Locations
Game of Thrones in Dubrovnik: real, CGI and when to go
Which parts of King's Landing you can walk, which were painted in on a computer, and how to beat the cruise crowds, the heat and the walls ticket line, from a tour leader born in the Old Town.
Photo: Scenes Found
I was born in Dubrovnik, and I was working my first summers as a guide when the Game of Thrones crews arrived in 2011. For a few weeks every autumn after that, the Old Town filled with trucks, horses, extras in armor and very polite assistants asking us to wait two minutes while they rolled the camera. Now the show is long finished and people come from all over the world to stand where Cersei stood. These are the questions I hear most, and my honest answers.
What is real
More than people expect. King's Landing was built on top of my city, and the bones of it are all here:
- The city walls. The whole circuit, about 1.2 miles, with the towers and the views over the roofs. Many of the wide shots of the capital start with these walls, and the round Minčeta Tower at the top corner was the House of the Undying in Qarth.
- Fort Lovrijenac. The fort on its own rock outside the western walls. Its courtyard held Joffrey's name day tournament, and its terraces are where the Lannisters look out to sea. Your walls ticket gets you in on the same day.
- The Jesuit Staircase. The baroque stairs below the Church of St Ignatius, where Cersei's walk of atonement begins in the season 5 finale. They are an ordinary public stairway, and in the early morning you may have them to yourself.
- Lokrum. The island across the water, where the garden party in Qarth was filmed. The old monastery has a small exhibit about the filming and an Iron Throne for photos.
- Trsteno. The arboretum 25 minutes north of town, where Olenna Tyrell and Sansa talk in the Red Keep gardens.
What is CGI
The Red Keep itself. The tall castle that rises over King's Landing in the show does not exist; it was drawn on a computer and placed above Lovrijenac and the Old Town. The same goes for the Great Sept of Baelor and the huge city spreading over the hills. When you look at the real Dubrovnik from the walls, it is much smaller than the King's Landing in your head, and I think it is more beautiful for it.
Some famous King's Landing scenes were not filmed here at all. The first season used Malta, and many interiors, including the throne room, were built on stages in Northern Ireland. On our tours I carry stills on a tablet, and the most fun part of the walk is holding up a frame and showing people which bit is stone and which bit is paint.
The crowds and the cruise ships
I will not pretend Dubrovnik is quiet in summer. The Old Town is small, about the size of a few city blocks, and on a busy July day it holds a lot of people. Some come from the cruise ships, and the city now limits cruise calls to two ships a day, which has helped a great deal. Even so, the Stradun between about 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in high summer is shoulder to shoulder.
The answer is timing. The walls open early in the morning, and at 8 a.m. they are calm and cool. By the time the crowds build, I take my groups out of town: to Lokrum by boat, or back to the hotel for a rest and a swim. In the evening, after the day visitors leave, the Old Town belongs to the people who sleep in it again, and that is when the stone glows and the Stradun shines like it does on screen.
The heat
July and August afternoons reach 85 to 90 F, and the walls have almost no shade. Every summer I see visitors starting the circuit at noon with no water and no hat, and every summer some of them give up halfway. Go early or go after about 5 p.m., carry water, and wear shoes with grip, because the limestone streets have been polished by centuries of feet and are slippery, especially after rain.
The walls ticket
There is one ticket for the city walls, and it also covers Fort Lovrijenac on the same day. It is not cheap, around 40 euros for an adult in recent seasons, so it pays to plan. My advice: walls first thing in the morning from the Pile Gate entrance, then Lovrijenac in the late afternoon, when the light on the walls across the cove is the best of the day. On our tour the ticket is included, and we time it exactly that way.
When to come to Dubrovnik
- April and May are my favorite months. Days of 65 to 75 F, flowers on every terrace, and the sea warm enough to swim by late May.
- June is warm and long, with the crowds starting to build.
- July and August are hot and busy. If these are your only weeks, come anyway, but live by the early morning and the evening.
- September and early October are the second best time of year: warm sea, softer light, fewer people after the schools go back.
- November to March is quiet and often rainy. Lokrum is closed to visitors, and many restaurants take a break. Lovely for a walk, but not for a full film tour.
A few small rules
Dubrovnik fines people for walking around the Old Town in swimwear or without a shirt, so cover up when you leave the beach. People still live inside the walls, many of them in the steep lanes off the Stradun, so keep your voice down at night and do not sit on doorsteps. And if you see a film crew, which still happens, stay behind the line and let them work. Dubrovnik has been good to film fans, and it is the people who live here who make that possible.
Dubrovnik alone, or with Split?
Three days are enough for the Game of Thrones sites in and around Dubrovnik. If you have a week, go on up the coast to Split, where the Roman cellars of Diocletian's Palace became the chambers under Meereen and the fortress of Klis stood above them. That is the trip I lead: three nights in Dubrovnik, a day on the coast road with Trsteno and the Pelješac Bridge, and three nights in Split. It is the best way I know to see both halves of the show's Croatia, and the drive is one of the prettiest in Europe.
