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Looking down across a small port filled with rows of moored small white boats.To the right are the terracotta roofs of buildings within city walls. On the horizon are the walls of an old city with fortress at the left. Blue sky above. Turquoise waters of the old port

Take An Easy, Self-Guided, Walk Around Old Town Dubrovnik

11 months ago16 min readAdd comment

Old Town Dubrovnik is an absolute delight and is probably one of the first things you’ll want to do on your visit to Dubrovnik – a labyrinth of narrow streets and stunning buildings within the confines of stunning ancient walls, with the turquoise Adriatic Sea waiting for you on the outside. The good news is that the Old Town is not very big and so it can be easily explored on foot. The bad news is that it is usually flooded with visitors and so it pays to give some thought to how and when you decide to visit. Here are some hints and tips about exploring Old Town Dubrovnik.

Table of Contents

Walk from east to west across Old Town Dubrovnik

A good tip I picked up from my pre-trip research, was to start your explorations on the east side of the Old Town at the Ploče Gate, to the Pile Gate on the west side. The Pile Gate is the where the Tourist Office is based, so is the starting point for most city tours, plus the drop off point for cruise shippers. This means that you gain some quiet time in the west of the Old Town before everyone else gets there!

Suggested route for half day walking tour

If you only have one day in Dubrovnik, then you may want to walk the walls as well as explore the Old Town within them. W e decided to come back on a different day to walk the city walls with at Golden Hour with fresh legs, so this suggested route does not include the walls of Dubrovnik.

You can walk straight across the Old Town Dubrvonik from the Ploče Gate to the Pile Gate on the Stradun, the main street made of marble, in a matter of minutes as it’s only 0.5km as the crow flies, but where’s the fun in that?

Better to take half a day (or longer) and take time exploring the labyrinth of streets, shops, museums, and attractions.

Looking along a stone bridge walkway to a castle gate with wooden drawbridge. To the right is a very tall stone fortress wall. Some trees either side. Blue sky above
Outside the Ploce Gate

Start at the Ploče Gate

Start your visit to the Old Town Dubrovnik at the impressive stone arch of Ploče Gate. Built in the 1300s, next to Fortress Revelin to the right, and the closest city entrance to the port for goods arriving and leaving. The bridge used to be just wooden drawbridge which used to be pulled up at night to prevent unwelcome guests entering the town, but now consists of an inner and outer section with a stone bridge linking the two.

Pass through the Ploče Gate to a shady square with stunning pine trees and Bistro Revelin at the far end., and it feels like you’re entering another world. Enjoy incredible views over the Old Port from the terrace (see featured photo) – palm trees in the foreground, turquoise waters beyond, boats moored in the harbour and the city walls beyond. It’s a fantastic welcome to Old Town Dubrovnik and the first of many incredible views.

Continue on the Ploče Gate path

From Bistro Revelin, follow the path which gets narrower and passes to the left of the Dominican Monastery built in 1315. We decided not to visit this monastery as we had another monastery on the list later in the tour (the one which is included in the Dubrovnik Pass).

As you continue slightly downhill to your left, you will be walking below the city walls which gives you the perspective of how tall they are. You will pass Peppino’s Gelato to your right which has a sign outside claiming to be ‘the best ice cream in town’. Beyond Peppino’s you might spot a lady in traditional costume sitting on some wide steps selling items made of traditional lace.

Looking up at old cit walls. A square tower with ornate carvings appears to the left. People are walking along the top of the walls. An old black lantern appears to the right
Looking up at people walking the walls above you

On this occasion, ignore the archway on your left which leads to the Old Port as we are going there later. Instead follow the path to the right where you will emerge at Luza Square.

Luza Square & Orlando’s Column

Luza Square stands at the eastern end of the Stradun, or main street through Old Town Dubrovnik. In the centre of the Square is Orlando’s Column, a beautifully carved column of Orlando who was linked with the defence of the Ragusa Republic in the 9th century (unverified as it is such a long time ago). He is a symbol of freedom in the city, and like a King Arthur of sorts (referred to as Roland by the locals). Sadly, for us, the column was covered when we visited as it is under restoration. Hopefully you will have better luck.

Also on Luza Square are the Church of St Blaise, Sponsa Palace, Bell Tower Clock and Onofrio’s Little Fountain.

