Brace yourselves – the release date of the first episode of Game of Thrones season eight is inching closer and closer.
There’s no reason to think that the eighth and final season of GOT won’t be at least as brutal as any of the ones that have gone before it.
If events like The Red Wedding are anything to go by, GOT is going to be coming for our emotional stability, especially as the events from all previous seasons are finally due to come to a head.
Soon it’ll all be over and we may well find ourselves missing the GOT shocks and feels that we’ve come to expect from the show.
While we wait with excitement – tinged with a healthy dose of fear – for the drop date of Monday 15 April, here’s everything you need to know about the stunning locations in which the show’s seven seasons so far have been filmed.
If you’re into travel, some of these would make great additions to your sight-seeing bucket list.
Game of Thrones filming locations
Game of Thrones has been filmed all over the world, so there are plenty of destinations that you might recognise.
During season one, Northern Ireland featured heavily, with filming locations in Castle Ward (used for Winterfell), Saintfield Estates (used for the Winterfell godswood), and the Magheramorne quarry (used for Castle Black).
Sadly, the famous Azure Window, which was used as the setting for the wedding of Daenerys and Khal Drogo, has since collapsed.
One of the other most easily recognisable GOT filming locations is that of Dubrovnik in Croatia, which from season two through to season eight has been used as King’s Landing, replacing the city of Mdina in Malta which was used in season one.
Many of the show’s southern set scenes moved from filming in Malta to Croatia after season one, including the Dubac quarry (used for scenes set in Qarth) Fort Lovrijenac, (used as the basis for the CGI Red Keep), and the surrounding bay (used for the Battle of Blackwater).
Filming has also occurred all over Spain. Seville was used to represent Dorne in season five, and in season six the crew also branched out to Navarra, Almeria, Guadalajara, Girona and Peniscola. The crew returned to Spain for season seven, including places like Seville, Santiponce, Almodovar del Rio, Zumaia, Cáceres, and Bermeo.
In stark contrast, scenes set north of the Wall have been filmed in Iceland on the Vatnajökull glacier near Smyrlabjörg, the Mýrdalsjökull glacier near Vik on Höfðabrekkuheiði and the Svínafellsjökull glacier near Skaftafell.
Scenes have also been carried out at Hverfjall volcano near Lake Myvatin, and Thingvellir National Park, which was used for the epic fight between Brienne and the Hound.
As for interior scenes, for Season 8 they were shot at the usual location of Paint Hall Studios in Titanic Quarter in Belfast, as well as Linen Mill Studios in Banbridge.
A dedicated Twitter account snapped some pics of what looked very much like a green screen and ship sets back in 2018 at Linen Mill Studios when they were still filming season eight. Does that mean we can expect even more sea battles this time around?
There are plenty of ship sets, so we will much likely see lots of scenes on water. Unfortunately no details of the ships visible from public ground. pic.twitter.com/68CAeOqDj2
— GoTlike Locations (@GoTlikeLocation) February 26, 2018
Can you visit any of these film locations?
The cities like Dubrovnik and Seville are naturally open to the public.
In Dubrovnik, you can walk along the walls where many key scenes were filmed throughout the show. Tickets cost around €29, and it takes roughly two hours to walk the whole way around.
Hverfjall volcano near Lake Myvatin in Iceland, where they filmed scenes which took place beyond the Wall, can be accessed via a guided tour of the Vatnajokull National Park, which costs roughly £83.20 – not including flights and accommodation of course.
Iceland’s Thingvellir National Park is popular with tourists too, and has a visitors centre where people can get information as to the history of the park. There are also hiking trails, and scuba diving in the Silfra Lake for the braver of heart.
Linen Mill Studios in Banbridge are due to open a Game of Thrones tour – date tbc – giving attendees the chance take a deep dive into Westeros.
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