If you’ve ever wanted to see the iconic row of trees made famous by the series ‘Game Thrones’, I’d suggest you go sooner rather than later…
I made a visit to them back in April 2025 while I was on holiday with my husband to Belfast. We thoroughly enjoyed exploring the city and it has instantly become one of our favourite places. It’s a positive sign of the times that many people’s first thoughts when you mention Belfast are either ‘Titanic’ or ‘Game of Thrones filming’ rather than ‘The Troubles’. Not that Belfast has forgotten the political unrest and violence it became known for over 30 years (ending only in 1998), a trip on one of the city tour buses quickly takes you along places I heard on the news growing up that haven’t changed much physically and there’s more than likely tensions not far below the surface. But during our five days it felt very much like a young, vibrant city and we can’t wait to return.
Belfast is at the heart of Northern Ireland’s film industry – due in large part to the HBO series ‘Game of Thrones’ that was based on the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ series of novels written by George R. R. Martin. The show ran from 2011 to 2019, was hugely successful and has launched a few spin offs still in production.
I didn’t watch the first few seasons when they came out, but friends would recommend it, so I finally gave in and ended up binge-watching it to catch up. I’m glad I did, as it was a gorgeous show; great characters, lots of drama and even a few dragons. There was a lot of money put into the making of the series and it showed, particularly the location filming – the production team found some amazing places to embody the fictional cities and lands Game of Thrones filming locations around the world | CN Traveller . The show has spawned a whole travel industry to support fans who want to visit places in the Seven Kingdoms and places like Dubrovnik are on my bucket list for this very reason.
The main interior filming and sets were done in studios in Belfast and many would be preserved to become an official Game of Thrones Studio Tour which we also did on our trip and I’ll probably write about that in another blog post – it was brilliant.
As we had a few days in Belfast we wanted to explore beyond the city and see the natural geological wonder that is the Giant’s Causeway. I found us a day tour with Odyssey Coach Tours which offered a small group coach trip that would also stop at a few other places – including a couple of Game of Thrones locations. Giants Causeway Day Tour (Small Group) – Coach Tours Northern Ireland
There are tours available that are specifically marketed as Game of Thrones ones, but we didn’t want to try and fit too much in, especially as we already have plans to return at some point and hire a car and explore the area ourselves. Even though our tour was not a Game of Thrones tour, it did include a few locations and we were fortunate that our coach driver and tour guide was very knowledgeable about the show. He’d been a driver during filming and had met many of the cast members at that time. He’d done Game of Thrones tours previously with another company as well, so we was able to regale us with many anecdotes.
After being picked up at 9am our first stop was Carnlough Harbour for a toilet break and last chance to buy some lunch. The harbour has a set of steps which were used in Game of Thrones season 6. In the show it’s the location in Braavos were Arya came out of the water after being stabbed. A very short scene, but enough to warrant a display board – which I though was a nice touch for visitors.
We briefly stopped for a view of the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge then on up to the Giants Causeway. We had a few hours there to explore and enjoyed sitting on the stones having our lunch in the spring sunshine.
Back on the road we had a brief photo opportunity to take pics at a viewpoint of Dunluce Castle used as the basis of Castle Pyke, homestead of the House of Greyjoy. Other tours would allow you time to go into the castle but no filming actually took place in it.
Then followed a far too brief stop at the Bushmills whiskey distillery. We didn’t have time for a tour but did get to sample three very nice whiskeys for £10. Distillery – Bushmills® Irish Whiskey
Our final stop on the way back to Belfast was ‘The Dark Hedges’ which were famously used as section of the King’s Road in the Game of Thrones series. Despite having an extremely brief appearance on screen – only seconds – it’s one of the most visually striking locations synonymous with the show, no doubt in large part to campaigns by the Northern Ireland tourism board. I’ve read that it’s one of the most photographed places in Northern Ireland and it regularly comes up on my computer as a screensaver.
The Dark Hedges is the dramatic name for a row of 250-year-old beech trees on the Bregagh Road near Armoy, County Antrim. The scene they feature in is during episode one of the second season ‘The North Remembers’ where the character Arya Stark escapes King’s Landing after the murder of her father and travels north with a group of Night’s Watch recruits Gra o Tron Seria II Odc 1 – Dark Hedges – YouTube. I noticed for that for the scene they would have had to cover up the tarmac road with grass and dirt to make it look like a cart track. So much effort for such a very short scene.
The row of trees is along a private road on land that is part of the Gracehill Estate Gracehill House | Causeway Coast & Glens Borough Council which includes a hotel, golf course and what looks like a fairly new café/giftshop that exists for visitors to the hedges. It caters for the endless stream of coach trips that use it, along with the hotel and restaurant, as part of their tour route.
We got off the coach in the hotel car park and made our way past The Pantry Coffee Shop, following the signs to the hedges. I was hoping to be able to get a clear picture without people in and just about managed this by skipping ahead of our party. To get the best images you’d have to get there very early in the morning before the groups. We walked to the end of the road, dodging the occasional tractor and then turned back. We weren’t given a lot of time by the coach driver, but we easily managed it in 30 minutes, taking plenty of photos, but that’s really all you needed. There was a steady flow of people as other groups arrived, and we recognised some of the same people who we’d seen at the Giants Causeway on different coaches.
Walking through the trees was a nice experience. As it was early April the trees weren’t in leaf, but the bare trunks and branches were still dramatic and photogenic. I took my Go-Pro along and made a little video of it which you can check out here. Once I get confident with filming and editing I might do more to accompany my blog posts.
You can’t drive along the road anymore as it was closed to public traffic a few years ago. The people visiting in their cars were causing damage to the trees by parking on the roots. Originally there were 150 trees planted around 1775. This BBC article in 2023 reported that only 86 remain, old age and storms have taken their toll. Some have fallen naturally; others have been felled as they’ve been deemed unsafe. There are a few sorry looking stumps along the road and quite a large section that’s been thinned out.
Wood from the trees has been imaginatively used – there’s a Game of Thrones trail you can do were there are a series of decoratively carved doors dotted around Northern Ireland. Where To See The Game Of Thrones Doors In Northern Ireland
Sadly, given the increasing age of the trees I don’t think there’s much time left for people to experience the Hedges looking their most impressive. Game of Thrones: Dark Hedges trees ‘coming to end of their lives’ – BBC News There isn’t much the heritage trust in charge of looking after them can do to push back the natural end of a tree’s life. If they keep being lost at the rate they have been over the last decade then I honestly think there won’t be many still standing in another 20 or 30 years. A couple more strong storms will undoubtedly bring down a few and condemn more to being cut down for safety. If visiting them is on your bucket list then I would recommend bumping it to the top and start making plans now.
Watcher beware – when I looked up what else had been filmed at the Dark Hedges I discovered that it features in the 2017 Transformers film ‘The Last Knight’ Transformers: The Last Knight | Film Locations. There is a brief shot of the character Merlin (an unrecognisable Stanley Tucci) riding a horse through the trees. The production team also used various other British and Irish locations such as Bamburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle and Dublin’s Trinity Library. You know what you’re getting with a Michael Bay Transformers film I thought, so for completism my husband and I sat down to watch it one evening. I was prepared for some flashy action-packed nonsense with some pretty locations, but good grief after the first hour it’s just atrocious – whatever Antony Hopkins was paid I hope it was enough!
P.S. I couldn’t resist some Dark Hedges merchandise from the gift shop!
From scene to seen 