Filming locations in Southern Poland

Between Kraków and Częstochowa, southern Poland rolls out a limestone upland studded with ruined castles, and one of them carried a set piece from The Witcher. Ogrodzieniec Castle, a dramatic ruin perched on a rocky outcrop, staged the pivotal Battle of Sodden Hill in the first season.

The castle is a ticketed attraction, open daily in season, with a walkway threading around the crags so you can take in the ruin from every angle. Standing among the broken walls, with the rock falling away on all sides, it is easy to picture the smoke and clash the cameras conjured here.

Ogrodzieniec is one of the great links in the Trail of the Eagles' Nests, a chain of fortress ruins strung across the rolling countryside northwest of Kraków. The setting is as much the draw as the screen connection, and the limestone outcrops around the castle are popular with climbers, so the place hums with quiet activity on a fine day.

It sits about an hour by car from Kraków, which makes the obvious move clear: base yourself in the city and treat the castle as a half-day excursion into the countryside. Kraków's old town, with its vast market square, is among Europe's most beautiful, and it gives you somewhere to return to for the evening.

Pair the two and you have a satisfying day. The fantasy battlefield in the morning, when the light rakes across the ruin, and the old town in the afternoon and evening. A car makes the trail easy to extend if you want to chain a few more of the Eagles' Nests on the way back.