NEED TO KNOW
Season 3 of the hit Amazon Prime Video series premiered on July 16
If The Summer I Turned Pretty leaves you longing for a beach getaway, there’s good news: Many of its filming locations are places that fans can actually visit.
Based on the bestselling book trilogy by Jenny Han, the Prime Video series follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Lola Tung), who spends summers at Cousins Beach and finds herself torn between brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno).
Ahead of the third and final season, which premiered on July 16, Tung told Teen Vogue that fans have become consumed by who her character will ultimately end up with.
“When people have an attachment to the characters, they want to see it come together at the end. I’m so grateful that they care so much, but people get a little scary about it,” she said.
Though Cousins Beach and Belly’s love triangle exist only in fiction, The Summer I Turned Pretty was shot around Wilmington, N.C., plus nearby beaches like Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Wrightsville Beach.
Here’s everything to know about the Summer I Turned Pretty filming locations, including where the real Fisher family home can be found.
The gas station
Amazon Prime Video
In the show’s pilot, Belly visits a nearby gas station as the family grabs snacks and drinks before arriving at the Fisher family home.
The gas station is located in Wilmington. It was also featured in the Netflix film, Along for the Ride, which is based on Sarah Dessen’s novel of the same name. Both Dessen and Han attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Cousins Beach
Amazon Prime Video
In the book, Cousins Beach was written to be in the Cape Cod area, but for the show, the beach was filmed all around Wilmington and its surrounding beaches.
However, the scene where the “Entering Cousins Beach” sign is shown is not in Wilmington, but instead in the nearby town of Southport. More specifically, it’s near the Wilmington Cape Fear Pilots Association’s old lookout tower.
Dana Hawley/Prime Video
For the filming of the beach and bonfire scenes, the show shot at various locations at Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and Fort Fisher. Most of the night beach shots were at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, while the path Belly and Jeremiah take from the summer house to the beach in season 1 was filmed at Wrightsville Beach.
“That’s the one with the seashells hanging in it,” location manager Lindsay Fort told PEOPLE. “It has that really pretty romantic vibe that they run down that path.”
Amazon Prime Video
In season 1, episode 3, Belly and Taylor (Rain Spencer) take a walk along the beach near the pier. This particular scene was filmed near the Crystal Pier at the south end of Wrightsville Beach.
Fort told PEOPLE that the iconic scene where Belly and Conrad kiss in the season 1 finale was also filmed at Wrightsville Beach.
Peter Taylor/Prime Video
In season 1, episode 5, Belly and Cam (David Iacono) are seen cycling on the sidewalk right along the beach. This is was shot right near the 1921 Fort Fisher Monument, outside of the parking lot.
Season 2 was filmed at many of the same beaches as season 1. The iconic snow scene between Belly and Conrad was filmed at Fort Fisher State Recreation Area as Wrightsville Beach, which had specific restrictions about the fake snow.
Courtesy of Prime Video
“They have a lot of rules there as far as what you can put on the beach so we had to move that to Fort Fisher to be able to make it snow,” Fort said. “Of course, that was filmed in the middle of summer, so we had to make it look dead.”
The Fisher family’s beach house
Amazon Prime Video/Youtube
The beach house belonging to the Fisher family is located at Porters Neck Plantation, a private, gated golf course community in Wilmington. The home was the filming location for many exterior shots on the show, including when Belly arrives at the house and when the family hosts a backyard party for the Fourth of July.
However, many of the interior shots, including that enviable kitchen, were filmed on sound stages at Screen Gems Studio in Wilmington.
The real home boasts five bedrooms and six bathrooms, an infinity swimming pool, a private dock, a pier and a 33-foot boat slip. As the home is a private residence, fans cannot visit it.
When selecting the iconic Fisher home, Fort told PEOPLE they had several stipulations, including making sure it had a pool, was on the water and adhered to “the romantic Cape Cod vibe.”
“It had to have that cedar shake on it because [Han] wanted that Cape Cod Northeast look,” Fort explained.
Additionally, Fort said they had to remove several palm trees from the summer house and add a “bunch of hydrangeas,” as they are Laurel (Jackie Chung)’s favorite flower.
“Our character Susannah [Rachel Blanchard] loves to garden, and there are always fresh flowers throughout the house,” Teresa Mastropierro, the production designer for season 1, told House Beautiful in July 2025. “Our greens department literally transformed the landscape around the house. I think we bought every last hydrangea plant in the state.”
The country club
Peter Taylor/Prime Video
The Cousins Beach Country Club — where Jeremiah and Steven (Sean Kaufman) work — is actually the Cape Fear Country Club.
Founded in 1896, Cape Fear Country Club is the oldest private club in North Carolina and features an 18-hole golf course. Since the country club is members only, they don’t encourage visitors, however, you can catch a quick glimpse of it as you drive by.
Though some interior shots were filmed there as well, the actual debutante ball was filmed inside St. Mary Catholic School in Wilmington.
