King's Landing in Dubrovnik: A Self-Guided Game of Thrones Walking Tour

The limestone walls of Things to Do in Dubrovnik have stood for centuries, far longer than any television drama. But when HBO chose Dubrovnik as the principal filming location for King's Landing, it gave the city a second identity that now draws fans from every continent. The beauty of the Old Town is that nearly every Westeros backdrop is reachable on foot within a few hundred metres of the Stradun, and the best way to see them is with a clear map in hand.

You can wander the Stradun and spot the Walk of Shame steps without a guide, but knowing which exact archway was the brothel where Tyrion was imprisoned, or which staircase led to the Great Sept of Baelor, turns a casual stroll into a proper pilgrimage. The self-guided route below hits every major location in logical order, starting at Pile Gate and ending at the Lovrijenac fortress across the little bay. If you want to know where the Walk of Shame was filmed and how the scene was shot, the answer is right here on the Stradun.

The crowds in the Old Town can be fierce, especially in the middle of a cruise day. The self-guided walking tour below takes about two hours if you keep moving, but allow an extra hour if you want to stop for a cold drink at Buža Bar or climb the city walls for the full panorama. You can follow the route in any order, but the logical flow from Pile Gate to the fortress makes the most sense for a first timer.

Can You Show Me a Map of the Game of Thrones Locations in Dubrovnik?

A self-guided walking map of the Game of Thrones locations in Dubrovnik traces a compact route through the Old Town, from Pile Gate to Fort Lovrijenac. The infographic above marks every major filming spot, including the Stradun, the Jesuit Staircase, and the Red Keep exterior. You can walk the entire circuit in under two hours, and the map is available for download on your phone.

The most famous King's Landing scenes were filmed in a handful of easily recognizable spots. The Stradun, the main limestone thoroughfare, doubled as the city's central market where Cersei began her Walk of Shame. The Jesuit Staircase, just off the Stradun, became the steps of the Great Sept of Baelor where she ended that walk. The Rector's Palace atrium stood in for the Spice King's palace in Qarth. And Fort Lovrijenac, the imposing fortress on a 37-metre-high sea rock just outside the western wall, served as the Red Keep's exterior in multiple scenes.

The route below covers every location in the order they appear on the map, starting at the western entrance to the Old Town and finishing at the fortress. You can download a copy of the infographic map onto your phone, or pick up a printed version from the tourist information office at Pile Gate.

The filming locations themselves are ordinary streets, squares, and fortifications that you can walk through without any special ticket. The Dubrovnik Pass, which costs 40 euro for one day in main season, includes the city walls and Lovrijenac, but the outdoor filming spots are free to access. The only location that requires a separate ticket is Lokrum Island, the setting for the Qarth scenes, which costs 30 euro for the reserve entry and return boat transfer.

The table below matches every major Game of Thrones location to its real-world Dubrovnik landmark, so you know exactly what you are looking at when you arrive.

What makes the self-guided tour work is the concentration of the locations. You can stand on the Stradun and see the Walk of Shame steps, the Jesuit Staircase, and the Rector's Palace all within a 30-second walk. The longest stretch on the route is the walk from the Old Town harbour to the Lovrijenac fortress, which takes about ten minutes along the waterfront. The Fort Lovrijenac guide covers the fortress in more detail, including its real history as Dubrovnik's western defence.

Is King's Landing a Real Place in Croatia?

King's Landing is not a real place, but the walled city of Dubrovnik that served as its filming location is entirely real and open to the public. The show's production team chose Dubrovnik because its well-preserved medieval walls, limestone streets, and red-tiled roofs looked exactly like the fictional capital. The city was the primary filming location for King's Landing from Season 2 through Season 8.

The decision to use Dubrovnik was a practical one. The city's circuit of walls, 1,940 metres long and up to 25 metres high, provided a ready-made fortress exterior that needed minimal CGI enhancement. The Stradun, 298 metres of polished limestone, was the perfect central market street. The narrow alleys and steep staircases off the main thoroughfare gave the production team the medieval atmosphere they needed without building a single set.

