Strolling along Stradun: Immaculately white limestone slabs pave the Old Town’s main pedestrian thoroughfare, worn smooth by the throngs of visitors that have passed over them. Street performers and musicians entertain the crowds by day while the surrounding bars, clubs, and…
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Dubrovnik Attractions
Dubrovnik sprawls well beyond its city walls, to Ploče in the east and the Lapad and Babin Kuk peninsulas in the west, but just about everything worth seeing is within the walled Old Town.
Beat the Heat
When Dubrovnik’s temperature is above 80°F (27°C)—the average temperature here May through September—tackle the wall when it opens at 8am or wait until after 5pm. During midday visits, besides being atop a high roof, you’ll also be standing on an unshaded stone path that absorbs the sun’s heat from dawn to dusk, “cooking” you from both above and below. At the very least, wear a hat and take a large bottle of water if you venture out on the wall in the heart of the day.
Getting Stoned
When you leave St. Saviour Church for the Franciscan Monastery next door, keep your eyes downcast and you’ll see a 12 × 12-inch stone with a carved face and flat, smooth top protruding about 6 inches above the street. You’ll also see a crowd watching people attempting to stand on the stone for a few seconds. Legend says that guys who can stay on “The Mask” long enough to remove their shirts will have good luck. (Girls also try this, but are entitled to the luck without removing their tops.)
Who Is St. Blaise?
According to legend, St. Blaise once saved a child from choking on a fishbone. For this reason, Roman Catholics everywhere know the Armenian physician and martyr as the patron of people with throat problems. However, the people of Dubrovnik revere St. Blaise (Sv. Vlaho) as the hero who saved their city from a sneak attack by Venetian galleys in the 10th century. When the Venetians dropped anchor off Lokrum, supposedly to pick up fresh water, the fleet actually was surveying the city in preparation for an attack. St. Blaise (who was put to death by the Roman emperor Diocletian in 316 b.c.) appeared to the city cathedral’s priest in a dream, wearing a long beard with a miter and staff. He told the priest about the nefarious plot, thus thwarting the attack. Ever since, St. Blaise has been immortalized in sculpture, art, and other media as the city’s protector and its biggest hero. To show their appreciation, the citizens of Dubrovnik go all out to honor St. Blaise on his feast day, which the city celebrates with food and festivities every February 3. Reliquaries purportedly containing several of the saint’s body parts are carried through the streets in a parade and people line up to have their throats blessed by local priests.
Jungle by the Sea
Escape the city crowds and blazing sun and take shelter in the lush oasis that is Trsteno (tel. 020/751-019), a 28-hectare (70-acre), 15th-century villa and garden estate overlooking the sea. Situated 13km (7 miles) northwest of Dubrovnik, Trsteno was once a center of gentility and culture in Dubrovnik. Today it is much more. Besides being a showcase for its Renaissance structures, fountains, and aqueduct, Trsteno serves as a shelter for a wide array of exotic plants, many brought to Ragusa centuries ago by traders from faraway ports. Don’t miss the statue of Neptune, which overlooks a goldfish pond and fountain deep in the gardens. Trsteno is open May to October daily 7am to 7pm and November to April daily 8am to 4pm; admission 40kn. You can reach Trsteno by bus (numbers 12, 15, 22, and 35) from Dubrovnik—just be sure to tell the driver in advance that you want to get off here so he doesn’t drive straight past.
Beaches
Croatians loosely define beaches as any place the sea meets the land. While some beaches may have names, most are little more than rocks used as platforms for jumping into the water. The coast is considered public property in Croatia, and all beaches must be accessible, free of charge, to anyone and everyone. Nonetheless, several of the hotels east of the port have staked out access routes to sections of the seafront for their guests, making it hard for others to get there.
Dubrovnik’s main public beach, Banje, lies immediately east of the Old Town walls, close to Ploče Gate. It is managed by the EastWest Beach Club (www.ew-dubrovnik.com), which besides running a fancy-schmancy bar-restaurant, hires out the sunbeds and baldachini (four-posters with wafting chiffon curtains) that line the golden sand (which, incidentally, is imported). Of course, if you use the facilities you must pay for the privilege; if you forego the sunbed, you can lay out your towel on the sand for free. After dark, EastWest turns into a nightclub, with cocktails, DJs, and a fantastic view of the floodlit city walls across the water.
