Game of Thrones in Dubrovnik without a tour: a self-guided walk

Dubrovnik played King's Landing from the second season onwards, and unlike most film locations it looks exactly like the screen, because the production used the real walls, the real fort and the real streets with almost nothing added. Guided tours cost 25 to 40 euro per person and walk the same 2 km you can walk alone with this page. The only tickets you need are the ones you would buy anyway: the walls, which include Fort Lovrijenac, and the boat to Lokrum if you want the Iron Throne.

How to walk it

Start at Pile Gate at 08:00, before the cruise groups: Bokar and the bay, then out through the gate and up the steps to Lovrijenac on its 37-metre rock while it is still cool. The fort is where the tour groups spend the most time, and alone you can stand on the exact terrace of the Baratheon tournament without waiting. Back through the gate, up to Gradac park above the bus stop, then down the Stradun to the Dominican steps and across to the Jesuit stairs. By 10:00 you have done the free half. Use the walls ticket for the circuit, Minčeta included, before the midday heat; Lokrum and Trsteno are afternoon extras that need 2 hours each.

• The walls ticket, 40 euro in 2026, covers Lovrijenac for 72 hours; buy it online for the 08:00 slot in summer.
• The Iron Throne on Lokrum is in the monastery's visitor centre, free with the island entry; queues form after 11:00.
• Trsteno closes at 19:00 from May to October and at 16:00 in winter; the last bus back leaves around 21:00 in summer.
• Split played Meereen: the cellars of Diocletian's Palace and the Klis fortress 12 km inland, both cheap and both on our Split pages.

Where else Croatia played Westeros

Dubrovnik was the capital, but the series used the whole coast. In Split, the cellars of Diocletian's Palace became the dragon dungeon of Meereen, and the Klis fortress 12 km inland was the city of Meereen itself, where Daenerys watched the masters crucified; both are 8 to 15 euro and on the Split city pages. Kaštel Gomilica, a castle on the water between Split and Trogir, was the canal of Braavos, and Šibenik's cathedral square was the Iron Bank. Trsteno, 20 km north of Dubrovnik, was the only garden the production ever needed for King's Landing. A Split visitor can walk Meereen in half a day; the Braavos locations fit into the Trogir bus ride.

Photographs, timing and children

• The Walk of Shame shot is taken from the top of the Jesuit stairs looking down onto Gundulić square; the market stalls are there until 13:00, so shoot before 08:00 or after lunch for the empty steps.
• Lovrijenac's terrace faces west: afternoon light for the fort, morning light for the walls seen from it.
• Minčeta is the highest point of the walls circuit and the last tower before the descent; the queue to climb it forms after 10:00.
• With children the fun parts are Lovrijenac's cannons, the Iron Throne on Lokrum and the peacocks that roam the island; the walls in July heat are the part to skip.
• The Game of Thrones shop on Boškovićeva sells the official replicas; prices start at 20 euro and the photo with the throne inside is free.