The real Dubrovnik is a UNESCO World Heritage site, inscribed in 1979 under criteria (i), (iii), and (iv), and it has a population of 41,562 at the 2021 census. The city's history is far older than the show, and the walls reached their final shape in the 13th century, with the last bastion finished in 1660. The Game of Thrones connection has added a layer of modern pop culture to a city that was already a cultural treasure.

The most efficient way to see the locations with a guide is to join a dedicated Game of Thrones walking tour. The guided options add the behind-the-scenes stories, side-by-side stills from the show, and the historical context that makes the fictional world feel real. If you are wondering whether a guided tour is worth it, the answer is that the local guides carry production stills and know the exact camera angles that the self-guided map cannot replicate. Three of the highest-rated tours are listed below.

The real-world locations are sometimes more impressive than their fictional counterparts. The fortress of Lovrijenac, which doubled as the Red Keep, stands on a 37-metre rock and can be climbed for a view of the Old Town and the Lokrum Island where the Qarth scenes were filmed. The Lokrum Island boat departs from the Old City harbour every 15 minutes from 10:00 to 18:00, with the first departure at 09:00, and the 30-euro ticket covers both the reserve entry and the return trip.

A guided tour that includes the Lokrum Island visit, such as the highly rated Original Game of Thrones Tour with the Lokrum and Throne option, will take you to the island's Benedictine monastery and the replica Iron Throne that sits in the visitor centre. The tour operator, Mediterranean Experience Ltd., has earned a 4.8 rating across 6,132 reviews, and the tour covers the Old Town locations plus the boat ride across the channel.

The Iron Throne is not an original set piece, but the replica on Lokrum is a popular photo stop. The real filming locations are what draw the crowds, and the city's system of six people counters at every Old Town entrance updates the headcount every 15 minutes. On a busy day, the number inside the walls can reach 7,739 by 10:00, as recorded on 8 September 2026. The official carrying capacity is 11,275 people, and the Port Authority limits cruise passengers to 8,000 a day in most cases.

What Not to Do in Dubrovnik?

The biggest mistake visitors make is buying the city walls ticket at the gate without considering the Dubrovnik Pass, which costs the same 40 euro for one day in main season and includes ten more sights. Another common error is walking the walls in the midday heat during the crowded cruise window, and a third is trying to see the Game of Thrones locations without a map or a guide.

The city walls are a must-do, but the ticket strategy matters. The standalone walls and Lovrijenac ticket is 40 euro for an adult in main season, from 1 March to 30 November, and the one-day Dubrovnik Pass is also 40 euro, but it adds nine more cultural sights plus a 24-hour bus ticket. The pass is sold on the official site at dubrovnikpass.com, and the operator's shop lists the "SUMMER 2026" season from 1 March to 30 November. In December, the walls ticket drops to 20 euro, but no pass tier is on sale, so the comparison only holds in the main season.

Another pitfall is walking the walls at the wrong time. The operator's stated working hours are 08:00 to 19:30, and the number of people inside the Old Town peaks between 10:00 and 11:00. On a typical cruise day, the counters read 5,419 at 08:00, 7,297 at 09:00, and a 7,739 peak at 10:00. Starting the walls at 08:00 gives you the coolest temperature and the fewest people, and you can finish before the crowds arrive.

The Game of Thrones walking tour is another area where a little planning saves a lot of frustration. The self-guided route works, but a guided tour is the only way to see the side-by-side stills and hear the production stories that make the experience memorable. The cheapest guided option, the Dubrovnik Game of Thrones Walking Tour from Dubrovnik Walks, starts at 29 dollars per person and carries a 4.9 rating across 1,052 reviews. The tour is a focused 2-hour walk that hits every major location without the Lokrum detour.

