When “Game of Thrones” ended its run on HBO back in 2019, it left a somewhat disastrous legacy behind with a series finale that, in this writer’s opinion, absolutely stunk (though some of my colleagues may beg to differ on that point). Still, if you go back and re-examine the show despite its total dud of an ending — the majority of the seasons are still pretty good, at least! — you may notice one thing: showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss shot in some seriously stunning locations.

In fact, if you look at “Game of Thrones” through a totally different lens, you could view it as a sort of twisted tourism ad for various locales all over the world; even though characters you love might get murdered in them, the locations are definitely gorgeous! Perhaps the coolest thing about all of the cities and vistas seen throughout “Game of Thrones,” though, is that you can visit a whole bunch of them if you find yourself outside of, say, the continental United States since the locations themselves are scattered throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, and even Iceland. Westeros, the fictional land that serves as the setting for “Game of Thrones,” covers a wide variety of climates and aesthetics, so it’s definitely not surprising that the team behind the show scouted some extremely impressive spots for filming — here are some of the biggest in-universe locations explained, including exactly where they are in the world.

During the first season of “Game of Thrones” — which had a much smaller budget compared to the rest of the series — Malta stood in for the Westerosi capital of King’s Landing, but starting in season 2, production moved the stunning seaside city to Dubrovnik, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Croatia that sits right on the bright blue Adriatic Sea. Thanks to its orange rooftops and enormous wall that surrounds the city’s “Old Town,” Dubrovnik is a pretty ideal spot for King’s Landing, the crown jewel of the Seven Kingdoms where most of the show’s political intrigue takes place.

“Game of Thrones” really shines a spotlight on Dubrovnik’s natural architecture as characters like the brooding, evil queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) or her clever, conniving brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) wander its streets and walls; unfortunately for Cersei, the Jesuit Staircase smack in the middle of the marble-clad city served as the location for her infamous “walk of shame” in the season 5 finale. In real life, Dubrovnik was thankfully untouched — at least since the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s — but it didn’t fare so well on-screen. Not only does Cersei level half the city with magical wildfire during the season 6 finale, but in the eighth and final season, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) destroys the entire place (more or less) from atop her largest dragon, Drogon. You can visit the real Dubrovnik, though — and you won’t need to worry about any dragons. (Lokrum Island, just off the coast of Dubrovnik, also served as a filming location for Qarth in the show’s second season.)

The one location that nobody on “Game of Thrones” particularly wants to go to is the far, far North — specifically, the northernmost part of Westeros that lies beyond the protected Wall (guarded by the Night’s Watch at Castle Black, which itself is a part of the wall). Unlike Dubrovnik, it’s not exactly a breeze to visit some of these actual places (realistically, Dubrovnik just requires a passport and a plane ticket), largely because the terrain is pretty challenging, so let’s look at the fictional places represented by various freezing spots in Iceland.

Whenever characters go beyond the wall on “Game of Thrones,” things typically don’t end well — largely owing to the fact that an army of mythical, super-powerful, and ancient White Walkers comfortably live in the cold and snow, creating ice zombies known as “wights” from the bodies of whatever victims are stupid enough to wander their way. (This point is driven home in the abominable season 7 episode, appropriately titled “Beyond the Wall,” where Kit Harington’s Jon Snow leads a cavalry of idiots into the far North to capture a single wight; they get the wight they want but lose one of Daenerys’ dragons in the process and watch, horrified, as Viserion is transformed into an undead ice dragon. It’s a pretty bad trade, honestly.) Iceland is home to some of the most beautiful natural structures in the world, but based on what we’ve seen on “Game of Thrones,” visiting the far North doesn’t seem that fun; for intrepid hikers, filming locations like the Vatnajökull National Park might be a blast.

I don’t think I’m in the minority of “Game of Thrones” fans who think that a lot of the storylines that took place in Dorne — an independent member of the Seven Kingdoms that’s located to the south of the main continent — kind of sucked, but that doesn’t mean the filming location wasn’t stunning. In season 5 of “Game of Thrones,” viewers get a better look at the specific political intrigue of Dorne (which, during this narrative, is ruled by an ailing prince who refuses to wage outright war against the powerful Lannister family over the death of Pedro Pascal’s Prince Oberyn Martell), and all of it is set against the backdrop of the spectacular Alcázar of Seville. 

Specifically, the Alcázar is a royal palace in the southern Spanish city of Seville and is known for its gorgeous tilework, central gardens, and Islamic architecture. Not only was the Alcázar used as the setting for Dorne, but it was also used for locations in Peter O’Toole’s 1962 historical epic “Lawrence of Arabia” — and in the HBO series, even the dullest moments in Dorne gave viewers something gorgeous to look at. If you’re planning a pilgrimage to locations from “Game of Thrones,” you’ll definitely want to add Seville’s royal palace to your list; it’s one of the most beautiful manmade structures in the country, and it carries an astounding amount of historical significance to boot.

Another far-flung location outside of the strict confines of Westeros’ main landmass, the Iron Islands are the ancestral home of the Greyjoy family and elect their own officials — a process we see firsthand in “Game of Thrones,” starting in the show’s second season. As the War of the Five Kings begins and highborn Houses of Westeros squabble over the Iron Throne, Robb Stark (Richard Madden), then the King in the North, tells Theon to head home to the Iron Islands and deal with his father Balon (Patrick Malahide), the Lord Reaper of Pyke (the main stronghold of the Islands). Later on in season 6, Balon’s crappy brother Euron (Pilou Asbæk) shows up, kills Balon, and declares that he should be the next ruler of the Iron Islands, royally pissing off Theon’s imperious sister Yara (Gemma Whelan) and beginning an enmity between the uncle and his niece (and nephew).

