Game of Thrones Filming Locations in Dubrovnik: The Ultimate Fan Guide

There is a reason the producers of Game of Thrones chose Dubrovnik over every other city in Europe. Standing on the limestone-paved Stradun at golden hour, looking up at the honey-colored walls rising against the Adriatic, the illusion of King’s Landing requires almost no imagination at all. This guide is for fans who want more than a photograph in front of a familiar arch — it covers every significant filming location in and around the city, explains what was actually shot where, and layers in enough practical travel information to help you plan a real, satisfying trip to one of Croatia’s most extraordinary places. Dubrovnik deserves your attention both as a television landmark and as a city with nearly a thousand years of history behind it.

King’s Landing at Every Turn — The Old City Walls and Battlements

The city walls of Dubrovnik are the single most important Game of Thrones location you will visit, and they are also one of the finest medieval fortifications anywhere in Europe. Walking the full 1.9-kilometer circuit takes between 90 minutes and two hours depending on how many times you stop to photograph the view — and you will stop often.

The walls served as King’s Landing’s perimeter throughout the series. The stretch running along the seaward side, looking out over the vivid blue Adriatic, appears in dozens of establishing shots of the city. The landward sections, with their towers and crenellations silhouetted against the limestone hillside, gave the production team the medieval skyline they needed without any digital trickery. During the filming of the Battle of the Blackwater in Season 2, the northern walls near the Minceta Tower provided the physical backdrop for scenes of soldiers defending the city.

Practically speaking, wall access opens at 8am and the ticket currently costs around 35 USD for adults. Arrive early. By 10am in summer the circuit fills with tour groups, and the narrow walkway on the seaward side becomes a slow shuffle rather than a stroll. The morning light also hits the red-tiled rooftops of the old city from the east, which is exactly the angle the production used for many of its aerial-style King’s Landing shots.

One specific spot worth pausing at: the section of wall just above the old harbour, where you can look down at the Porporela breakwater and the fishing boats. This angle appeared repeatedly in the show as the harbor of King’s Landing, and it is instantly recognizable once you are standing there.

Fort Lovrijenac — The Red Keep Above the Sea

If the city walls are the bones of King’s Landing, Fort Lovrijenac is its dramatic heart. This freestanding fortress sits on a 37-meter rock spur just outside the Pile Gate, connected to the city by a short bridge over a sea channel. In the show, it served as the exterior of the Red Keep — the seat of power for the Lannister family and the symbolic center of Westerosi politics.

The fortress itself predates the show by about nine centuries. An inscription above the entrance reads Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro — “Freedom cannot be sold for all the gold in the world” — a motto the Republic of Ragusa took seriously for centuries. Inside, the main courtyard is open and surprisingly intimate, with the sea visible through the battlements on three sides. Scenes including Joffrey’s name day tournament were filmed here, using the courtyard as the jousting ground and the upper terraces as the royal viewing platform.

The fort is included in the Dubrovnik city walls ticket, which is another reason to buy that ticket even if you have limited time. Standing on the upper terrace and looking back at the city walls rising above the Pile Gate, you understand exactly why the location scouts picked this spot. It looks like a kingdom’s capital seen from its citadel. The sea light off the Adriatic does the rest.

Visit in the late afternoon. The crowds thin out after 4pm, the light turns amber, and the fort takes on a quality that is genuinely cinematic — no costume required.

The Streets of Shame and Splendor — Stradun and the Side Alleys

Stradun, the main limestone thoroughfare of the old city, has a double life in the show. It appeared as the busy commercial heart of King’s Landing in the earlier seasons — the street along which Cersei’s infamous Walk of Shame was filmed in Season 5 is actually not Stradun itself but the narrower lanes just to its north and south, particularly Ulica od Puča and the steps around the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius.

The Walk of Shame sequence is one of the most memorable in the entire series, and standing at the top of the broad Jesuit staircase — modeled on the Spanish Steps in Rome — and looking down toward the city, the scene plays out in your mind with uncomfortable clarity. The stairs are real, the surrounding buildings are real, and the crowd that gathered there on filming days was made up largely of local Dubrovnik residents who had signed up as extras.

