“It’s like finding a needle in a stack of needles.”
That’s the best quote — the best quote without profanity, that is — that sums up the plot of Saving Private Ryan.
The Steven Spielberg war epic is intense, both for its fictionalized storyline and real-world recreation of the horrors the Allies faced during and after they stormed the beaches of Normandy.
Visiting the Saving Private Ryan filming locations is a must for film and history buffs touring Europe’s WWII sites.
Image Credit: Getty Images, Johncairns. Image Location: France
Is Saving Private Ryan a true story?
No, Saving Private Ryan is not based on a true story in the sense that there was no Captain Miller sent to retrieve a Private James Ryan who lost three of his brothers during World War II’s battles.
However, there was a Fritz Niland from the United States who was dropped into France during D-Day and fought for five days. He was sent home from the battlefield after receiving tragic news of his brothers: two died in the invasion of Normandy and one was assumed dead but was later discovered alive in a Japanese POW camp.
But don’t view this movie as a Hollywood overdramatization of the Second World War. Saving Private Ryan was based on many true events and elements of World War II, so much so that even the Saving Private Ryan opening scene is considered one of the most accurate portrayals of wartime in France.
Image Credit: Getty Images, Rafael Elias. Image Location: Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France
Where was Saving Private Ryan filmed?
Saving Private Ryan filming locations are located in Europe, but not where you’d think. Though the movie takes place in France, nearly all of the scenes are shot in England.
Wiltshire
Closest station: Westbury
Wiltshire is a county in Southwest England. It was in these rural fields that the production team built an Iowan farmhouse for the Ryan matriarch to receive news of her sons’ deaths.
Thame Park
Closest station: Haddenham & Thame Parkway
The French countryside shown in Saving Private Ryan was actually the English countryside. Thame Park in Oxfordshire shouldered a number of scenes, including when the squad had to storm the machine gun nest, and also when they spent the night in a chapel.
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Closest station: Hatfield
The French town of Ramalle where the movie’s finale takes place is far from France. The town was actually constructed on a former British Aerospace airfield. It is currently a memorial park adjacent to Hertfordshire Sports Village.
Normandy American Cemetery
Closest station: Bayeux
The first and final scenes of Saving Private Ryan take place in the Normandy American Cemetery, the only authentic filming location in Saving Private Ryan. This cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer is where the two Niland brothers are buried. It overlooks Omaha Beach and is surrounded by other sites like the Overlord Museum and the Big Red One Museum.
Image Credit: Getty Images, Hi-Point. Image Location: Curracloe Beach, County Wexford, Ireland
Where was the Saving Private Ryan opening scene filmed?
The opening scene for Saving Private Ryan is an extreme near-half-hour-long scene of the Allies storming Omaha Beach during D-Day. It pulls no punches; it doesn’t shy away from depicting the carnage, chaos, and confusion that erupted even before the soldiers could make it onto the beach.
To film the Saving Private Ryan opening scene on the actual Omaha Beach (or any of Normandy’s beaches, for that matter) would have been insensitive, so instead, production moved to Ireland. Curracloe Strand and Ballinesker Beach in County Wexford were used as stand-ins.
To get to County Wexford from Great Britain, you’ll need to cross St. George’s Channel via ferry. Take a train to Fishguard Harbour in Wales then take the Stena Line ferry to Rosslare, Ireland.
Visit other WWII sites by train
FUBAR is what happens to your vacation when flight delays and cancellations hit.
But Europe’s trains are like Tom Hanks: approachable, reliable, and will get you out of a mess as fast as possible.
Your vacation will stay on track whether you’re headed to see the French beaches stormed on D-Day, where the Bletchley Park codebreakers cracked the Nazi Enigma machine, or to the filming locations for Masters of the Air.
Download the Trainline app and explore Europe’s WWII history by train today.
Header Image Credit: Getty Images, Vernon Lewis Gallery/Stocktrek Images. Image Location: Omaha Beach, France