Game of Thrones fans will know the name Dragonstone, ancestral home castle of House Targaryen. In HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series, Dragonstone is an imposing castle perched on a little island in the fictional Blackwater Bay of the Seven Kingdoms, but did you know that you can actually visit the location for yourself in real life? I visited the shooting location at San Juan de Gaztelugatxe along the Basque coast of northern Spain to see how it compared to what you can see on screen.
Also, detailed instructions on how to get from Bilbao to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe on a day trip by public transport (I was based in Bilbao) and what else to expect when trekking around San Juan de Gaztelugatxe.
Dragonstone on screen
Dragonstone features heavily in Game of Thrones Season 7 when Daenerys Targaryen finally return to her homestead after living in exile for most of her life. The massive stone castle on screen are computer graphics of course, but you can see the cliffs and zigzag staircase of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe in the exterior shots.
A disclaimer that these screenshots in my article came from trailers and features on the Game of Thrones Youtube.
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe wasn’t the only shooting location for Dragonstone. Further east along the Basque Coast closer to San Sebastian is Itzurun Beach in Zumaia – that’s where the beach landing scenes were filmed.
How to get to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
I spent a week in northern Spain and took a day trip from Bilbao to the town of Bakio along the Basque Coast. Driving gives you the most flexibility, but for solo travellers like myself, it really isn’t that hard to get to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe by public transport either. Be prepared to do some hiking, or join a tour if you rather have someone else take care of all the other details.
Here’s a breakdown of my journey from Bilbao to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe for you:
From Bilbao to Bakio
By public transport, the easiest way is to hop on a bus in Bilbao city.
- Bus Stop: Plaza Moyua (Barclays Bank)
- Bus Number: A3518 towards San Pelaio [Leaves every hour from 630am-930pm, Timetable on Bizkaia website]
- Journey time: roughly 40 minutes
- Cost: 2.55 Euro by cash and only 1.80 Euro with a bizkaia card
From Bakio to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is located in the town of Bakio, but where exactly you choose to alight depends on what you plan to do next:
- To take a taxi, stop at Bentalde. If you are lucky there will be cabs waiting around for you, so make friends with people on the bus headed the same way and share a ride to save some money.
- To take feeder bus 3524 (8-seater bus), stop at Bentalde. This would be the most economical way but I don’t recommend it because this bus comes every 2 hours and there’s no fixed schedule/timing on where the bus will actually arrive, you’re much better off walking than trying to wait for this bus. [more details]
- To hike, stop at the final stop San Pelaio (Begiratokia/Mirador) – it’ll save you a little bit of walking, and is the closest bus stop when you want to return to Bilbao.
Trekking from Bakio to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe
I trekked from the Bentalde bus stop in Bakio to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe and in total it took me about 1.5 hours from the time I got off the bus to the actual peak where the church is located.
Going towards San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is more tiring because there are some insane upslopes to climb – going back was definitely faster, and also because I met a lovely American Mum and daughter pair who were headed back the same way so it made the journey back more fun.
I’d recommend taking a taxi going there and then doing the walk back so you can enjoy the coastal views and not tire yourself out. The weather that day was very clear and quite hot even though it was winter (February), so I had a nice (if tiring) trek. You’ll probably want to make sure you make the return trek before sunset because I imagine it would be super dark as there are no street lights.
The route is mostly uphill until you get to the entrance of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe – somewhere before you reach the entrance where the restaurant is, you’ll come across this clearing and a man-made path which leads you to the cliff’s edge where you get an excellent aerial view of the island. Don’t go too close to the edge as there are no barriers!
The climb up: 241 steps
At the entrance, you’ll pass by a restaurant and some small carts selling souvenirs and food and drink. This is your last chance to get some refreshments and a toilet break because there are no more facilities after this point. You’ll follow a pretty steep path downhill to get to the water’s edge.
Now that you’ve reached the water’s edge, you’re finally ready to climb up again to get to the peak of the island where the little Hermitage church is located. It may not be as spectacular as the CG castle from the show, but that zigzag staircase is pretty cool. It’s made that way to make it hard for invaders to get to the castle. You’ll need to climb 241 steps to get to the top.
View from the top
241 steps later, I finally reached the peak! The thing to do here is to ring the church bell 3 times for good luck – you’ll hear the bell tolling throughout the day as various trekkers celebrate their successful climb. I sat down and had a mini picnic and admired the view from here before making the long trek back to the bus stop.
