Game of Thrones in Malta, the two locations the official sources confirm

Search for Game of Thrones in Malta and you’ll find lists of ten or fifteen locations. I’m going to do something less flashy and more useful, which is to give you only the ones the official sources confirm. There are two, one on each island, and both are worth the trip even if you’ve never watched an episode.

What the official sources say, and what they don’t

VisitMalta, the Malta Tourism Authority’s website, says Mdina stood in for King’s Landing, while Malta Public Transport notes that Mdina Gate appears in the series. The Ministry for Gozo, for its part, says Dwejra Bay was the filming location for the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo.

No other Game of Thrones location in Malta appears in the official sources I’ve been able to read. Plenty more names do the rounds online, mostly forts and palaces, but I’m not presenting them as fact. If someone sells you a tour with fifteen stops, ask where each one comes from.

Mdina Gate, the way into King’s Landing

Mdina Gate is the more recognisable of the two locations. Wikipedia, which isn’t an official source but is specific, says it served as one of the gates of King’s Landing in episode three of season one, ‘Lord Snow’. The gate is free to visit at any hour.

Getting there is easy. From Valletta’s terminus, Malta Public Transport has five routes to Rabat and Mdina, numbered 50 to 53 plus the 56. I like going early, because Mdina has just 201 residents and first thing in the morning you understand why it’s called the Silent City.

Mdina, beyond the photo

Once through the gate, the town carries on. Malta Public Transport highlights St Paul’s Cathedral, which it calls a 17th-century Baroque masterpiece, and Bastion Square with its views across the island. Mdina has also been a UNESCO candidate since 1998. Everything worth seeing inside the walls is in Mdina, and what lies just outside, catacombs included, in Rabat.

One point I think matters. People live in Mdina, not many, but they do. I’d take my photos without blocking anyone’s doorway and keep my voice down, which is what the town asks of you.

Dwejra, Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s wedding

The second location is on Gozo’s west coast. Dwejra is a clifftop landscape with three features the Ministry for Gozo describes in detail. The Inland Sea, a lagoon that reaches the open sea through a rock tunnel roughly 100 metres long, used by small boats. Fungus Rock, an islet with a medicinal plant, whose sides the Knights smoothed to make climbing it almost impossible. And the Blue Hole, an underwater chimney that’s one of Malta’s great dive sites. Above the bay stands the Dwejra Tower, built in 1652 under Grand Master Lascaris, which the Ministry says is usually open when you see a flag flying on its roof, plus the little Chapel of St Anne from 1963. More in Dwejra.

To get there from Malta you cross to Gozo. The Gozo Channel ferry between Ċirkewwa and Mġarr costs €4.65 return, paid on the way back with no booking, as I explain in the Gozo ferry.

Is the Azure Window still there?

No, and it’s worth saying plainly because some people still travel to look for it. The Azure Window, Dwejra’s rock arch, fell in a storm in March 2017 and is now a dive site. You won’t see it from the shore. What it was and how it fell is in the Azure Window.

If you want an arch that’s still standing, the Ministry for Gozo points to the Wied il-Mielaħ Window, once the lesser-known alternative, which became far better known after the collapse. You can drive right to the end of the valley.

How I’d do the route

Two days, no tour. Day one, Mdina in the morning by bus and the afternoon in Rabat. Day two, Gozo, with the ferry from Ċirkewwa and the whole day at Dwejra, including the Inland Sea boat if the sea is calm. With only two confirmed locations, I don’t see the point of paying for a themed excursion, and I’d rather spend that money on Mdina’s museums. If you’re after more filming locations, from Popeye to The Count of Monte Cristo, see films shot in Malta.