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The Dramatic Position Of Dubrovnik Between The Mountains And The Adriatic Is Trumped By The Superb Old Town Itself, Wrapped Up In 2km Of Splendid Medieval Walls.
Why go now?
The dramatic placement of Dubrovnik between the mountains and the Adriatic is trumped by the excellent Old City itself, wrapped in 2km of majestic medieval walls. The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, till twenty-five Aug, adds to the cultural offering with film, dance, classical music and art events (dubrovnik-festival.hr). And the town is easier to reach than ever this summer, with flights from nine UK airfields.
Touch down
UK Airways (0844 493 0787 ; ba.com) and easyJet (0843 104 5000 ; easyJet.com) compete from Gatwick, with the latter also flying from Stansted. Wizz Air (0906 959 0002 ; wizzair.com) recently launched flights from Luton. Jet2 flies from Belfast, Edinburgh, Leeds / Bradford and Manchester ; Flybe flies from Birmingham ; and Bmibaby (0871 224 9224) flies from East Midlands.
Try to time your flight to arrive in light, permitting you to enjoy the impressive half-hour road journey 20km north from Dubrovnik airfield into the city, twisting way up above the Adriatic shore.
Buses depart sporadically, regarding Croatia Airlines arrivals (though any passenger may use them ; 40 kuna / £5). They pause at Pile (1), the primary gate of the walled old city, and continue to the primary bus terminal, 3km north-west and well-placed for many hotels. Return buses to the airfield start out from this terminal two hours before Croatia Airlines exits.
A taxi will cost around 250 kuna (£31).
Get your bearings
The key approach is across a stone bridge and thru the intricately-constructed Pile gate (1) – outside of which you can find the local bus station and the primary traveller office (two) at Brsalje five (00 385 20 312 011 ; tzdubrovnik.hr ; 8am-10pm daily).
Pile gate leads to the broad central boulevard, Stradun, which is lined by stunning 17th-century buildings. This highway cuts right thru the city, and lanes climb steeply away from it on both sides. At the far end, where the majority of the primary monuments are found, is the tiny harbor (3), and close by the east gate, Ploce (4).
Check in
Most interesting places are in the old city, but pretty much all visitors stay outside. The few accommodation options are principally hotels, such as Fresh Sheets (five) at Svetog Simuna fifteen (00 385 91 799 2086 ; freshsheetshostel.com), where the sole double room (called “Heaven”) costs 66 without breakfast ; single dorm beds are 33.
A keenly priced hotel (by Dubrovnik standards) in the walls is the three-star Stari Grad (six) at 4 Od Sigurate (00 385 98 534 819 ; hotelstarigrad.com). Doubles with breakfast begin at 142.
A notch further up the price range, the Excelsior Hotel & Spa (seven) at Frana Supila 12 (00 385 20 353 353 ; hotel-excelsior.hr) is elegantly mid-20th century, with an A-list register of celebrity guests and fantastic perspectives out to sea. Doubles begin at 218, including breakfast.
Many visitors stay in hired flats, costing from around fifty per night for two folks, self-catered. There are lots found in the district of Lapad, a 20-minute bus ride from Pile Gate.
The Dubrovnik Holiday maker Board provides photographs and contact data at : tzdubrovnik.hr.
Day one
Take a hike
No other EU town boasts such complete and impressive walls. You can locate one of the entrances to these medieval wonders just inside the Pile Gate (1) ; ticket sales (sixty kuna / £7.50) occur from 8am-5pm. Hold onto your ticket, because you may be asked for it at several checkpoints along the way.
Climb the first of many stone stairways to reach fortifications reaching back more than a millennium in places, and are protected by Unesco. Besides providing the ideal intro to the city and hoisting you high above the terracotta roofs and even church steeples, the walls themselves are full of interest. They are punctuated by bastions and spiced up by cafs and bars, which may help to draw out your tour to a nice two hours or more.
Lunch on the run
In such a touristy location, finding a cost-effective lunch is hard. So you may prefer to assemble a picnic from the produce on sale at the old-town market that fills Gunduliceva Poljana square (8) ; it opens seven days every week for souvenirs, but on any day except Sunday you may also find fresh fruit and veggies. In the same square are two shops where you can improve your feast.
For a sit-down snack or sandwich, Skola at Antuninska 1 is a solid bet. It’s family-run, the ingredients are fresh and the price of a ham and cheese sandwich, for example, made with home-baked bread is twenty-eight kuna (£3.50).
Window shopping
Given the sheer quantity of shops selling keepsakes, it’s hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. Dubrovacka Kuca (10) at Svetog Dominika two (00 385 20 322 092) is an Aladdin’s Cave stuffed with all sorts of crafts and products, from honey and olive oil to paintings and porcelain.
