Walking the city walls of Dubrovnik is one of the ‘must do’ activities when you plan your visit to Dubrovnik. Make the walls the main event of your day, so that you can really enjoy them when you’re energized and not hot and bothered. In fact, book a Dubrovnik Walking Tour of the city walls at golden hour for a very special experience.
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Why are the Dubrovnik walls so special?
The defensive walls around the old city of Dubrovnik are the best-preserved defensive walls in Europe. They encircle the UNESCO World Heritage accredited Old Town of Dubrovnik in one unbroken loop. As a Yorkshire lass, the City of York has fantastic walls but it is a broken loop around the ancient city, and Derry in Northern Ireland has unbroken city walls, just not on the scale and beauty of Dubrovnik!
The walk around the city walls is 1.2 miles (2 km). You can walk the walls in an hour if you don’t stop too often, but where’s the fun in that? Take your time (and get your money’s worth from the entry fee), take photos, and stop for a drink along the way, or book a Dubrovnik Walking Tour to learn about the history as you go.
The first defensive walls around Dubrovnik appeared in the 9th century, but these were made more significant in the Middle Ages – 1.5 meter think stone and numerous turrets along the walls. The city walls were constantly updated, as the Republic of Ragusa was constantly under attack until the Republic ended in 1808.
Book a guided tour of the walls
We wanted to hear the history of the walls and the Old City of Dubrovnik, so booked a guided Sunset Walking Tour of Dubrovnik through Get Your Guide.
My advice would be to walk the walls with a fresh pair of legs, so either first thing in the morning or later in the day. Explore the Old City at ground level on a separate occasion, so when you explore the walls it isn’t tagged on to hours of other sightseeing.
Advice – wear comfortable shoes as you will be climbing a lot of stairs and walking on uneven surfaces. Also wear a hat as there is little shade along the city walls.
Magical Dubrovnik walking tour of the city walls at sunset
One of my guidebooks recommended walking the walls of the city at golden hour, when the sun is casting its golden light over the buildings and so we followed this recommendation and were so glad that we did!
Don’t forget to buy a ticket for the Dubrovnik walls
You must have a ticket to walk the city walls of Dubrovnik. This is a separate ticket (and cost) to your guided Dubrovnik Walking Tour. If you purchase the Dubrovnik Pass, then this includes the entry fee for walking the city walls (40 Euros – Summer 2025). Booking a guided tour, plus buying a ticket for the walls does add up and become quite pricey, but it was one of the highlights of my week in Dubrovnik and so well worth it.
What to expect on a Dubvronik walking tour of the city walls
The meeting point for the sunset Dubrovnik Walking Tour was outside the Tourist Office, located just outside the Pile Gate at the western end of the Old Town. We met our guide at 5pm and headed off in a group of around 12 people.
Enter via the Pile Gate
Outside the Pile gate is a drawbridge over a moat, now empty but once filled with water. There’s a carved figure of St Blaise, patron Saint of the city, on the arch above the drawbridge; St Blaise is holding a model of Dubrovnik in his hand (similar to the one in the Rector’s Palace).
Once through the outer gate you can go straight down a flight of stairs, or alternatively walk down a zig zag path down to the high walls of the city, up to 25 meters high. This path design was to slow invaders down, so they could be attacked with arrows from above, whilst coming down the path.
Interestingly, the Dubrovnik city walls, may show signs of wear and tear (and war damage) but they have never been breached!
Climbing the steps up to the walls
Once through the Pile Gate, one of 3 entrances to the city walls is on the left, where they will check your ticket to enter the Dubrovnik walls. Once admitted, you climb a long, steep flight of stairs up to the top of the walls; catch your breath, whilst you take in the first views over the roofs and cloister of the Franciscan Monastery.
Walk the walls anti-clockwise
There are signs clearly indicating that there is a one-way system in operation on the city walls so everyone must walk anti-clockwise. This helps the flow of traffic and avoids bottlenecks in areas where the walls are narrow.
View down the Stradun
Just on from your starting point on the city walls, is a super view down the Stradun, the main street of white marble running through the old town of Dubrovnik from west to east. No doubt it will be thronging with visitors, who look like large ants below you, but up here you are above the bedlum of the main throughfare.
The large circular brick structure with a domed roof to the right of the Stradun is the Large Orofrian Fountain, named after the Italian who invented the city’s water aqueduct system.
Wall shadows
As well as the lovely buildings to admire and learn about on the city walls Dubrovnik Walking Tour, the sun was casting some incredible shadows on the walls. The light really was very special and made the Old Town look completely magical.
Fort Lovrijenac
To the right of the walls is a great view of Fort Lovrijenac, otherwise known as The Red Keep to Game of Thrones fans. We had visited the Fort earlier in the day – see below for more information. To the right of Fort Lovrijenac was a good view of the well-placed restaurants on Brasalje Square.
