Netflix added The Choice, a romantic drama adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, to its streaming library in June 2023, and some people who didn't catch the movie when it first premiered in 2016 are watching it now and wondering where it was filmed. The film revolves around Travis Shaw, played by Benjamin Walker, and Gabby Holland, played by Teresa Palmer, and their tumultuous romance. The two first meet at the beginning of The Choice when Gabby moves into the house next door to Travis.
However, the movie begins with Travis visiting someone (who viewers later find out is Gabby) at the hospital before flashing back to seven years earlier when Travis hosts a loud party at his house, angering Gabby since she was trying to study. Although they get off to a rocky start, Travis and Gabby soon begin a romantic relationship while she is still dating Ryan McCarthy. Eventually, the two figure things out, get married, and have two children. Unfortunately, their happy life comes to a crashing halt when Gabby gets in a car accident, and Travis has to decide whether to take her off of life support or not. While all this is happening, the characters in The Choice are living in Wilmington, North Carolina.
5 Wilmington, North Carolina
Funnily enough, The Choice primarily takes place in Wilmington, North Carolina, and that is also where it was mainly filmed, even though the characters in the novel technically reside in Beaufort, North Carolina. The cast and crew started filming the movie on October 13, 2014, in the port city, and production concluded on November 21 of the same year. Wilmington is a popular spot for film productions as shows like One Tree Hill, Dawson's Creek, The Summer I Turned Pretty, and more have been shot there, as well as movies like Safe Haven, Scream (2022), Iron Man 3, and We're the Millers.
The scenes at Travis and Gabby's houses were filmed in the town, as well as plenty of other exterior shots, including at the botanical gardens (Airlie Gardens) in The Choice. They mostly shot in and around Wilmington, but the cast and crew traveled to several parts of the North Carolina coast to capture the essence of Nicholas Sparks' popular book. They also shot scenes at particular haunts in the town that fans can visit after watching the movie.
4 Dockside Restaurant & Bar
The Dockside Restaurant & Bar is a regular hangout spot for Travis and his friends in The Choice, and it's a real restaurant that people can go to in Wilmington, North Carolina. As its name suggests and as the audience saw in the movie, Dockside is located right by the docks. The restaurant's scenic views make it a popular destination and the perfect spot to shoot casual moments in The Choice. So if fans are ever in Wilmington or want to travel to the beautiful town, they should plan to make a trek to the Dockside Restaurant & Bar.
3 Wrightsville Beach
Wrightsville Beach is another filming location in The Choice, and the small town is just east of Wilmington in North Carolina, so the cast and crew didn't have to venture too far to film these scenes. In fact, the Dockside Restaurant & Bar is located right across from Wrightsville Beach. The majority of the beach and the boat docking scenes in the movie were filmed in the town, which is located right on the water.
Bridge Tender Marina in Wrightsville Beach was also a key location for The Choice. So if fans are ever in the area, they might recognize some familiar shots from the movie. Or they might want to rent a boat and take it for a spin on the water to get the entire experience of what it was like to film The Choice.
2 Brasserie du Soleil
Viewers can also visit the restaurant where Travis stands his wife up in The Choice. The aforementioned restaurant is Brasserie du Soleil — a French establishment located in Wilmington, North Carolina. As fans recall, Travis is supposed to meet Gabby at Brasserie du Soleil for a date night without their two kids after he stood her up on their previous night out. Unfortunately, Travis gets a late-night walk-in at the veterinary clinic, causing him to be late, but Gabby decides she isn't going to wait forever, so she leaves the restaurant.
On her way home, Gabby drives through torrential rain pour when another car runs right into the driver's side of her car. Spoiler alert — Gabby survives, but it takes her a while to wake up from her coma in The Choice, and as the name of the film suggests, Travis has to make a choice whether to keep her on life support or pull the plug. Thankfully, he never has to make that decision, and Travis and Gabby live happily ever after. Hopefully, if fans ever eat dinner at Brasserie du Soleil, their night ends better than Travis and Gabby's in The Choice.
1 Masonboro Island
Masonboro Island provided some key locations for the cast and crew of The Choice in 2014. Production filmed on and around the island for the sequence where Travis, Gabby, Stephanie Shaw, and the other characters gather together for a day trip on Travis' boat on the water. Also, the island is the spot where Travis builds a gazebo while Gabby is in a coma and hangs her precious wind chimes on the structure.
To round out a tour of all the filming locations of The Choice, fans definitely need to check out Masonboro Island. They might even find themselves in a gazebo, where they can contemplate one of the most important decisions they will ever have to make in their life, just like Travis does after Gabby's car accident. But hopefully, their choice is a lot less dire than Travis' is in The Choice.