Game of Thrones: King's Landing in Dubrovnik ⋆

Game of Thrones: King’s Landing in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik has been used as the location for Game of Thrones: King’s Landing since Season 2 after Malta was originally used.

Since the HBO show debuted, the city saw such an exponential rise in tourism that it has dubbed it the Game of Thrones effect.

According to a study made in 2017, 244,415 tourists visited Dubrovnik between 2012 and 2015 due to Game of Thrones using the city as a filming location. Around 60,000 people have visited the Dubrovnik region annually, solely because the series was shot there.

The analysis says that those motivated to visit Dubrovnik because of Game of Thrones have spent 126 million euros from 2012 to 2015.

Map of Dubrovnik Filming Locations

Dubrovnik’s city walls, ancient barriers, are the main reason Game of Thrones went to Dubrovnik in the first place: “To find the full-on, immaculately preserved, medieval walled city that looks uncannily like King’s Landing, where the bulk of our show is set, that was, in and of itself, just such an amazing find,” says cocreator D.B. Weiss.

Pile Gate Entrance to Old Town

The Pile Gate entrance to the Old Town has been used a number of times in Seasons 2 and 3, most notably in Season 2, Episode 6 ‘The Old Gods and the New’. King Joffrey returns to Red Keep after Marcella is sent away to Dorne and he gets attacked by angry mobs gathered in the entrance as he screams ‘Kill him, kill them all’.

The entrance also features in Season 3, Episode 10 ‘Mhysa’ when Jamie Lannister returns to King’s Landing.

Pile Harbour: Bokar Fortress and Fort Lovrijenac

The setting for King’s Landing Harbour is visible from Pile Harbour which is just outside the Old Town Walls of Dubrovnik close to Pile Gate. The small fishing harbour is set between Bokar Fortress on the left and Fort Lovrijenac on the right.

Another familiar scene from Season 2, Episode 6 ‘The Old Gods and the New’, it represents the entrance and beaches of King’s Landing and is where the Lannisters say goodbye to Princess Myrcella. The location makes a return in Season 6, Episode 1 ‘The Red Woman’ when Cersei awaits Myrcella’s return.

These walls were never breached during the Middle Ages

The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 1,940 meters (6,360 feet) in length, reach a maximum height of 25 meters (82 feet), and surround most of the old city. The bulk of the existing walls and fortifications were constructed during the 14th and 15th Centuries, but were continually extended and strengthened up until the 17th Century.