Things to Do in Dubrovnik

A cluster of isles and islands found along the Dalmatian Coast, the Elafiti Islands are one of Croatia’s most popular destinations and make an easy day trip from nearby Dubrovnik. Fourteen islands make up the small archipelago, but only the largest three - Kolocep, Lopud and Sipan – are inhabited and linked by ferry and taxi-boat to the mainland, making them the focal point of island hopping tours.

Despite their popularity among day-trippers, the trio of islands remain largely unaffected by the spoils of tourism, dotted with a mere handful of hotels and maintaining many car-free roads. Koločep benefits from being the nearest island to Dubrovnik, celebrated for its dramatic coastal cliffs, tranquil pebble beaches and shaded olive groves, whereas neighboring Lopud is best known for its well-preserved 11th century Benedictine monastery, 16th-century churches and sandy Šunj beach.

Travelers looking to explore untouched Croatia while getting a true taste of the Adriatic Sea will find all they’re looking for at Elaphite Islands. This cluster of coastal escapes stretches from Dubrovnik to Peljesac and boasts thick foliage and unspoiled natural wonders that have become difficult to find on the mainland.

Just three of these favorite getaways—Lopud, Sipan or Kolocep—are accessible to visitors, but their diversity means there’s still something for everyone in the Elaphite Islands. Kolocep, the smallest of the three, is surrounded by brilliant blue waters and proves a remarkable respite for tired travelers. Sunj beach has made Lopud the most visited of the three, but those in the know say despite its popularity, Lopud is still perfect for a quiet escape. Sipan, the largest of the three islands, offers travelers the most to do, including tours of some of the stately aristocratic manors of the Dubrovnik Republic.

A mere 1km from Dubrovnik, the small island of Lokrum makes a welcome escape from the city and with regular boats making the 15-minute trip, it’s an easy excursion from the mainland. Nicknamed the ‘Island of Kings’, legend has it that King Richard the Lionheart was shipwrecked on Lokrum Island following his 1192 crusades. Continuing its royal connections, the island was bought in 1859 by Maximilian von Habsburg, the Archduke of Austria, who transformed its 12th-century Benedictine abbey and monastery into a summer palace.

The Abbey and its formal gardens remain one of the island’s principal highlights, but equally impressive is the botanical garden of the Dubrovnik Oceanographic Institute and the Fort Royal, an early 19th-century French fort, which tops the Lokrum Hills. For many though, a visit Lokrum is simply an excuse to soak up the idyllic scenery – swathes of pine and cypress forests, olive groves and rocky coves that make up the Lokrum island nature reserve.

Standing on Luza Square among some of Dubrovnik’s most impressive architecture, including St Blaise Church and the lovely Sponza Palace with its appealing mixture of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, Orlando’s Column was erected in 1418 at what remains the political and social heart of the city. Here public meetings and executions were held on the small stone platform guarded by wrought-iron railings that tops the column. The stone carvings adorning the four sides of the column were created by master craftsman Antun Dubrovcanin and represent the heroic knight Orlando, who was the nephew of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne; according to legend he was credited with saving Dubrovnik from Saracen pirates in the eighth century and here he is depicted surrounded by figures of minstrels and balladeers.

Just through the main Pile Gate into Dubrovnik’s Old Town, Onofrio’s Fountain stands to the right of Stradun, the main thoroughfare through the cobbled streets. The fountain was constructed between 1438–40 and it is the ingenious end point of an aqueduct that traveled 12 km (7.5 miles) from a spring at Šumet – which still supplies Dubrovnik’s water today – into the city. Both fountain and aqueduct were designed by architect Onofrio della Cava; the latter has a huge brick central dome, originally topped by a dragon, and 16 elaborately carved water taps spouting over a stone trough. Although the dragon was destroyed in the earthquake of 1667, the fountain is one of the city’s most important landmarks and provides shade and respite for weary visitors. A smaller fountain, decorated with leaping dolphins, stands at the opposite, eastern end of Stradun; this was also designed by Della Cava and originally supplied water to the market traders on Luza Square in front of St Blaise Church.

Dubrovnik’s cathedral was originally built in the 12th century in Romanesque style and – according to legend – at the behest of King Richard the Lionheart of England after he was shipwrecked on the island of Lokrum along the Adriatic coast. This building was destroyed in an earthquake in 1667 and was replaced by today’s Baroque version, which is the work of Italian architects Andrea Buffalini and Paolo Andreotti. Approached up a grand flight of steps and with a landmark dome, the triple-aisled cathedral is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and has an imposing façade guarded by Corinthian columns and a Titian triptych sitting above the main altar; damage caused by a direct hit from a shell in the Siege of Dubrovnik (1991) has since been repaired.

One of the foremost landmarks of Dubrovnik’s atmospheric Old Town, the bell tower stands at the eastern end of Stradun, the main thoroughfare, and looms over Luza Square. The 31-m (102-ft) stone tower is topped with a stumpy dome and flanked by some of Dubrovnik’s most spectacular architecture, including the lovely Sponza Palace, St Blaise Church and Orlando’s Column. Constructed in 1444, the tower was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1667 and began to lean alarmingly; by the 18th century it had fallen into disrepair and it was not until the late 1920s that repair work began and the tower acquired its present shape and clock, the face of which resembles an octopus and also portrays the phases of the moon. Consequently, very little of the original tower has survived to the present day except the two-tonne bronze bell, which was cast by master metalworker Ivan Krstitelj Rabljanin from nearby Rab Island.

The 16th-century Renaissance playwright Marin Držić is to Croatia what Shakespeare is to Britain and he is revered as the first person to write drama in Croatian; his comic plays are on every school syllabus. He lived a rackety life with little career success but his works were resurrected in the 19th century during the rebirth of Croatian cultural heritage; his plays regained popularity yet again in the 1930s and are still performed each year at summer’s Dubrovnik Festival.

The museum dedicated to Držić is located in the Gothic townhouse in which he was born in 1508. It offers a library of modern texts plus a few set-piece reconstructions using waxwork models of his major characters and period furniture. There’s also an audio-visual presentation of some of his texts; among the displays are temporary modern-art exhibitions and contemporary cartoons.

Dubrovnik’s Museum of Croatian War of Independence (often known as the Museum of Homeland Wars) has a panoramic setting at the top of the cable car up Mount Srđ, which shadows the city from the north-east. Found in a wing of the battle-scarred Napoleonic Fort Imperial, the museum honors the 25,000 soldiers and civilians killed in the conflicts and sieges of the Balkan wars of the early 1990s. The fort was used to house Croatian troops during the war and was itself scene of fierce fighting; its stone walls are still pockmarked with bullet holes and fire damage. Inside its stark interior four hard-hitting themed exhibitions on the Balkan struggles feature TV news reels of the shelling of the city, recorded interviews with eyewitnesses to the destruction, war maps, explosives, weaponry and a collection of graphic war images. Most displays are well labeled in English and there is plenty of information on tap about the progress and aftermath of the war.