Photo: Flavorpill

Books that transport us to far-off places are usually the only ways to get through tedious waits in drab doctors' offices or dingy DMVs. But sometimes novels take a hold of us so strongly that it's not enough to just envision a hobbit hole. You need to see with your own two eyes what Tolkien described as, "Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." And while you'd have a hard time booking a flight to Wonderland, or asking even the most well-traveled driver in Derbyshire, England, to bring you to Mr. Darcy's Pemberley, many other locales mentioned in famous novels--including those hobbit holes--really do exist.

Flavorpill's list of fictional places you can actually visit in real life covers locations that have been created for the movie version of the novel, or because they've actually existed all along. The photo of Ashdown Forest in Sussex, England, is reason enough to visit (it's where Pooh perfected Pooh-sticks with Piglet and the rest of the gang), but what we love best about the list is the joy in learning that such iconic places do not just live in our heads. It's similar to the feeling of watching a movie based on a book you loved without the inevitable let-down. Because seeing those hobbit holes in person (which you'll be able to do starting next year) is actually pretty amazing.