Wednesday Filming Locations: Two Countries, One Gothic Academy

Contents

• Is Nevermore Academy a real place?
• Season 1: Romania
• Seasons 2 and 3: Ireland
• Season 3: What’s changed
• The wisteria problem, Wednesday edition
• Comparing the two countries
• Itinerary ideas
• Before you book anything
• Where to stay
• FAQ
• Two countries, one gothic field trip

Is Nevermore Academy a real place?

Nevermore is fictional, but two real castles have played it on screen. Cantacuzino Castle in Romania stood in for the exterior in season 1, and Charleville Castle in Ireland took over the role from season 2 onward. Both exist and can be visited, though on very different terms: Cantacuzino runs as a standard ticketed attraction, while Charleville is a volunteer-run heritage site with unpredictable opening hours.

Neither building matches the school seen on screen exactly, since CGI adds towers, extra floors, and interior rooms that do not exist in either real building.

Cantacuzino Castle in Romania stood in for the exterior in season 1.
Photo by katyapulka on Shutterstock

Season 1: Romania

Cantacuzino Castle: The original Nevermore

This is the exterior of Nevermore Academy, and it is the single most visitable location in the entire show. Built in 1911 in the Prahova Valley at the foot of the Bucegi Mountains, the castle now runs as a museum and art gallery.

• Ticket price: Around 85 RON (roughly €17) for full access to the castle, gallery, and grounds; a grounds-only combo runs about 65 RON.
• Opening: Generally open daily, though hours shift by season, with some reports of opening until 8pm in summer.
• Getting there: About 135 km from Bucharest. By car, 1.5 to 2 hours depending on traffic. By train, roughly 2 to 2.5 hours from Bucharest North Station (Gara de Nord) to Bușteni, followed by a short local taxi or walk.
• Time to allow: An hour or two, more with the gallery and grounds included.

This is the exterior of Nevermore Academy, and it is the single most visitable location in the entire show.
Photo by aliaksei kruhlenia on Shutterstock

A caveat worth knowing before visiting: a significant amount of what viewers see is CGI added to the real building. The castle itself is smaller and less gothic in person than the show suggests, with the production adding extra towers and a taller central section digitally.

What to combine it with: Cantacuzino sits close enough to Sinaia and Bușteni’s other attractions that a single day easily covers the castle, a walk through the town, and, for anyone visiting in winter, a look at the surrounding ski infrastructure the Bucegi Mountains are known for.

Book now

Bucharest, or where the magic actually happens

The show’s interiors for season 1, the Nevermore hallways, dormitories, and classrooms, were built on sound stages around Bucharest rather than filmed inside any real building. These sets are not open to visitors.

The wider Prahova Valley

For a reader building a longer Romania trip, the Prahova Valley and Carpathian Mountains around Bușteni also give access to Peleș Castle, a genuinely grand royal residence in nearby Sinaia, and Bran Castle, the property commonly linked to Dracula, near Brașov.

Peleș Castle is a genuinely grand royal residence in nearby Sinaia.
Photo by DMZ001 on Shutterstock

Neither appears in Wednesday, but both sit within an easy drive of Cantacuzino and round out a weekend trip well. Several tour operators in Bucharest run combined day trips covering all three castles together, which suits visitors who would rather not organise the driving or train connections themselves.

Book your base

Seasons 2 and 3: Ireland

Production moved to Ireland from season 2 onward, and this is also where season 3 is currently based.

Charleville Castle: The new Nevermore 

Charleville plays Nevermore Academy’s exterior from season 2 onward, along with the surrounding oak woods used for several outdoor scenes. This is the location most likely to cause a wasted trip if a reader assumes it works like a standard ticketed attraction.

Charleville plays Nevermore Academy’s exterior from season 2 onward.
Photo by Fotogro on Shutterstock

• Access: Charleville is run entirely by volunteers and is not a conventional ticketed site. Tours have historically run daily from May through August, with the rest of the year requiring advance contact, typically by email, to check availability. Hours can shift with little notice.
• Ticket price: Donation-based access is common, with guided tours priced somewhat higher than a typical heritage site, since the funds go directly toward ongoing restoration.
• Getting there: Near Tullamore, County Offaly, roughly 1.5 to 2 hours from Dublin by car. Public transport reaches Tullamore, but the castle itself is best reached by car.
• Time to allow: About an hour for a guided tour, longer with the surrounding oak forest.

