Dubrovnik Travel Guide

The Walls of Dubrovnik run about 1,940 metres around the Old Town, one of Europe's most complete medieval fortification systems, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site with the old town in 1979. They follow a steep peninsula of massive stone ramparts, round towers and square bastions; the one-way counter-clockwise circuit takes 1.5-2 hours with the Adriatic on one side and a terracotta roofscape of campaniles on the other, with Lokrum island offshore. Expect about 1,190 steps, no wheelchair access, and no re-entry once you leave. The highest point is the Minceta tower, 37 metres up, completed in 1464 to designs by Juraj Dalmatinac and the best photo spot on the circuit; the round Bokar fortress faces Fort Lovrijenac across the water, and the Maritime Museum and aquarium hide beneath St John's fortress at the port, while the northern stretch still shows roofs and stonework rebuilt after the 1991-92 siege bombardment. The 2026 adult ticket is EUR 40 (about EUR 15 in winter), and it also covers Fort Lovrijenac and the Western Outer Wall for 72 hours - the same price as a one-day Dubrovnik Pass, which is the better buy if you plan any museum or bus use. There is almost no shade on the walls, so the 8am opening or the last 90 minutes before closing are the best windows.

Stradun (officially Placa) is the east-west spine of Dubrovnik's Old Town, running about 300 metres from the Pile Gate in the west to the Ploce Gate in the east; its name comes from the Venetian for a wide street. It was once a marshy channel separating Ragusa from the forest hamlet of Dubrava, filled in during the 13th century when the two merged. Almost everything you see today dates from one disaster: after the 1667 earthquake and the great fire that followed, the Republic of Ragusa legislated a uniform rebuilding code - the same heights and facade rhythm, ground-floor shops with door and window sharing a single arched frame (closed by day, goods handed over the sill as a counter), living quarters above, and the kitchen invariably in the attic to stop fire spreading down. The pavement is limestone polished mirror-smooth by centuries of feet, often mistaken for marble, reflecting light by day and glowing warm under lamps at night. At the western end stands the 1438 Large Onofrio's Fountain, sixteen-sided with sixteen spouts still supplying drinking water drawn from 12 kilometres away; just off the street, the Franciscan monastery cloister holds a pharmacy open since 1317, one of the oldest in Europe. At the eastern end Luza Square gathers Orlando's Column, the Church of St Blaise, Sponza Palace (now the state archive) and the clock tower. The street is free, quietest for photographs between 6 and 8am, and busiest after dark with the local korzo stroll.

Fort Lovrijenac stands on a red rock platform just outside the western walls of Dubrovnik's Old Town, 37 metres above the sea, open on three sides and joined to land on the fourth - 'Dubrovnik's Gibraltar' - guarding the western Pile Gate approach and Kolorina Bay below. Legend says that in the 11th century, learning Venice planned a fort on this very rock, the people of Ragusa built one in three months, forcing the Venetian fleet arriving with materials to turn back; the first firm record dates to 1301, and expansion through the 15th and 16th centuries produced the triangular three-terrace form, with a chapel of St Lawrence built into the ramparts. Its cleverest feature is a pair of walls: 12 metres thick facing the sea to absorb bombardment, only 60 centimetres facing the city, so that if the commander ever turned or the fort fell, the town's own guns could breach the thin side and retake it. Above the main entrance is carved the Latin motto that freedom is not sold for all the world's gold. The fort once held ten cannons, the most famous 'Guster' (the Lizard) cast in 1537 and never fired, lost to the Adriatic while being moved under Austrian occupation; commanders were rotated monthly to prevent anyone growing too powerful. Since 1952 it has been an open-air stage of the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, above all for Hamlet, and it served as the Red Keep in Game of Thrones, with Joffrey's name-day tournament filmed inside. The 2026 EUR 40 walls ticket also covers this fort and the Western Outer Wall for 72 hours; it is about five minutes on foot from the western gate and over 200 stone steps up, overlooking the city walls, the Adriatic and Lokrum island.