- Where
- Southern Adriatic coast,
Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Croatia - Coordinates
- 42.64° N
18.11° E (the old town) - Population
- 41,562 (2021 census)
- The walls
- About 1,940 m round,
up to about 25 m high - Republic of Ragusa
- 1358–1808
- World Heritage
- 1979
- Getting there
- Dubrovnik Airport, about 20 km
south-east, near Čilipi - Advisory
- Croatia Level 1
exercise normal precautions
Walls the colour of bread crust all round, and under them on three sides a sea so clear I could have counted the stones on the bottom, though I did not. Inside, the main street was worn so smooth it shone like a polished floor. Orange roofs below every stair, and by evening the walls were handing their warmth back into my paws.
The short answer
Dubrovnik is a city on the Adriatic coast of southern Croatia, in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, with 41,562 people at the 2021 census, Wikipedia records. By the account of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII it was founded in the seventh century by refugees from Epidaurum. From 1358, when the Treaty of Zadar made it a vassal of the Kingdom of Hungary, until 1808, when it was abolished under Marshal Marmont, it was the capital of the Republic of Ragusa. Its walls run an unbroken course of about 1,940 metres round the old city and reach about 25 metres at their highest. UNESCO inscribed the Old City as a World Heritage site in 1979.
Why it's worth knowing
A republic of merchants. The Republic of Ragusa received its own statutes in 1272, and paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire from 1382 to 1804, Wikipedia records. Its rector served for one month only. Its flag bore the word Libertas, and over the entrance to the fortress of Lovrijenac, outside the western walls, is its motto: Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro, “Freedom is not to be sold for all the treasures in the world.” The city’s statutes of 1272 already carried quarantine rules, and the article records a quarantine hospital, the Lazarete, established in 1377.
Rebuilt twice. An earthquake in 1667 killed over 5,000 citizens and destroyed most of the city’s buildings, Wikipedia records; the Stradun, the 300-metre limestone main street between the Pile and Ploče gates, took much of its present look in the rebuilding. On 1 October 1991 the Yugoslav People’s Army attacked, beginning a siege of seven months that the Croatian Army lifted in May 1992. The walled city took 650 artillery hits, 56 per cent of its buildings were damaged to some degree, and the Croatian Red Cross counted 114 civilian deaths. UNESCO listed the old city as endangered from 1991 to 1998.
Weights and water. On an arch of the Sponza Palace, built between 1516 and 1522 and now home to the Dubrovnik State Archive, a Latin inscription reads, in Wikipedia’s translation, “Our weights do not permit cheating. When I measure goods, God measures with me.” The Big and Little Onofrio’s Fountains, at either end of the Stradun, were both built in 1438. The Feast of Saint Blaise, the city’s patron, sends a procession down the Stradun every 3 February.
The field notes
Round the walls
The walls were built mainly between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, their present line set after a fire in 1292, Wikipedia records. They are 4 to 6 metres thick on the landward side and 1.5 to 5 metres on the sea side, and are anchored by the Minčeta Tower to the north (completed in 1464), Fort Bokar at the western entrance, Lovrijenac outside the western walls, the Revelin to the east and St John’s Fortress to the south-east. By old accounts, Lovrijenac was built in only three months. The article gives more than 1.2 million visitors on the walls in 2019, and opening hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to 7 p.m. from May to mid-October. The old city has also stood in for other places on screen, most famously in Game of Thrones, and in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Too many visitors
Large visitor numbers, especially in summer and on cruise-ship days, put pressure on the city’s infrastructure, housing and old town, Wikipedia records. The city has staggered cruise arrivals and departures through the week, and the article lists among its measures a ban on wheeled luggage in the old town; the city’s own rule could not be read for this entry, so check before you travel. A cable car up the hill of Srđ, behind the city, first built in 1969 and badly damaged in 1991, reopened in 2010.
Lovrijenac on its rock beside the cove below the walls.
Photograph: Nazrin Babashova via Unsplash · Unsplash licence
Domes and bell towers over the tile roofs of the old city, May 2019.
Photograph: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Lovrijenac, whose gate carries the republic's motto, September 2016.
Photograph: Richard Mortel · Lovrijenac Fort, Dubrovnik, early 16th century (7) (29996470202) · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
The wall-walk with the Minčeta tower and a bell tower, with Srđ behind.
Photograph: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Walk the walls the whole way round, early, before the heat. (The list blew along the parapet ahead of me for the length of a tower, reached the next corner first, and has been insufferable since.)
- Come back to the main street after dark, when it shines, and walk it slowly in soft shoes.