Several other specific alley locations are worth seeking out:

• The street of Ulica Žudioska (Jewish Street) — one of the narrowest lanes in the old city, used for scenes depicting the poorer quarters of King’s Landing, particularly in Seasons 1 and 2.



• Ulica od Domina — a quiet lane behind St. Dominic’s church that doubled as a Flea Bottom back alley in early episodes.
• The old city harbour (Stara Luka) — the small working port at the eastern end of the old city, used as King’s Landing’s dockside in multiple scenes. The stone quay, the arched warehouse entrance, and the view back toward the city walls are exactly as they appear on screen.

The best way to find these spots without a guide is to download one of the several GoT location maps available from the Dubrovnik tourist board — but a guided walking tour, which typically runs two hours and costs around 20 to 30 USD per person, adds the context of behind-the-scenes anecdotes that you simply cannot get from a self-guided map.

Trsteno Arboretum — The Gardens of the Small Council

About 18 kilometers northwest of Dubrovnik, the village of Trsteno holds one of Croatia’s oldest botanical gardens, established in 1492 by the Gučetić noble family of Ragusa. For Game of Thrones viewers, it is immediately recognizable as the gardens of the Red Keep — specifically the shaded pergola walks where Lady Olenna Tyrell and Sansa Stark had their first significant conversation, and where the Small Council scenes in later seasons were filmed outdoors.

The arboretum covers about 25 hectares along a coastal bluff, and it is spectacularly beautiful regardless of its television associations. Two enormous oriental plane trees — reportedly over 500 years old — flank the entrance. The formal Italian-style garden below the old villa, with its Neptune fountain and geometrically arranged hedges, is the area most associated with the show. The vine-covered pergola walkways and the sea views from the garden walls are exactly as they appear in the episodes.

Getting there independently is straightforward: bus number 12 or 15 runs from Dubrovnik’s main bus station at Pile Gate and drops you at Trsteno village in about 30 to 40 minutes. The entrance fee is modest, around 7 USD. A visit pairs well with a stop in the village itself, where the small harbor below the garden is genuinely lovely and almost completely untouched by tourism.

This is the filming location that rewards the traveler as much as the fan. Many people who visit knowing nothing about Game of Thrones come away saying it was the most beautiful garden they saw in Croatia.

Lokrum Island — Daenerys in Qarth and Beyond

A ten-minute ferry ride from the old city harbour takes you to Lokrum, a forested island nature reserve that served as the city of Qarth in Season 2. The scenes depicting Daenerys arriving at the gates of Qarth and navigating its aristocratic politics were filmed partly on the island’s open lawn areas and near the ruined Benedictine monastery at its center.

The monastery itself is a remarkable structure — abandoned centuries ago, its cloister now shelters peacocks that wander freely around the ruins. Inside the monastery complex, you will find one of the series’ more charming GoT-related installations: a full-scale replica of the Iron Throne, placed there permanently and available for photographs. It has become something of a pilgrimage for fans who want the definitive fan photograph, and the queue can be significant in high season.

Beyond its GoT associations, Lokrum is one of the nicest half-day escapes from Dubrovnik’s summer intensity. The island has a saltwater lake (the Dead Sea, as locals call it), a rocky swimming beach on the eastern shore, and the ruins of a French-era fort on its highest point with views over the open Adriatic. Ferries run regularly from the old harbour between April and October; the return ticket costs around 15 USD and includes a small contribution to the island’s nature reserve management. No overnight stays are permitted.

The Pile Gate Area and Minčeta Tower — Scaling the City of Qarth

The Minčeta Tower, at the highest point of the city walls on the northern side, stood in for the House of the Undying in Qarth — the tower Daenerys enters in the Season 2 finale seeking her dragons. From the outside, the circular tower with its upper crown of battlements is visually distinctive and looks exactly as it does on screen.

