Carnlough Harbour: A Game of Thrones Filming Location
Carnlough Harbour is one of the prettiest small harbours on the Antrim coast, and for Game of Thrones fans it is something more. The worn stone steps running down into the water are the ones Arya Stark hauled herself up after being stabbed in the canals of Braavos. The scene lasts seconds on screen. The harbour has been there since 1854.
It was never built for tourists. It was built to ship limestone to the iron furnaces of Scotland, and the village grew up around that trade. Today it is a quiet working quay, with boats, gulls, the Glens rising behind it and the open sea in front.
The catch is that it is small. If you arrive expecting a Braavos set, you will walk the quay in two minutes and wonder what you have missed. The steps are plain stone dropping into green water, there is no sign on them, and the car park beside the harbour fills fast on a summer weekend.
Below you will find the story behind the harbour, exactly which scene was filmed here, what you will see when you arrive, the old quarry railway walk above the village, and a visitor information panel with the parking and practical details in one place. Carnlough sits right on the Causeway Coastal Route, so it costs you almost nothing to stop, and I will also tell you where to get the best coffee on this stretch of coast.
What Is in This Guide
Carnlough Harbour, a Scenic Village Stop on the Antrim Coast Road
Carnlough stands at the foot of Glencloy, one of the nine Glens of Antrim, about 14 miles north east of Ballymena. The village wraps around a small limestone harbour, and the harbour is the reason the village looks the way it does.
In the 1850s the Londonderry family held coal interests in County Durham and saw an opening in the iron furnaces then multiplying along the Clyde in Scotland. Those furnaces needed limestone flux, and the hills above Carnlough were full of it. The harbour, the quarry and the railway joining them were all built as a single commercial scheme.
What survives is the harbour itself, two stone railway bridges that still cross the streets of the village, and a flight of steps down to the water that a television crew found a century and a half later.
The history of Carnlough Harbour
Work began late in 1853. The scheme was commissioned by Charles Stewart Vane, Marquess of Londonderry, and finished by his wife Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry, in 1854. The engineer was a man named Hunt, brought over from the family’s own harbour at Seaham in County Durham, and the contractor was Patrick Mahon.
The clever part was the railway. Limestone travelled three quarters of a mile from the quarry down to the quayside on an inclined plane, and by May 1856 the engineer Robert Watson had made the system self acting: the weight of the loaded wagons running down hauled the empty ones back up on a steel cable, with no horses required. Stone went straight from wagon into the hold of a ship at the quay, with no carting and no lighters in between. That is what made the whole operation pay.
The same family had already built the Londonderry Arms Hotel on the main street in 1848, six years before the harbour. It went up as a coaching inn for Frances Anne, who was Winston Churchill’s great grandmother, and Churchill inherited it in 1921. The building is still there, reopened after a redevelopment under a new name, the Harbourview Hotel.
What you see today
The harbour is small, and that is the charm of it. A curve of limestone quay, a scatter of boats, the hills of the Glens behind and open water in front. Local boats still work out of it and there is no visitor berthing, so what you are looking at is a harbour rather than a marina.
Walk along the quay and you will find the steps. They are unremarkable in themselves, worn stone dropping into green water, which is exactly why they worked so well on screen.
Close by there is a memorial to Paddy, a racing pigeon from Carnlough who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War and was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross. It is easy to walk past, and it is the sort of detail that turns a five minute stop into a ten minute one.
Above the village, the line of the old limestone railway, built around 1853, is now a walking path up to the disused Gortin Quarry. Interpretation panels along the way explain the quarry and the railway, and the quarry gives you a fine view back over Carnlough Bay. The path used to carry on to Cranny Falls, a waterfall in a shaded, ferny ravine that is the only known site in Ireland for the scarce Wood Barley plant. Please note that Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has closed access to Cranny Falls because of landslides and describes the area as extremely dangerous, so keep away from the falls until the council reopens the path.
Visitor information: Gortin Quarry and Cranny Falls walk
Opening times. The quarry railway path is open access. Cranny Falls is closed by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council because of landslides, so do not go beyond the quarry.
Tickets. Free. There is no admission charge and no booking.
Distance. About 2.4 miles there and back on an easy, partly rough path. Dogs must be kept under control.
Parking. Use the free car park at Carnlough Harbour, or park beside the road in the village.
Facilities. Toilets at the harbour car park. There are none on the walk.
