Fans of Gilmore Girls will soon be able to step inside the fictional town of Stars Hollow, as Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood launches its biggest-ever holiday experience dedicated to the popular television series.
Running from 12 December 2026 to 3 January 2027, excluding Christmas Day, Gilmore Girls Holidays will transform the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank, California, into an immersive recreation of locations from the show. The standalone ticketed event is an expanded version of the studio’s previous Holidays Made Here celebrations.
Visitors will be able to explore some of the series’ most recognisable locations, including Lorelai Gilmore’s house, Luke’s Diner, the Dragonfly Inn and Miss Patty’s School of Ballet. The experience will also introduce new attractions, including Luke’s apartment, recreated at its original Stage 13 filming location using production specifications.
Other additions include the Chilton graduation courtyard and an expanded walkthrough of the Gilmore Estate, home to Lorelai’s parents, Emily and Richard Gilmore. Fans can also participate in an interactive holiday version of Rory’s Basket Auction, inspired by the season two storyline involving Rory, Dean and Jess.
Food will also play a central role in the experience, reflecting the series’ well-known focus on coffee and comfort food. Visitors can try Caesar’s Chilaquiles Nachos served in a collectable upside-down Luke’s baseball cap, while the Stars Hollow Creamery will offer shakes themed around Rory’s boyfriends. A secret bar will serve drinks including an “I Smell Snow” peppermint colada, tiramisu martini and Jackson’s peach julep.
Scott Patterson, who played Luke Danes, is also expected to make appearances for live podcast events and photo opportunities. General admission starts at $79 (€68), while a $124 (€106) bundle includes access to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood.
The event taps into the growing “set-jetting” travel trend, in which tourists plan trips around locations featured in films and television series. The phenomenon has increasingly turned filming locations into destinations in their own right.
Europe already has several prominent examples. Dubrovnik in Croatia has attracted Game of Thrones fans after appearing as King’s Landing, while the English village of Lavenham offers visitors the chance to stay in a 15th-century property featured as Harry Potter’s childhood home in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One.
Other recent productions are providing fresh inspiration for screen-based travel. Filming locations for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey include Sardinia and the Strait of Messina in Italy, Ithaca in Greece, Troy in Türkiye and Gozo in Malta, offering another example of how cinema and television continue to shape travellers’ destination choices.
Britain’s cinematic landmarks have long attracted visitors looking to experience places made famous on screen, from Sherlock Holmes locations to settings associated with James Bond. More recently, The White Lotus has demonstrated the significant influence television can have on travel demand, with its third season putting Thailand in the spotlight and helping drive interest in the destinations and hotels featured in the series.
As travellers increasingly seek to experience the worlds they see on screen, destinations and tourism businesses are capitalising on the popularity of film and television, turning familiar sets and filming locations into travel experiences of their own.
