Where Was How to Train Your Dragon Filmed? Locations Guide

Anyone who has watched the animated How to Train Your Dragon knows the question: is the Isle of Berk real? The 2025 live-action adaptation answers with a turn to Northern Ireland, where filming centered on Belfast and its film studios, with confirmed stops starting on the Antrim coast and running south to County Down.

Primary filming region: Northern Ireland ·
Release year (live-action): 2025 ·
Key locations: Dunseverick Castle, Murlough Bay, Tollymore Forest ·
Fictional setting: Isle of Berk ·
Franchise films: 3 animated + 1 live-action

Seven facts, one pattern: the live-action film was built around Northern Ireland’s coast and studio lots, with a fictional Viking island layered on top by CGI.

Is How to Train Your Dragon Filmed in Ireland?

Yes, for the 2025 live-action version. The confirmed location list is short and almost entirely Northern Irish: a ruined castle, a forest park, a coastal bay, and a studio backlot in Belfast. The production also traveled to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, but the heart of Berk was built in Northern Ireland.

Which Northern Irish locations were used?

• Dunseverick Castle, Murlough Bay, and Tollymore Forest Park are all confirmed filming sites (BBC News NI (public broadcaster))
• Tollymore Forest Park is in County Down (Contiki (travel operator))
• Giant’s Causeway was also used for the film (MSN travel report)

On top of those outdoor sites, Belfast’s Titanic Studios backlot was described by a location guide as the site of Berk’s village set (Atlas of Wonders, location guide).

Did the filming use the Cliffs of Moher?

If you are building a real-world Berk itinerary, the map points to County Antrim and County Down, not County Clare. The pattern: the filmmakers chose landscapes that already look like Viking-age fantasy, which is why the on-screen effect reads as fully real even when the dragons are fully digital.

Is the Isle of Berk a Real Place?

No. The Isle of Berk is fictional, and no real island by that name exists. The films give it a Northern Atlantic personality, but the geography was invented for the story.

What inspired the Isle of Berk?

• Berk is a fictional Viking island with no real-world counterpart
• The animated films drew from Norse mythology and Viking culture for the setting’s identity
• The 2025 live-action version uses real Northern Irish locations to stand in for that invented island

That blend of myth and real geography is why fans keep asking whether Berk is visitable. The short answer: the island is imaginary, but the scenery is not.

Where is Berk in the movies?

• In the animated trilogy, Berk is a small island in the North Atlantic, home to Hiccup and Toothless
• In the live-action film, Northern Ireland’s coast becomes Berk’s exterior world
• The studio backlot in Belfast provides the physical set footprint, while CGI fills the village details

That makes Berk a composite: real cliffs, real fields, a real studio backlot, and CGI structures dropped on top.

The implication: the live-action version trades pure fantasy for tangible geography, giving viewers a Berk they could actually walk through.

Where Are They Filming How to Train Your Dragon 2?

They are not — no live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 exists. The 2014 sequel is a fully animated film, so it has no live-action filming locations. The production shooting around Northern Ireland is the 2025 live-action remake of the first movie, not a sequel.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 filming locations

If a live-action sequel is ever announced, the obvious model would be to return to the same region, but no such production has been confirmed.

Animation vs live-action differences

• Animated productions design every landscape digitally, so there is no physical filming site to visit
• Live-action productions need real places; the 2025 remake chose Northern Ireland’s coast and forests
• Fans searching for HTTYD2 set stories are likely seeing footage or stills from the 2025 live-action remake

In short, the question itself points to a common mix-up: it is easy to assume there is a live-action sequel being filmed, but the 2025 project is a remake of the original story. The consequence for fans is straightforward: if you want to visit the new Berk, you are visiting Northern Ireland.

What Famous Film Was Filmed in Ireland?

Ireland has long doubled for fictional worlds. Game of Thrones turned its northern coastline into Westeros, Star Wars used Skellig Michael, and the 2025 How to Train Your Dragon now adds Berk to that list.

What other movies filmed in Ireland?