It was a pretty sweltering climb but I had a really enjoyable time, so whether you are a Game of Thrones fan or just want a scenic trek, I would recommend checking out San Juan de Gaztelugatxe if you are travelling along the Basque Coast. I was there on a weekday and it was pleasantly uncrowded, and hiking in winter meant the weather was a little cooler even though we had some real cloudless weather that day.
Are you a Game of Thrones fan? Have you been to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe? Drop me any comments or thoughts below.
Hello, thank you for the thorough walkthrough of your journey! Just curious, if one were to take the bus from Bilbao, taxi in Bentalde, walk the 241 steps, and return back to Bilbao via bus on the San Pelaio (Begiratokia/mirador) bus stop…how long was that journey? I am planning to do this and then bus over to Zumaia afterwards to visit the Zumaia Flysch – Itzurun Beach. I’m afraid this might be overly aggressive to fit into 1 day. Thank you in advance!
Hi Corie,
I don’t think it’s doable by public transport – even with the taxi, just getting to Gaztelugatxe will probably take you about 1.5 hours, and if you head back to Bilbao and a quick google shows it’ll take about 2 hours to bus from Bilbao to Itzurun… even if you started super early I think it’ll be pretty packed and you’ll have to hope the public transport is punctual and available when you want it. You probably need longer summer days to properly enjoy both locations properly, but even then I’m not sure how late the buses run till.
Might be possible if you drove yourself and don’t have to worry about bus schedules and you can go straight from Gaztelugatxe to Itzurun, and perhaps instead of heading back to Bilbao from Itzurun, maybe go to San Sebastian instead which is much nearer?
Hello. Thank you for all those infos. Im a solo traveller and a Got fan, im planning to vist the site onb a weekday in september, i will be only in Barcelona for work and i will take a plane to Bilbao, spend 24 hours there and visit San Juan and maybe Bermeo if enough time, i was advised about public transport, the bus A 3518 from Bilbao to Bakio and than a taxi bus to San juan the A3524, is it enough to get close or i must take also a taxi after? do you advise the hike in the morning time to reach there around 11 am, or in the afternoon? for photos. Thanks for your help
i think you definitely need to take the taxi especially since you’re short on time! Morning will probably give you more time and probably be cooler to hike, but afternoon is nice too :) Have a great time visiting!
Hi Jaclynn, I want to reach the view that you’ve described in the photo as ‘Check out that view of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe!’ ..’The route is mostly uphill until you get to the entrance of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe – somewhere before you reach the entrance where the restaurant is, you’ll come across this clearing and man-made path which leads you to the cliff’s edge where you get an excellent aerial view of the island. Don’t go too close to the edge as there are no barriers!’ – what is the name of the restaurant so that I can orientate myself? thanks!
Hi Michelle, I marked it on the Google Map, and it also says the restaurant is called Eneperi but I can’t actually remember for sure that was the name of the restaurant, but trust me there is only one entrance to get to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe so you can’t miss it!
Thanks for the great guidance on the visit to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. We did the full hike in from the bus stop and man, it was brutal! If I come back, it’s a taxi to the carpark for sure. It’s 3 days before the final episode of Game of Thrones, so our timing is good. It’s strange to think that the cast and crew walked in exactly the same places we did, gives me a fun connection with the books and show.
Glad you enjoyed the hike, and I think it’s always cool to know that these amazing places you see on screen can actually be found in real life :) Happy GOT-ing!
Hey Jac, Where would you recommend staying in Bilbao?
Hi Lena, I stayed in a hostel called Quartier Hostel in the old town of Bilbao. I enjoyed my stay there, friendly staff, nice dorm rooms and a great location right opposite the Ribera Market and very convenient for hopping on the tram and a short walk from the metro. Only thing is the showers were pretty small and breakfast is pretty basic but it’s a small quibble honestly. Here’s a booking.com link for more info (affiliate link)
Game of Thrones fans would definitely love this. Although, I don’t think it’s anything spectacular unless you are a fan of the series. However, it does look magical and straight out of a movie or a TV series!
Yeah it’s more meaningful if you are a fan of course, but it’s still a pretty spot for hiking along the Basque Coast!
What a great day you had! We are die hard GoT fans and are currently rewatching before the last season starts. sob. I did not know that Dragonstone was a CG castle. So interesting what they can do. That’s a lot of steps to get to the top. Cersei would probably have her staff carry her up. HA! Fun post.
The winding stair was probably the easiest part of the trek for me though! Getting there was a real journey, kinda wish I had a dragon to fly me there!
What a fun experience! I’ve seen that stairway on the show and it just looked so amazing. Nice to know that you can experience it for yourself. Thanks for the great tips on how to get there.
Hope you get the chance to visit it someday!