When: Late May, which is considered shoulder season. Fewer crowds and pleasant temperatures leading into Summer.
Breakdown: Dubrovnik as home base | Day Trip to Mostar + Kravika waterfalls | Day Trip to Montenegro
Our Hotel: Hotel Bellevue is a luxury stay located a short 10-15 minute walk to the historic old town. It feels isolated and quiet. The hotel has direct access to a beautiful beach, exquisite dining and a luxury spa.
After completing a successful multi-city road trip in Portugal, we thought we would try a multi-country itinerary! Croatia easily jumped to the top of our list for the location, the historical significance and beautiful Adriatic coastline. Trust me when you get your first glimpse of the old city jutting out into the sea on the drive in you will remember that moment forever.
Dubrovnik’s Old Town
Dubrovnik was appealing to us, in part, for the walkability. Not only did we feel completely safe walking around in the evening the locals seemed very proud of this. One night to avoid the rain we took an uber, the driver said we only had to fear the price of coffee in the old town. Despite being a popular tourist spot the cafes and restaurants overlooking the Stradun are quality (typically in Europe we find those restaurants nearest points of interest are tourist traps). Dubrovnik is different. You can sip coffee and people watch over a decadent dessert or indulge in a Michelin starred lunch. Not to say there aren’t clunkers, there are.
After lunch we would grab pistachio gelato, stroll through the old town and try to find corners we had not explored before. We even followed a leisurely cat on it’s evening promenade to see if it had any secret spots. The secret is even when you think you’ve seen every charming stoop, found yourself sighing over another sunset on the Adriatic — you will uncover something new.
Walk the Walls
Dubrovnik’s preserved medieval city walls were the highlight of our trip. Stepping through the stone gate you are surrounded by history with the beauty of a fairytale. There are three entrances to access the city walls but the traffic flows in one direction. The walk took us nearly two hours including many stops along the route for photos. Timing is Everything: There is virtually no shade on the walls. If visiting in warm months, arrive right when they open at 8:00 AM or wait until late afternoon (around 5:00 PM). This helps you beat the intense midday heat and avoid major cruise ship crowds.
As you walk the narrow walls you see tiny balcony gardens or laundry hanging dry from the residents. A little glimpse into what life is like there. Those quiet moments are my favorite part of any trip, seeing the day-to-day of the people who call it home.
What to Do & See in Dubrovnik
Walk the Walls with a guide: A unique way to see a city from centuries old medieval walls with or without a guide. It only takes a couple hours of your day and well worth it!
Visit Fort Lovrijenac: Perched 120 feet over the sea the fort offers unique vantage points of the walls to the west. Note: There is more of a climb here than the walls if you have any mobility issues.
Kayak around the city walls: Croatia’s coastline is stunning so what better way to explore than by sea!
Take a cable car up Mount Srd: An iconic view over the city that should not be missed.
Get shamed at the Jesuit Steps: A well known scene from GOT takes place on the steps and leads through the city where a main character takes a walk of repentance.
Take a Game of Thrones tour or do it DIY: For those who watched the HBO hit series GOT finding shooting locations could be a fun way to spend your day or the guided tours are very popular with fans. We found some on our own which was neat.
Go to the beach: As you can tell from photos we had overcast days mostly but that didn’t stop of us from visiting the overlook of popular Banje beach.
Where to Eat in Dubrovnik
Holy Burek: Watch the staff roll out the paper thin dough and enjoy every crunchy, flaky bite! We thoroughly enjoyed the spinach option.
Barba: We honestly came here after seeing “Somebody Feed Phil” highlight this spot. My pescatarian husband had to have the octopus burger. Which was really tasty! The portions are large so be prepared.
Trattoria Carmen: This felt like our coziest meal experience. A blend of dalmatian coastal cuisine and italian, think the freshest seafood and handcut pasta. Save room for the Dubrovačka rožata (their take on a creme caramel but with rose).
Gradska Kavana Arsenal: I suggest booking ahead to get a table with a vide over the harbor. Open for breakfast/lunch/dinner. We both had the some of our favorite dishes here. The truffle pasta was the perfect bite of rich and creamy! The squid ink risotto was exceptional.