- Ride up the hill behind the town in the evening and see all of it from above at once, roofs and walls and sea.
- People live up the side stairs, behind the washing. Talk quietly on the steps, and leave their doorsteps out of your pictures.
- Somewhere along the walls, stop for a minute for the people who mended them, and do not fill the minute with anything.
The words over Lovrijenac’s gate. Above the entrance to the fortress of Lovrijenac, on its rock outside the western walls, the Republic of Ragusa carved its motto: Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro, “Freedom is not to be sold for all the treasures in the world,” in Wikipedia’s translation. The republic lasted from 1358 until 1808, and wrote Libertas on its flag.
Tally, in the marginI read the words over the gate three times before I understood they were not decoration but a decision, carved where nobody going in could miss it. I walked in under them standing rather straighter than I had arrived.
Getting there
How to get there. By air to Dubrovnik Airport, about 20 kilometres south-east of the city near Čilipi, Wikipedia records; or by road. The article records that the A1 motorway is planned to reach the city either over the Pelješac Bridge, completed in 2022, or through Neum, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
When to go. Spring and autumn are cooler and less crowded than high summer. The walls open at 9 a.m., before the day’s heat and the cruise visitors. Canada’s travel advice (updated 11 August 2026) warns of wildfires in the dry season and notes that Croatia is in an active seismic zone.
What to arrange ahead. Cruise calls are booked to a limit: as of 20 October 2026, the Dubrovnik Port Authority says that it and the Dubrovnik County Port Authority book cruise ships on a “2+1” principle, two large ships at the port and one anchored in front of the Old City, and that its measures “in most cases” limit cruise passengers to 8,000 a day; by its own count, 18 of the year’s 243 cruise days exceed that number. In the first nine months of 2026 the port recorded 423 cruise calls and 571,134 passengers, the Port Authority reported on 7 October 2026. Ticket prices for the walls in 2026 differ between resellers (€35 and €40 for an adult, indexed), and the walls’ own site could not be read, so buy at the official desks or site. Book rooms well ahead for summer.
Safety. The State Department’s advisory for Croatia is Level 1, “Exercise Normal Precautions”, dated 18 May 2026. Canada says to take normal security precautions, and warns that pickpockets work tourist sites and transport hubs, that wildfires can break out in summer, and that walkers in the mountains should stay on marked trails because of possible landmines.
Mark this place
Common questions
How long are the walls of Dubrovnik?
The walls of Dubrovnik, Croatia, run an unbroken course of about 1,940 metres round the old city and reach about 25 metres at their highest, Wikipedia records. They were built mainly between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries.
What was the Republic of Ragusa?
The Republic of Ragusa was the city-state of Dubrovnik, on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, from 1358 to 1808, Wikipedia records. It chose a new rector every month and paid tribute to the Ottoman Empire from 1382 to 1804; Napoleon’s Marshal Marmont abolished it in 1808.
What does the inscription on Lovrijenac say?
Over the entrance to the fortress of Lovrijenac, outside Dubrovnik’s western walls, is the Republic of Ragusa’s motto, Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro: “Freedom is not to be sold for all the treasures in the world,” in Wikipedia’s translation.
Is Dubrovnik a World Heritage site?
Yes. UNESCO inscribed the Old City of Dubrovnik, Croatia, in 1979. After the siege of 1991–92, which damaged 56 per cent of its buildings, it was on UNESCO’s list of endangered sites from 1991 to 1998, Wikipedia records.
What happened in the siege of Dubrovnik?
The Yugoslav People’s Army attacked Dubrovnik on 1 October 1991 and besieged it for seven months, until the Croatian Army lifted the siege in May 1992, Wikipedia records. The walled city took 650 artillery hits, and the Croatian Red Cross counted 114 civilian deaths.
How does Dubrovnik limit cruise visitors?
The Dubrovnik Port Authority books cruise ships for Dubrovnik, Croatia, on a “2+1” principle, two large ships at the port and one anchored in front of the Old City, aiming in most cases at no more than 8,000 cruise passengers a day; by its own count, 18 of the year’s 243 cruise days exceed it (read 20 October 2026).
Was Game of Thrones filmed in Dubrovnik?
Yes. Dubrovnik, on Croatia’s Adriatic coast, is most famously associated with Game of Thrones, Wikipedia records; its old town also appears in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
How do you get to Dubrovnik?
Dubrovnik Airport lies about 20 kilometres south-east of the city, near Čilipi, Wikipedia records. The city can also be reached by road; the Pelješac Bridge on the coast to the north was completed in 2022.