The world has simply gone mad about the famous TV series Game of Thrones. This obsession has started approximately four years ago and is still going on. There is rarely a young person on this planet not aware of the existence of Game of Thrones and its global fame.
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Game of Thrones
If you find yourself eager to see the new episode of GoT, you quickly fall into deep and long discussions about which character deserved to die or not, and you hate it so much when somebody (un)intentionally shares a spoiler. Then you can consider yourself as a partly obsessed “groupie” of the TV series Game of Thrones.
However, if you already know that you are a real fan of Game of Thrones and you are proud of it, then you should think about visiting some of the locations where most movie scenes have been filmed. If you are a real fan, then you`ll be surprised how you`ll never look at some places usually, but you will have the impression that you are in the movie itself. Take a look at the countries where Game of Thrones has been filmed:
Croatia
The tourism in Croatia has significantly increased these last few years, thanks to Game of Thrones for using several destinations for filming.
- Dubrovnik
The most famous location for filming in Croatia is Dubrovnik. This authentic city next to the sea has become the perfect place for the well-known King`s Landing. The impressive, medieval walls, the picturesque Old City and the lovely sun shining upon and reflecting in the blue sea, all that had helped the producers decide that this is the perfect location for filming, starting from Season 2 onwards.
If you are going to Dubrovnik, you must visit the following locations, as they are the “place of the crime” in the TV Series Game of Thrones: The City Walls of Dubrovnik, the Old City, Fort St. Lawrence, Fort Bokar, Gradac Park, St. Dominika Street, Belvedere Atrium, The Rector`s Palace, The Stradun, Pile Gate, Minčeta Tower, Lokrum Island, Dubac quarry.
- Split
Split is yet another city used for the scenes of Game of Thrones. It is the second largest city in Croatia, located in the region of Dalmatia next to the Adriatic Sea. Split has a beautiful energy, interesting old architecture, and wonderful beach places. It has been an inspiration for filming the exterior and the underground passageways in Meereen.
Many locations have been used while filming in Split and those are: Diocletian’s Palace, Fortress of Klis, Kaštel Gomilica, Perun quarry, Mosor Mountain, Baška Voda.
When it comes to Croatia, the filming of the TV Series had been mostly done in Dubrovnik and Split. However, other places had also been used as proper destinations for filming, which are:
- Trogir
- Imotski
- Šibenik
Northern Ireland
This part of U.K. plays a very significant role in the filming of the TV Series Game of Thrones. Firstly, it`s because the home base of the production team working on these TV Series adaptations is in Belfast. Many of the interior sets are located in the studios in Belfast. However, not only the interior but also many outdoor places around Belfast have been used due to the beautiful, green areas, wild nature, and old ruins. All of these locations have been used mainly to capture some of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
Northern Ireland is known to be divided into six different countries. The filming has used the locations found in four of the counties, and here you can read about their precise location:
- County Antrim filming locations: Ballintoy Harbour, Armoy, Magheramorne Quarry, Cairncastle, Shane`s Castle, Redhall Estates, Carrick-a-Rede, Cushendun Caves, Armoy, Toome, Ballymoney, Glens of Antrim.
- County Down filming locations: Castle Ward, Banbridge, River Quoile, Clandeboye Estate forests, Tollymore Forest Park, Saintfield Estates, Inch Abbey, Myra Castle, Sandy Brae.
- County Armagh has only one filming location, which is the Gosford Castle.
- County Derry has only one filming location as well, and that one is the Downhill Strand.
If your purpose of visiting Northern Ireland is to see all the filming locations, then have in mind that the indoor studios are not open to visitors, but you can always enjoy the filming locations around Belfast that are always open and easily accessible. Also, agencies are offering you great organized tours and rides with tour buses along the most famous locations for filming the scenes of Game of Thrones.
Spain
Northern Ireland has been chosen as the perfect place for filming most of the scenes of Game of Thrones. The producers, the directors and the team working on the TV Series, in general, have decided that apart from the cold weather and magnificent, colorful nature they used for filming. They also need filming locations that will capture the atmosphere of the warmer Mediterranean areas, thus choosing Spain, Malta, and Croatia. Spain has become the perfect filming location due to its sunny weather and the historic medieval Islamic palaces found in some parts of the country. For the filming of the scenes of Season 5 many locations in Spain have been used, but mostly concentrated around Seville to represent one of the regions of the Seven Kingdoms, which is Dorne and its capital Sunspear. Also, some filming has been done in Cordoba to capture the Long Bridge of Volantis.
Other parts of Spain have been used for the following filming locations:
- Seville, as it was previously explained, has been in the spotlight for filming many of the scenes of Season 5. The precise filming locations are The Alcázar of Seville and Plaza de Toros, Osuna.
- Andalusia had been the most proper filming location when it comes to the Roman Bridge of Cordoba and Almeria.
- Catalonia is taking part in Season 6, as some scenes are filmed in Girona.
- Guadalajara had been used for filming the Red Mountains of Dorne at Castillo de Zafra.
Malta
Malta, especially places around the town Mdina, had been utilized for the production of King`s Landing and Pentos during Season 1. However, the production had not continued in the same places during the following seasons.
If you are heading to Malta, then you should definitely visit the following filming locations: Verdala Palace, The Azure Window on the island of Gozo, Manikata, Mtahleb Valley, Fort Ricasoli, Gate of Mdina, Fort St. Angelo, The Pjazza Mesquita in Mdina, The cloister of the St. Dominic Monastery in Rabat, San Anton Palace, Fort Manoel.
Morocco
Morocco had also been visited by the production team of Game of Thrones to film some parts of Season 1 and Season 3. The cities they had occupied to be their filming locations are Essaouira and Aït Benhaddou.
Iceland
The frozen natural parks and the fantastic glaciers have attracted the production crew of Game of Thrones to arrange some of the filmings in Iceland. What makes this movie authentic is that they have picked some outstanding locations that are great in representing the original locations from the script. Some of these sites are The glacier at Snæfellsjökull, the glacier.