Where it starts. In the village, Harbour Road, Carnlough, BT44 0EU. Take the steps going uphill beside the Harbour Lights building, then follow the old railway track.
Carnlough Harbour Game of Thrones Scene
The scene comes at the end of season six, episode seven, The Broken Man, which first aired on 5 June 2016. Arya Stark has bought passage back to Westeros and believes she is free of the House of Black and White. The Waif, disguised as an old woman, finds her on a bridge in Braavos and stabs her. Arya escapes by throwing herself into the canal, and hauls herself out of the water badly wounded.
The water she climbs out of is Carnlough Harbour, and the Arya Stark steps are the ones still standing on the quay today. If you have been hunting for the Carnlough Harbour Game of Thrones location, this is it, and the Braavos canal is a small limestone harbour on the Antrim Coast Road. The production dressed the surrounding quay to read as the Free City of Braavos, but the steps themselves needed nothing done to them.
It is worth knowing what to expect. This is not a built set and there is no signage, no visitor centre and no ticket. It is a working harbour where a famous minute of television happened to be shot, and half the pleasure is standing on an ordinary Antrim quay and recognising it.
Carnlough is one of several filming locations packed into a short stretch of this coast, which is why it usually appears alongside the Dark Hedges and the Cushendun Caves on a Game of Thrones tour from Belfast rather than as a destination on its own. We have mapped out every Game of Thrones filming location in Northern Ireland if you want to build a whole day around them.
The Village Around the Harbour
Carnlough had a population of 1,512 at the 2011 census, and it still feels like a village rather than a resort. The main street runs parallel to the shore, and two stone bridges cross it. Those bridges carried the limestone wagons from the quarry down to the quay, and they are the clearest surviving trace of the industry the place was built on.
The old Londonderry Arms, now the Harbourview Hotel, anchors the street. There are cafes and a shop or two within a couple of minutes of the water, which makes Carnlough a natural coffee and toilet stop on a long coastal drive, whether or not you care about television.
The beach is a short curve of sand and shingle beside the harbour. It is not a swimming beach for most visitors, but it is a pleasant place to stretch your legs while somebody else finishes their photographs.
If you are a coffee or tea lover, this is the place to stop. The car park at the harbour is free and so is the restroom, and Twilight Coffee on Harbour Road does very nice fresh ground coffee, with scones and things like that. I would suggest it before you get back on the road.
Carnlough Harbour Parking and Visitor Information
The steps are unfenced, often wet and slippery, and they go straight down into deep water. Take your photograph from the quay rather than from halfway down.
Opening times. Open access all year round for walkers. There is no visitor berthing for boats.
Tickets. Free. There is no admission charge, no ticket office and no booking.
Parking. Free parking at the harbour, but the spaces fill quickly in summer. Come early, or park in the village and walk down.
How long to allow. Twenty minutes for the harbour and the steps on their own. Around an hour more if you add the walk up to Gortin Quarry and back.
Facilities. Toilets and parking at the harbour. Cafes, shops and the hotel are a short walk up into the village.
Where it is. Harbour Road, Carnlough, BT44 0EU, on the Antrim Coast Road, 27 miles from Belfast and 14 miles north east of Ballymena. The drive from Belfast takes 40 minutes to an hour, depending on traffic and the route. The official listing is on Discover Northern Ireland.
What Else to See Near Carnlough on the Same Drive
Cranny Falls and Gortin Quarry. The old quarry railway path starts in the village and climbs gently to the Gortin Quarry viewpoint over Carnlough Bay. Access to Cranny Falls beyond it is closed by the council because of landslides, so for now the quarry is as far as you go. Everything you need for the walk is in the visitor information panel above.
Glenarm Castle Walled Garden. Glenarm is the next village south along the coast, about 25 miles from Belfast, so it pairs naturally with Carnlough on the way up or down. The walled garden and woodland walk at Glenarm Castle are open every day from 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4:15pm. Tickets are £10 for adults, £8.50 for over 60s and students, £5 for ages 12 to 17, and free for children under 12. You can book online on the castle’s own website or pay on arrival. The address is 2 Castle Lane, Glenarm, BT44 0BQ, and there is parking on site.
Glenariff Forest Park. The Queen of the Glens, with the waterfall walkway through a wooded gorge, about twenty minutes north. The forest is open to walkers all day, and the car park gates open by 8am and lock at dusk. There is no entry ticket. You pay to park, and it is £5 per car. The address is 98 Glenariff Road, Ballymena, BT44 0QX, on the A43 between Ballymena and Waterfoot. We have a full guide to Glenariff Forest Park.
