Game of Thrones Walking Tour

Split has a second life as a film location. When the television series Game of Thrones needed a city of ancient stone for Daenerys Targaryen's rule in Meereen, the production found it in Diocletian's Palace, and the underground halls beneath the palace became the setting for her dragons' chambers. A walking tour built around those scenes is an easy way to see the old town, because it ties famous moments to places you can stand in, and it works for fans and non-fans alike. The guide points out where scenes were staged, explains how the crew dressed the stone to look like a fantasy city, and then steps back to tell the true story of the building, which is more remarkable than the fiction: a Roman emperor's retirement home that became a town. Expect to cover the Peristyle, the lanes around the Vestibule, the Golden Gate area and the entrances to the vaults, with plenty of stops for photographs. The tour is on foot, over polished stone, at an easy pace, and it suits groups with mixed interests where one person wants dragons and another wants Romans.

Whether you have watched every episode or none, the tour earns its place by giving structure to a first walk. The palace can feel like a maze of identical honey-coloured lanes, and a guide who has a story for each corner makes the layout stick in your memory. You will usually see the vaulted underground halls from the outside or, depending on the day and the ticketing, from the inside, and you learn why the substructure survives so well: the Romans built it as a foundation to level the sloping ground, and it was later used as a rubbish dump for centuries before archaeologists cleared it.

Ask your guide which scenes were filmed where, which parts were added digitally and how long the crew spent in the old town, because local guides tend to have good anecdotes about residents who found their lanes turned into a film set.

Choose the time of day with care. Morning groups have the quietest lanes and the best light for photographs of the stone, while late afternoon tours finish as the cafe tables fill and are a natural lead-in to dinner. The route is flat and short, but the paving is slippery when wet, so wear shoes with grip.

If you want to go inside the vaults, check whether admission is included in your tour or paid separately, and check when you book whether the guide can arrange a stop there. Groups are usually small enough for questions, and guides are happy to adjust the balance between screen trivia and Roman history if you tell them what you prefer.

Pair the walk with the other palace experiences so the stories reinforce each other. A visit to the cellars after the tour lets you stand in the halls you have just heard about, and a climb up the cathedral bell tower shows the whole layout from above, with the four gates and the grid of streets laid out beneath you.

Fans of the series can add the mountain fortress of Klis, which also appeared on screen as a city under siege and is covered in its own entry. Keep an hour or two free afterwards for a coffee on the Peristyle steps, which remain one of the best places in Split to sit and watch the old town go by.

If you are travelling with a mixed group, this is one of the easiest tours to book, because it gives every age and interest something to hold on to. Keep a little time at the end to wander on your own: the lanes you have just learned about look different once you know their names.