Bokar Fortress
Periodically around the walls you will come to several fort structures at key defensive points (Fort Lovrijenac and Fort Revelin being two which sit separately outside the city walls). The first fort on our walk around the city walls was the circular Bokar Fortress offering great views over the Adriatic and the boats coming and going to the Old Port, including the ‘pirate ship’ which is a replica Carrack from the Ragusa Republic days (although this one has an engine!).
Cafe bars on the walls
After the Bokar Fortress, the city walls climbed steeply upwards until they flattened out to a strip of walls on the south side of the city, directly overlooking the Adriatic. There are several bars along this section including, Caffe Bar Salvatore which has toilets if needed. If you look down over the walls on this strip, you can see the popular Buza Bar which is built onto the side of the cliff below.
Your game of I-Spy
As you continue along the walls, you can see: the island of Lokrum just offshore, defensive turrets, green shutters on white buildings, red terracotta roof tiles, Croatian flags and washing hanging from windows, 2 basketball courts, church domes and crosses, bell towers, mountain views inland and even the red Dubrovnik cable car as it climbs up to the top of Mount Srd.
At one point, the city walls were so close to the buildings that you could pretty much see into the houses. Not to mention, many Dubrovnik cats, curled up in the shade of the walls or buildings.
St John’s Fortress
As we approached the city walls around St John’s Fortress, where the Maritime Museum and the Pulitika Studio are based, we could hear the noise of a party on the water and see pink smoke – this was from a water polo competition happening below us and it was quite a riot! Obviously, that is not a permanent fixture on the Dubrovnik walls tour but was fun to see Croatia’s national sport in action. In fact, when we visited Split on a previous trip to Croatia, we also came upon water polo games taking place in the harbour.
Old Port of Dubrovnik
Once around St John’s Fortress on the Sunset Walking Tour of Dubrovnik of the city walls, you have a fantastic view of the Old Port of Dubrovnik – today filled with boats for leisure activities, in days of old it would have been filled with merchant ships bringing exotic produce from afar.
Ancient churches of St Nicholas and St Sebastian
Walking along the walls towards the Ploče Gate and the Revelin Fort, when you look down from the walls, you can see the pair of ancient churches St Nicholas and St Sebastian below you. Nearby is the Michelin-starred 360 degrees restaurant with panoramic views over the old Port.
Dominican Monastery
The Dominican Monastery has a Gothic Renaissance bell tower dating back to 1390 and two great bells which dominate the city.
Minceta Fortress
From the Dominican Monastery the walls climb upwards again, until they reach the Minceta Fortress, the highest point on the walls. At the base of the Minceta Fortress, stop to take the classic photo of Dubrovnik with the terracotta rooftops in the foreground and Lokrun Island behind (see featured photo).
Then dig deep and climb the final few stairs to the top of the Minceta Fortress. The final steps will be well worth it for the view. By this time, it’s likely that the sky will be turning from golden to pink as the sun starts to set.
Returning to ground level (and reality)
From the Minceta Fortress, it is just a short walk back to the stairs which you first ascended. The only reason I was happy to see the steps was because I was suffering from ‘overload’ in relation to fantastic views – I had taken a ridiculous number of photos and been amazed at every turn until I was almost lost for words, completely over-stimulated!
When you descend back to the Stradun, you also descend back to the noise and hubbub of the city, highlight just how idyllic it had been on top of the walls.
Trip extension to Fort Lovrijenac
If you have time before the sunset Dubrovnik Walking Tour of the city walls, then it’s a good time to explore Fort Lovrijenac. From Brasalje Square outside Pile Gate, take the narrow alley, Svetoga Durda, down to Brasalje Bay with a cute fishing jetty and great views to the left of the Old Town of Dubrovnik and its city walls. It’s one of the jumping off points for kayak trips and so there may well be groups of red kayaks hitting the water here.
From here, climb the 165 steps up to Fort Lovrijenac which emerges in front of you above the pine trees. There’s a sign above the entrance to the Fort which reads ‘Freedom should not be sold for all the treasure in the world’. Apparently, the Venetians wanted to build a fort on this site in the 11th century, but by the time they returned with their materials, the Croatians had beaten then to it, building the fort in only 3 months.
The views from Fort Lovrijenac are something to behold, although that’s all there is as the inside is empty. However, it’s an incredible photo opportunity in every direction. You don’t need long to visit the Fort, just time to get there, stroll around, take some photos and return, so it can easily to done before your walking tour.
Eat at Dubravka 1836
We arrived at to look around Fort Lovrijenac around 2pm, before eating a late lunch at Dubravka 1836 at 3.00pm. The restaurant is on Brasalje Square and overlooks Fort Lovrijenac. It is a lovely place to eat al fresco under the trees with stunning views, and well placed around the corner from the Tourist Office, to pick up your walking tour at 5.00pm. Alternatively, arrange to eat there after your walking tour if dinner suits you better. Either way, you’ll love it!
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