• Game of Thrones used Northern Irish locations to portray the North of Westeros
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens filmed at Skellig Michael off the Kerry coast
• Northern Ireland’s screen agency has actively courted fantasy productions, with the Dragons remake following that pattern

These productions share a common thread: they all use Ireland’s geology as a stand-in for places that do not exist.

How does HTTYD compare?

• The 2025 film layers CGI dragons onto real outdoor landscapes (Contiki, travel operator)
• That mix separates it from the animated trilogy, where every landscape was drawn rather than filmed

The implication: Ireland’s film legacy is not accidental. When a live-action dragon movie needs a Viking coast, the same island that served Westeros is the easiest booking in Europe.

Where Is How to Train Your Dragon Located in Real Life?

Berk may be fictional, but its real-world stand-ins are scattered across Northern Ireland. Three areas matter most: the Antrim coast, the forests of County Down, and the studio lots of Belfast.

Real-world equivalents of Berk

• Dunseverick Castle, on the Antrim coast, is one of the locations used to portray Berk (MSN travel report)
• Outdoor landscapes across the region were used to create the fictional world of Berk (Contiki, travel operator)

Key scenic spots used

• The Antrim coast: Dunseverick Castle, Murlough Bay, and Giant’s Causeway
• County Down: Tollymore Forest Park
• Belfast: Titanic Studios, plus additional exterior work in Iceland and the Faroe Islands

In other words, the “real” Berk is not a single island. It is a cinematic handshake between Northern Ireland’s coast, studio-built villages, and computer-generated dragon roosts. The practical answer for visitors: plan around County Antrim and County Down, and leave room for a studio tour in Belfast.

How to Train Your Dragon Filming Timeline

The production schedule ran from January to May 2024, with the bulk of location shooting in Northern Ireland and post-production adding the dragons.

• 2010 — The original animated How to Train Your Dragon is released.
• 2014 — How to Train Your Dragon 2 debuts.
• 2019 — The Hidden World closes the animated trilogy.
• January 15, 2024 — Principal photography begins and wraps on May 16, 2024, per IMDb (film database).
• 2025 — The live-action film is set to open.

The compressed schedule — about four months from first clapperboard to wrap — shows how much of the film was built in post-production. For Northern Ireland, the bigger date is 2025, when the on-screen scenery starts reaching global audiences.

What’s Confirmed vs. What’s Still Unclear

After weighing mainstream coverage, local industry reporting, and fan speculation, here is where the evidence stands.

• Confirmed: Northern Ireland was the primary filming base, with Belfast’s studios handling the major sets.
• Confirmed: Dunseverick Castle, Murlough Bay, and Tollymore Forest Park were used as filming locations.
• Confirmed: The film’s outdoor landscapes were used to create the fictional world of Berk (Contiki, travel operator).

• Unclear: whether the Cliffs of Moher were used — rumored, but not confirmed by official sources.
• Unclear: exactly how much of the final film relies on digital set extensions versus practical location footage.
• Unclear: whether a live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 will follow the 2025 remake.

What the Cast and Crew Say

The most direct praise for Northern Ireland comes from the film’s lead actor and from the agency that funds the region’s screen industry.

Gerard Butler said he could not envision the film being shot anywhere other than Northern Ireland.

— BBC News NI (public broadcaster)

Northern Ireland Screen said the production contributed over £59 million to the local economy.

— BBC News NI (public broadcaster)

Butler’s attachment to the region is not just sentiment. The £59 million figure gives the praise an economic anchor, and it explains why Northern Ireland Screen pushed hard to keep the production local.

The Takeaway

The takeaway for fans is simple: the 2025 live-action film turns Northern Ireland into Berk, using real castles, forests, and coasts instead of a purely digital world. For travelers, the opportunity is just as concrete — Dunseverick Castle, Murlough Bay, and Tollymore Forest Park are there to visit. For Northern Ireland’s screen industry, the implication is clear: keep courting big-budget location shoots, or another region may take the next Berk.

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