Given the informal opening arrangements, emailing or calling ahead before a visit, rather than simply arriving, is worth the extra step.

What to combine it with: the drive between Dublin and Tullamore passes through the Irish midlands rather than any other major attraction, so most visitors treat Charleville as a dedicated day trip on its own rather than pairing it with another stop.

Powerscourt Estate, County Wicklow

Powerscourt stands in for Camp Jericho, and it is a genuinely excellent visit in its own right, regardless of the show. The estate covers two separate sites about 6 kilometres apart: the formal gardens and house at Enniskerry, and Ireland’s highest waterfall a short drive up the road.

Powerscourt stands in for Camp Jericho.
Photo by Borisb17 on Shutterstock

• Ticket price: Gardens admission runs around €14, with the waterfall a separate €7 ticket. There is no combined pass for both.
• Opening: Generally open daily, with last admission 30 minutes to an hour before closing depending on the season.
• Getting there: About 30 minutes from central Dublin by car, or via organised tours and local bus connections from Bray.
• Time to allow: Two to three hours for the gardens, with another hour if adding the waterfall.

What to combine it with: Powerscourt sits close enough to both Bray and Glendalough that most visitors build it into a single Wicklow day covering all three, rather than treating it as a standalone trip from Dublin.

Ashford Studios, County Wicklow

This is where the Nevermore interiors actually live, including the Rotwood Cottage sets and Jericho town set. Ashford Studios is a working production facility, not a visitor attraction, and it is not open to the public at any time, particularly while season 3 remains in active production.

Dublin, Clonliffe, Kilternan, and Roundwood

Beyond the two headline locations, filming has also touched Dublin itself along with Clonliffe, Kilternan, and Roundwood, smaller supporting locations rather than full sets. None require a dedicated stop on their own, but they sit naturally along a Wicklow-bound route from Dublin.

Beyond the two headline locations, filming has also touched Dublin.
Photo by Jeremy Matteo on Unsplash

Roundwood in particular sits directly between Dublin and Powerscourt, making it an easy, unplanned stop for anyone driving that route rather than a location worth seeking out separately.

The real star: The Wicklow landscape itself

For most visitors, the landscape itself, rather than any single filming location, ends up being the part of an Ireland trip that stands out most. Glendalough’s early monastic ruins and the Wicklow Mountains surrounding both Powerscourt and Charleville give the area a scale and atmosphere the show’s interiors only hint at through CGI.

Glendalough’s early monastic ruins and the Wicklow Mountains give the area a scale and atmosphere.
Photo by Dawid K Photography on Shutterstock

Find your base

Season 3: What’s changed

Filming for season 3 began near Dublin on 16 February 2026, again based out of Ashford Studios. Netflix has not confirmed a release date, and industry reporting through mid-2026 points toward a 2027 premiere, following a production timeline reportedly running close to nine months. 

Production also added an unexpected short shoot in Paris earlier in the year, with cast spotted filming near the Seine, a departure from the Romania-and-Ireland pattern the first two seasons followed.

Production added an unexpected short shoot in Paris earlier in the year.
Photo by tichr on Shutterstock

As of this writing, filming is still underway according to cast members’ own public statements, so any Irish location connected to active production should be treated as closed to visitors until confirmed otherwise, and readers planning a trip around season 3 specifically should expect the show itself to remain unreleased for some time yet.

The wisteria problem, Wednesday edition

Fans of other Netflix filming-location guides will recognise this pattern: a show’s most photographed visual detail often turns out to be added in post-production rather than physically present at the real location. Wednesday has its own version of this.

The extra towers, taller central section, and gothic detailing added to Cantacuzino Castle’s exterior are the clearest example, but Charleville’s interiors work the same way in reverse: much of what looks like Nevermore’s hallways and classrooms on screen was never filmed inside the real castle at all, since those scenes were built separately on soundstages and at Ashford Studios.

Much of what looks like Nevermore’s hallways and classrooms on screen was never filmed inside Charleville Castle at all.
Photo by Bo Scheeringa Photography on Shutterstock

A visitor walking through Charleville’s actual rooms will recognise the building’s shape and atmosphere, but not most of the specific interior spaces from the show.

