Julia Roberts only agreed to film her Bali scenes on location if the producers agreed to allow her to have her family over there during the shoot.
Julia Roberts invited her friend Garry Marshall to direct the film, but Marshall declined because he was unwilling to travel outside America to the locations where the film takes place. However, during the meet Marshall offered Roberts a role in Valentine's Day (2010) (on which he was working), which she accepted. This, in turn, allowed Ryan Murphy to step in as director.
In the book, Felipe is 15 years older than Elizabeth. In reality, Javier Bardem and Julia Roberts are the same age.
Rome's two professional soccer teams, SS Lazio and AS Roma, are fierce rivals. In Elizabeth Gilbert's original novel, Mr Spaghetti was an SS Lazio fan. The filmmakers made him an AS Roma fan, enraging local SS Lazio fans.