Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik’s Old Town is one of the great walled cities of the Mediterranean, a complete circuit of stone ramparts and towers around a grid of marble streets and baroque churches, sitting on a narrow tongue of rock between the Adriatic and the slope of Mount Srđ. For more than four centuries — until Napoleon abolished it in 1808 — this was the capital of the Republic of Ragusa (Dubrovačka Republika), a maritime rival of Venice that ran a fleet of hundreds of ships, traded with the Ottomans and the Spanish, and built a polite, oligarchic state whose archives are still studied today.

What is inside the walls

• The Stradun (Placa) — the polished limestone main street, 300 metres long, running from the Pile Gate in the west to the clock tower (Luža) in the east. The stone is worn into glassy ripples by foot traffic.
• The Pile and Ploče Gates — the two main landward entrances, each with a drawbridge, an outer and an inner gate, and a stone statue of the city’s patron, Saint Blaise (Sveti Vlaho).
• The Franciscan Monastery (south of Pile) — built in the 14th century, with one of the oldest working pharmacies in Europe (open since 1317) and a cloister considered the finest Romanesque-Gothic courtyard on the coast.
• The Dominican Monastery (east of the Stradun) — with a museum of Renaissance paintings and a 15th-century Gothic cloister.
• The Rector’s Palace (Knežev Dvor) — the seat of the Ragusan government, now the city museum. Built in Gothic-Renaissance style with later Baroque repairs after gunpowder explosions damaged it twice.
• Dubrovnik Cathedral — a baroque rebuild (finished 1713) of an earlier Romanesque cathedral, said to be funded by Richard the Lionheart after he was shipwrecked nearby on his return from the Third Crusade in 1192.
• Saint Blaise’s Church — the baroque church at the head of the Stradun, with a silver statue of the patron holding a model of the city as it looked before the 1667 earthquake.
• The Sponza Palace — Gothic-Renaissance, with the city archives on its ground floor.

The city walls

The 2-kilometre walk around the walls is the single best thing to do in Dubrovnik. The circuit takes 60 to 90 minutes, climbs about 50 metres at its highest point, and gives you views down into the town’s red-tile roofs, out across the harbour, and across to the island of Lokrum. Walls, towers, bastions and the detached Fort Lovrijenac on a 37-metre sea cliff, all built between the 13th and 16th centuries.

Earthquake, siege and recovery

Two events shaped the city you see today. The earthquake of 1667 killed roughly 5,000 people, levelled most of the Romanesque and Gothic city, and prompted the baroque rebuild that defines the Stradun. The siege of Dubrovnik in 1991 to 1992, during the Croatian War of Independence, saw the old town shelled by Yugoslav and Montenegrin forces: over half its rooftiles were damaged or destroyed, the bishop’s palace burnt, and dozens of civilians killed. The red roofs visible today are almost all post-war replacements. UNESCO and the Croatian government led a long restoration programme.

Practical info

• Entry: the Old Town streets are public and free to walk. Paid tickets are for the city walls walk and for individual monuments (Rector’s Palace, cathedral treasury, Franciscan monastery, Dominican monastery). A single Dubrovnik Pass (1-, 3- and 7-day) bundles the walls walk and several museums.
• How to get there: Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) is 30 to 45 minutes out, on the Croatian side; many visitors also arrive by bus from Split, or by ferry from Bari or by cruise ship into the new port. The Old Town is car-free; cars stop at the Pile or Ploče gates.
• Crowds: Dubrovnik is one of the most-visited small cities in Europe. Mid-morning to late afternoon in July and August the Stradun is shoulder-to-shoulder, especially when cruise ships are in. Arrive before 9 am or after 7 pm for a different city.
• Combine with: the island of Lokrum (15 minutes by ferry from the old port), the cable car up Mount Srđ (7 minutes, 778 metres up) for the panoramic view, and the town of Cavtat to the south.

Best time to visit

April, May, late September and October are the best windows. The weather is mild, the walls walk is bearable in the heat, and the cruise pressure drops. Midsummer is busy and hot; January and February are quiet, cheap, and surprisingly beautiful with clear Adriatic light. Avoid midday on the walls in July and August — there is no shade.

For photographers

The classic Dubrovnik shots are the view of the red roofs from the wall walk (best between Pile and the Minčeta Tower, late morning when the sun is high enough to light the roofs), the long view down the Stradun from the clock tower end, and the panoramic from Mount Srđ by cable car. The harbour side of the walls, facing Lokrum, is at its best in late afternoon. For Game of Thrones / King’s Landing frames, the Pile Gate bay and the Jesuit Stairs near the cathedral are the recognisable spots. A mid-range zoom (24–70mm full-frame) is enough; the Stradun and the walls are tight for an ultra-wide.

Every spot here is mapped and verified by Photograph by John. Share this guide if it helped plan your trip.