Dubrovnik is historic walled city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations of the Mediterranean, a seaport and the centre of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Its population is about 65,000 in the greater Dubrovnik metropolitan area as of 2025. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "Pearl of the Adriatic" and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons contributors.
The city of Dubrovnik (Latin: Ragusa) was built on maritime trade. In the Middle Ages it became the only city-state in the Adriatic to rival Venice. Supported by its wealth and skilled diplomacy, the city achieved a remarkable level of development during the 15th and 16th centuries. Furthermore, Dubrovnik was one of the centres of the development of the Croatian language and literature, home to many notable poets, playwrights, painters, mathematicians, physicists and other scholars. Today Dubrovnik is the proudest feather in Croatia's tourist cap, an elite destination, and one of the most beautiful towns in the Mediterranean, much more expensive and tourism-centered than other places in Croa…
The Old Town is completely pedestrianized. It consists of a main street that runs East-West. North and South of that street, it is usually impossible to avoid stairs. There are signs at the entrances to many of these streets advertising what businesses, shops, restaurants and accommodation are to be found in that direction. Some of these signs appear to be either intentionally misleading or woefully out of date.
The Dubrovnik Pass (Summer: €40 one day, €50 three days, €60 seven days/ Winter: €15 one day, €25 three days, €35 seven days) is worth considering, as it is only €5 more than the entry to the City Walls, and includes most of the museums in the Old Town, in addition to unlimited bus rides within the town for the duration of the pass. Entry to the Old Town is free, a pass is only required to walk the walls. The Placa Stradun is the central east-west street, where the old city comes to life.
Cliff Jumping @ Cafe Buža. See listing for Cafe Buža in the Drinks section. Lazareti, Frana Supila 8 (Ploce, just outside of the east entrance to the Old town), ☏ +385 20 324 633, arl@du.htnet.hr. Old quarantine hospital serves as a cultural centre for concerts, exhibitions, workshops, theater, film, night clubs and literature. The concert hall/bar is a very cozy place with a decent sound system. Gallery Galeriya Tutunplok is open daily 12:00-21:00. Films and theater showings range from €2.70-5.40 Concerts cost €5.40-13. A nightclub is open here from 10:00-16:00 and will cost you about €4. Gathers a mostly alternative crowd. 1 imad hotel, Za Karmenom 1. for free.
There is a wide range of restaurants in the Old Town. Most offer a very similar menu of local seafood and some meat dishes, although there is more variety than in other coastal Croatian towns. The cuisine may not be very imaginative, but it is usually of good quality and very fresh. Restaurants can be crudely separated into (slightly) cheaper tourist-trap places, and more expensive but first class gastronomic restaurants. There are a few pizzerias, mostly wood-fired and quite acceptable. The Kraš chocolate sold at stores is delicious. Dubrovnik, more so than the rest of Croatia, is well aware of its status as a tourist hot-spot.
The most popular spirit in Croatia is home made rakija. This is a very strong distilled drink made from a variety of fruits. Examples include šljivovica, made from plums, loza, made from grapes, and orahovica, made with walnuts. All are quite strong. There are many excellent local wines from both the Pelješac Peninsula and Konavle and it is often less expensive than soft drinks like Coca Cola. However, be careful when purchasing wine from unlicensed dealers. Though the price is very attractive, with some being as low as €1.50 per litre, it can sometimes be of low quality.
Dubrovnik is a very safe city, though the usual precautions should be taken to protect yourself from pick-pocketing. The streets in the old town can be quite slippery as they've been smoothed down for centuries by people walking over them. At night, avoid the smaller old town streets and stick to the more modern ones with street-lighting (Victorian gaslamps on brackets).
Guide content from Wikivoyage contributors (CC BY-SA) — abridged; the full article has much more.
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In Jul, Dubrovnik typically sees ~30°C daytime highs and 6 rainy days.
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