Comparing the two countries

For a reader who can only manage one trip, Ireland generally offers more to do across a longer stay, given Powerscourt, Glendalough, and Dublin itself, while Romania suits a more compact weekend built around Cantacuzino and one or two nearby castles.

Flight availability also tends to favour one route over the other depending on where a reader is starting from: Dublin has considerably more direct connections from North America, while Bucharest is often easier to reach from other parts of Europe, which is worth factoring in alongside the trip length itself.

Pick your country

Itinerary ideas

• A Dublin-based two-day Ireland trip: day one in Dublin itself, day two a loop through Enniskerry for Powerscourt and on to Glendalough, all manageable by car or an organised day tour without needing to stay overnight in Wicklow.
• A three-day Ireland trip adding Offaly: the above, plus a day trip out to Charleville Castle near Tullamore, ideally with advance contact confirmed before setting off given the site’s volunteer-run schedule.
• A Romania weekend from Bucharest: a day trip to Cantacuzino Castle and Bușteni, with a second day added for Peleș Castle in Sinaia or Bran Castle near Brașov, depending on which direction a reader wants to head.

A loop through Enniskerry for Powerscourt and on to Glendalough.
Photo by Vander89 on Shutterstock

Before you book anything

1. Best season to visit. Autumn suits the show’s gothic mood well in both countries, with the Wicklow Mountains and the oak woods around Charleville taking on the kind of colour that matches the show’s visual style closely. Daylight hours shorten considerably by late October, though, which affects how much can be fit into a single day, particularly around Charleville’s already unpredictable hours. Spring and early summer offer more daylight and, in Ireland, the best chance of Charleville’s more regular May-to-August tour schedule.

2. Car hire versus trains and organised tours. Ireland’s Wicklow locations are reachable by organised tour or car from Dublin; a car gives more flexibility for combining Powerscourt with Charleville in one trip, since public transport between the two is limited. Several Dublin-based tour operators run day trips covering Powerscourt and Glendalough together, which suits visitors who would rather not drive on the left. Romania’s Bucharest-to-Bușteni route works well by train for a single destination, with a car better suited to combining Cantacuzino with Peleș or Bran, both of which sit along the same general route north from the capital.

3. What a realistic day costs. Between transport, entry tickets, and a meal, a single-location day trip in either country typically runs in a moderate mid-range budget per person, before accommodation, with car hire and fuel adding a further cost on top if driving rather than taking public transport or an organised tour.

4. A reminder on etiquette. Powerscourt and Charleville are, respectively, a working estate and a privately restored home run by volunteers. Both welcome visitors, but neither is a theme park, so treating the grounds and staff accordingly, particularly at Charleville, where a reply to an email is coming from an unpaid volunteer rather than paid staff, goes a long way. Photography is generally permitted at both, though flash and tripods are sometimes restricted indoors, and it’s worth checking on arrival rather than assuming the same rules apply as at a standard museum.

Ireland’s Wicklow locations are reachable by organised tour or car from Dublin.
Photo by Julian Gazzard on Shutterstock

Where to stay

The default base for the Irish locations, with straightforward road and rail access out to Wicklow.

Compare All Options

County Wicklow

For readers who want to be closer to Powerscourt and the mountains and are hiring a car, staying in Wicklow itself cuts down on the daily drive from Dublin.

Bucharest

The base for season 1 locations, with rail and road connections north into the Prahova Valley.

Compare more hotels in Bucharest on ZenHotels for other budget levels.

Bușteni or Sinaia

For readers who prefer staying in the mountains rather than day-tripping from Bucharest.

FAQ

Two countries, one gothic field trip

Nevermore Academy is really two castles in two countries, and a significant share of what appears on screen, particularly the interiors, is a built set or CGI rather than something a visitor can walk into. The real reward of either trip tends to be the landscape surrounding the locations, the Carpathians around Bușteni in Romania, and the Wicklow Mountains around Powerscourt and Charleville in Ireland.

The real reward of either trip tends to be the landscape surrounding the locations, the Carpathians around Bușteni in Romania.
Photo by Mircea Moira on Shutterstock

Whichever route a reader chooses, checking opening arrangements before travelling matters more here than for most filming-location guides, since Charleville in particular runs on a volunteer schedule rather than fixed hours. Comparing hotels in Dublin, Wicklow, or hotels in Bucharest is a reasonable place to start picking a base.

Pick your base