Location, location and location

Calling all film and art directors! Come to us for your movie or fashion shoot and you'll be following in a great tradition. Our range of locations spans pulsating world cities, staggeringly beautiful wildernesses and dramatic natural wonders.

Famous city settings include New York, where the distinctive, jockey-lined exterior and memorabilia-filled interiors of legendary restaurant '21' (above, right) have starred in films as diverse as All About Eve, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Wall Street and Sex and the City.

Venice, with its misty maze of canals, bridges and narrow streets (above, centre), offers a uniquely atmospheric blend of romance, intrigue and even spine-chilling menace, as displayed in films such as Don't Look Now, The Italian Job and The Talented Mr Ripley. The locations of famous scenes can be discovered during movie tours offered by Hotel Cipriani.

Heading into wilder territory, Peru's huge variety of terrain, from lush rainforest to snowy Andean peaks and historic sites such as Machu Picchu (above, left), has provided the setting for films dating back as far as 1954's Secret of the Incas, starring Charlton Heston. Marggie Castellano of Peru's new film commission, FilmPeru says, "Aside from the iconic locations of Machu Picchu, Cuzco, the Sacred Valley of the Incas and Titicaca Lake, we also have the deepest canyons in the world, and as far as dramatic ruins go, we're spoilt for choice. Choquequirao, an Inca archaeological site in the middle of the Andes and close to Cuzco and Machu Picchu, would make a fantastic location".

In neighbouring Brazil, who can forget the chilling scene in Robert de Niro film The Mission, when a priest is tied to a cross and sent plummeting down a waterfall to his death? That was Iguassu Falls, the magnificent natural wonder that Hotel das Cataratas - exclusively - looks out over. The Falls have also served as a backdrop for thrilling movies such as Moonraker and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

A more sedate beauty is on offer at the Inn at Perry Cabin, whose pristine lawns stretching down to the Maryland's Eastern Shore in St Michaels were the perfect setting for popular comedy Wedding Crashers.

Our hotels and locations also play host to the chicest photo shoots. Portofino, on the dreamy, sun-dappled Italian Riviera, recently lent itself perfectly to the Dior 2012 cruise collection, as photographer Ellen Von Unwerth and a coterie of stylists, make-up artists and models discovered. The models stayed at the Hotel Splendido, posing on its seductive terraces overlooking the brilliant-blue Mediterranean. The result: achingly beautiful fashion shots.