Okay, so where are the “real” Iron Islands? They’re tucked away in Northern Ireland and, specifically, in Ballintoy Harbor, a picturesque place in County Antrim that features a spectacular harbor. Shooting for the Iron Islands took place in that very harbor, and it makes sense; coastal Ireland is a perfect stand-in for the gray, austere Iron Islands.

In real life, the area that “Game of Thrones” fans know as Dragonstone — the ancient seat of the Targaryen family first occupied by Stephen Dillane’s Stannis Baratheon in early seasons — is the northern Basque Coast of Spain, which shares the Bay of Biscay with a small section of France. Onscreen, the rugged green landscapes, stunning ocean vistas, and gray, rock-lined coasts is the castle of Dragonstone, specifically located on an island in Blackwater Bay in the Crownlands, and it changes hands (and allegiances) quite a few times throughout the series.

As I mentioned, Stannis is the first person we see hanging out in Dragonstone as he rallies both his forces and his sinister Red Priestess, Melisandre (Carice van Houten) to defeat Lannister forces, led by the illegitimate (and awful) boy-king Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson). Stannis doesn’t stay at Dragonstone permanently, though, and in season four, he leaves the castle behind; in season five, Stannis is killed after losing a major battle and Dragonstone is empty once again. Then, at the beginning of season 7, Daenerys and her forces retake Dragonstone and use it as their stronghold as they also fight the Lannisters (they’re pretty hard to deal with, honestly), and remain there until Daenerys’ Unsullied and Dothraki armies leave to fight the Battle at Winterfell in season 8. Dragonstone also appears in the massively popular spin-off and prequel “House of the Dragon,” but exterior shots take place in Wales and Portugal rather than the Basque Coast.

Winterfell is arguably one of the most famous and iconic locations in all of “Game of Thrones,” and in real life, its location changed a bit throughout the series. Doune Castle in Scotland stood in for the Northern stronghold in the “Game of Thrones” pilot, but afterward, House Stark and their armies could be spotted at the real-life Castle Ward in Northern Ireland. In case you forgot everything you ever knew about “Winterfell” after “Game of Thrones” ended, here’s a quick refresher.

The entire series opens at Winterfell, just to really drive home its overall importance; it’s where we first meet Ned Stark (Sean Bean), the patriarch of House Stark who, we assume, is the show’s protagonist. That idea falls by the wayside at the end of season 1 when Ned, who leaves the safety of Winterfell behind to go to King’s Landing and serve as Hand of the King to Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) with his daughters Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya (Maisie Williams), is beheaded by the young and tyrannical Joffrey. Still, Winterfell feels like home base for many of the remaining Starks, and a significant throughline in the rest of the series is that the Starks — and the assumed Stark bastard Jon Snow — are constantly trying to get back there. In season 6, Jon and Sansa manage to work together to retake Winterfell from the cruel, sadistic Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), and Winterfell plays yet another enormous role in season 8 when the White Walkers attack it from the far North, giving the humans a chance to defeat the Night King (Vladimir Furdik) once and for all.

After losing her husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) at the end of season 1 and emerging from his funeral pyre with three baby dragons, Daenerys is hellbent on reclaiming the Iron Throne — but as she assembles armies ahead of crossing the Narrow Sea to Westeros, she comes across several cities run by slave masters — and fueled by slaves themselves — and is horrified by the very concept. After freeing the slaves of Astapor in season 4 — and earning an army of Unsullied soldiers in the process — Daenerys heads to the slave city of Mereen, where she’s greeted by murdered slaves on her path to meet with the masters. Promising she will “meet injustice with justice,” Daenerys climbs the steep path of Mereen and, ultimately, overtakes the city. You can actually climb this exact spot, although it’s missing a few towers and pieces of insignia (and luckily, there’s no slave trade of any kind), because “Game of Thrones” used a real ancient fortress in Croatia as a stand-in for Mereen.

The Fortress of Klis is located outside of the major Croatian city of Split and stands tall against the surrounding mountains, and was originally built in the 2nd century by the Dalmatians (the Dalmatian Coast, where Dubrovnik is located, is also named for them). Much like the fictional Mereen, this fortress was fought over by warring armies for centuries — everyone from the Hungarians to the French to the Hapsburgs fought over this thing — but after Croatia became independent, the fortress returned to the country’s control. (Also, it’s no longer an active fortress. You can just hang out there.)

Croatia did a lot of heavy lifting as far as “Game of Thrones” locations are concerned, and when it came time to find a location for Braavos — a free city where Arya Stark ends up going to assassin school — the show’s creative team settled on Sibenik, a major city located in central Dalmatia. The city’s main cathedral is itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right, and the structures within create a perfect backdrop for Arya’s journey as she trades a mysterious coin to a ship owner to leave Westeros for Braavos. With its gorgeous stonework and natural setting next to the Krka River (which flowers into the Adriatic), it makes perfect sense that the showrunners would choose Sibenik … so what’s up with Braavos itself?

Unfortunately, Arya’s Braavos storyline is sort of a huge bummer; things seem promising at first when she reunites with her old face-changing friend Jaqen H’ghar (Tom Wlaschiha) and he promises to teach her alongside the Faceless Men of Braavos, but Arya spends a lot of her screentime basically getting the crap kicked out of her by a fellow student, the Waif (Faye Marsay). Still, as with some of these other locations that aren’t home to the coolest “Game of Thrones” storylines, Braavos is fantastic to look at.

“Game of Thrones” is streaming on Max now.