On Lapad, the main beach is a curving arc of fine pebbles, sitting in the shelter of Lapad Bay (www.lapad-beach.com). The beach is lined with sunbeds and umbrellas for hire, and backed by a restaurant and two cafés. It does get busy in peak season, due to the number of big hotels in the area, but the sea is clean and the sunset views are magnificent.
On the west side of Lapad, Babin Kuk’s Copacabana Beach is a pebble and concrete bathing area with a view of the graceful Dubrovnik bridge and the Elafiti Islands. It has facilities for kids, sports enthusiasts, and swimmers with disabilities. Here you can ride a jet ski, get whipped around on a banana-boat ride, or go parasailing. There are also sea slides for kids. A lift on the concrete part of the beach gives seniors and people with disabilities easy access to the water. There’s also a beach bar and restaurant.
Alternatively, you can catch a boat to the tiny island of Lokrum (www.lokrum.hr), which sits close to the Old Town. The island is served by water taxis from the old harbor, running every 30 minutes daily in summer from 9am to 6pm. The journey takes about 15 minutes and costs 70kn round trip. Once on the island, you have your choice of relaxing and swimming, either in the sea or the small saltwater lake, or exploring the woods and the vestiges of an 11th-century Benedictine monastery. In 1859, Lokrum was purchased by Hapsburg Archduke Maximillian Ferdinand and his wife, Charlotte, as a vacation home. However, Maximillian didn’t have much chance to enjoy his island escape: He was dispatched to Mexico to be its emperor three years after acquiring the property and never returned to Dubrovnik—he was assassinated in Mexico in 1867. Luckily, the grounds he had started cultivating are now preserved as a botanical garden, replete with peacocks. There’s a small seasonal restaurant and café on Lokrum. Alternatively, you can bring your own picnic.
Diving
Sometimes the temptation to jump into the deep blue sea around Dubrovnik is just too strong to resist. Get the most out of your plunge with a professional diving school like Blue Planet. Rent equipment or use your own for scuba or open-water dives that last from 2 hrs. to 6 days. No experience? Blue Planet is a certified instruction center and can teach you what you need to know.
In the Dubrovnik Palace Hotel, Masarykov Put 20. www.blueplanet-diving.com. tel. 091/899-09-73. Introductory dive (half-day) 495kn; “Discover Scuba” diving (half-day) 720kn; prices include equipment. May–Oct daily 9am–7pm; by appointment the rest of the year.
Sea Kayaking
To explore the coastline in the best way possible (directly from the water), try sea kayaking.
Adriatic Kayak Tours arranges half-day trips (approximately 4 hrs. and 30 minutes) around Zaton Bay (northwest of Dubrovnik), departing at either 9am or 3pm. Full-day tours explore around the cliffs and sea caves of Koločep (one of the Elafiti Islands), involving a 15-kilometer (9-mile) paddle, departing at 9am. The tour company also hires out equipment to experienced kayakers.
Zrinkso Frankopanska 6. www.adriatickayaktours.com. tel. 020/312-770. Half-day sea kayaking tour 280kn; full-day sea kayaking tour 400kn.
