The journey
King's Landing. Braavos. Meereen. The filming locations — and the real history behind them.
Game of Thrones filmed across Croatia and Bosnia for eight seasons, using the real architecture of the medieval Adriatic as the backdrop for its fictional world. King's Landing is Dubrovnik. The House of Black and White is the island of Lokrum. The Braavosi water gate is the Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik. Daenerys's pyramid in Meereen was built inside Diocletian's Palace in Split.
This tour visits every major filming location — with a specialist who knows both the show and the actual history of these places. Because here is the thing about the Game of Thrones locations: they were extraordinary long before the cameras arrived. Diocletian's Palace has been continuously inhabited for 1,700 years. Dubrovnik's walls were built in the 14th century. The Cathedral of St. James took 105 years to complete.
The real history is better than the fiction. We tell both.
Day by day
The itinerary
Croatia — Zagreb
Zagreb — Before the Wall
Zagreb: the Austro-Hungarian capital of Croatia, its upper town largely unchanged since the 19th century. Not a filming location — but the right place to start a journey through Croatian history before descending to the Adriatic. The Museum of Broken Relationships, St. Mark's Church, the Lotrščak Tower.
Croatia — Plitvice
Plitvice — The North
Plitvice Lakes: the UNESCO natural park whose waterfall landscapes provided the "North" of Westeros — the wild, untamed territory beyond the Wall. The wooden boardwalks above the turquoise water, the boat across the largest lake, the silence of a landscape that genuinely looks like another world.
Croatia — Šibenik
Šibenik — Braavos
Šibenik's Cathedral of St. James provided the Water Gate of Braavos in seasons 5 and 6 — the moment Arya Stark arrives in the Free City. The cathedral took 105 years to build (1431-1536) and is the only Renaissance cathedral in Europe constructed entirely in stone, without wood or brick. It is also just extraordinarily beautiful on its own terms.
Croatia — Split
Split — Meereen
Diocletian's Palace in Split is one of the best-preserved Roman palaces in the world — and one of the strangest urban environments in Europe, because 3,000 people live inside it. The basement halls (where Daenerys locked her dragons in Season 4) are open to visitors. The palace was built in 305 AD. It has been continuously inhabited ever since.
Croatia — Klis
Klis — The Slave City
The fortress of Klis above Split provided the establishing shots of Meereen — the slave city that Daenerys conquers in Season 4. The fortress itself was held by Croatian hero Petar Kružić against the Ottoman Empire for 25 years (1521-1537). The Ottomans took it eventually. The Dalmatian landscape below it remains one of the most dramatic in Croatia.
Croatia — Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik — King's Landing
Two days in Dubrovnik — one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and, since Game of Thrones, one of the most visited. The strategy: early mornings before the cruise ships arrive, and a guide who knows every location. The Pile Gate (where Joffrey confronted the mob), the Minčeta Tower (the House of the Undying), Fort Lovrijenac (the Red Keep exterior), the city walls at sunset. And then, separately from all of this: the actual history of the Republic of Ragusa, which was diplomatically independent for five centuries and was, in many respects, more sophisticated than the fiction.
