Top 10 Things to Do in Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik's Old Town (Stari Grad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a compact gem of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture on a limestone peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, enclosed within its magnificent medieval walls. The Republic of Ragusa, an independent city-state that existed from the 14th century to 1808, built one of the most prosperous trading cities in the Mediterranean, and its legacy is visible in the grand palaces, churches, fountains, and public buildings that line the Old Town's marble-paved streets. It is the best preserved walled city in Europe and one of the most beautiful urban ensembles in the Mediterranean.

Fort Lovrijenac (St. Lawrence Fortress) is a freestanding defensive bastion perched on a 37-metre-high cliff just outside the western walls of Dubrovnik, with spectacular views of the Old Town, the sea, and the surrounding coastline. Built in the 11th century, the fortress was central to Ragusa's defence and bore the inscription "Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditur Auro" ("Freedom is not to be sold for all the gold in the world") over its gate. Today it is a venue for open-air theatre and concerts during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, and was used as a filming location for Game of Thrones.

The Dubrovnik Cable Car (Žičara Dubrovnik) ascends 405 metres from just outside the old city walls to the summit of Mount Srđ in approximately 4 minutes, offering the most spectacular bird's-eye views of the Old Town, the encircling walls, the nearby Elafiti Islands, and the coast of Montenegro on clear days. The original cable car was destroyed in the 1991–92 siege of Dubrovnik and rebuilt and reopened in 2010. At the summit, the restored Napoleonic Fort Imperial houses the Homeland War Museum and the views at sunset are among the best in the Adriatic.

The Rector's Palace (Knežev Dvor) is the most important secular monument of the Republic of Ragusa, a beautiful Gothic-Renaissance palace built in the 15th century as the seat of government and residence of the Rector — the head of state of the Ragusan republic, who was elected monthly and was not permitted to leave the building except on official duties. The palace was severely damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt several times, resulting in a fascinating mixture of architectural styles. Today it houses the Cultural History Museum with a rich collection of portraits, coins, weapons, and furniture from the Ragusan republic.

Stradun (also known as Placa) is Dubrovnik's magnificent main street, a wide limestone-paved promenade 300 metres long running through the heart of the Old Town, polished by centuries of foot traffic to a mirror-like sheen. Built on the site of a former channel that separated the original island settlement from the mainland, it was unified in the 12th century and rebuilt in its current uniform Baroque style after the 1667 earthquake. The street is lined with identical two-storey stone buildings housing shops and cafés at street level, and in the evenings it becomes the setting for a lively passeggiata.

Lokrum is a lush, forested island just 600 metres offshore from the Dubrovnik Old Town, reachable by regular boat taxi in 10 minutes, and is a protected nature reserve with no permanent residents and no accommodation. The island has botanical gardens established by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in the 1860s, the ruins of a Benedictine monastery dating to 1023, a saltwater lake known as the Dead Sea, naturist beaches, peacocks roaming freely, and a small Game of Thrones exhibition. It is the perfect half-day escape from the crowds of the Old Town.

The Dominican Monastery (Dominikanski samostan) in Dubrovnik's Old Town is a superb example of late Gothic-Renaissance architecture, built into the northeastern corner of the city walls in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its Renaissance cloister, with elegant arcaded galleries surrounding a garden planted with orange trees, is one of the most beautiful in the Adriatic. The monastery museum houses an exceptional collection of 14th- and 15th-century paintings by the Dubrovnik school, including works by Nikola Božidarević and Lovro Dobričević, as well as Titian's St. Mary Magdalene.

War Photo Limited is a unique and powerful photography gallery in Dubrovnik's Old Town dedicated to photojournalism and the documentation of armed conflict, founded by New Zealand photographer Wade Goddard who covered the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The permanent collection focuses on the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and rotating temporary exhibitions feature the work of leading photojournalists from conflicts around the world. It is one of only a handful of galleries in the world dedicated exclusively to war photography, and is a thought-provoking counterpoint to Dubrovnik's beauty.

Dubrovnik served as the primary filming location for King's Landing, the capital city of the Seven Kingdoms in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, bringing the city international fame and a new generation of visitors. Scenes were filmed at Stradun, Lovrijenac Fortress (the Red Keep), Minčeta Tower, the Rector's Palace, and numerous streets and stairways throughout the Old Town; the famous "Walk of Shame" was filmed on the Jesuit staircase. Guided Game of Thrones tours run daily from multiple operators, tracing shooting locations while revealing behind-the-scenes stories from the production.