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- Cooking Class
Blue Planet
Sometimes the temptation to jump into the deep blue sea around Dubrovnik is just too strong to resist. Get the most out of your plunge with a professional diving school like Blue Planet. Rent equipment or use your own for SCUBA or open water dives that last from 2 hours to 6 days. No… - Landmark
City Wall
For many people, the highlight of their visit to Dubrovnik is walking a circuit of the battlements atop the monumental medieval walls. The complete circuit runs 2km (1 1/4-mile) around the perimeter of the Old Town, affording ever-changing vistas over the terracotta rooftops and out… - Museum
Dominican Monastery and Museum
Off the east end of Stradun, in a high-walled passageway leading to Ploče Gate, you’ll see an impressive stairway marking the main entrance to the Dominican Monastery. Inside, there’s a charming 15th-century Gothic cloister rimmed by graceful triple arches, designed by the Florentine… - Zoo/Aquarium
Dubrovnik Aquarium
On the ground floor of Tvrđava Sv. Ivana (St. John’s Fortress), this aquarium provides an experience of underwater Adriatic life. A dark, damp, cavernous space with 31 backlit seawater tanks and pools, its charges include indigenous fish, as well as octopuses, starfish, urchins,… - Landmark
Dubrovnik Cable Car
An aspect of modern engineering in a city where so much is medieval, Dubrovnik’s cable car opened only in 2010. Departing from outside the Old Town walls, it carries visitors to the peak of Mount Srdj (405m/1,330 ft.) in just three minutes, providing spectacular views down onto town… - Cathedral
Dubrovnik Cathedral
The town’s cathedral stands on the site of a 12th-century Romanesque cathedral, which was destroyed by the 1667 earthquake. The current structure was built in the late 17th century in the Baroque style, with an elegant cupola. The interior is quite bare, though of note is Titian’s… - Religious Site
Franciscan Monastery
At the west end of Stradun, close to Pile Gate, you pass through a lovely 14th-century cloister as you enter the Franciscan Monastery. Rimmed on four sides by late-Romanesque arcades, the cloister opens onto a blissful garden, planted with orange trees and palms, provoking the sort… - Market
Gundulićeva Poljana
Each morning, stall holders set up their wares for the colorful open-air market held behind the cathedral. You’ll find a range of seasonal produce, including tomatoes, zucchini, peaches, and melons in summer, as well as plastic bottles filled with homemade rakija (a potent liquor),… - Religious Site
Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola
At the top end of Gundulićeva Poljana, an elegant set of sweeping Baroque stairs, reminiscent of Rome’s Spanish Steps, lead up to the Jesuit Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Built in Baroque style, the church is the work of Jesuit monk and architect Andrea Pozzo, and is based on the… - Religious Site
Jewish Synagogue
You’ll find Europe’s second oldest continuously functioning synagogue (after the one in Prague) on the north side of Stradun, up the steep-stepped alley of Žudioska Ulica (Jews’ Street). Dubrovnik’s first wave of Jewish settlers arrived from Spain in 1492, to be followed by Jews from… - Historic Site
Kumrovec
Deep in the heart of rural Zagorje, 40km (25 miles) from Zagreb, Staro Selo (Old Village) is best known as the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980), the much-loved President of Yugoslavia, who ruled the country from the end of World War II until his death. A cluster of 25… - Landmark
Luza Square
Luza looks like the equivalent of Times Square any time of the day or night. It's a meeting place and a crossroads where tourists stop to cool off with water from Onofrio's Little Fountain, explore exhibits in Sponza Palace, meet friends at the city bell tower, take a bijela kava… - Museum
Maritime Museum
Historically, Dubrovnik’s immense wealth was largely founded upon merchant shipping—in the 16th century, this tiny city-state had one of the largest fleets in the world. In this museum, extending over two floors, you can see an array of objects connected to Dubrovnik’s naval prowess:… - Landmark
Onofrio's Fountains
When you enter Old Town through Pile Gate, one of the first things you will see on Stradun is the Great Onofrio Fountain. Similarly, entering from Ploče Gate you will immediately notice the Small Onofrio Fountain. Construction on both commenced in 1438, designed by Italians Onofrio… - Landmark
Orlando’s Column
Standing in front of the Sponza Palace, this stone column is carved with the figure of a medieval knight holding a sword and shield. Dating from the 15th century, it is regarded as a symbol of the freedom of Dubrovnik. Legend has it that the knight in question is the mythical hero… - Landmark
Pile Gate
