When I arrived at a blogger convention in Killarney, one of the bloggers told me of a tour centered around HBO’s Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. The tour visits several sites the show was filmed at. Upon hearing this, I immediately knew it was something we had to do – Roman and I love the show and it sounded like an awesome experience.
We didn’t have much time left in Ireland, so when I found out the tour leaves from Belfast, a two hour drive north of Dublin, I was really excited. I’ve begun searching for companies offering this tour and found Brit Movies. Their tour looked really cool, and it included a visit to a stunning area named Giant’s Causeway – An enormous area consisting of about 40,000 basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. (Unrelated to the show, but it’s in the area and is very recommended). Link for booking the tour.
We took an express bus from Dublin to Belfast which takes two hours. In Belfast we reserved a lovely Airbnb apartment at the city center. It had two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen and a fun living room. A cozy, beautifully designed apartment that I would highly recommend – Link to the apartment. Also, if you do not have an Airbnb account yet then here’s a link giving you a discount on your first order. Take notice that the currency in Belfast is pounds and not euros.
Game of thrones tour
The Brit Movies Game of Thrones tour leaves at 9AM from Donegall Square 9 (A short walking distance away from our apartment). The tour was by van, and we were a small nine-person group. The guide was really nice and as it turns out – had been an extra on the show a couple of times, so she had interesting stories to share throughout the tour. It was lightly raining when we started and towards the end as well, but we were lucky enough to have perfect weather for the most part.
Putting the show’s amazing locations aside, the ride itself was exhilarating and we passed beautiful scenery along the way.
At every filming site you can find a picture showing which scene was shot there. We haven’t seen the seventh season yet so there we a few scenes we didn’t get to watch yet, but now I can’t wait to watch them and go “Cool, we were there in real life!” :).
As I don’t want to spoil the show for you or ruin the enjoyment of the tour, I’ll just share the crazy pictures we took at the locations we visited. I’ll only show you the first scene from the site we went to.
We stopped at a number of locations and each one was absolutely breathe-taking.
In this location for an extra charge, you may pass over a rope bridge. It’s not particularly scary, and not a must for sure – But it was nice and allowed us to take photos from a new angle. The views in this location were spectacular. We could spend hours there.
Lunch time
At the Giant’s Causeway, we ate lunch at Antik restaurant. It was really good, Roman had chowder (A traditional Irish soup) and goulash and I had an open sandwich with shrimp which was tasty and light.
The walk to the site itself takes about 15 minutes, but since we were short on time we took the shuttle (Costs a pound each way) which leaves from near the restaurant and drops you off right at the spot. The Giant’s Causeway is unbelievable. It’s crazy how beautiful nature can be.
We really liked touring with Brit Movies, and it turns out they’re among the few who offer tours by van and not a large bus. Touring in a van was more fun, the atmosphere was relaxed, you could talk to the guide as much as you wish – and the van reached places a bus wouldn’t have been able to go. You can do the tour independently but I think the guide’s input turns the whole experience much more special. Brit movies company also offers another Game of Thrones tour (link).
At the last site we were given show related props so we could feel like we’re part of the Game of Thrones. It was a ton of fun and we took some great pictures.
Even if you haven’t watched the show, this tour will astound you. The views are just breathe-taking and you might get encouraged to start watching, then you too could say “How cool is it that we were there in real life”.
