Best Views from the Dubrovnik City Walls in Pictures

It has been two years now since I went to Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Adriatic, in Croatia. I have already posted different albums, but until now, I hadn't found the time to sort through the many photos I took during my visit to the ramparts and the old town. I really had a lot of them!

All in all, I keep a very fond memory of this trip. Dalmatia brings together quite a few things that I love: historic towns with heritage, turquoise-water coves for snorkeling, green forests in places, and a sunny climate. This is the first time I've printed a vacation photo album for myself to immortalize these memories. By the way, I recommend Popcarte.com: a super simple creation tool and spot-on prints.

Anyway, let's get back to the walls of Dubrovnik.

The ramparts, the setting that frames the pearl of the Adriatic

To set the scene: right upon our arrival in Croatia, the Uber driver taking us from the airport to the hotel told us, "In Dubrovnik, if there is only one visit you have to do, it's the ramparts. You don't have the right to leave town without walking all the way around."

Well, my take: it's truly impressive to be able to do the complete circuit of the old town from the walls, with plenty of spectacular viewpoints over the inside and outside of ancient Ragusa. That said, other walks left more of a mark on me during our trip to Croatia, like climbing Mount Montokuc on Mljet.

Practical information for visiting the ramparts

Prices and hours

• The price: around 35 € per adult, half that for children. It's not cheap, but it's the city tour.
• The tip: the walk is included in the Dubrovnik Pass, which also opens the Rector's Palace, the Franciscan monastery, and several museums. If you do two or three of them, it quickly pays for itself.
• The hours: 9 AM - 7 PM from April to October, 9 AM - 3 PM from November to March. The ticket office closes before the ramparts, so don't show up at the last minute.

Distance, duration, and direction of the visit

• 2 km of walls, in a closed loop: you exit where you entered. Allow 2 hours at a leisurely pace, or rather 2.5 hours if you stop at every viewpoint.
• It constantly goes up and down, with lots of narrow stairs: it is accessible neither with a stroller nor a wheelchair.
• A direction of traffic is indicated at the entrance. It's not really monitored, but follow it: going against the flow, you constantly pass each other in passages where two people cannot fit.

The entrance points

• Pile Gate, to the west: the main entrance, and by far the busiest.
• Port Gate (Ploče), to the east, near the old port.
• St. John Fortress, next to the maritime museum: often the quietest.

My recommendations to enjoy it

• Come in the late afternoon. In the middle of summer, midday is an oven: not a single meter of shade up there. In the late afternoon, the light gilds the rooftops and you flow right into the sunset.
• Water, a hat, sunscreen. There are indeed two or three bars along the route, but at exorbitant prices.
• Closed-toe shoes: the steps are numerous and polished by foot traffic.
• A versatile lens: the scenery changes every twenty meters, from wide-angle on the rooftops to zoom on a bell tower. Save some space on your memory card :)
• Don't rush the end. You dawdle on the first few meters and then speed up when the heat beats down, whereas the best views of the Stradun arrive right at the very end of the route.

The views not to miss

• Kolorina Cove and Lovrijenac Fort, right from the first few meters after Pile Gate: the colorful kayaks lined up on the pebbles, the translucent water at the foot of the wall.
• The mosaic of orange roofs, from the upper section, near Minceta Tower. You can even make out the new tiles from the old ones: the trace of the reconstructions that followed the 1991 siege.
• The seaside, where the wall hugs the cliff plunging into the Adriatic. Spot the bars clinging to the rock below: you access them through a simple hole in the wall.
• Lokrum Island, all green, sitting right in front, and the bell tower of the Dominican monastery overlooking the old port: to the east, the view suddenly opens up over the coast and islands.
• The Stradun at sunset, when the grand marble street fills up and the bell tower of the Franciscan monastery turns orange. My favorite photo from the album.
• Daily life, finally: from above, you peer into interior courtyards, cloisters, laundry hung out at windows, and even a basketball court jammed between two alleys. That's what I preferred photographing.

And after the ramparts?

• Three places round out the visit nicely, and I have an album for each: Mount Srd for the panoramic view (on foot if you are feeling brave, by cable car otherwise), Fort Lovrijenac, which offers the best view of the ramparts, and the Rector's Palace to catch your breath in the shade.

Enjoy your visit, and don't forget your water bottle :) The rest of my photos are on the Dubrovnik page.