In the days of the republic, both entrances into the walled city were closed at night. At Pile Gate, the busiest entrance into the Old Town (it receives the traffic from the port to the west), the wooden drawbridge would have been pulled up and the wooden doors locked with a key.… - Landmark
Ploče Gate
Ploče Gate, the eastern entrance to the Old City, was also built in the 15th century, and is composed of an inner and outer arch, plus a stone bridge. Like Pile Gate, it is embellished with a statue of St. Blaise. - Religious Site
Rector's Palace
Back in the days when Dubrovnik was an independent city-state, the chief citizen was the rector. As of the 13th century, local government would meet in his palace. The rector himself would reside in apartments on the upper floor (in fact, he was not allowed to leave the building… - Historic Site
Sponza Palace
Looking onto Luža Square, at the east end of the Stradun, this 16th-century palazzo is remarkable for its elegant façade, which combines Renaissance arches and Venetian-Gothic windows. It is one of the few buildings to have survived the 1667 earthquake. In the past it has served a… - Religious Site
St. Blaise Church
Dedicated to the city’s patron saint, this church was built on the site of an earlier Romanesque church, which was destroyed by fire in 1706. Approached up a wide set of steps and topped by a dome, it was built in Baroque style between 1706 and 1714. On the altar, note the silver… - Religious Site
St. Saviour's Church
St. Saviour is one of a very few Dubrovnik structures that survived the 1667 earthquake. It was built in the early 16th century by Petar Andrijic of Korcula and its Renaissance-Gothic facade faces the larger Onofrio fountain inside the Pile Gate. Some say its design was influenced by… - Neighborhood
Stradun
Running between Pile Gate and Ploče Gate, through the heart of the pedestrian-only Old Town, Stradun (aka Placa) is Dubrovnik’s main thoroughfare. Some 300m (984 ft.) in length, originally it was a marshy sea channel, dividing Dubrava on the mainland from the tiny island of Laus… - Historic Site
Veliki Tabor
This imposing hilltop fortress dates all the way back to the 12th century. Although the main body of the building is medieval, the fortress was reinforced with extra towers during the 16th century. It is built around a central courtyard, overlooked by three floors of colonnaded… - Museum
War Photo Ltd
Distressing but unavoidable, the issue of defense has been an ongoing theme through Dubrovnik’s centuries-old history, most recently during the Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995). Opened in 2003, this gallery is dedicated to photojournalism from warzones, with an emphasis on…
Dubrovnik Nightlife
Once the sun goes down, Dubrovnik is a hive of humanity, with crowds walking in waves to one restaurant or another and then moving to the Stradun or the Lapad promenade. From about 8 to 11pm, the scene is a diverse mix of families and couples strolling with ice cream cones. Come 11pm, there’s a changing of the crowd as the early birds file out and 18-to-20-somethings flow in, dressed in outfits that rival the getups in “Sex and the City.” Follow the throbbing music, blaring from jam-packed side streets where nightly block parties convene after the restaurants close, and you’ll experience Dubrovnik’s café society’s second shift.
- Bars & Pubs
Buža
Accessed through an arched doorway marked “Cold Drinks” in the seaward city walls, Buža comprises a terrace built into the rocks, shaded by a couple of towering palm trees and several big white parasols. Expect a dozen or so tables, absolutely stunning sea views, and pricey drinks… - Dance Clubs
Club Revelin
In a 16th-century fortress with an impressive vaulted stone interior, Club Revelin extends over two floors with ultra-modern lighting effects. Often noisy and packed until sunrise, on summer nights it hosts international guest DJs—Boy George played here in 2013. If you need a breath… - Wine bar
D’Vino
A great spot to try Dalmatian wines, this relaxed wine bar is run by a knowledgeable owner. You can order by the glass or by the bottle, or opt for a wine flight to sample a variety of either reds or whites (the collection here reaches out beyond Croatia to include vintages from the… - Bars & Pubs
EastWest Beach Club
A beach bar by day, complete with suntanned bodies and designer bikinis, after dark EastWest turns into one of Dubrovnik’s swankiest night spots. Expect pricey cocktails, DJ music, a smattering of celebrities, and lots of showing off. Jazz Caffe Troubadour
The Troubadour is one of Dubrovnik’s best known and oldest venues, famous for hosting live jazz on a small stage out front in summer. It has become very expensive, and the quality of the music varies from night to night, but it remains a popular haunt. Breakfast is now served from…
