Filming locations (House of the Dragon)

St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, used to portray High Tide in House of the Dragon.

Overview

House of the Dragon moved its main production headquarters from the old Game of Thrones studios in Belfast to the Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios in Watford, England (about 34 kilometers north-west of London). This is where all of the main interior sets are constructed and filmed.

Starting in Season 1, House of the Dragon has had two main filming units, named "Fire" and "Blood" after Fire & Blood, the prequel anthology book that the series is based on. "Fire unit" is the new home unit filming in England, while "Blood unit" is the travel unit that filmed in Spain and Portugal.

United Kingdom

Cornwall

Filming for Season 1 began in late April 2021, beginning with a two week shoot in Cornwall in the southwest corner of England. Extensive filming was done at St. Michael's Mount, an island castle depicting Driftmark, the ancestral seat of House Velaryon. Several scenes were also filmed at scenic Holywell Beach, including ones used in the first promo images for Daemon Targaryen and adult Rhaenyra Targaryen.

Filming returned to Cornwall for the second full week of September 2021, from September 13-17 (after filming in Derbyshire the week before). Filming returned to Holywell Beach, including scenes featuring young Rhaenyra and young Laenor Velaryon, and battle scenes set in the Stepstones. Filming also expanded to film at Kynance Cove, a beach with rock formations which is farther east along the southern coast from St. Michael's Mount. An extensive Velaryon army camp in the Stepstones was constructed at Kynance Cove.

Derbyshire

After the first Cornwall shoot ended in mid-May 2021, exterior filming resumed the first week of September in Derbyshire, in northern England. Spy reports revealed that filming was taking place in the Peak District, the southern end of the Pennine mountain chain, located roughly between Manchester and Sheffield. Matt Smith was spotted in costume, then a large spy report in the DailyMail showed photos of Graham McTavish, Emily Carey, and Milly Alcock in full costume. Ultimately, it was revealed that this was the first scene introducing Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Harrold Westerling in the Dragonpit in the premiere episode "The Heirs of the Dragon," while Matt Smith was filming Daemon's trip to Runestone in the Vale at the beginning of "We Light the Way."

Surrey

The third week of September 2021, filming shifted from Cornwall to Surrey, southwest of London. A large hunting camp set was built in the forest outside of Aldershot, which prominently featured in the third episode, "Second of His Name", for the royal hunt in the Kingswood.

Filming returned to Surrey for Season 2, for parts of Rook's Rest as well as the Lannister cavalry.

Wales

House of the Dragon: Season 2 began using Wales as a major filming location. Filming took place in the northwest of Wales in and around Snowdonia national park, in the counties of Gwynedd and Anglesey (which are separated by the Menai Strait, though it is narrow enough that bridges connect Anglesey to the mainland).

• Trefor Quarry, Gwynedd - Dragonstone exteriors.
• Dinorwig Quarry, Gwynedd - Harrenhal exteriors. Located about 8 miles (a 20 minute drive) southeast from the Menai Strait separating Gwynedd and Anglesey, and about 20 miles (a 40 minute drive) from Penmon, the filming base in Anglesey.
• Ogwen Valley, Gwynedd - in the lush Nant Ffrancon mountain pass, east of Dinorwig. A brief scene between a few horse-riders was filmed here, possibly the Vale.
• Penmachno Roman Bridge, Gwynedd - located east of Dinorwig and Ogwen Valley, on the other side of the mountains. So-named not for a surviving "Roman" bridge, but for a medieval bridge built over an old Roman road which crosses the Machno River. A major battle was filmed here with many prop corpses.
• Penmon, Anglesey - at the eastern tip of Anglesey, past the north end of the Menai Strait. Apparently used as a logistics base for filming in the region. Spy photos showed Corlys Velaryon on a boat, in unclear context.
• Beaumaris, Anglesey - just south of Anglesey, spy photos revealed over a dozen heavy armored cavalry all wearing the golden-dragon sigil of Aegon II Targaryen.
• Llanddwyn Beach, Anglesey - at the southern tip of Anglesey, past the south end of the Menai Strait. A tidal island surrounded by a pine forest. Extensive filming here depicted what appeared to be the "Sowing of the Dragonseeds" - open tryouts Rhaenyra's faction holds for Targaryen bastards or descendants of bastards to try to claim the riderless dragons.
• Porth y Cwch, Anglesey - another beach just west of Llanddwyn, apparently used for a brief scene showing Luke Velaryon's corpse washing up on the shore of Shipbreaker Bay.

Spain and Portugal

• Cáceres, Spain - a returning location from Game of Thrones: Season 7, which was used for the streets of King's Landing and Oldtown. A dozen different locations in the city were extensively used to represent the streets of King's Landing in Season 1, and again in Season 2.
• Trujillo, Spain - A short drive east from Cáceres. Also a returning location from Game of Thrones: Season 7, in which the old Arab castle was used for landward side of the city walls of King's Landing when Jaime and Bronn are standing atop them looking at Daenerys's army arrive.
• Lloret de Mar in Catalonia: the botanical gardens of Santa Clotide were used as the royal gardens of the Red Keep seen in "The Rogue Prince." The gardens subsequently opened a Westeros-themed tour.
• Castillo de La Calahorra in Granada was used for locations in Pentos.
• Monsanto, Portugal - a short drive west from Cáceres, Spain. Home to a famous mountain-top medieval castle, now in ruins. The mountain itself was only accessible by helicopter, and production did not return to Portugal in Season 2.