Dubrovnik, Croatia 6 Day Itinerary

Dubrovnik limits cruise ship arrivals to two ships and 4,500 passengers per day, which sounds like a lot of management until you stand on Stradun at 11:00 AM in July and realise that 4,500 people plus overland visitors still turns the Old Town into a walking obstacle course. The city is more beautiful than the crowds deserve. The answer is simple: get up early.

Arrival and Currency Note

A private transfer from Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) to Old Town costs between 35 and 55 euros and takes around 30 minutes. Croatia joined the eurozone in January 2023. The kuna is gone; everything is euros now, and the older guidebooks still referencing HRK are out of date. Credit cards work almost everywhere, but smaller konobas (family restaurants) and market stalls prefer cash.

Stay close to or inside the Old Town for the first few nights if budget allows; staying just outside the Pile Gate cuts costs sharply and still puts you within a 10-minute walk of everything.

Day 1: Old Town Before the Crowds

Be walking Stradun by 7:30 AM. The main limestone street that runs the length of the Old Town is glassy and quiet before the first wave of tourists arrives. Onofrio’s Fountain at the western end is a 15th-century cistern that supplied the city with fresh water at the time; it still works. The Franciscan Monastery just inside the Pile Gate houses one of Europe’s oldest continuously operating pharmacies, dating to 1317 and still selling products through the same window.

Walk the City Walls. The adult ticket is 40 euros in season (March to November). From 2026 the city requires advance booking, which you can do via the official Dubrovnik Pass or the walls website. This is not a formality: the walls genuinely sell out during peak summer. Book before you travel. The walk takes 90 minutes at a relaxed pace and produces views that justify the ticket price twice over.

Dinner at Lokanda Peskarija in the Old Harbour, a modest restaurant serving grilled fish at reasonable prices by Dubrovnik standards. The buzara (shellfish in white wine and garlic) is excellent. Arrive before 7:30 PM to avoid the wait.

Day 2: Lokrum Island

Take the boat to Lokrum Island from the Old Harbour. The return ferry costs around 30 euros per person in 2026, with boats running approximately every 30 minutes from 9:00 AM. The crossing is 15 minutes.

Lokrum is a nature reserve: cars are banned, the paths are quiet, and the island’s interior is dense with pine and Mediterranean scrub. The Benedictine Monastery ruins date to the 11th century. The botanical garden planted by Maximilian I of Mexico in the 19th century contains cacti and exotic palms that look startlingly out of place against the Adriatic backdrop. The salt lake in the island’s interior, connected to the sea underground, is warm and calm when the sea outside is rough.

There are peacocks everywhere on Lokrum. They were introduced in the 19th century and have never left. They sit on walls and walk through cafe tables with a total lack of embarrassment.

Return to Dubrovnik by mid-afternoon. Evening drink at Buza Bar, the cliff-side bar that appears carved directly into the rock face below the city walls. Getting there involves a small door in the wall with a hand-painted sign. The drinks are unremarkable but the setting is the point.

Day 3: Montenegro (Kotor and Perast)

Leave before 7:30 AM. The drive to Kotor is 92 kilometres and takes about two hours in clear conditions, but the Croatia-Montenegro border crossing adds 30 minutes to two hours depending on the season and time of day. July and August mornings see the worst queues. Carry your passport.

An organised group tour costs 30 to 68 euros per person and removes the driving logistics. If you hire a car independently, the route curves around the Bay of Kotor on the Montenegrin side, which is one of the most dramatic stretches of road in the Balkans regardless of the border delay.

Perast is first: a small Baroque village on the water whose entire main street is a chain of palazzo facades. The island of Our Lady of the Rocks, reached by a brief boat from the village waterfront, has a church filled with 17th-century ex-votos (votive offerings left by sailors). It is one of the quieter and more genuinely moving spots on this whole circuit.

Kotor itself is a medieval walled city. The hike up to the fortress above takes 30 to 45 minutes and repays the effort with views of the entire bay. Arrive in Kotor well before noon to do it before the heat.

Return to Dubrovnik by early evening. Dinner at 360, Dubrovnik’s sole Michelin-starred restaurant, requires a reservation made weeks in advance; the setting inside the city walls above the harbour is exceptional.

Day 4: Elafiti Islands (KoloCep and Sipan)

The Elafiti Islands sit northwest of Dubrovnik and are accessible by public ferry from Dubrovnik’s Gruz Harbour. Koloscep, the nearest island (25 minutes), has two small villages connected by a footpath through pine forest and a handful of small beaches on the eastern and western sides. Almost no cars. The island has around 150 permanent residents.

Sipan is the largest of the Elafiti Islands (40 minutes) and has enough to fill a morning: a Roman-era church ruin, two villages (Sipanska Luka and Sudurad), and the best local konoba food in the outer islands. Lunch in Sipanska Luka at any family restaurant running daily specials is the right call, typically costing 20 to 35 euros for fish, wine, and bread.

Return to Dubrovnik by late afternoon.

Day 5: Trsteno Arboretum and Cavtat

Trsteno Arboretum, 18 kilometres up the coastal road from Dubrovnik, is the oldest arboretum in Croatia, founded in the late 15th century by the Gucetic noble family. The plane trees at the entrance are estimated to be over 500 years old. It costs around 10 euros to enter and the gardens run down to a small cove where you can swim. Game of Thrones used this location for the Red Keep gardens, but the actual space is more interesting than a film set: it is a functioning piece of Renaissance garden design that has survived for six centuries.

Cavtat, 18 kilometres south of Dubrovnik toward the Montenegro border, is a smaller resort town with a marina and a good museum in the Racic Mausoleum, designed by sculptor Ivan Mestrovic in 1922. The marina restaurants are more relaxed and less expensive than their Dubrovnik equivalents. Konoba Marineta on the waterfront serves Dalmatian fish and seafood at fair prices.

The fastest way to connect Trsteno and Cavtat is a day-hire car, which also lets you stop at the Gruz market in Dubrovnik in the morning before heading out.

Day 6: The Lapad Peninsula and Departure

The Lapad Peninsula, west of the Old Town and reachable by public bus (Bus 6 from Pile Gate, roughly 1.5 euros), has long beaches and a more local atmosphere. Copacabana Beach is the largest and most organised, with sun loungers, water sports, and a cafe. Banje Beach, closer to the Old Town, has good views back toward the walls.

A final stroll through the Old Town before your transfer: the Gunduliceva Poljana (the square named for the Baroque poet Ivan Gundulic) has a morning market on Tuesdays and Fridays selling local produce, lavender, and olive oil. Dubrovnik airport handles mostly afternoon and evening departures, so a noon transfer works for most flights.

Practical Notes

The Dubrovnik Pass includes the City Walls, several museums, and a day of public transport. For a six-day stay it is worth doing the arithmetic against individual tickets, though the walls are the main saving.

Mid-September to October and May to early June give significantly thinner crowds and lower accommodation prices with weather that is still comfortably warm (20 to 27 degrees Celsius). July and August are packed and expensive. That is the honest trade-off and it is worth knowing before you book.

Public buses within Dubrovnik cost 1.50 to 2 euros and are the most practical way to reach Lapad and Gruz. A taxi between Old Town and Gruz runs around 10 euros.