With the final Game of Thrones series well under way, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the beautiful set destination of Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was May Bank Holiday Weekend that I visited last year, and had the most wonderful time. It's perfect for a long weekend, cheap and easy to get to from most places. Have a read on why Dubrovnik is the new Kings Landing and how I felt like a Queen of all 7 kingdoms on my trip...
Getting to the city in less than 3 hours from London, it's the perfect sunny destination for a long weekend. Most travel operators always seem to have deals and trips to this little slice of paradise; we got a deal with Jet 2 Holidays for just under £300 for a 3 day trip; including return flights from Stansted and our own self-catering villa. We stayed in Lapad beach which was a 2 minute walk to the water and beach front and about 30 minutes into the Old Town. Dubrovnik is a very cheap place to enjoy; we took £250 spending money and had money to take home. It's very easy to navigate around, with most places being within walking distance and public transport being extremely accessible and cheap.
If you are planning a trip to Dubrovnik, but haven't a clue where to go/what to do whilst you're here; then follow my list to get the most out of your short st
There are many things to do for free, and museums/attractions are extremely cheap. You can enjoy the City Walls Tour and enjoy wondering through the Old Town. The City Walls is one of the primary filming spots for Games of Thrones and one of my personal favourites of everything we saw that day. Old Town is stunning; full of isolated streets, cobbled alleyways, terracotta roofs and delicious ice cream cafes and Mediterranean restaurants. This was our biggest tourist day, and we spent the day visiting Stradon, Dubrovik Cathedral, Franciscan Monestry, War Mueseum and Mount Srd, where we took a cable car to the top and dirt biked the remainder of the way to the summit.
As we stayed in Lapad Beach, we spent our evenings visiting their mini strip for dinner and watching the sunset go down from one of the beachfront bars. The choice of food is endless and very cheap with a wide choice of cuisines. If you are a fan of seafood, then I highly recommend sampling their freshly caught mussels and oysters.
If you are after more of a luxurious/paradise feel, then getting a cruise around Elafiti Islands is highly recommend. For £55 you can have a 3-course dinner cruise on a traditional pirate ship and take in the stunning views and ocean breezes.
Our next day was dedicated to the stunning Lokram Island (or Qarth in GoT talk) - a stunning nature reserve and unhabited island. You can only access the island by a water taxi or ferry. But on this island you can enjoy snorkelling, mermaid lagoons and the Game of Thrones museum. This museum is free and you can pose on the famous chair. There are other GoT tours, but some of them are quite pricey and the majority of sets can be explored on foot.
Try swimming further into sea or going snorkelling - the marine wildlife here is incredible. I'm not the most confident free diver, but my travel buddy Lee was and he took the GoPro to get some epic shots.
Lokrum closes at 5pm to the general public, but at 6pm is when Skar Winery opens. For the equivalent of £10, you can get x3 250ml wines to sample (white, red and rose), their honey nectar shot and have a cured meats and cheese board. Then for any top ups, you just pay as you go. It's a great deal, and a very cute and cosy family run business on the waterfront. They even give you a mini tour of how all the wine is made in store.
Many tourists will rave about going to Bouza Bar. First of all it has no website and extremely difficult to find, as it is a secret bar - supposedly one of these epic places to find and is home to the best sunset destination in Duborvnik. With some very cryptic Trip Advisor directions; we eventually did find it, but it wasn't much to rave about, with some parasols, deep house music and day beds, but the view wasn't as great as we would have liked it to be. We raced back to Lapad Beach (knowing sunsets were fab near our villa) and enjoyed cocktails and our final dinner from Sunset Lounge Dubrovnik - the most perfect location.
If we stayed for another day, we would have taken a ferry and explored the gorgeous Montenegro. Montenegro is really easy to get to and many tours start at around £50.
If you have deliberately gone to Dubrovnik to sniff out the GoT sets, then you need to check out where the Battle of Blackwater took place and head to Lovrijenac Fortress along the city walls. A stunning walk is through gorgeous Trsteno Arboretum which is also the set for King's Landing Palace Gardens. All of these locations are free to visit, or you can get a £15 90 minute walking tour with a professional guide.
Finally, if you are all about snapping up the most perfect travelgram shots - then there are stunning destinations and secret alleyways in Old Town. They are free to enter (as they are mainly residential areas) and are gorgeous. The terracota, the sea and the sunsets make Dubrovnik the most perfect location for friends, families or couples. One little place which isn't talked about that much, is the beautiful Cave Bar just off Lapad Beach - it's a great place to visit if you fancy a cocktail out of the sun and is very simply a sparkling cave/converted rock bar. The interiors are gorgeous and rumour is there are glow warms which sparkle there at night too!
And there you have it - hopefully a quick and useful insight into Dubrovnik. If you want any further info in more detail, please let me know as I always love helping and planning holidays. Have a great weekend and keep on discovering,
Danie xxx
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