The following table of do's and don'ts summarizes the most common mistakes and the fixes that will save you time and money on your King's Landing visit.

The Fort Lovrijenac, which doubled as the Red Keep, is included in the walls ticket and the pass, but it is sometimes overlooked because it sits outside the main walls. The walk from the Pile Gate to the fortress takes about five minutes and is well worth the effort for the view alone. The Croatian met service's sea buoy off Dubrovnik read 27.0 to 27.4 degrees on 8 September 2026, so the sea breeze at the fortress is a welcome relief on a hot day.

When to Avoid Dubrovnik?

The two busiest months for cruise passengers in Dubrovnik are September and October, with 101,246 and 100,132 passengers respectively in 2025, both above July's 96,072 and August's 87,385. The cruise schedule is the single biggest factor in Old Town crowd levels, and the Port Authority has limited the daily passenger cap to 8,000. The quietest months are November through March.

The common assumption that summer is the busiest time is wrong. The Port Authority's own statistics show that the cruise passenger peak shifts to the autumn months, when the weather is still warm and the Mediterranean cruise season is in full swing. The 2025 monthly breakdown is a genuine counter-intuitive fact that every visitor should know before booking a trip.

The Port Authority's measures have reduced the strain on the Old Town, but the cruise days are still the busiest. Of the 243 cruise days per year, only 18 exceed the 8,000-passenger cap, and only four days see numbers slightly above 10,000. The Port Authority has refused about forty cruise call requests in a single season to keep the limits in place. The scheduled 2026 cruise calls total 461, and the remaining 2026 season holds 149 ship calls across 80 cruise days, with 217,458 passengers by capacity.

The table below shows the monthly cruise passenger totals for 2025, the most recent full year of data from the Port Authority.

The sea temperature is another factor when planning a Game of Thrones walk. The long-run average for September is about 23.6 degrees Celsius, based on the NOAA OISST v2.1 climatology for the 1991 to 2020 period. That is an open-water grid-cell average, and sheltered bays can run several degrees warmer, as the Croatian met service's buoy showed on 8 September 2026 with readings of 27.0 to 27.4 degrees. The air temperature is still warm, and the stone walls radiate heat, so the walk is best done in the early morning or late afternoon.

The Dubrovnik cable car, which runs from April to December, can add a panoramic view of the Old Town and the Lokrum Island from Mount Srđ. The lower terminal is at 38 metres above sea level, and the upper terminal at 405 metres, with a 3-minute, 30-second ride at 6.5 metres per second. The round-trip adult ticket is 30 euro, and the operator states a view range of up to 60 kilometres on a clear day. The cable car is not a Game of Thrones location, but the view of the Old Town from the top is the best way to see the entire filming area in one sweep.

The best time to walk the Game of Thrones locations is a weekday morning in the shoulder months of April, May, or early June, before the cruise season peaks and before the heat of the day. The Dubrovnik Pass is valid for one day, and you can start the walls at 08:00, walk the Stradun, climb the Jesuit Staircase, and finish at Lovrijenac by 10:00, before the counters hit their peak.

The guided tour option adds the flexibility of a scheduled group, and the combined Game of Thrones and Lokrum tour, with the optional Iron Throne visit, is a full-day experience that includes the boat ride and the island exploration. The tour operator Dubrovnik Walking Tours runs the 2-to-3-hour option with a 4.9 rating across 5,201 reviews.

Dubrovnik recorded about 4.2 million overnight stays in 2025, sharing first place among Croatian destinations with Rovinj. The volume of visitors is a testament to the city's appeal, but the cruise schedule is the key to planning a visit that feels like your own private King's Landing.

The self-guided walking tour is a satisfying way to see the locations, but the guided tour is the upgrade that turns a walk into a story. The three Game of Thrones tours below are the highest-rated on the live listings, and they cover the Old Town, the Lokrum Island, and the Iron Throne replica.

Common Questions About King's Landing in Dubrovnik