Images reveal what Christmas film locations REALLY look like year-round… and how they were transformed for festive fun

The Christmas season isn't complete without a few classic Christmas movies.

And if you fancy living out some of your festive movie fantasies in real life, DailyMail.com has rounded up some iconic sets.

However, don't be disappointed if you go to the Home Alone house or the Elf department store in New York, because the outside of the building looks a bit bland without the Christmas decor.

Iris' house in The Holiday also doesn't exist and was actually just a fiberglass model that was later demolished. Now there is only a field where it stood, but the quaint cottage that inspired it still exists in an English country village.

Look below to see how your favorite movie spots stack up in real life.

The McCallister House: Home Alone

The house from the classic Christmas movie Home Alone doesn't look nearly as festive for most of the year.

Located on Chicago's North Shore, the stunning 1920s mansion was a key part of the 1990 family comedy blockbuster that briefly catapulted child actor Macaulay Culkin to megastardom.

Many scenes in the film were filmed in the three-storey house, including the scenes involving the kitchen, the main staircase, the basement and most of the first floor landing.

The McCallister family home looks very different now than when it appeared in the 1990 film, with contemporary interiors in neutral colors.

While it may not be decked out in Christmas lights and decorations, it remains instantly recognizable from the outside thanks to its grandiose symmetrical facade.

The Plaza Hotel: Home Alone 2

In the sequel to the 1990s hit Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin's character accidentally boards a plane to New York while his family flies to Florida for the Christmas holidays.

While in New York, lost Kevin McAllister checks into the Plaza Hotel using his father's credit card.

Even without the Christmas decorations, The Plaza Hotel remains largely unchanged from when it was featured in Home Alone 2 and its gold and red interior has a festive look all year round.

The luxury hotel is even offering the Kevin-inspired Have Fun In New York package, which includes perks like a limousine ride, a large cheese pizza and a “Home Alone Sundae,” complete with 16 scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and maraschino cherries. , M&M's, brownie pieces, chocolate, caramel and raspberry sauce

Iris's house: The Holiday

It's considered one of the most romantic films of the season, but romantic visions will be shattered by the fact that Iris' characterful home in The Holiday doesn't actually exist.

Rosehill Cottage, as it is called in the film, was built from scratch from fiberglass in Shere, England, while the interiors were all sets.

The scenic retreat is set in the context of Amanda (Cameron Diaz) and Graham (Jude Law) after she swaps her LA home with Iris (Kate Winslet) over Christmas.

Although the cottage itself was not used in the actual film, the producers used a property as the basis for the specially designed set.

Honeysuckle Cottage, in the London residential village of Holmbury St Mary near Dorking, was the inspiration for Kate Winslet's character Iris' home in the 2006 film.

The exterior of the property is virtually identical to the one in the film, including the small fence and arched porch.

The white horse: the holiday

Fans of The Holiday can enjoy a pint at The White Horse pub in Shere, Surrey, where Jude Law and Cameron Diaz's characters go on a date.

However, residents of the picturesque village say they dread the holidays every year.

They claim they are forced to stay in their homes and cannot enjoy activities on their doorstep because their high street is packed with movie fans every winter.

Tensions between homeowners and visitors have risen so high that parish councilors are planning to introduce parking charges, according to The Sun.

Locals hope this can deter people from visiting and reduce the number of cars parked in the village.

Other productions in which Shere has been used include: Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Wedding Date, The Mummy, Silent Witness and Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

Although the White Horse can be without snow for most of the year, the Grade II listed building still offers a cozy British pub atmosphere all year round.

Macy's: Wonder on 34th St

Macy's in New York starred in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, in which a girl discovers the real Santa Claus in the store.

And every Christmas the vast department store regains its character.

The windows on the 34th Street side of the store are decorated with scenes from the classic Miracle movie, while “Santaland” opens on the 8th floor, with visit and photo packages starting at $39.99.

On Tripadvisor, where Macy's Herald Sqaure has a score of 4 out of 5 from 4,905 reviews, many visitors have praised the holiday efforts.

One visitor said, “Outside brings back memories of Miracle on 34th Street, watching the Macy's Day Parade and Christmas in the snow globes of Herald's Square.”

Another fan wrote, “Walking in here felt like I was back in the moving Miracle on 34th Street (one of my favorites).

“As we went higher and higher, I could imagine Mr. Macy going up these very, very old wooden escalators. I love wood and I love refinishing old wood.”

Outside of Christmas, Macy's looks like any other department store, and since its outing in Miracle, it has undergone several modernizations.

Gimbels: Eleven

Elf's New York department store, Gimbels, seems a world away from its movie outing after a recent renovation to turn it into a more modern space.

At the store, Buddy the elf works and meets his love interest, Jovie.

It's also where he realizes that the Santa Claus in the store isn't the real Santa Claus, and he exposes him with these antics, landing him in jail.

'You disgust me. How can you live with yourself?' he says to the fake Santa Claus. “You sit on a throne of lies.”

The Gimbels store at 295 Fifth Avenue reportedly underwent CGI work to turn it into a Christmas wonderland and the facade was decorated with a giant bow and a nutcracker.

Although it no longer exists, Gimbels was once a real department store was active for more than a century, from 1842 to 1987.

Today the building, known as the Textile Building, serves as a contemporary office complex.

Julia's house: Actually love

Fans of the romantic comedy Love Actually continue to flock to a stable 20 years after it featured in one of the film's most famous scenes.

Every day, dozens of tourists line up outside the three-storey pink house in St Luke Mews in London's fashionable Notting Hill.

According to residents, on weekends there is a line of people armed with cell phones and selfie sticks in front of the terraced house and on the residential street where houses sell for more than $2.5 million.

The street – and the pink house – are used in the scene in which Juliet, played by Knightley, receives a knock on the door on Christmas Eve from the best man at her wedding, Mark (Andrew Lincoln).

He arrives with a boombox playing Christmas carols and shows Juliet, who is married to Peter, a series of cards expressing his love for her.

The house can be seen as Mark walks away before Juliet runs after him and gives him a quick kiss. He then decides to move on with his life without her.

Today the property looks much the same as it did twenty years ago, meaning many movie fans still flock there to take a photo.

However, residents of St Luke Mews have asked tourists to stay away as they find the constant stream of Instagrammers 'irritating'.

The woman who lives in the pink building spoke anonymously to reporters and said she knew nothing about the property's past before purchasing it in 2006. She claims that tourists even walked into her house.