The bookstore
Amazon Prime Video
In season 1, episode 2, Laurel has a book party at Whale of a Tale Bookshop. Many of the exterior shots took place at Papercut Books, which is located in downtown Wilmington.
The small independent bookstore specializes in “new and lightly used books as well as collectible vintage books,” per their website.
The boutique
Amazon Prime Video/Youtube
In season 1, episode 2, Belly goes shopping at a boutique with Laurel and Susannah. However, the scene was actually shot at two different locations.
The exterior shots were filmed at Blush Haus of Beauté, located at Wilmington shopping mall Lumina Station. Local dress shop Camille’s of Wilmington — which sells everything from wedding gowns to formal dresses — served as the setting for the interior shots.
The marina
Amazon Prime Video
In season 1, episode 3, Conrad teaches author Cleveland Castillo (Alfredo Narciso) a thing or two about sailing. These scenes were filmed at the Cape Fear Marina near the Hilton Drawbridge in Wilmington.
However, as it’s a gated marina, it is limited to residential and recreational boat use and not easily accessible to visitors.
The bus station
Peter Taylor/Prime Video
In season 1, episode 3, Belly and Jeremiah head to the bus station to pick up her best friend Taylor.
The scene was filmed at Padgett Station in Wilmington, which is easily accessible to visit and snap a quick photo.
Laurel and Susannah’s bar
Amazon Prime Video
In season 1, episode 5, Laurel and Susannah decide to stop at a local bar called The Fat Pelican. While the series makes it seem like the bar is located on the beach, the real Fat Pelican is located just outside the boardwalk in Carolina Beach.
The bar was also the location for Kygo’s “Hot Stuff” music video.
The volleyball court
Peter Taylor/Prime Video
In season 1, episode 6, Belly and the rest of the debutantes host a volleyball tournament to raise money for charity. The volleyball court was filmed at Capt’n Bill’s Backyard Grill & Volleyball Facility in Wilmington, which features 10 different courts and offers leagues for all levels.
Fort noted that they chose the facility because the actual beach could have had too much wind.
“Mother Nature is not always on our side, so Capt’n Bill’s was just the perfect spot to make it look like we were on the beach,” she said. “So you’ll notice a bunch of banners hanging up in the background. That’s just to cover the movie theater just so we can make it look like it was on the beach.”
The pie stand
Courtesy of Prime Video
The pie stand where Belly and Jeremiah make a pit stop during their road trip was filmed at Old River Farms in Burgaw, a rep for Film NC confirmed to PEOPLE.
Belly’s prom
Amazon
Belly and Conrad’s prom scene in season 2 filmed at Porters Neck Country Club in Wilmington.
The boardwalk
Amazon Prime Video
In season 2, episode 4, Belly, Jeremiah and the gang head to the boardwalk. For this episode, the show actually used two different locations: the Carolina Beach Boardwalk for the exterior shots and Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park for the interior ones.
Fort told PEOPLE this was one of the most difficult scenes to film in season 2 as they dealt with unruly weather. “The weather was not on our side. It was very difficult,” Fort explained.
She added that they also had to deal with crowd control, as lots of fans flocked to the set hoping to get a glimpse of filming.
“It was so crazy,” she said. “We did have to implement having set security on season 2 because everybody is super excited to be a part of it. We didn’t want it leaked either because it’s such an iconic scene that we were excited for everybody to see.”
Brown University
Erika Doss/Prime Video
Season 2 includes several scenes at Brown University — but those were actually filmed locally at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
“It just had that feel that Jenny was looking for,” Fort told PEOPLE.
Fort added that they actually considered filming a scene at Han’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but “with COVID and timing, it just didn’t work out.”
Laurel’s book club
Amazon Prime Video
In season 2, Laurel hits a bar for a number of book club scenes, which were filmed at Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Wilmington, the eatery confirmed to PEOPLE.
Hell’s Kitchen has a long history with N.C. filming as it was used as the bar where Joey and Eddie worked in season 6 of Dawson’s Creek.
“Hell’s Kitchen has a strong connection to the film industry,” the bar’s owner Eric Laut told PEOPLE. “Originally a film stage for Dawson’s Creek, Hell’s Kitchen has hosted many film sets, from One Tree Hill to Florida Man, Electric Love and more recently The Summer I Turned Pretty.”
Laut added, “In The Summer I Turned Pretty, the artists and production staff transformed the stage at Hell’s Kitchen into a lounge. It was amazing to see the transformation. The location crew, production staff and the artists were so talented and it was such a great experience to be on set and watch the magic of the film industry unfold.”
Steven and Taylor’s date
Amazon Studios
Rooster & The Crow, located in Wilmington, was another filming location for season 2, co-owner Zach Harmon confirmed to PEOPLE. This is the spot where Taylor and Steven go on a date at the end of season 2.
“We get to see filming all throughout Wilmington, but it was even more special to have our place be a part of this show and its amazing cast and crew,” co-creator Zach Harmon told PEOPLE. “We hope the film industry stays strong here because we’ll gladly be a part of this amazing experience again.”