Dubrovnik Filming Locations Tour with Lokrum Island Option

Pile Gate and the West Harbour of Dubrovnik

The tour begins on Brsalje street beside Pile Gate, the western entrance to the walled Old Town of Dubrovnik and the point where almost every visit to the city starts. The gate dates from 1537 and still has its stone bridge and a statue of St Blaise, the city's patron, above the arch. A few steps away, below the Lovrijenac cliff, lies the small West Harbour (Kolorina), a cove of fishing boats and sea-washed rocks that was transformed on screen into Blackwater Bay, the port of King's Landing where ships arrived and a great battle was fought.

Our guide uses this first stop to explain how the medieval city was chosen as the capital of the Seven Kingdoms and how the crews worked around the walls. Anyone searching for a King's Landing tour in Dubrovnik will recognise the view across the water to Fort Bokar and the city walls immediately.

Fort Lovrijenac, the Red Keep above the sea

Fort Lovrijenac stands on a sheer rock thirty-seven metres above the Adriatic just outside the walls, and it is the fortress fans know as the Red Keep. Built in its present form in the sixteenth century, it was Dubrovnik's key defence on the land and sea side, with walls up to twelve metres thick facing the enemy and only sixty centimetres towards the city, so it could never be turned against the Republic. Above the entrance a Latin inscription reads that liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world. The climb to the terraces involves around 180 steps, and the reward is a sweeping view over the Old Town walls, the sea and Lokrum.

Inside the fort our guide shows where the royal gardens, the throne room exteriors and the famous tournament scenes were staged. Fort Lovrijenac tickets are paid on site and are free with a valid City Walls ticket or Dubrovnik Pass; the visit takes about half an hour.

The Stradun and the Old Town streets

Back inside the walls, the route follows the Stradun (Placa), the limestone main street polished smooth by centuries of footsteps, from Pile Gate towards the old port. The street was laid out after the great earthquake of 1667 and is lined with identical baroque houses, the Franciscan monastery with its fourteenth-century pharmacy, Onofrio's Fountain and the bell tower at the far end. Side lanes climb steeply on both sides, and several of them appear on screen as the market streets and alleys of the capital, including the scenes of the riot and the hunt through the city.

This Dubrovnik Old Town guided tour is as much about real history as about fiction: our guide explains the Republic of Ragusa, its sea trade and its clever diplomacy while pointing out the exact corners used by the production. Expect about forty minutes of easy walking on flat ground here.

The Jesuit Stairs and Gundulić Square

The baroque Jesuit Stairs rise from Gundulić Square to the Church of St Ignatius and the Collegium Ragusinum, the Jesuit college of 1735. Designed in the style of the Spanish Steps in Rome, the wide curved staircase is the most photographed filming location in Dubrovnik because it is where the famous walk through the city began, with the crowd pressing in from the square below. The morning market in Gundulić Square still sells fruit, lavender and candied orange peel, so the scene is easy to picture.

Our guide tells the story of how the sequence was shot over several days and how the square was dressed for it, then leads you up the steps to the church, whose interior is one of the finest baroque spaces in Dalmatia. From here it is a short walk down to the old port for the ferry.

The ferry to Lokrum Island and the Bay of Portoč

From the old port a small ferry crosses to Lokrum in about fifteen minutes, running every thirty to sixty minutes from April to the end of October; the return ticket with island admission is paid on site and discounted with a three- or seven-day Dubrovnik Pass. Lokrum is a forested nature reserve six hundred metres offshore, famous for its peacocks, its pine and cypress woods and old legends of shipwrecked crusaders. You land at the Bay of Portoč, a sheltered inlet of smooth rocks where the ferry docks and swimmers sunbathe.

The island played the trading city of Qarth, and the path from the bay towards the monastery passes the gardens and walls that appear in those scenes. A Lokrum Island day trip from Dubrovnik is one of the easiest escapes from the summer crowds, and this tour builds it in.

The Benedictine Monastery and the official Iron Throne

In the heart of Lokrum stands the Benedictine Monastery of St Mary, founded in 1023 and rebuilt in Gothic and Renaissance style; monks lived here until 1798, and in the nineteenth century a Habsburg archduke turned part of it into a summer residence with a botanical garden. The cloister now houses a small exhibition about the filming on Lokrum and the official Iron Throne, a full-size replica donated to the city, where every participant can sit for a photo with the sword-forged seat at the end of the guided part of the tour.

After the photo, the island is yours: swim at the rocks or in the Dead Sea, a small salt lake linked to the open sea, walk to the Napoleonic Fort Royal for the view over Dubrovnik, or have lunch among the peacocks. Lokrum opening hours follow the ferry timetable, so note the last boat back.