Filming Locations Tour with Trsteno Arboretum and Mount Srd Dubrovnik

Pile Gate, the old harbour and Blackwater Bay

The tour starts at the Amerling fountain on Brsalje street, the small square just outside the Pile Gate, the western entrance to the walled Old Town of Dubrovnik. Before the walls were even in view on screen, this corner was already a film set: the cove below the gate, between the city walls and Fort Lovrijenac, became Blackwater Bay, and the stone quay was the port of King's Landing where ships arrived and characters said their farewells. Your guide, who worked on the production, opens the tour here with an introduction to how the series was filmed across several countries and what it was like to work with hundreds of local extras.

A Game of Thrones tour in Dubrovnik makes most sense when you can match the shot to the view, and the bay is the first place where the city on screen and the city in front of you line up exactly.

Fort Lovrijenac, the Red Keep

Fort Lovrijenac stands on a 37-metre rock just west of the walls, a triangular fortress built from the eleventh century to guard the city from the sea and from the land. On screen it became the Red Keep, the royal castle of King's Landing, and its courtyard, terraces and arched windows appear in many scenes of the early seasons. The climb up the steps is short and rewarded by the best view of the city walls, the old harbour and Lokrum Island floating offshore, which is why Lovrijenac is worth visiting even for people who have never seen the series.

The entry fee is not included; it is free if you already hold a city walls ticket or a Dubrovnik Card, otherwise you pay at the gate. Near the fort the guide also shows the spot where the royal wedding feast scene was filmed, before a short break.

The Old Town and the Walk of Shame

Inside the walls, the tour continues through the King's Landing scenes along the marble-paved Stradun and the narrow side streets, and your guide mixes the filming stories with the real history of the Republic of Dubrovnik, the maritime state that stayed independent for centuries through diplomacy and trade. The most visited location is the Jesuit Staircase, the sweeping baroque stairway that rises to the church of St Ignatius: this is where the Walk of Shame was filmed, and the guide explains how the scene was planned, how it was meant to look and how the city reacted to the filming.

You can recreate the walk with the group, take photos on the steps and then sit for a free photo on a replica Iron Throne. This part of the tour is on foot and includes stairs and polished stone, so comfortable shoes matter.

Trsteno Arboretum, the gardens of King's Landing

After the Old Town, an air-conditioned van takes the group about 20 kilometres north along the coast to Trsteno, a village whose arboretum is the oldest in this part of Europe. The gardens were laid out in the late fifteenth century by a noble family of the Republic, around a Renaissance villa, with a baroque fountain of a sea god and nymphs, a long stone pergola covered in climbing plants, terraces of Mediterranean trees and two giant plane trees in the village square. On screen Trsteno became the gardens of King's Landing, the setting for quiet, scheming conversations with the sea glittering below.

The entry fee for Trsteno Arboretum is paid on site. Allow about 45 minutes to walk the pergola, the fountain and the terraces; spring and early summer, when the garden is in bloom, is the best time to visit Trsteno.

Mount Srd and the Kingsroad

The final stop is Mount Srd, the limestone ridge that rises 412 metres directly behind Dubrovnik. The van climbs the switchback road to the top, where the plateau and the rocky slopes were used for the Kingsroad scenes and for wide shots of the countryside around King's Landing. The real reason everyone comes up here, though, is the view: the whole walled city laid out below like a model, the terracotta roofs, Lokrum Island, the Elaphiti Islands and, on a clear day, the coast stretching far to the south.

Mount Srd is where the tour's best photographs are taken, so keep some space on your phone. The old fort from the early nineteenth century on the summit now houses a museum about the siege of 1991, and the guide explains how the ridge has shaped the city's defence for two centuries. The van then brings you back to the Old Town.