Last Updated on April 7, 2019 by Carissa
Croatia has been on my bucket list for a while now as it has been recommended one of the most beautiful places to visit, especially Dubrovnik (Game of Thrones fan anyone?). So my boyfriend and I booked our flight tickets for mid-March, and now I’m back in the UK and finally managed to narrow down and edit all the pictures we took to share with you guys! Read on to find out what we got up to and my tips for visiting Dubrovnik!
Accommodation:
We stayed at Dubrovnik Sheraton Riviera Hotel, which is a newly built hotel in Srebreno, a small town between the airport and Dubrovnik. When we arrived, we were upgraded to a deluxe room, which was a nice surprise and great start to the day! Our room was very spacious and modern, and had a balcony view of the pool outside. The hotel had good facilities too, like a spa, indoor and outdoor swimming pool, sauna, Jacuzzi, and a gym.
Srebreno is only a 20-30 minute bus ride away from the old town in Dubrovnik (they only have buses and taxis there, no trains), so it was easy to get to the main tourist spots without being in the hustle and bustle of the town, a perfect place for a quiet and peaceful getaway. The only downfall is that Srebreno doesn’t have many restaurants and shops, so we had to travel to Dubrovnik quite often for more food choices and things to do.
Dubrovnik Old Town:
Dubrovnik Old Town is the place to go if you want to soak up the historic atmosphere and see scenes from the TV series, Game of Thrones. But beware, there are A LOT of steep stairs going down into the main square, so be prepared for a lot of walking! There are many restaurants in the side streets (mostly western food like burgers, pizza and pasta), and definitely try to dine outside of the main square as it will be quite expensive otherwise.
Walking around the town, we saw the Bell Tower, Pile Gate, Maritime Museum, Banje Beach, Ploce Gate, Gornji Ugao Tower, Franciscan Monastery, Rector’s Palace, Lovrijenac Fortress and St John’s Fortress. You can also do a tour of the City Walls or take a boat to certain islands, like the Lokrum Island aka the Cursed Island. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit any islands this time of the month because it was out of season, so the boats weren’t running 🙁
The Old Port has a beautiful scenery, and is a great place to take pictures!
On my birthday, we went on the cable cars to see a bird’s eye view of the whole town, which was really nice, although it was so windy at the top!
Trsteno:
We also visited the Trsteno Arboretum, which is like a garden that was once owned by the local noble family Gozze, and also another place where they filmed Game of Thrones. We took an Uber to Trsteno from Dubrovnik, which was about 25 minute journey. The park was not very big (63 acres), but contains over 300 species of trees and plants from around the world, and the old architecture is from the Gothic-Renaissance period. It was very serene, and the Neptune Fountain looked so nice! I think the place would look even prettier in the summer period when all the flowers have bloomed. We finished walking around the Trsteno Arboretum in an hour, but there was nothing else to do in Trsteno so we headed back to Dubrovnik afterwards.
Other towns you can visit around Dubrovnik include Cavtat and Lapad, which is just a short bus journey away from Srebreno. If you’re feeling a proper road-trip, then Split is also a good option, but it takes around 4.5 hours by bus, so probably best to book an over-night stay there if you plan on visiting!
Food:
We mostly had western food for the whole duration there (we found one sushi place in Old Town on my birthday, that was a miracle). They have a lot of Italian, American and seafood cuisines, and their food was generally really nice and generous portion sizes. It wasn’t very expensive either, unless you’re eating in the main square. In Srebreno, we definitely recommend checking out TuttoBene (fast food), Ruzmarin Gastro Bar (seafood Mediterranean) and Konoba Lanterna (Steak, Mediterranean, European).
Public transport:
As I mentioned earlier, there are only buses and taxis in Dubrovnik, and buses come every 30 minutes between 10:30am and 12:30pm, and every hour outside of those times, so not that frequent but there are quite a lot of buses that go through the Old Town so it doesn’t matter much which one you get on. Luckily, the bus stop was just a short walk away from our hotel. An easier and more reliable way to get around town is to use Uber – it’s only slightly more expensive than the bus but it is much more convenient (don’t use their regular taxi services as they are so over-priced). People there are really friendly, so if unsure, don’t be afraid to ask for directions as they’re usually willing to help!
Overall, we had a great time in Dubrovnik, and although there wasn’t much to do in March, it was still a relaxing holiday! I hope you enjoyed this post 🙂
Carissa xxx
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