Game of Thrones Tour in Belfast

Alright people, I’m here to tell you about what has quite possibly been my coolest experience in all my study abroad travels thus far – I went on a Game of Thrones tour in Belfast in Northern Ireland. 

Now if you haven’t seen the HBO series, you probably won’t nerd out about all the things I did and places I got to visit on the tour as much as me but also if you haven’t seen the HBO series, what are you still doing here? Go start season one already. 

Without further ado, here’s a list of all the rad filming spots I checked out: (Yes, I literally got to stand in the same places as some of the actors and actresses on the show did.) (No, I’m not going to shut up about it for at least 12 years.)

1. We visited Winterfell – fecking Winterfell. 

It’s incredible how much a show can do digitally to change a set. While I was aware of this fact it’s never been more apparent to me than being in the actual location a scene was shot and seeing just how different it looks in person than it did on the show. 

Here’s the Winterfell, I got to nerd out at.

And here’s the Winterfell we all know and love. 

I even got to check out the stable where Tyrion slaps the crap out of Geoffrey for those of you who remember that iconic scene. 

2. Next, we got to see a tower located a short walk away from Winterfell that was used in a scene during which Catelyn Stark rode on horseback on her way to Rob Stark’s camp, which can also be seen from the tower.

Here’s a picture of the tower.

And here’s a picture of the tower as seen as Walder Frey’s Twins on the show.

Walder Frey’s Twins is the stronghold of House Frey where the Red Wedding takes place for those who don’t remember. (Yes, I had to look that up so don’t feel bad if you didn’t know either.)

3. Lastly, at this location we got to see the shore where Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister walk up before Brienne is forced to slay three Stark bannerman for recognizing Jaime. 

Just a little background: Since she’s trying to deliver Jaime to King’s Landing to exchange him for the daughters of Lady Catelyn Stark, having three Stark soldiers recognize him, isn’t exactly a part of the plan. 

This particular scene was so cool for me because it’s the spot where three tavern girls are hung for having relations with Lannister soldiers, which I very much remembered and think a lot of other fans would also. Even though it’s not that detrimental of a scene. Recognizing the tree very much gave me goosebumps.

Here’s the tree today.

Here’s the tree as it’s seen on the show. 

4. The next experience was literally the coolest thing of all. I don’t care what anyone says. 

I met a dire wolf. from. the. show. 

Like, literally from the show. This is Greywind. Rob Stark’s dire wolf. 

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Not only is he the goodest good boy in all the lands, he is extremely soft and friendly and let’s out quite the yawns. 

I’m sure you can tell by my face just how excited I was. 

A little disclaimer: I’m not sure that every tour actually gets to meet this guy. The tour guide said he had a special surprise for us, which leads me to believe they don’t actually get to do this every tour. 

5. Then we got to see the location where Robb’s bannermen pledge fealty to him as the ‘King in the North.’ 

Here’s the castle in real life.

Here’s it as it’s seen in the show.

The tree that Rob Stark hacks at with his sword is also located near here but due to essentially quicksand-like marshlands we couldn’t get to it. 

The real takeaway from this part of the trip is that we all got to dress up as Northmen – all decked out with cloaks and swords so that we could absolutely embarrass ourselves to the general public. 

Is this the nerdiest thing I’ve done since sword fighting at my high school’s Odysseathon? Yes. Am I just now realizing I’ve maybe always been a nerd? A little bit, yes. 

Please feel free to laugh at these pics. 

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6. At the next location, we got to see where the opening scene of Game of Thrones was shot. 

For those who don’t remember this is the scene where three rangers of the Night’s Watch travel beyond the Wall to investigate reports of wildlings in the Haunted Forest.

There, one of them finds the mutilated bodies of wildlings arranged in a terrifying pattern around a camp. 

Here’s the spot as it can be seen today.

Here’s the camp as it’s seen in the show. 

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7. Lastly, we saw the location where the dire wolf pups are found. 

Here’s the location in real life. 

And here’s the shot from the show. 

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The Game of Thrones tour was incredible for a lot of reasons. The best of which, though, is that our tour guide was an extra on the show. 

Andrew McClay made the experience. Between stories about the cast members, crew as well as so many about how the show completely changed people’s lives, I got a glimpse into what it would have been like to have worked on set with so many amazing individuals. 

Andrew does more than one kind of Game of Thrones tour and I don’t doubt that his other one is just as great as his first. If you would like to book a tour with him (which I highly recommend), click here. 

One last thing I wanted to mention about the tour is how much bang you get for your buck. Having given tours myself for two summers, I can confidently say Andrew could have charged us all a lot more for the tour and I would have happily paid it. He gave us an all day tour (I’m talking from 8:15 in the morning to about 5 in the evening) for only 54 euros. (That’s $59.55 for all my U.S. friends.) It was such an amazing deal, it seemed too good to be true at the time. When I say he entertained us with story after story the whole time and a hilarious sense of humor, I mean it. You could really tell he loves what he does. 

While I don’t know if I’ll have time to go back to Belfast to take his second tour, I sure as heck would if I could. 

I hope you all also nerded out about this tour if you watch the show and if not, I hope it was reason enough for you to get started. I promise it’s worth your time. (Though, maybe not, if you don’t like gore or incest makes you uncomfy.) 🙂