After nine years, eight seasons, 71 episodes and countless deaths, one of the world’s most popular and talked about TV series is finally coming to an end.
One of the many things Game of Thrones is known for is its spectacular scenery. Rather than relying on sets or CGI backdrops, the producers would instead scour the world looking for real-life locations to stand in for the show’s fictional cities and countries. As the show jumped around from arid deserts to green countryside to frozen wilderness, the actors were flown around the world to suitable locations – most of which you can visit in real life.
We’ve rounded our favourite Game of Thrones locations you can visit right now.
Northern Ireland
Most interior scenes from the show are filmed in Belfast’s Paint Hall studios – otherwise known as Titanic Studios – and many exterior shots of Westeros take place in the Irish countryside.
The Dark Hedges (pictured above) was featured in Season 2, episode 1: On the King’s Road. The famous road can be found near the small town of Ballymoney in County Antrim. As a bonus, it’s only a few miles away from another popular tourist destination – Giant’s Causeway.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
The medieval city doubles as King’s Landing, the capital city of Westeros and location of countless iconic scenes (it was also used in Star Wars: The Last Jedi). A little further along the coast you’ll find the town of Split, which stood in for various fictional locations – such as Meereen, Sibenik and Braavos, plus Diocletian’s Palace which was used as Daenerys’ throne room.
Plan ahead if you’re going to visit – Dubrovnik is often packed with more tourists than it can handle!
Iceland
Whenever characters venture into the wilderness north of the wall, you’re looking at Iceland’s dramatic scenery. The show uses a number of different locations – such as Lake Mývatn and the lava fields of Dimmuborgir in the north of the country, used heavily in earlier seasons.
The shores of Lake Mývatn were used as the Wildling’s camping spot, and the nearby cave at Grjotagja was used as the cave that Jon and Ygrette retreated to. The Höfðabrekkuheiði hiking area near Vik (in the South), the Svínafellsjökull glacier near Skaftafell, and Thingvellir National Park have also been used in the show.
Spain
Like Iceland, locations scattered all over Spain are used in Game of Thrones. A particular highlight is Royal Alcázar of Seville (shown above) which provided the backdrop for Sunspear, the capital of Dorne in the show.
Other Spanish locations include Itzurun in Guipúzcoa province (a.k.a the beach where we see Daenerys in the first episode), Almeria (which was used for Vaes Dothrak) and Girona in Catalonia, which was used as Braavos and Old Town.
Malta
Early in the show’s production, before location scouts had settled on Dubrovnik, the Maltese city of Mdina was used to shoot certain scenes set in King’s Landing, and Valletta (seen above) stood in for many of the show’s hotter & sunnier locations. Fort Ricasoli was also used for exterior shots of The Red Keep in King’s Landing.
