To bring the nostalgic world of M. Gustave to life, Anderson used various Eastern European towns and cities in Germany as the backdrops for Zubrowka. However, most of the key scenes in The Grand Budapest Hotel were specifically filmed in the easternmost area in Germany, namely Görlitz.

Görlitz’s old world charm has made the town very popular with filmmakers. Within the last few years alone, a host of feature films were shot in Görlitz, including Inglourious Basterds, The Reader, The Book Thief, and The Monuments Men.

Görlitzer Warenhaus Department Store

Standing in for the Grand Budapest Hotel itself is an abandoned, Art Nouveau department store in Görlitz called Görlitzer Warenhaus. Anderson found the space while location scouting for the movie and promptly fell in love with its unique, historical architecture. The exquisite stairways, elevators, and atrium of the building also caught the attention of production designer Adam Stockhausen, who has worked with Anderson on his previous films The Darjeeling Limited and Moonrise Kingdom. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for 12 Years a Slave. "When I first saw the building, I thought: It's perfect. Just perfect," said Stockhausen.

In addition to Anderson, who “just lit up” when he first saw the old department store, and Stockhausen, the film’s producer Jeremy Dawson was also impressed with Görlitzer Warenhaus. "We saw right away it would work — the building had the height and scale, the grandness, we needed. It had beautiful bones," shared Dawson.