Dubrovnik's Old Town (Stari Grad) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a compact gem of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque architecture on a limestone peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, enclosed within its magnificent medieval walls. The Republic of Ragusa, an independent city-state that existed from the 14th century to 1808, built one of the most prosperous trading cities in the Mediterranean, and its legacy is visible in the grand palaces, churches, fountains, and public buildings that line the Old Town's marble-paved streets. It is the best preserved walled city in Europe and one of the most beautiful urban ensembles in the Mediterranean.

Fort Lovrijenac (St. Lawrence Fortress) is a freestanding defensive bastion perched on a 37-metre-high cliff just outside the western walls of Dubrovnik, with spectacular views of the Old Town, the sea, and the surrounding coastline. Built in the 11th century, the fortress was central to Ragusa's defence and bore the inscription "Non Bene Pro Toto Libertas Venditur Auro" ("Freedom is not to be sold for all the gold in the world") over its gate. Today it is a venue for open-air theatre and concerts during the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, and was used as a filming location for Game of Thrones.

The Dubrovnik Cable Car (Žičara Dubrovnik) ascends 405 metres from just outside the old city walls to the summit of Mount Srđ in approximately 4 minutes, offering the most spectacular bird's-eye views of the Old Town, the encircling walls, the nearby Elafiti Islands, and the coast of Montenegro on clear days. The original cable car was destroyed in the 1991–92 siege of Dubrovnik and rebuilt and reopened in 2010. At the summit, the restored Napoleonic Fort Imperial houses the Homeland War Museum and the views at sunset are among the best in the Adriatic.

The Rector's Palace (Knežev Dvor) is the most important secular monument of the Republic of Ragusa, a beautiful Gothic-Renaissance palace built in the 15th century as the seat of government and residence of the Rector — the head of state of the Ragusan republic, who was elected monthly and was not permitted to leave the building except on official duties. The palace was severely damaged by earthquakes and rebuilt several times, resulting in a fascinating mixture of architectural styles. Today it houses the Cultural History Museum with a rich collection of portraits, coins, weapons, and furniture from the Ragusan republic.

Stradun (also known as Placa) is Dubrovnik's magnificent main street, a wide limestone-paved promenade 300 metres long running through the heart of the Old Town, polished by centuries of foot traffic to a mirror-like sheen. Built on the site of a former channel that separated the original island settlement from the mainland, it was unified in the 12th century and rebuilt in its current uniform Baroque style after the 1667 earthquake. The street is lined with identical two-storey stone buildings housing shops and cafés at street level, and in the evenings it becomes the setting for a lively passeggiata.

Lokrum is a lush, forested island just 600 metres offshore from the Dubrovnik Old Town, reachable by regular boat taxi in 10 minutes, and is a protected nature reserve with no permanent residents and no accommodation. The island has botanical gardens established by Archduke Maximilian of Austria in the 1860s, the ruins of a Benedictine monastery dating to 1023, a saltwater lake known as the Dead Sea, naturist beaches, peacocks roaming freely, and a small Game of Thrones exhibition. It is the perfect half-day escape from the crowds of the Old Town.

The Dominican Monastery (Dominikanski samostan) in Dubrovnik's Old Town is a superb example of late Gothic-Renaissance architecture, built into the northeastern corner of the city walls in the 14th and 15th centuries. Its Renaissance cloister, with elegant arcaded galleries surrounding a garden planted with orange trees, is one of the most beautiful in the Adriatic. The monastery museum houses an exceptional collection of 14th- and 15th-century paintings by the Dubrovnik school, including works by Nikola Božidarević and Lovro Dobričević, as well as Titian's St. Mary Magdalene.

War Photo Limited is a unique and powerful photography gallery in Dubrovnik's Old Town dedicated to photojournalism and the documentation of armed conflict, founded by New Zealand photographer Wade Goddard who covered the Balkan wars of the 1990s. The permanent collection focuses on the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and rotating temporary exhibitions feature the work of leading photojournalists from conflicts around the world. It is one of only a handful of galleries in the world dedicated exclusively to war photography, and is a thought-provoking counterpoint to Dubrovnik's beauty.

Dubrovnik served as the primary filming location for King's Landing, the capital city of the Seven Kingdoms in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, bringing the city international fame and a new generation of visitors. Scenes were filmed at Stradun, Lovrijenac Fortress (the Red Keep), Minčeta Tower, the Rector's Palace, and numerous streets and stairways throughout the Old Town; the famous "Walk of Shame" was filmed on the Jesuit staircase. Guided Game of Thrones tours run daily from multiple operators, tracing shooting locations while revealing behind-the-scenes stories from the production.