Film · 2022 · Action · Drama
Where was Top Gun: Maverick filmed?
Decades after the original, a veteran Navy test pilot is called back to the Fighter Weapons School to train a new class of aviators for one near-impossible mission. Much of it was shot with real fighter jets and aircraft carriers around San Diego and the Pacific Northwest, with the low-level training runs flown over the High Sierra near Lake Tahoe.
4 locations across 3 destinations
At a glance
- Format
- Film
- Period
- 2022
- Filming spots
- 4
- Destinations
- 3
- Countries
- United States
U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel M. Young · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Filming Top Gun: Maverick: locations and how to visit
Released in 2022, Top Gun: Maverick went to unusual lengths for realism, mounting cameras inside real fighter jets and filming aboard active US Navy carriers rather than leaning on a soundstage. That choice ties the story to a string of genuine places along the California coast and up into the Pacific Northwest.
San Diego is the film's spiritual home: the base scenes were shot at Naval Air Station North Island on Coronado, where the Hard Deck bar was built on the sand at Breaker's Beach, and Maverick's quiet visit to a grave is the real Fort Rosecrans cemetery on Point Loma. Farther north the airfield sequences flew out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island near Coupeville, while the white-knuckle low-level runs were flown over the granite of the High Sierra around Lake Tahoe.
For a set-jetting trip, base yourself in San Diego for Coronado's beach and the Point Loma headland, both easy to reach even though the naval air station itself stays closed to visitors. Add Whidbey Island as a ferry day out from Seattle, and Lake Tahoe for the mountain scenery, and you have covered the film's real ground. Summer brings the clearest Sierra light.
San Diego, United States
2 spotsCoronado & Naval Air Station North Island
Coronado is the real Fightertown of the film: the base scenes were shot at Naval Air Station North Island, and the beach bar known as the Hard Deck was built for the shoot on the sand at Breaker's Beach on the Coronado shore.
Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery
The rows of white headstones on the Point Loma hillside, where Maverick pays his respects, are the real Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery overlooking San Diego Bay.
Where to stay
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Whidbey Island, United States
1 spot
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Lake Tahoe, United States
1 spot
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Good to know
- Where was Top Gun: Maverick filmed?
- Top Gun: Maverick was filmed in San Diego, Whidbey Island, Lake Tahoe.
- Can you visit the Top Gun: Maverick filming locations?
- Yes, these are real, visitable places. Each location below comes with the scene, an exact point on the map, and how to get there.
- How many filming locations does Top Gun: Maverick have?
- We map 4 real filming locations for {name}, across 3 destinations: San Diego, Whidbey Island, Lake Tahoe.
- Which countries was Top Gun: Maverick filmed in?
- {name} was filmed in United States.