their mom Susan (Jennifer Marshall) live is at 5280 Moore Street, an in-show address Max cites as 4819 Cherry Lane in “The Battle of Starcourt” and on “Old Cherry Road” in “Trick or Treat, Freak.” The nearly 7300-square foot mansion where Mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes) lives is at 5505 Bahia Mar Circle, while another fancy Loch Nora home can be seen at 1590 Planters Row.

Many of the Hawkins Woods scenes were filmed in Stone Mountain Park, including the spot with Will’s fort from “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers.” The Season 2 scenes where Lucas, Dustin, Steve, and Max walk down the tracks and where Dustin and Steve attempt to lure the Demodogs with a meat trail were also filmed here. The Scottish Inns at 6255 Memorial Drive stood in for Nancy and Jonathan’s Motor Motel from Season 2. And Roane Hill Cemetery, where Barb’s funeral took place, was filmed at Stone Mountain Cemetery.

An hour and 15 minutes northwest of Atlanta on I-75 is the smallish community of Rome, Georgia, where two “Stranger Things” sites connected to Victor Creel (Robert Englund) can be seen. The most notable is arguably the real house that played Victor Creel’s former home, located at 906 E 2nd Avenue in the East Rome Historic District. Unlike the dilapidated shell found by the kids in “Stranger Things,” the home’s real-world counterpart, an estate called Claremont House, is an absolutely dreamy seven-bedroom Second Empire Victorian mansion constructed in 1882.

Production designer Chris Trujillo noted Claremont’s “uniquely imposing air” in the July/August 2022 issue of Perspective magazine. According to Trujillo, the design team recreated every detail of the home’s ornate, hand-carved interior on a soundstage while adding surrealist details to the upper levels. “We invented our own labyrinthine layout for the upper floor and attic to accommodate the extended explorations and climactic showdown that take place there,” Trujillo wrote.

About 10 minutes away in nearby Mount Berry is the real version of Pennhurst Mental Hospital, the Kerley County, Indiana mental hospital containing the criminal ward where Creel was housed since 1959. In the real world, Pennhurst was filmed at the Ford Buildings of Berry College, a gorgeous collection of stone buildings also featured in “Sweet Home, Alabama” and “Remember the Titans.”

While most of “Stranger Things” was shot in Georgia, many of the locations used to create the show’s California scenes were shot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These include Eldorado High School, which stood in for Lenora Hills High School. While you can’t get too close to the high school since it’s actually in operation, you can check out the Snow Park arroyo used to film the Season 4 episode where Eleven takes a deep dive into Max’s mind. In the episode, the drainage area doubles as a skate park.

The Lenora Hills, California quarry-turned-junkyard where Surfer Boy Pizza employee Argyle (Eduardo Franco) and Jonathan Byers play golf, escape a military attack with Mike and Will, and bury Agent Harmon (Ira Amyx) is actually Montessa Park, a 577-acre off-road vehicle area located at 3615 Los Picaros Rd SE in the city’s South Valley. With a little TV filter magic, the kitschy Route 66 Americana Motel, located at 5908 Central Ave SW, doubled as an Alaska motel visited by Joyce and Murray (Brett Gelman). And the Byers’ California home can be seen here at 13212 Montgomery Boulevard Northeast.

You can also visit two restaurants used in the series here. Stop by Cafe 66 New Mexican Restaurant to visit the real County Line Cafe, and head just outside the city to 3476 NM-47 in Los Lunas for Aliberto’s Mexican Food, which stood in for Surfer Boy Pizza.

One of the coolest ways to connect with Eleven and friends through the show’s filming locations is to spend some time at the Albuquerque skating rink where Eleven, Will, and Mike were having an amazing time. That is, right up until El, in one of the most ruthless scenes in “Stranger Things,” used a roller skate to bust the nose of her bully Angela (Elodie Grace Orkin), after the latter dumped a milkshake on her before mocking the presumed death of El’s adoptive dad, Hopper.

In the series, the rink is called Rink-O-Mania.The real skating rink, which is located at 400 Paisano St NE north of I-40, looks like something right out of a 1980s photo album. At the time of the show’s filming, the rink, which actually opened in January 1980 (and can also be seen in the Amazon series “Outer Range”) was called Roller King but has since changed its name to Skate-O-Mania. 

According to Skate-O-Mania’s FAQ page, “Stranger Things” actually gifted the rink their 1980s remodel: “Netflix left behind the entire ‘Stranger Things’ set — it’s the only time they’ve ever done that across all four seasons! Thanks to that, we scored a fabulous free remodel and a full set that fans can explore for years to come!”

To film scenes set in Russia, “Stranger Things” set up shop in Lithuania, with Kyviškės Airport in Kyviškės serving as Yuri’s Fish N Fly and St. Nicholas Church in Semeliškės standing in for Yuri’s warehouse.

However, the producers’ chosen location for filming the U.S.S.R.’s bleak military base/research facility/prison camp Kamchatka Facility, where Hopper was imprisoned after the Battle of Starcourt Mall, got them into hot water with several international communities. That’s because they chose Lukiškės Prison in Vilnius, Lithuania, which served as a World War II prison and holding facility where Lithuanian collaborators aided Nazis during the brutal Ponary massacre. 

The prison, which closed in 2019 after more than a century of torture and brutality, now serves as a center for artists and musicians and even has a 1980s-themed “Stranger Things” cell that guests can check out while on guided tours of the site.