Reaching Minčeta requires walking the walls circuit from either the Pile Gate entrance or the St. Luke’s Tower entrance near the old harbour. Coming from Pile Gate, the tower is about 20 to 25 minutes into the walk, and the climb up through its internal spiral to the top level is steep but absolutely worth it. The view from the top — looking down over the old city and out to Lokrum and the islands beyond — is the best elevated perspective in Dubrovnik.

The Pile Gate itself, the main western entrance to the old city, appears repeatedly in the show as a King’s Landing gate, and the wooden drawbridge outside it was used in scenes depicting people entering and leaving the city. In reality, the drawbridge is fixed and mostly decorative, but standing on the stone bridge outside the gate and looking up at the walls, the setting is immediately evocative.

Just inside the Pile Gate, the Onofrio’s Large Fountain — a round 15th-century cistern with carved lion-head spouts — was used as a background location in several street scenes. In show context it reads as a busy city landmark; in reality it is surrounded by tourists filling water bottles, which is exactly what the original builders intended it for.

Rector’s Palace and Other Hidden Shooting Spots

The Rector’s Palace on Pred Dvorom, one of the finest Gothic-Renaissance buildings in the Adriatic, served as the Hall of the Small Council chambers and as various interior spaces of King’s Landing’s government buildings in the earlier seasons. The production dressed the palace’s late Gothic courtyard with period-appropriate furniture and lighting; today the space functions as a museum of Dubrovnik’s history, and the courtyard hosts summer concerts as part of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival.

A visit to the palace is worthwhile on its own terms — the collection inside covers the history of the Republic of Ragusa with genuine depth, and the building itself is stunning. Admission runs around 15 USD. Standing in the courtyard, you can see how easily the space transforms into a throne room with minimal set dressing; the proportions and the stone are simply right.

Several other locations that appear in the series are easy to miss without specific knowledge:

• The Dominican Monastery (Muzej Dominikanskog Samostana) — the cloister appeared in background shots as a Westerosi courtyard. It is worth visiting anyway for its extraordinary collection of Dalmatian Renaissance paintings.
• The old city harbour arch — the large arched entrance to the harbour from the water side was used as the King’s Landing dockside gate in scenes involving Tyrion and Stannis’s fleet.
• Gradac Park, just outside Pile Gate — the shaded park area above the sea cliffs northwest of the walls was used as a location for several outdoor noble scenes in early seasons and offers a peaceful contrast to the bustle inside the walls.

There is also a permanent Game of Thrones exhibition at the Customs House building near the old harbour. It houses original costumes, props, and set pieces from the production, with detailed notes on local filming logistics. For dedicated fans, it fills in gaps that location-spotting alone cannot.

Planning Your Visit — Crowds, Seasons, and the GoT Walking Tours

Dubrovnik’s relationship with tourism — and specifically Game of Thrones tourism — is complicated. The city is genuinely small. The old city covers less than two square kilometers, and in summer it receives upward of 10,000 visitors per day. The city government has introduced visitor caps and discourages cruise ships from disgorging their full passenger loads simultaneously, but in July and August, the Stradun still becomes uncomfortably crowded by midmorning.

The best months to visit for Game of Thrones location hunting are May, early June, September, and October. Crowds are manageable, the weather is warm but not punishing, the light is better for photography (lower sun angle, longer golden hours), and accommodation prices drop significantly. April is also viable but some ferry services to Lokrum haven’t started their full schedule yet.

July and August are not impossible — the city is still magnificent — but you need to adapt your schedule. Be on the walls by 8am before the cruise ships dock. Visit Trsteno on a weekday morning. Save Lokrum for late afternoon when the day-trippers have returned to the mainland.

For GoT walking tours specifically, there are several operators worth considering:

• Dubrovnik Walks — runs a two-hour guided GoT tour that covers the main in-city locations with a guide who has usually worked as a local extra or production assistant. Costs around 25 USD per person.
• Viator and GetYourGuide listings — aggregate multiple operators; booking in advance is essential in summer. Look for small-group tours (under 12 people) rather than large walking groups that clog the narrow lanes.
• Private guided tours — available from around 80 to 120 USD for a two-hour private session; worth it for serious fans who want to control the pace and ask specific questions.

