Enola Holmes 3 Filming Locations: Where Was It Really Filmed? (Malta & England)

Enola Holmes 3 trades foggy Victorian London for the sun-baked Mediterranean, and almost all of it was shot in real, visitable places — mostly across the island of Malta, with studio and location work back in England. Malta’s UNESCO-listed capital Valletta, the car-free “Silent City” of Mdina, and a string of dramatic coastal spots stand in for the film’s globe-trotting mystery. Here’s exactly where Enola Holmes 3 was filmed, what was shot at each location, and which ones you can actually visit. This is a spoiler-light location guide.

Where was Enola Holmes 3 filmed?

The production shot in two countries. Principal photography began in April 2025 at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England, before the crew relocated to Malta for the final stretch — around a month of location filming across the island. Malta does the heavy lifting on screen: with its weathered forts, golden limestone architecture and Mediterranean seascapes, it can convincingly stand in for a Victorian-era world, which is exactly why so many historical epics (from Gladiator to Game of Thrones) have filmed there. The island’s timeworn look lets the film transport viewers back well over a century.

What scenes were filmed in Mdina?

Mdina, Malta’s tiny hilltop walled town, is nicknamed the “Silent City” because it’s almost entirely car-free — narrow stone alleys where your own footsteps echo, which makes it ideal for a moody mystery. Fittingly, the film opens here: Lord Tewkesbury waits nervously at the altar of St Paul’s Cathedral in the heart of Mdina — a cathedral founded in medieval times but rebuilt in grand Baroque style after a 1693 earthquake — for the wedding sequence. Period-drama fans will recognise Mdina for another reason — it doubled as King’s Landing in the first season of Game of Thrones. It’s fully walkable and open to visitors, so it’s the easiest of the film’s locations to explore.

What was filmed in Valletta and the Maltese forts?

Valletta, Malta’s walled capital and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is instantly recognisable for its pale Baroque limestone and the colourful enclosed wooden balconies (called gallariji) that line its streets. For the film, the production took over a set of Valletta streets and staged a carnival scene, working with a local society to dress the area — removing modern cars, laying sand over the tarmac and adding old shopfronts to turn back the clock.

The island’s fortresses handle the film’s bigger set pieces. A dramatic confrontation with an old adversary was shot at Fort Ricasoli, a 17th-century fortress that’s one of Malta’s most-filmed spots — it stood in for the gates of King’s Landing in Game of Thrones and has appeared in everything from Gladiator to Napoleon. Nearby Fort Manoel, on the island just north of Valletta, was dressed to stand in for the story’s sewers. Both forts are working heritage sites and aren’t generally open to the public.

Where were the coastal and water scenes shot?

For the wide Mediterranean vistas, the crew headed for the coast. Mellieħa, a village in Malta’s north, is among the coastal spots the production used for the open seascapes and rugged shoreline that give the film its sense of escape. A carriage chase that reintroduces Dr Watson, plus Enola and Tewkesbury’s beach outing, were filmed on a private west-coast beach — the team used a private stretch because Malta’s public beaches are packed in June, and kept the cast cool with shade tents between takes, since they were all in full Victorian costume.

The production also worked at Malta Film Studios in Kalkara, on the island’s coast — a facility famous for the enormous deep-water tanks that sit right against the open sea, purpose-built for the kind of large-scale water sequences that are notoriously hard to stage on location.

What was filmed in England?

Before Malta, the production based itself at Shepperton Studios in Surrey for the studio work and interiors. One standout English location was a disused seminary in Guildford, Surrey, which was dressed to double as the “Royal Malta Fencible Artillery” building — the army headquarters Enola and her mother Eudoria break into to chase a lead. The production reportedly spent money helping to keep parts of the long-empty building safe and dry, using its grand, formal rooms and a striking long corridor for the brigadier’s office and records room.

Can you visit the Enola Holmes 3 filming locations?

Mostly, yes — and that’s part of the appeal. The three headline towns are all open and tourist-friendly: Mdina and its cathedral, the streets of Valletta, and the coast around Mellieħa can all be explored freely, and Malta is a compact island, so several sit within easy reach of each other. The exceptions are the working heritage forts — Fort Ricasoli and Fort Manoel — and Malta Film Studios, none of which are usually open to the public. If you’re planning a trip, the practical advice from seasoned Malta travellers is not to rush around ticking off every spot; pick one or two, slow down, and soak up the atmosphere that made the island so cinematic in the first place.

The bottom line

Enola Holmes 3 is essentially a love letter to Malta, with Mdina’s St Paul’s Cathedral opening the film, Valletta staging its carnival, the island’s forts hosting its bigger set pieces, and Malta Film Studios among its production bases — all rounded out by studio work and a clever seminary stand-in back in Surrey. Most of the on-screen magic happens in places you can actually walk through yourself. For a full breakdown of the story once you’ve watched, see our Enola Holmes 3 ending explained.

Filming-location details are based on the production’s own accounts and published reporting as of the film’s July 1, 2026 release. Always check current opening times and access before visiting any location.