Virgin River is perhaps one of Netflix’s greatest dramas which have led a slew of people to get into the source books the series is based on and for many, hoping to visit some of the now-iconic vistas seen in the series. Where is Virgin River filmed? Is Virgin River a real place? Let’s take a look.
Based on the Robyn Carr novels, Virgin River first premiered in 2019 and has been renewed through to season 5. As of the time of writing, we’re currently waiting for season 4 of the show to release on Netflix which wrapped filming in late 2021.
Is Virgin River a real place?
Yes but despite this, it’s not actually where the series is filmed nor where it’s based in the story either.
In the story, Mel is first living in Los Angeles before moving to a small town in Northern California. While there are plenty of small towns that can resemble what we see in the show, the Nothern Californian town of Virgin River does not exist.
A place called Virgin River does indeed exist in the United States though. It’s a little further away from California as it is a “tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.”
Where the series films is roughly 1500km away from the real world Virgin River as the crow flies or 2000km if you wanted a scenic drive between the two locations.
Lower N represents where Virgin River is in real life vs top N where filming roughly takes place
Where is Netflix’s Virgin River shot?
As we’ve established most to all of Virgin River is shot in British Columbia in Canada. It’s filmed all about the state so let’s dive into some of the filming locations now:
- Jack’s Bar is located at a real-world bar called The Watershed Grill which is located at (41101 Government Rd, Brackendale, BC V0N 1H0, Canada)
- Doc Mullins practice is filmed in New Westminster which is a city in the lower mainland region of BC. Speaking of which, the mansion that features in the show went up for sale in May 2021. It was listed for over 2.19$ million CAD and was built in 1889.
Virgin River Town Opening Shot – Picture: Netflix
Netflix themselves, in an effort to promote their productions that take place in Virgin River, have provided us with an additional look at filming locations for Virgin River too. Their website “Netflix in your neighborhood” gives us a map overview of many of the film locations.
They reveal the following locations (mostly for season 2):
- Deer Lake Park at Burnaby, BC. Deer Lake Park is the backdrop of The Virgin River Community Picnic from the fourth episode of Season 2
- Klahanie Campground in Squamish, BC. This location appears in Virgin River as the The Fitches Bed and Breakfast.
- Murdo Frazer Cabin in Vancouver, BC which was used as Mel’s cabin throughout Virgin River.
Some of the other locations Virgin River has shot out includes (with sources):
As you’ve probably established, Virgin River has a wide range of filming locations across BC, Canada.
Filming on season 5 was expected to begin in March 2022 but was revealed by Alexandra Breckenridge to have been pushed to later in the year. The reason we state this is because Breckenridge also revealed the drawbacks of filming so far north particularly in the winter complaining that it’s that’s very cold.
There you have it, do you live near any of the various filming locations for Virgin River? Let us know in the comments down below.