Explore the real-world places that appear in Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll & John Tenniel. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include The Riverbank & Rabbit Hole, The Hall of Doors, Pool of Tears, The Caucus Race Shore, The White Rabbit's House and 8 more.
Where Alice's journey begins
Alice grows bored beside her sister, then sees the White Rabbit in a waistcoat checking his watch. She follows him down a rabbit hole and falls slowly into Wonderland.
The hole acts as a doorway between the ordinary world and Wonderland, where logic bends and time slips. It has no known builder.
It marks Alice's leap from rigid Victorian order into a world of nonsense, curiosity, and self-discovery.
Long hall of locked doors and a glass table
Alice lands in a hall of locked doors and finds a golden key on a glass table. She drinks from a bottle labeled DRINK ME and shrinks, then eats cake and grows enormous.
The hall shifts size and shape to suit its visitors. Its tiny garden door is said to open only to those of the right size.
Alice's constant size changes reflect the confusion of growing up and the struggle to find identity.
A lake made from Alice's giant tears
Alice, nine feet tall, weeps and later swims in the pool of her own tears. She meets the Mouse, the Dodo, a Lory, an Eaglet, and a Duck, who all end up soaked.
Wonderland's creatures treat the pool as a natural lake. They never question that it was made by a weeping girl.
Alice's emotions literally flood the world around her, showing how overwhelming childhood feelings can be.
Shore where animals dry off
The Dodo organizes a Caucus Race to dry the soaked animals. Everyone runs in circles, and the Dodo declares everyone a winner, so Alice gives out comfits as prizes.
The Dodo holds that the best way to explain a race is to run it. The shore has been used for such contests for ages.
The race satirizes pointless bureaucracy and shows Alice trying to follow the world's illogical rules.
Cottage where Alice grows too big
Mistaken for the maid Mary Ann, Alice fetches the Rabbit's gloves and fan. She drinks another potion and swells until she fills the house. Bill the Lizard is sent down the chimney, and Alice kicks him out.
The Rabbit serves as herald and servant to the Queen. His tidy house reflects his anxious devotion to punctuality.
Alice is trapped by her own body and must rely on her wits as she struggles to take control.
Giant mushroom in the Wood of Forgetfulness
A blue Caterpillar smoking a hookah asks Alice 'Who are you?' and she cannot answer. He tells her one side of the mushroom makes her grow and the other makes her shrink.
The mushroom grows at the heart of the wood where names are forgotten. The Caterpillar is said to know the secrets of change.
The Caterpillar's questions force Alice to face her shifting identity, a central theme of the story.
Chaotic kitchen full of pepper and a baby
Alice finds the Duchess nursing a baby amid flying pans while the Cook throws pepper into the soup. The Cheshire Cat grins from the hearth, and the baby turns into a pig in Alice's arms.
The house sits deep in the Pepper Wood, and its air is always thick with spice. Anyone entering sneezes at once, except the cook and the cat.
The household shows cruelty and chaos in adult authority, and Alice's bold action contrasts with it.
Branch where the grinning cat appears and vanishes
The Cheshire Cat appears in a tree and tells Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including herself. It directs her to the Hatter and the March Hare, then fades until only its grin remains.
The Cat's grin is said to linger long after he leaves. He can appear anywhere in Wonderland, yet he never goes far from the Duchess.
The Cat voices the story's idea that sanity is relative, and he is among the few creatures who gives Alice real guidance.
Eternal tea table at six o'clock
The Mad Hatter, March Hare, and sleepy Dormouse crowd one end of a long table and insist there is no room. They pose riddles with no answers, switch seats as the tea runs out, and Alice storms off insulted.
The Hatter quarreled with Time while singing for the Queen, so it is always six o'clock. The party shifts seats because there is never time to wash the cups.
The scene mocks social etiquette and shows frozen time, a childlike view of an adult world with senseless rules.
Garden where cards paint roses red
Alice sees three gardener cards, Two, Five, and Seven, frantically painting white roses red to escape the Queen's wrath. The Queen of Hearts arrives and shouts 'Off with their heads!'
The garden was planted with white roses by mistake. The Queen's temper keeps it, and its gardeners, in constant fear.
It exposes the arbitrary tyranny of power and the absurdity of authority Alice learns to question.
Field where flamingos are mallets
Alice plays croquet with live flamingos for mallets and hedgehogs for balls, while soldiers bend as hoops. The Queen quarrels with everyone and orders executions, though the King quietly pardons them.
The Queen's games are never won, as she changes the rules at will. The soldiers are cards who arch themselves into hoops.
The game shows a society where rules are meaningless and authority is absurd, pushing Alice toward rebellion.
Shore where the Gryphon and Mock Turtle dance
The Gryphon leads Alice to the weeping Mock Turtle, who tells of his school under the sea with Reeling, Writhing, and Drawling. They dance the Lobster Quadrille and he sings 'Beautiful Soup.'
Mock turtle soup is made from calf's head, and the Mock Turtle's sorrow comes from this fate. The Gryphon scoffs that it is all his fancy.
The scene plays with Victorian schooling and lost innocence, while sorrow and nonsense coexist.
Courtroom where the Knave of Hearts is tried
The Knave of Hearts is tried for stealing the Queen's tarts, with the White Rabbit as herald and the King as judge. Alice, growing larger, defies the Queen, shouting 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!' and wakes up.
Trials in the court always put the sentence before the verdict. The jury writes down its own names to keep from forgetting them.
The climax shows Alice outgrowing the world's nonsense and claiming her own voice and courage.
More by Lewis Carroll & John Tenniel: All Lewis Carroll & John Tenniel books