Winter is coming…

Game of Thrones is arguably one of the BEST shows in history (minus the last season), and there is a fully dedicated tour company to see the shows film locations in real life. I knew that when I was in Northern Ireland, I had to take the Game of Thrones tour! Being able to see the set locations and the country was a win win in my book!

They have a few different options of what you can see and where you can start your tour. Begin in either Belfast, Dublin, Derry, Ballycastle or Newcastle. I opted to start in Belfast and took the “Iron Islands, Giant’s Causeway and Rope Bridge” tour. It was a full ten-hour day that started at 7:45am but we went to so many amazing places!

What makes this company so unique is that all of their tour guides were extra’s in the show. I have never been so thoroughly entertained on a tour in my entire life. My tour guide truly made the trip! He told us behind the scene stories and showed us clips of him in the show. At the time of the tour he was filming the final season! 

The service was amazing, the bus was super clean and overall was such a fun trip. You can tell this company is extremely passionate about their tours and put so much heart into them!

I had an amazing time and would take another one of their tours in a heartbeat! We started the tour by stopping at the Cushendun Caves first. If you aren’t familiar this is where Melisandre gave birth to the demon. Our tour guide even acted it out and that was truly a highlight of my day, watching a 6’4 man pretend to give birth to a demon in a cave! 

We then made a rest stop in Carnlough and visited the harbor. This was a small filming spot but such a cool one! This is where Arya was stabbed and then crawls out of the water. That was all it was used for but still so cool! I also may or may not have imitated said scene…

I’m committed to the bit what can I say!

Next we went to the Carrick- A-Rede Rope bridge. Its 98ft high and let me say I cried like actual tears while walking across. I am so afraid of heights but really wanted to give it a go! One of the couples on the tour was so nice and took a picture for me!

After that we went on to the Larrybane Chalk Quarry which doubled as Renly’s camp and Iron Islands Kingsmoot. Here we got to dress up as the Iron Born and take photos and I have to say I got WAY to into this activity. I love stuff like this, and everyone was so into it that you didn’t feel dumb! I mean, I got to pretend sword fight and stand on a cliff in Ireland, what’s better??

After our little costume try on, we went to have lunch at the Fullerton Arms. Fun fact, this pub has one of the Game of Thrones doors! If you don’t know what that is, you’re not a real fan but it’s fine I will explain. The Dark Hedges which are a set in the show (I will get to that later) a storm had blown through and knocked some of the trees down. Instead of wasting them the crew decided to turn the trees into ten intricate doors.  Each one depicts a scene from Season 6. The doors were then gifted to important places to the show such as pubs, guest houses, and small hotels. 

Fullerton Arms served as a main eating spot for the cast and crew. Honored with the sixth door and honestly one of my favorites. Its dedicated to Daenerys and her dragon from season six episode six. So, make sure to bend the knee and get your picture in front.  

After lunch, which was amazing, we went on to visit the Iron islands. This was really Ballintoy Harbour which served as Puke Island. This is where Theon dedicated his faith to his “drowned god” by you guessed it being drowned. You know what is dead may never die. 

We were then off to visit the Giant’s Causeway. I was surprised this was added but super stoked! It didn’t play a role in the filming but it’s an amazing destination to visit. Being a UNESCO World Heritage site, it has over 40,000 basalt columns all interlocking. There is so much to do here and if you want to know all the details read my full review here.

Our final and my favorite spot was the iconic Dark Hedges. I was looking forward to this spot the most because of how photogenic it is. The Dark Hedges are a street lined with beech trees that have formed a creepy arch. This is also the road that Arya and Gendry used to escape King’s Landing at the end of season one. 

If you are looking for a fun way to see the Irish Countryside and know more about game of thrones you should do this tour!