Peppino’s Gelato: I am not ashamed to admit we had gelato daily. Let’s be honest we earned it with the number of daily steps we achieved. Do yourself a favor and get the pistachio. It rivaled any we had in Italy. Typically we share a gelato but once we had Peppino’s we didn’t share after that :)
Poklisar: Excellent pizza in a great location on the harbor.
Restaurant Panorama: Let’s be real taking a cable car to the top of a mountain to have dinner is iconic. Book ahead to get a table with a view. On their site you get the option of where you want to sit. The view is absolutely stunning (I can’t say the food was memorable).
Any local bakery for a pastry is worth eating outside of the city walls (most within the walls seemed like chains rather than a local owned.
Explore by Sea - Elaphiti Island tour on a catamaran
When I tell people that we spent an afternoon island cruising on a catamaran in Croatia they are surprised. But truly the waters of the Adriatic are clear and beautiful. The turquoise waters rival any Caribbean island. Sea urchins being the one draw back on beachy areas. We booked a small group tour that perfectly matched our vibe. It was lowkey, relaxing and we met the nicest people. The swim into the blue and green caves was thrilling. The opening to the smaller of the two caves was intimidating, I had to duck beneath the rock overhead but once inside we were enveloped in brilliant blue light bouncing of the rock walls. From there we anchored in a protected bay where we snorkeled. To get the adrenaline flowing again we sealed our trip with jumping off the boat with two others we met that day!
Day Trip to Mostar & Kravica Waterfalls
Now, if you are new to Carry On Kimberly, let me tell you that our standard travel template is self-driven multi-city itineraries. This trip breaks the mold!
The appeal of booking this tour was seeing another country, but the biggest selling point was the tour came with a historical expert guide that narrated the drive. The van was a luxury ride, they handled all the border inspection proceedings and for once on a vacation I got to be the passenger princess! On the ever winding drive out of Dubrovnik we could see the fortified walls of Ston and the oyster farms. Crossing into Bosnia poppies came into view (if I were driving we would have pulled over immediately!). Upon arrival we met up with a local expert guide. As my husband was completely enthralled with the explanation of current and historic religious and political affairs (all I could think of was the iconic bridge). I couldn’t wait to get my first look at the bridge.
The guide explained that during the war families were separated by the river when the bridge collapsed. Her stories were heavy, but we learned so much about what life was like during that time.
Now this fact was hard to put into perspective, the Stari Most “Old Bridge” was built in 1566. Unfortunately it was destroyed in 1993, rebuilt using original techniques intended by the architect and local limestone in 2004. Architecturally it was fascinating to behold let alone walk across it! Locals will jump from the top after garnering enough tips from the eager crowd.
The town is essentially a bustling market with locals selling paintings, wool rugs, jewelry and plenty more. Being coffee lovers we were drawn to the handmade accessories. We bought a small bean grinder with Stari Most bridge carved into the mill. The artisan was sure to show us where he etched his signature and demonstrated how to use it. Honestly, we felt somewhat pressed for time and would have preferred to spend more time exploring.
The final stop was the emerald green waters of Kravica waterfalls. The view from the top was beautiful but standing on the beach feeling the mist off the flowing water was mesmerizing. I would have jumped in to cool off but sitting in the van in wet clothes for hours wasn’t appealing.
Day Trip to Montenegro
To me Montenegro looks like Croatia and Slovenia had a baby. We were so excited to experience this country. Needless to say we were disappointed when we had to cancel the day trip due to a bad storm. Eleven hours in a van during torrential rain wasn’t what I signed up for when I booked the trip. Instead I enjoyed a deep tissue massage at our hotel and Brian enjoyed reading his book with a crisp glass of local wine. But that doesn’t mean we can’t recommend the exact tour we would have loved! Check out the tour.
What We Would Do Differently
The Brian factor, within minutes of arriving to a new country he proceeded to spill the traditional Turkish coffee on his lap and then some…our waiter explained he should have stirred it before attempting to pour. Lesson learned!
The downside to traveling with a group is you are tied to their timeline. Our butts were expected to be in the van at a specific departure time and boy did we have to hoof it up some steep stairs in the surprisingly sweltering afternoon!
Being limited to Mostar I am not sure if we really experienced Bosnia and Herzegovina the same way if we had our own car but it was still a good experience
The sea kayaking tour was weather dependent the pro-move would have been to book early on in the trip so when the operator offered to reschedule we could have done so on the same trip, instead we simply ran out of days
