Fun fact- The Vampire Diaries was not filmed in Virginia, it was actually filmed in Covington, GA, the Hollywood of the south. As soon as I found out it was filmed there and they had a tour, I just knew I had to go. The Vampire Diaries is definitely my favorite show and I’ve watched it probably about 6 or 7 times all the way through, possibly more haha. Not all at one time though. Sometimes when I am doing stuff around the house I like to turn on a show I don’t have to fully pay attention to, so I will turn on TVD. When I’m done I’ll sit down and watch the rest of the episode, then another, and another, and the cycle continues. Once I have finished the series I miss seeing how it all started, so I usually will start back over. Speaking of, I am on season 1 again……don’t judge me.

Now, for what yall actually came here for, the tour. You can definitely go to Covington and do a tour on your own, but I recommend doing the actual tour with a guide because they can tell you facts about filming and show you places you didn’t know about. I actually learned quite a bit during the tour and it was so cool hearing about filming. Our tour guides name was Amber and she has been a guide from the beginning and watched episodes being filmed and met some of the cast! I loved hearing how the actors were in real life. Also, if you do the tour you get to go to the Lockwood Mansion and walk around the back yard where so many scenes took place! It was amazing to be where all the actors had been and then rewatching episodes and seeing where I visited. If you are a big Vampire Diaries fan, I highly recommend the tour! We did the Vampire Stalkers Mystic Falls Tour and I will link the website here. If you see if booked up, check back as often as you can because dates open up all the time. If you see a date open that you can make, definitely go ahead and get it because it books up fast. There is a bus tour as well, but I honestly don’t know much about that one. I think the bus tour goes to other show/movie locations along with TVD, where the Vampire Stalkers Tour only shares TVD locations which was all I was interested in. They also shared some info on Legacies, but haven’t watched all of that. I kinda would like to do the bus tour too though to compare. Anyone want to go with me??

Our first stop on the tour was a park where they built a cemetery for I believe two different scenes. ** SPOILER ALERT** The “fake” cemetery is where they buried Aunt Jenna and it is also where Isobel takes off her daylight necklace and dies. I think our guide Amber said the rest of the cemetery scenes were filmed at the actual cemetery there in Covington, THAT I FORGOT TO VISIT!!! The real one wasn’t part of the tour and I was just too excited and overwhelmed and completely forgot to go there. My husband and I may or may not be going back in October for me to do a 5k Vampire race, so that is on my list of places I forgot to go see. I have several places on that list, haha. I feel like I will be more prepared this time though, and we are going to be staying the night which I personally recommend. There is just so much to see to get it all done in one day, so I am glad we are going back. Thankfully it’s just about 3 hours away, so not far at all from where we live. I may need to start making it a monthly trip lol.

Speaking of staying the night, Caroline’s house is now an Airbnb!! How cool is that?! I definitely want to stay in it one day, but I say it will stay booked up haha. I will link it here if yall want to check it out. One thing I learned on the tour though is that the inside scenes weren’t actually filmed in the houses except for the Lockwood Mansion and some scenes at the front doors of the houses. The rest of the inside scenes were stages they had built at one location. So if you stay at Caroline’s house it won’t look the same, but it is still really cool and I still want to stay there lol. There is also a cute Bed & Breakfast called The Twelve Oaks that I will link here. I think there might have been a couple scenes filmed outside when Katherine first met Damon and Stefan, but I’m not 100% sure.

Ok I feel like I got a little off track lol. So after we went to the fake cemetery, which is also where Damon and Elena have their rain kiss, we went to Caroline and Elena’s house. In real life they are actually side by side, but in the show they aren’t neighbors. So both of those houses you could see on your own, but our next stop which might have been my favorite, was the Lockwood Mansion, you can’t go on the property unless you do the tour. It is gated and has a long driveway so you can’t really see much. We didn’t get to go inside, but we did get to go in the back yard and walk by the pond. It is such a beautiful property and home! We saw/took pictures where Tyler and Vicki argue on the bench outside when he didn’t want to take her into the party and Carol Lockwood came out and said “that’s why you don’t bring trash to the party.” The bench where Klaus and Caroline have their first “date” at the second Miss Mystic Falls, and **SPOILER ALERT** We saw where Stefan and Caroline got married. I think this was my favorite place just because of how many scenes were filmed there and it was just so amazing remember the episodes and knowing they were there. Yes I know I’m a dork lol.

The last stop on the tour was town square. This was also another special place because seeing the infamous clocktower whenever we drove into town made me so giddy with excitement. Plus all the town square scenes were filmed in town square. That’s also where the Mystery Grill is and yall know I had to eat there. Our guide told us restaurants to check out and breakfast spots she loves. I wanted to eat at the Mystic Grill though lol. I do want to check out Bread & Butter Bakery when we go back.

Another fun but disappointing fact, the Mystic Grill does not look the same inside as it does on the show. I’m pretty sure the bar does look the same though. They do sell Brother’s Bond Bourbon there, which is Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley’s (Damon & Stefan) Bourbon.

So after we ate at the Mystic Grill we went to the two different gift shops and I of course got some goodies. I got Elena’s vervain locket necklace and her daylight ring along with a few other things. I actually vlogged some of the tour and did a gift shop haul when I got home, so I will link it below for yall if you want to check it out next. I will also share pictures down below as well.

One place that wasn’t on the tour that I wanted to see and actually remembered was Wickery Bridge. It was I think about 15-20 minutes from downtown Covington, but worth the drive for me. I stood where Stefan and Elena stood and of course took pictures on the bridge. I will say if you go to Covington and make it to the bridge and want to take pictures in the road, be EXTREMELY careful because cars were flying through there. The address is 5098 Klondike Rd Lithonia, GA 30038. On our way to the bridge from Covington I spotted Bonnie’s mom Abby’s house. We passed by and I told my husband “I think that’s Bonnie’s moms house!” So on the way back through we stopped and I took a picture. I show it in my vlog, so be sure to check it out!

Hopefully that wasn’t too boring or too detailed, once I started writing about it I just got carried away lol. If you are a huge Vampire Diaries fan I would definitely make the trip and take the tour. I loved out guide Amber. I can’t wait to go back! Covington is such a beautiful town and I really did feel like I was in Mystic Falls! If we lived closer I think I would totally be a tour guide. I would love talking about TVD all day everyday, haha. That actually gave me an idea and I have started a Facebook page that I would love for yall to follow along with! I’ll link it here. I want yall to watch or rewatch the series with me, an episode a week, starting with season 1 episode 1. I will be doing a Facebook live and we can talk about each episode. Things we liked, things we didn’t like, our favorite characters, least favorite characters, and everything in between. I hope to see you there!

The Alicia Diaries

One last thing, comment below and let me know if you are team Damon or team Stefan. I am 100% team Damon!

The famous town square! You can see the clocktower and Mystic Grill.

Elena’s House. Yes I did this pose and face a lot haha. I was excited.

The Klaus and Caroline “first date” bench.