Cushendun Caves. Further north, and another Game of Thrones location: the cove where Melisandre gave birth to the shadow in the second series. The caves are free and open at all times, with nothing to book. Park in the free National Trust car park beside the beach in Cushendun, BT44 0PG, where there are public toilets, then walk five to ten minutes over the bridge and along the shore to the caves.
Galboly. An abandoned stone clachan above the coast between Carnlough and Waterfoot, used as the Vale of Arryn location Runestone in seasons five and six of Game of Thrones. There is no address, sign or ticket. Park in one of the lay-bys on the Antrim Coast Road just past St MacNissi’s College at Garron Point, then follow the public quarry path up the hill. Parts are steep and muddy. Some of the land around it is private farmland with grazing sheep, so stay on the path, close every gate behind you and view the ruins with respect.
Carnlough works best as one stop on a longer coastal day. If you want the whole stretch in one go, our guide to the Causeway Coastal Route runs from Belfast to Derry, with the Giant’s Causeway towards the far end of it.
Carnlough Harbour FAQ
What Game of Thrones scene was filmed at Carnlough Harbour?
The harbour steps stood in for a canal in the Free City of Braavos. It is where Arya Stark drags herself out of the water after the Waif stabs her. The quay around the steps was dressed for the shot, but the steps themselves are exactly as you see them today.
Which season and episode is the Carnlough scene from?
Season six, episode seven, The Broken Man, first broadcast on 5 June 2016. Arya is stabbed on a bridge, escapes into the canal and climbs out badly wounded. The aftermath carries into the following episode.
Can you visit the Carnlough Harbour Arya Stark steps?
Yes. The steps are on the public quay, so there is nothing to book and nobody to ask. Walk out along the harbour wall and they run down into the water from the quayside.
Is there a charge to visit Carnlough Harbour?
No. The harbour has open access all year round for pedestrians and there is no admission charge. There is no visitor berthing for boats.
Where do you park at Carnlough Harbour?
There is parking at the harbour itself, and it is free. It is a small area and it fills quickly on summer weekends, so it is worth arriving early or parking up in the village and walking down.
How long do you need at Carnlough Harbour?
Twenty minutes covers the harbour, the steps and the Paddy the Pigeon memorial. Allow around an hour more if you want to add the walk up the old quarry railway to Gortin Quarry.
Are there toilets at Carnlough Harbour?
Yes, there are public toilets at the harbour, along with the car park. Cafes and shops are a short walk up into the village.
What else is there to see in Carnlough?
The two stone railway bridges over the main street, the beach beside the harbour, the Harbourview Hotel which was built as the Londonderry Arms in 1848, and the walk up the old quarry railway to Gortin Quarry.
Is Carnlough worth visiting if you are not a Game of Thrones fan?
Certainly. It is a handsome Victorian harbour in one of the Glens of Antrim, with a real industrial story behind it, toilets, parking and a coffee within a minute of the water. On a long coastal drive that is a good stop on its own terms.
What to see in Carnlough?
The harbour and the Arya Stark steps, the two stone railway bridges over the main street, the Paddy the Pigeon memorial, the beach beside the quay, and the walk up the old quarry railway to Gortin Quarry. Allow about two hours if you want all of it.
Where is Carnlough in Ireland?
Carnlough is on the Antrim Coast Road in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, at the foot of Glencloy in the Glens of Antrim. It is 27 miles from Belfast and 14 miles north east of Ballymena.
Is there a cafe at Carnlough Harbour?
There is no cafe on the quay itself, but there are cafes a short walk up into the village. Twilight Coffee on Harbour Road is the one I would suggest.
What is the hotel at Carnlough Harbour?
The Harbourview Hotel on the main street, built in 1848 as the Londonderry Arms. It later belonged to Winston Churchill, who inherited it in 1921.
Is there a beach at Carnlough?
Yes, a short curve of sand and shingle right beside the harbour. It is a pleasant place to stretch your legs, but most visitors do not swim there.
Is Cranny Falls open?
No. Mid and East Antrim Borough Council has closed access to Cranny Falls because of landslides and describes the area as extremely dangerous. The old railway path up to the Gortin Quarry viewpoint is the part to walk, and please keep away from the falls until the council reopens the path.
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