The Real Scottish Landscapes That Inspired Pixar’s “Brave”

Disney-Pixar’s Brave, an animated film based upon adventures of a spunky red-haired Scot, has already struck the $66.7 million jackpot in its opening weekend. And Disney doesn’t plan on stopping there. The travel company Adventures by Disney has already designed a Brave-centric tour of Scotland. The trips will debut next spring and summer, well after Brave-mania has set in amongst the kids. The Los Angeles Times reports on the festive itinerary:

There  are tours of real-life places that might look familiar to filmgoers, such as the Black House of Arnol and the Gearrannan Blackhouse Village (both were used as models for the witch’s cottage) and Dunnottar Castle, which played a role in the look of the DunBroch family’s house.

In a Huffington Post interview, Mark Andrews, the film’s director, talks about his Scottish inspiration:

You can’t escape the grandeur and beauty of Scotland. It’s so wild and rough. You don’t find anywhere else on earth that has mountains like that. All the lochs and the trenches are so rugged it evokes the mysteries and legends that have come out of Scottish culture. The grey, cool mist mixes in with the russet mountains. The variation of landscape and ecosystems makes everything feel very touchable, everything has texture. We could only have found out all of it by actually going to Scotland. We wanted to collect enough details so we could bring them back to make it all very Scottish. The film has the character of Scotland, which is what you want when doing a periodesque piece.

Here’s the day-by-day itinerary. But with Brave-tailored vacations running as high as $5,959 for adults and $5,659 for children—excluding international airfare—that’s gotta be some seriously inspirational beauty.

More from Smithsonian.com:

See Scotland from an Eagle’s Point of View

Travel Locals That Will Break the Bank

Have Kids, Will Travel

Rachel Nuwer | | READ MORE

Rachel Nuwer is a freelance science writer based in Brooklyn.