Church of St Blaise

To the left of Orlando’s Column stands the pretty Baroque style, Church of St Blaise, built in 1715 in honour of the patron saint of Dubrovnik. It was designed by Venetian architect Marino Grappellini on the foundations of a medieval church. The church features some beautiful (and relatively modern) stained-glass windows which cast colours onto the stonework of the church’s pillars. There is a silver St Blaise on the alter.

Inside a church. An ornate gold alter and organ appears to the left, decorated with old fashioned paintings. White columns to the middle and a white column to the right with rainbow colours reflected from something outside of the frame
Reflections from the stained glass inside St Blaise Church

Sponza Palace

As you leave the Church of St Blaise and look back at the archway you entered Luza Square by, you’ll get a good view of the modest Renaissance-era Sponza Palace to the left of the entrance archway. Along with the Rector’s Palace it is one of the few surviving buildings from a devastating earthquake in 1667.

The Sponsa Palace dates to the 6th century and has the word Dogana displayed in metal studs over the doorway to show that it was once a Customs House for taxes for all the goods arriving in the city. Through the years it has been a mint, armoury, school and today contains the State Archives. You can pop your head in to have a look at the interior although it was being used for a classical music when we visited and so there was no entry.

View of a stone archway over an old wooden door frame. A shield is drawn on the doorframe and the word 'Dogana' is studded into the woodwork. Studs decorate the rest of the frame.
The old Customs House

Bell Tower Clock

To the right of the entrance archway, is a beautiful clock tower with a sunshine clock face on the tower. Above it is the bell tower housing two green brass figures who chime the bells on the hour.

A circular stone clock face with Roman numerals and arms like a black sunshine, is mounted on a white stone tower up the middle of the frame. Buildings to either side. Pale blue sky beyond.
Pretty clock face on the Bell Tower

Onofrio’s Little Fountain

In front of the Clock tower is Onofrio’s Little Fountain which is related to Onofrio’s Large Fountain at the other end of the Stradun.

Rector’s Palace - Dubrovnik Pass

With the clock tower to your left, continue along the street to the Rector’s Palace with wonderful gothic arches outside. It was the home for the highest level of city government when the city was the Republic of Ragusa (1358 to 1808 and ending when it was annexed by Napoleon’s French Empire. Each Rector lived here during their period of office but were regularly rotated (each month) to prevent any one person from becoming too powerful.

The Palace rooms are over two floors, offering exhibits including: the court of Ragusa, various statues of St Blaise collected from all over the city, impressive money chests used to secure the city’s finances, and a small prison cell.

Looking up to the first floor arched balconies around an internal courtyard. There is a stone stair case leading up from the bottom left to the middle, with 3 figures walking up the stairs
Inside courtyard of the Rector’s Palace

There is a large internal courtyard with beautiful stairway up to the second floor – someone having wedding photos taken when we were visiting. The upper rooms display the Rector’s transport carriages, paintings, and ornaments from back in the day.

The exit to the Rector’s Palace is at the back of the building. Turn left through the arch to arrive at the Old Port of Dubrovnik.

Looking up a stone wall to the side, following the placement of a wooden handrail. A stone hand reaches out of the wall to hold the handrail in place
Handrails up to the first floor of the Rector's Palace

Old Port Harbour

Now is a good opportunity to stroll around the edges of the Old Port, once a thriving maritime trading port, and today a hub for boat trips to Lokrum island and the town Cavtat further down the coast. If you’re lucky, you’ll see the replica ship which looks like a ‘pirate ship’ but is a Dubrovnik Carrack from the days of the Ragusa Republic.

View of a marina with row of small boats moored in a line across the bottom of the frame. Water behind. On the horizon are the walls of an old fortress city. Beyond that is a rocky hill covered largely with trees and rows of buildings with terracotta roofs along the bottom.
The Old Port with Mount Srd behind

Walk around the fort in front of you, St John’s Fortress, to view the island of Lokrum in the distance, before retracing your steps back to the arch where you exited the Rector’s Palace and turning left.

View of a calm sea with blue sky above. To the right are the stone walls of a fortress building with crenellations apparent on top. There are sunlovers sitting under the walls straight ahead. there is an area of sea penned off for swimming
Swimming area outside St John’s Fortress

Dulcic, Masle, Pulitika Gallery - Dubrovnik Pass

If you’re interested in art then pop into the Dulcic, Masle, Pulitka Gallery named after 3 Croatian artists. It doesn’t take long to tour and so can easily fit in your walking tour without disrupting timings too much.

