“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was filmed in the spring of 1989, with principal photography running from March 27, 1989 to June 30, 1989.

Key timeline

  • Start of filming: March 27, 1989.
  • End of principal photography: June 30, 1989.
  • Theatrical release: December 1, 1989, the same year it was shot.

Where it was filmed

Most of the movie was filmed over those spring months in:

  • Summit County, Colorado (including Silverthorne, Breckenridge, and Frisco) for the snowy road and mountain scenes.
  • Burbank, California, at the Warner Bros. Ranch, where the Griswold family house exterior and neighborhood street were located.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.