On location: Six Oscar-worthy vacation rentals

While Fern’s journey takes her across the highways of the American West, where she finds a true sense of community on the road, this vintage RV park in Texas Hill Country gives guests a gateway to van life—with a few more amenities. You’ll have ample chances to build a rapport with fellow guests, between the retro resort’s communal fire pit, swimming pool, and gas grills for group cookouts. You might even meet a road trip buddy: the Linda May to your Fern.

Taking viewers back to the black-and-white days of moving pictures, Mank tells the story of troubled screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish Citizen Kane. The story jumps from flashbacks to the present day, but much of it takes place at a remote ranch in Victorville, California, where Mank’s recovering from an accident. Though he spent most of his time under the bed’s patchwork quilt, it’s not hard to see why a quiet retreat—like this one in Lake Arrowhead, just an hour away from where Mank wrote in real life—would be the ideal place to type out a masterpiece.

This visually stunning documentary follows the unique bond between a diver and an octopus in South Africa’s kelp forest—but until international travel is back on the table, you can find the giant Pacific octopus closer to home in Washington’s Puget Sound. Located on Whidbey Island, this charming beachfront vacation rental, with an octopus motif no less, will put you steps from the habitat of these graceful, intelligent creatures. Not scuba-certified and prefer to stay on land? No worries, the Seattle Aquarium is just a short ferry ride away.