The Game of Thrones Tour from Dublin
I felt it was topical, being that the season finale of Game of Thrones aired here yesterday (I’m STILL in shock), to talk about the recent Game of Thrones tour I did departing from Dublin! Whether you’re a fan of the show or not, it’s a great option for a day trip from Dublin filled with scenic stops at castles, forests, and coastal viewpoints.
There are TONS, and I mean TONS, of options for day tours from Dublin. Whether you want a quick tour of the local area or a 10-hour day tour going across the country, there’s something for everybody.
And there’s even something for Game of Thrones fans, like this great Game of Thrones day trip leaving from and returning to central Dublin, bringing you on a long journey of different Game of Thrones sites in Northern Ireland.
A bit about the Game of Thrones tour departing from Dublin…
The tour we did was through a company that specialises in Game of Thrones tours. They offer bus tours departing from Dublin or Belfast, walking tours, and even private tours. We chose the ‘Winterfell Trek’ bus tour leaving out of Dublin. To be honest, I think it would have been better to do the tour departing from Belfast because it would involve less driving and not be such a long day. But if you won’t be visiting Belfast during your trip to Ireland, the Game of Thrones tour departing from Dublin is a perfectly fine option for a Dublin day trip! Just be aware that it’s a long day and it does involve quite a bit of time on the bus travelling from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland, where all of the filming location stops are located.
The tour lasts 11 hours. It leaves from the Hilton on Custom House Quay in Dublin at around 7:45AM and returns to the same spot at night. So like I said, it’s a LONG day. You travel all the way to County Down in Northern Ireland in a 41-seater bus. So, you can expect up to around 35-40 people on the tour as well as 1 tour guide. The tour costs €70 and although all entrance fees to sites are included, lunch is not included in the price. The tour includes 5 stops: Tollymore Forest, Old Castle Ward, Inch Abbey, a lunch stop, and a rest stop. A nice touch is that you also get robes, swords, and banners to wear for pictures.
Stop 1: Rest Stop
After being greeted by our friendly tour guide (dressed in full-on Game of Thrones costume, mind you) at 7:45AM, we set off on the journey. Our tour guide was awesome though! She was super enthusiastic, and used video clips and pictures/screenshots throughout the tour to show scenes portraying where we were. She would also show a key screenshot from a show to the group and explain how VFX was used to create scenes.
The first leg of the tour was a lengthy drive up (about 2 hours) to Northern Ireland, as all of the filming of Game of Thrones takes place there. So the first stop was not a very glamorous one….it was a pit stop at a service station to break up the drive, as our tour guide cautioned us that there was no restroom on the bus. At the rest stop we were able to buy coffee and snacks and have a bathroom break before continuing on the rest of our journey. They also tried to make the drive fun by doing a Game of Thrones trivia game on the bus!
It was my first time in Northern Ireland, so I was expecting to see some sort of border or some way to know that you’re officially in another country. But nope, the only thing I saw was a white sign with a black X reading “Northern Ireland.” I’m assuming that indicated the official border. It was all very underwhelming.
Stop 2: Tollymore Forest Park
When we finally arrived to Northern Ireland, our first stop was the beautiful Tollymore forest park. This was my favorite stop of the day! They gave us all cloaks, walking sticks, swords, etc to really add to the mood. Locals enjoying their day at the park looked at us like we were insane, but whatever.
Although park is the location of several scenes throughout the first season of Game of Thrones, you don’t need to be a fan of the show to appreciate it. With its tall trees, overflowing greenery, and quaint paths, this forest is sure to be a great outing for anyone. Located near Newcastle in County Down, this was the first state park in Northern Ireland.
Stop 3: Lunch
After walking about 3km around the forest and stopping at various locations for photo-ops and trivia, we headed back to the bus to head to our next stop, LUNCH!
For lunch we stopped at Paddy’s Barn, a quintessential Irish pub/restaurant. We were greeted by friendly staff and a buffet. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 There was a variety of choices and you could pay with either Euros or Pounds. Oh, and the best part of the lunch was when we got to meet/pet one of the dogs that plays a direwolf on the show!!!!! I absolutely love all dogs, but this one was especially great because he’s basically famous.
Stop 4: Old Castle Ward
After our filling and delicious lunch, we headed to our next major stop – the location used as Winterfell! Although it was really cool to see this castle and surrounding landscape, it just makes you realise just HOW much CGI is used on the show. The tour guide pointed out what was real and what was CGI using photos from the scenes in Game of Thrones. It’s crazy how much of a scene they make out of nothing!
There are 9 different film locations on this site all very close to each other, so we spent a while roaming the grounds and talking about the scenes in the show.
Stop 5: Inch Abbey
Our last stop after this was another favorite of mine – Inch Abbey in Downpatrick. Not only was this 12th century monastic ruin another filming location, but it was beautiful! We had a bit of a photo-op here, and we may or may not have had a group chant of “The King of the North!” going……….
After an exhausting but fun day, we started to make our scenic journey back to Dublin. If you were too tired to enjoy the views out of the window, they were also playing Game of Thrones episodes on the TV screens in the bus.
All in all, it was a great day! I would recommend this Game of Thrones tour to anyone – Game of Thrones fan or not! For the fans it had a special touch, but anyone just along for the ride would enjoy the scenic treks and beautiful views. It was a really long, but really fun, outing. We had to be at the bus leaving from central Dublin at 7:45am for an 8am departure, and we didn’t arrive back again until past 8pm. Even though it was exhausting, we definitely covered some ground and had a good time! So it’s definitely a good option for a day trip from Dublin.
And if the long day isn’t for you, there’s day tours from Belfast as well that do a few different locations. I personally hope to do one (or both) of those tours in the near future. After all, since the season just ended, how else am I going to get my fix?!
