Having just returned from 4 nights in Dubrovnik I thought it would be an ideal time to share my experience.
Firstly, the flight costs from Manchester UK were reasonable as Jet2 have quite regular flights (about £120 return.) I went with 3 girl friends, so for our reasons an apartment was going to be the best option. I found a great place on booking.com - Apartment Antonio. This was 320 euros for the 4 nights; so about £60 each. It had 3 bedrooms, living room, kitchenette and bathroom - the area was super safe and quiet so I felt like we had a great deal!
Dubrovnik is not a city for the infirm! To get to our flat we had to trek around 125 steps! This wasn’t a huge problem for us (although it did really exhaust us!) but in general this was the case across the city. The main road is called Stradun which is very flat, but on either side away from there is a pretty steep incline - just a warning!
After we’d settled in we spent the afternoon nursing a few drinks and icecream (£1 for amazing icecream) down by the harbour. We had a fantastic lunch of pizza at Restaurant Maestoso and an average dinner (cant remember the name but it was in the same square!) which was sad.
We were up and out quite early the next day to climb the city walls (after grabbing a delicious croissant in a bakery on Stradun and buying water for the morning!) The city walls are about 100kn (£10). We took probably 2-2.5 hours to complete the circle as we had plenty of photo stops. It is quite hard work as, again, there are lots of steps - but so worth it. The views are amazing! The weather was 22-23 degrees during our stay (end of October), and doing the walls did feel really hot. I can imagine in August it would be better to go super early and try and miss the heat of the day. We found a little restaurant (Pizzeria Storia) just behind the harbour for lunch (Tuna Tagliette for me) which was a real hit, and very reasonably priced. Following lunch we headed for the war photo exhibit. This was pretty harrowing. The first floor was all about conflict in Africa and contained some really provoking images. The second floor was all about the conflict in Europe in the 90s between Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Yugoslavia. It was remarkable to think just 20 years ago fighting like that was happening in central Europe and the photograph of Dubrovnik on fire was astonishing. The best thing about the exhibit was on entry you were provided with a file with a description of every photograph as well as background knowledge. This meant you didn’t need to crowd round a board or anything you could take your time and go at your own pace. I would really recommend anyone check it out.
The rest of the day was spent with ice cream and a drink at the harbour again before going a gorgeous meal in the evening at Konobar Moskar followed by drinks in Buzz Bar across the street.
The next day we returned to the bakery for croissants and drinks and then waited for the boat to Lokrum. It was around 88kn for a return ticket, but we did have to wait about 40 minutes. In peak season the boats come every 30 minutes but as we were at the season end they were only hourly. The boat ride was really pleasant and took around 10-15 minutes. We had lunch pretty much on landing at the cafe straight behind the dock - sandwiches mainly. We found ‘the rocks’ which jutt out over the ocean and give an incredible view and relaxed there for a while before navigating down to the dead sea lake; which was pretty chilly (the water, the temperature in general was great!) We saw lots of peacocks some seemed as though it was mating season! The island is stunning - we were there from 11.15-3.15 but could easily have spent a lot longer (the last boat was at 4.) We probably only explored about 1/3 of the island and you could take a picnic and really enjoy the day if you wanted. That evening we ate at a vegetarian restaurant (and gluten free) called Nishta. Sometimes veggie food, especially if it’s also gluten free can be really bland but it was delicious and really good value. The day was finished back in Buzz bar with a few Bellinis!
The last full day we had was very relaxed. We had a late breakfast at a restaurant on the corner of Stradun opposite the clock tower of Omlettes. We then went up Syrd mountain in the cable car and enjoyed the spectacular views - the cable car was 108kn for a return which isn’t cheap but the views are worth it! The ride was also really pleasant. The weather remaining amazing we decided to go to Banje Beach (about 10 minute stroll from the cable car stop.) It is quite pebbly beach, however we positioned ourselves on the jetty and sat paddling - enjoying seeing all the fish in the sea. Lots of people were swimming and sunbathing in bikinis etc to further demonstrate how brill the weather was! We returned to Konobar Moskar for dinner as it was so good and we weren’t disappointed! We had a few cocktails in the posher Gatsby (but it closed at 10!) aswell as trying the 2 Irish pubs - but ended up back in Buzz Bar. We ordered a strawberry daquiri ‘pitcher’ and it was 3L tower!
The old town is really small; there were things we didn’t do as a group such as Rector’s palace and the cathedral which would have been nice. There are also plenty of tours offered to Montenegro etc which means you easily spend a week there.
It was probably the safest destination I have ever visited. The locals were friendly and I would recommend!
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