Cathedral Treasury

When leaving the Art Museum, note the Cathedral ahead of you with iconic domed roof. In its Treasury the Cathedral houses objects relating to how Dubrovnik merchants developed trading relations with principal cities of the Mediterranean. It also houses part of a cross which is believed to be the one on which Jesus was crucified?

Pitstop at Giannis

Take the narrow street to your left, opposite the Cathedral (Street: Ul. Kneza Damjana Jude bb) and continue until you reach the Gianni ice-cream shop. We stopped here for our coffee and a delicious artisan ice-cream and to recharge in the shade as by now the sun was hot. The Mint Choc Chip ice-cream was a winner – made with fresh mint, delicious.

Photo of a hand with yellow finger nails holds up a turquoise tub to the centre of the photo. The tub is filled with an orange sorbet (like mango), a wooden spoon and a wafer which says Gianni on it.
Mango sorbet from Gianni - delicious!

Then take the stairs just in front of Giannis, up to a walkway above. Head left and follow the signs to the Maritime Museum. Walk on cobbled streets filled with stone arches, between buildings with washing hanging out until you get to the unofficial Cat Café.

Maritime Museum - Dubrovnik Pass

Here take the steps on your left up to the city walls. You are not going to be walking the walls on this tour, but this is where you’ll find the entrance to the Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum is housed in the St John’s Fortress and has lovely views from its windows.

The bottom floor of the Maritime Museum is dedicated to the merchant ships of old Dubrovnik Carrack ships built in the 1500s. These were like those built in Venice in the 14th century and were widely distributed over the Mediterranean. They were well made and lasted a long time, but were incredibly heavy at 900 tonnes, making them tricky to manoeuvre. The upper floor of the Maritime Museum had a kids area and models of modern ships.

View through a long stone archway with cobbled pavement underneath. A couple in shorts and t-shirts are walking towards the camera in the distance
Tunnels on the way to the Maritime Museum

Pulitika Studio - Dubrovnik Pass

As you exit the Maritime Museum, turn left, and left again, staying off the walls. This will bring you to a small museum called the Pulitika Studio, where the Croatian painter Đuro Pulitika (1922-2006) worked. It is a small room in St John’s Fortress and his painting easel and supplies remain just as he might have left them. In a second, larger room is a display of some of his lovely artwork and prints to purchase.

Gundaulic Square

Take the steps back down to the ‘cat café’ and retrace your steps back down to ground level and the Cathedral. Head to Gundaulic Square, just behind the Cathedral, where you will find market stalls until around 1.00pm each day. The square is named after a 17th century Croatian writer who symbolised Croatia’s national identity and has a statue in the square. It is a bustling square of eateries at lunch and in the evening.

Jesuit Stairs – a 2 minute walk from Gundaulic Square are the Jesuit Stairs, a Game of Thrones filming spot, however we somehow missed these.

From Gundaulic Square take one of the narrow streets back to the Stradun, the stunning pedestrian marble street and popular meeting place. Note the symmetrical buildings with windows and doors perfectly in line with each other…

View down a smart street with rows of stone buildings either side. The buildings have 3 or 4 stories and the rows of windows have dark green shutters. The floor in-between looks like polished marble. People in sunhat, sundresses and shorts walk up and down the street.
Looking down the Stradun towards the Pile Gate and Franciscan Monastery

War Photo Limited

Walk along the Stradun until you reach the narrow street with a sign for the War Photo Limited Museum. For anyone with an interest in photojournalism, or for those wanting a stark reminder of the recent wars fought in this area of the world, then this is an impressive collection of photographs – 3 exhibitions set over 2 floors.

The photos were technically excellent, hard hitting, moving, and sobering in equal measure. Some of them have stayed with me long after returning home.

Lunch at Holy Burek

If you fancy lunch on the go, and trying some Balkan Street Food, then head to Holy Burek, just across the Stradun from the War Photo Museum and down one of the narrow streets.

Join the queue to pick up your delicious burek, a long filo pastry filled with cheese, cheese and spinach, potato, chicken, or veal. For UK readers – like a posh Croatian Greggs!