The Dubrovnik tourist board’s official GoT map is available free at the tourist office near Pile Gate and can be downloaded from their website. It marks 28 specific locations with scene references and GPS coordinates — a solid starting point for self-guided exploration.

Staying, Eating, and Getting Around Dubrovnik Like a Fan and a Traveler

Dubrovnik’s geography is straightforward but slightly counterintuitive for first-time visitors. The old city, the main tourist zone, sits on a small peninsula at the southern end of the city. Most accommodation options cluster in three areas: inside the old city walls (expensive, atmospheric, no vehicle access, potentially noisy at night), the Lapad Peninsula to the northwest (quieter, mostly hotels and apartments, 20 minutes by bus from Pile Gate), and the Ploče neighborhood just east of the old city (convenient, a mix of price points, near the cable car).

For Game of Thrones visitors specifically, staying inside the old city walls or immediately outside Pile Gate means you can be at filming locations before the crowds arrive — a real practical advantage. The downside is cost; old city apartments run from around 100 to 250 USD per night in summer. Lapad is significantly cheaper and the bus connection is reliable and frequent.

Getting around within the old city is entirely on foot — no vehicles are permitted inside the walls. For reaching outlying locations like Trsteno, the city bus system is excellent and inexpensive (around 2 USD per journey). Buses run from the main stop just outside Pile Gate. Taxis and rideshare-style services exist but are expensive relative to the distances involved.

The Dubrovnik Cable Car, departing from the Ploče neighborhood just east of the old city walls, carries visitors up to Mount Srđ above the city. This is not a GoT filming location, but it provides the elevated perspective from which the production’s aerial King’s Landing shots were clearly inspired. The view from the top is extraordinary — the full sweep of the old city, the islands, the coast running toward Montenegro. The cable car costs around 25 USD return and the ride takes four minutes.

Where locals eat — and where GoT-fatigued visitors should eat — requires a short walk away from the Stradun. Restaurants directly on the main street charge tourist prices for mediocre food. The better options:

• Konoba Kolona, in the old city’s back streets, serves straightforward Dalmatian food — grilled fish, peka-style lamb, good local wine — at honest prices. The dining room is small; book ahead.
• Nautika, just outside Pile Gate above the sea, is the city’s most celebrated restaurant, with the view to match its reputation. It is not cheap (expect 60 to 100 USD per person with wine) but the seafood is exceptional.
• Pantarul, in the Lapad neighborhood, is where Dubrovnik’s food-conscious residents actually eat — a modern Croatian kitchen with seasonal menus and excellent value compared to the old city equivalents.
• For fast, inexpensive eating, the small bakeries and burek shops just inside the Pile Gate and near the market square off Gundulićeva Poljana offer pastries, sandwiches, and the Dalmatian pašticada (beef stew) served over gnocchi from around 10 to 15 USD.

Croatian wine deserves specific mention: the Pelješac Peninsula, visible on a clear day from the city walls, produces Plavac Mali — a rich, full-bodied red with some of the Zinfandel grape’s genetic heritage. Any wine bar in the old city will pour it by the glass, and it is the right thing to drink while watching the Adriatic light fade over the islands.

One practical note that applies to both Game of Thrones visitors and regular travelers: the summer heat inside the old city walls is significant. The limestone absorbs and radiates heat; the narrow lanes trap it. Carry water, wear light clothing, and schedule any location hunting that requires serious walking for early morning or after 5pm. The city in the evening hours — when the day-trippers have left and the light is amber and low — is categorically more beautiful than it is at noon, and the GoT associations come alive more naturally when the streets are quiet and the walls are glowing.

Dubrovnik earns its reputation on its own terms, entirely apart from its television fame. The Game of Thrones connection gave millions of people a reason to look at it, which is not nothing — but what holds visitors here is the real city underneath the costume: the walls, the light, the sea, and nine centuries of a republic that refused to be owned by anyone.

Explore more
Walking Dubrovnik’s City Walls: A Complete Visitor Guide
Island Hopping from Dubrovnik: Lokrum, Koločep, and the Elafiti Islands

📷 Featured image by Geio Tischler on Unsplash.