In the same street, closer to Stradun, Kate Stojanovic, dressed in traditional costume, sells her very own embroidery from an open-air stall.
The best of the city’s many jewelry shops are found on Od Puca, level with Stradun at the Pile Gate (1) end.
You can buy glorious regional wines from the close by Peljesac Peninsula at Vina Milicic (eleven) at Od Sigurate 2 (00 385 20 321 777).
Cultural afternoon
The most engaging of the historical museums is in the striking Dominican Monastery (12) close to the Ploce Gate (4) at Svetzog Domenica 4 (00 385 20 322 two hundred ; 9am-6pm daily, 20 kuna / £2.50). As well as a attractive 15th-century cloister, you can admire the friars ‘ collection of medieval and renaissance spiritual paintings which includes Titian’s painting of Mary Magdalene and St Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik.
For a contrasting experience, the War Photograph Limited studio ( 13 ) at Antuninska six (00 385 20 322 166 ; warphotoltd.com ; 9am-9pm, thirty kuna / £3.30), has changing exhibitions of pictures by the planet’s top war photographers. By implication, it is also a sobering reminder of the conflict in the previous Yugoslavia, which is also recalled in telling detail on public panels in other bits of the city.
An aperitif
Next door to the studio, you can mingle with the artistic set at the Talir caf / bar at Antuninska five (00 385 20 323 293l ; 8am-2am), besieged by footage of actors and slurping a tall tumbler of Ozujsko beer (15 kuna / £1.65).
Eating with the locals
Al fresco dining is the order of the day and seafood the staple on most menus. The tables at Kamenice (fourteen) at Gunduliceva Polijana 8 (00 385 20 323 682) spread across the enticing market square. Simple fare is served at good prices, including excellent mussels “Buzara” in a wine, garlic and catsup for 56 kuna (£7). Opening hours are 8am-11pm daily.
If pizza is more your style, Mea Culpa (15) dispenses its gigantic, tempting creations on the narrow sidestreet Za Rokom three (00 385 20 323 430 ; mea-culpa.hr).
Day two
Sunday morning:go to church
St Blaise’s church (sixteen), celebrating the guardian saint of Dubrovnik, is a domed baroque building at the eastern end of the Stradun. The decorated faade overpowers that of the close by cathedral and the graceful early 18th-century interior boasts an elaborate altarpiece glinting with statuary. Sunday Mass occurs at 8am and 12 p.m..
Take a ride
Frequent buses (route 4 and six) from Pile gate (1) whisk you to the other face of Dubrovnik : the lovely Lapad peninsula. Alight at the post office Posta Lapad to enjoy a wander along Setaliste kralja Zvonimira, a pedestrian-only boulevard lined by trees, villas and plenty of cafs serving Italian-grade coffee. The close by city beach is clean, well-equipped and backed by shady gardens where you can escape the attentions of the noon sun.
Out to brunch
Back in the center of the town, Gradska Kavana (seventeen) at Pred Dvorom 1 (00 385 20 321 202), close to the colonnaded Rector’s Palace, is the place to relax with a helping of the serious torta od makarula (macaroni, walnut and chocolate cake) for twenty-one kuna (£2.60). Open 8am-midnight daily.
If location is more vital than wonderful service and flavorful food, try Orhan (18), a partially out of doors eatery serving meat and salads, overlooking the water outside of the Pile gate (1).
Take a view
Dubrovnik’s communist-era cable automobile, wrecked in the Yugoslav civil war, was restored to active service last summer, and is once again speeding visitors in three minutes from the base station to the top of Srdj the bare hill that towers over the city.
The view from the 400m-high peak takes in the the walled city itself, the scattering of gorgeous Elaphiti islands and, on a clear day, the nearby country of Montenegro.
Opening hours during the summer are 9am-midnight (00 385 20 325 393 ; dubrovnikcablecar.com) ; eighty kuna (£8) return.
The icing on the cake
The most stylish way to reach Dubrovnik airfield is to hop aboard one of the regular tourist boats from the old port (3) to the seaside town of Cavtat (pronounced “Tsavtat”). An one-way trip costs one hundred kuna (£12.50). The 45-minute ride offers fine perspectives, and deposits you at a pretty arc of shoreline skirted by bars and cafes. Have a drink and leave your bags at one of those locations while you explore Cavtat’s rocky hinterland of chic villas one of which was the birthplace of the local artist, Vlaho Bukovac, and is now a museum. Then take a quick 80-kuna (£10) cab ride to the airfield as reported tagza.com.
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