Looking up through the white stone walls of an alleyway towards a pale blue sky above. Tn the middle of the frame is a black iron lantern advertising 'Holy Burek' on the frosted glass
A hand with woven bracelet is holding a long thin sandwich up in the middle of the frame. It is wrapped in brown paper with a white napkin around the outside with the logo 'Holy Burek'. Alleyway behind
Tasty lunch from Holy Burek!

Note – our son has a severe nut allergy and was able to eat there. He had got some business cards printed which said ‘I have a deadly allergy to buts, peanuts and sesame. Epipen carrier’ in Croatian. This idea came from the May Contain website.

Scenic drinks at Buza Bar

If you had lunch on the go, then you might fancy resting your feet (although the total mileage for this walking tour is only about 5,000 steps) or digesting your Burek somewhere with a view?

You can stroll through the narrow streets the Buza Bar – walk east along ul. Od Puca and then south on Ul. Miha Pracata and up some stairs, turn left onto Ul. Josipa Jurja Strossmayera and then right on Crijevićeva ul. towards Hranjca ul.

Look for a small opening in the city walls with a view over the sea. The bar is set out on the cliffside, on terraces down the rocks overlooking Buza Beach.

View up a rocky cliff face towards tall stone city walls at the top. It appears that there is a cafe built into the cliffs from the white parasols, and wooden sun shade over a stairway with people looking at the view
The Buza Bar clinging to the cliff face just outside the city walls of the Old Town

To be honest, it was a bit of a bun fight to find seats for 7 of us, and the music was very loud, so it wasn’t the chilled experience that we’d envisage. However, if you have better luck with tables, then the bar is in a great spot, and you can watch brace people jumping off the high rocks into the water below.

Franciscan Monastery & Pharmacy - Dubrovnik Pass

From the Buza Bar, retrace your steps to the Stradun (no doubt very busy by now) and head to the western end of the street where you will find the Franciscan Monastery and Pharmacy. The Pharmacy is filled with old ceramic jars of medicines and remains a functioning pharmacy. Beyond the pharmacy you will enter the beautiful cloister which survived the earthquake of 1667. Herbs for the original pharmacy were grown in the centre of the cloister.

Built into the outer wall of the Franciscan Monastery in Old Town Dubrovnik is a small stone step called the Dubrovnik Maskeron. The step is actually a gargoyle carved in the shape of an owl. It sticks out by 15cm and the challenge is to hop onto the stone gargoyle, facing the wall, and whilst keeping your balance, to take your shirt off – then luck in love will follow you!

The Monastery is next to the small Sveti Spas (Church of our Saviour) which is usually closed during the day.

Large Oriofriar Fountain

In front of the Pile Gate at the western end of the Stradun is a large circular fountain with a dome from 1444 called the Large Oriofriar Fountain. It has 16 water spouting stone heads and brings fresh water to the Old Town, via an aqueduct system designed by an Italian engineer called Onofrio della Cava. Don’t forget to fill your water bottles up here!

Pile Gate

The Pile Gate at the western end of the Stradun has a stone bridge and wooden drawbridge over a moat (now covered in grass and not filled with water). As you enter, look up to see the carving of St Blaise, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, holding a small city in his hand.

The Pile Gate takes you through the inner and outer walls separated by a zig zagged path to slow invaders down. The outer wall was to fend off canon fire and the inner wall to allow archers to shoot the invaders making their way below in Medieval days. More recently it survived the Siege of Dubronik in the Homeland War in 1991-2.

View following a stone bridge with drawbridge door towards an old arched gateway with statue above the door. Stone city walls on either side. tree to the left. People in shorts and t-shirts are walking over the bridge
Outside the Pile Gate at the Western end of the Stradun

Save walking the city walls for another time, and leave by the Pile Gate where you’ll find a large taxi rank.

Final thoughts…

You can spend a lovely long morning exploring the above sights in Old Town Dubrovnik, and extend your visit by looking around more sights, or browsing the shops. It is an incredibly beautiful place with a photo stop around every corner and no motorised vehicles!

However, by lunchtime, it was very busy, and the walk, particularly on the narrow streets, became less enjoyable, so you might decide to quit whilst you’re ahead and return another time so that you can savour this special place in small chunks.

I was blown away by how beautiful if was, and you don’t need to ask twice about why it has UNESCO World Heritage status!

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