Mention Croatia and the first destination in everyone's mind is of course Dubrovnik. The beautiful coastal city along the Adriatic Sea. One of my stop on my last Europe trip was to this city to see what all the hype was about. With 1 full day to discover the main Old Town, these are the activities that I got to experience.

We came to Dubrovnik via Bosnia as we had arrange a day tour around the country ending in this city. We travelled along the coast and went in and out of immigration twice as there was a small part of the coast that was part of Bosnia. We stayed in Orasac which is about 20 minutes away from the Old Town. Quiet enough from the hectic of the city but still easily accessible.

The next day, time to explore the Old Town. As always, I'd always want to find somewhere that I can get a bird's eye view of the city I visit. The best place for this was to ride up a cable car that goes up to Mount Srd. A round trip ticket costs 150 Croatian Kuna and can be purchased at a lot of the ticket outlets in Old Town or at the cable car station itself. The time we visited, there was a long and confusing queue that people ended up cutting lines. Grrr. I think we spent a little over half an hour of queueing in the hot sun. There are restaurants and souvenirs up top but nothing more. However, the view here is amazing. I got to see the whole of Old Town and its surrounding as well as the nearby Lokrum island.

Old Town and Lokrum Island taken from Mount Srd

Once we're back down, it's time to go into the Old Town gates. Strictly no vehicles, the alleys and streets are all pedestrian only and is just a delight to discover. We entered from the north gate heading towards the main street Stradun. From here, it's your playground to discover the old town. In the town itself, there are many restaurants to try and shops to purchase your souvenirs. It's very touristy I would say, as with all other historically preserved old towns in Europe. I returned at night as well to see the town lit up by the Stardun as well as the Old Port in the east.

The narrow alley way towards Stradun from the North Old Town gate

Main street Stradun

Another activity that I participated in was to climb up the city wall. The entrance to climb up is near the west gate and the ticket costs 150 Croatian Kuna as well. The climb is not too hard, but the steps can be quite steep and narrow. Once up there, you'll be mesmerized by the red rooftops and intricate layout of this town. A whole round of the city wall could take you up to an hour. Make sure you have a map with you as you want to be able to identify the landmarks you'll be seeing along the journey.

Stradun at night

The old port at night

I don't watch Game of Thrones, but somehow I just became interested to discover the spots that are featured in the series that I can see along the city wall. I believe a whole of the town has been featured but the significant landmarks would be Fort Lovrijenac, Minceta Tower, Ploce Gate and Dominican Monastery. Other than GoT locations, the view of the horizon at the sea is amazing. I did also spot people kayaking out to see from the west gate, and seeing people diving into the ocean from the famous Buza Bar. Cool!

Fort Lovrijenac taken from the city wall

People diving into the ocean from Buza Bar

Minceta Tower

So that was my full day exploring the main city in Dubrovnik. The rest of the time, we took a trip to Montenegro as well as enjoying the sea at the hotel in Orasac. Yes, you can get away from it all and enjoy a quiet beach vacation in Dubrovnik as well. Did I miss anything?