After a wonderful week exploring Montenegro, we headed over to Croatia’s Dubrovnik for two days, an easy two-hour bus from Tivat. I had heard so much about the old city and it surpassed all expectations – it’s beautifully enchanting and the first view we had from the bus as we descended to the coast was unreal – be sure to sit on the left hand side of the bus!
There is tons to see and do in and around the city, not to mention a whole host restaurants, but we were on a tight budget and thus keen to keep costs to a minimum. These types of articles sound better when titled as the ‘top five’ or ‘top ten’ but all I could find was four free things to do!
Climb up Mt Srd for wonderful views
You can avoid the (very pricey) cable car fees and climb 400m up Mt Srd for wonderful views of the city and the coastline. It’s about an hour up on a gentle zig-zaging path and a wonderful place to watch the sunset. It’s a little tricky to find the starting point but head left of the cable car and onto the highest road possible and look out for a brown sign just off the main highway.
Stunning views of the old town
2. Head to the beach
We headed east out of the old town to public sandy Banje Beach, no more than a five minute walk. It’s another lovely view from here and the water is beautifully clear.
We continued east in search a second beach we could see sitting on Banje and though we didn’t find it, we did find a wonderful rocky outcrop to enjoy our picnic. Take any flight of stairs off the main road and see where you end up!
Views of the old town from Banje beach
3. Wander around the old town
With it’s maize of streets, gorgeous architecture and beautiful squares, the old city is the perfect place to simply wander about and get lost. Even out of season it was really busy so we woke up before 7 one morning to explore it’s empty streets and pop our heads into a number of beautiful churches.
There are also many sunny spots to people watch and enjoy beers and food from the supermarket, the largest one in the old town being Konzum on Gundulic Square.
One of the old town’s many beautiful churches
4.Enjoying the views from Buza Bar with our own drinks
Situated just outside the city walls on the rocks, no more than 200m from our City Wallshostel , you enter through a small tired-looking gate. There’s a small bar and terrace but on advice from the hostel, we bought drinks from the supermarket and sat first on the rocks next to the bar and then on the lower level. There were no issues at all, with a few others doing the same, and it was a lovely spot to enjoy a few cold beers!
