Dubrovnik might not be the capital city of Croatia, but it’s arguably the tourist capital of the country. If you’re interested in finding out what exactly makes this particular city so interesting, then our article on where to stay in Dubrovnik might help answer that question.
The Best Places to Stay in Dubrovnik
Milan is large, with a lot of interesting and diverse things to see. Every neighborhood offers something special and unique that’ll probably stimulate you to choose one before the other.
Out of the many areas to stay in Dubrovnik, the following places are among the most popular:
- Lapad: Great hiking trails with fantastic views of the city
- Babin Kuk: Great beaches and plenty of hotels
- Old Town: Home to most of the major historical sites in the city
- Ploce: The place where you can get on top of the famous Dubrovnik City Wall
- City Center: The biggest bars and nightclubs in the city
Where to Stay in Dubrovnik: Best Areas & Hotels
As we go through the article, you’ll notice that most of the areas that we cover have a main attraction. So, if you’re interested in a particular attraction, you’ll know exactly which area to stay in.
Dubrovnik has great beaches, historic buildings, and many bars that you can visit, but they’re all pretty spread out. You’ll also notice that the hotels in certain areas are more expensive than others.
We’ll include prices and major attractions in all of our segments, so all you really have to do is set a budget and decide which attractions are most attractive to you.
1. Lapad
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Lapad is the best starting point for anyone that’s new to the city and wants to see as much of it as possible. A lot of the tours of Dubrovnik actually start in this area, and you’ll also be able to find cable cars that can take you up to the highest point in the city.
Speaking of amazing views, you’ll also find a park/forest in this area that’s called Velika i Mala Petka (Big and Small Petka). Anyone that likes to hike will be interested in checking out the many trails in the area.
Some of them go up to the highest point on the mountain, where you’ll get an amazing view of the coast and the city. If you’re not one for hiking, you can visit that same coast and either spend some time on the beach or get on a cruise ship that will take you around the archipelago.
There are several Elaphiti Islands cruises that will take you to Koločep, Lopud, and Šipan. You’ll get to see the rustic beauty of these islands as well as the monasteries that date back as far as the late middle ages. The biggest issue with Lapad is that it’s sort of a middle ground when it comes to tourist spots.
There are better beaches, better landmarks, and better bars that you can find in other areas of Dubrovnik, so Lapad is a great starting point for visitors, but not many people stay in this area for long.
Lapad Budget Hotels
- Hotel Ivka comes with an in-house bar, complimentary breakfast in the morning, and rooms with room service and free wifi.
- Akademis Academia offers complimentary continental breakfast every morning, a flat-screen TV, and free wifi in every room.
Lapad Mid-Range Hotels
- Hotel Lapad has rooms with an AC unit, a flat-screen cable TV, and a coffee maker, and the hotel also has an outdoor swimming pool with a lounge area.
- Grand Hotel Park comes with an in-house restaurant that serves traditional Croatian dishes, as well as two swimming pools and a full-service spa and wellness center.
Lapad Luxury Hotels
- Hotel Dubrovnik Palace comes with four on-site restaurants where you can eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, rooms that come with a satellite TV and a minibar, and 24-hour room service.
- Hotel Kompas has an in-house restaurant where guests can enjoy a meal, two on-site bars where they can get a drink, two swimming pools where they can do a few laps, and even a gift shop where you can buy a souvenir.
2. Babin Kuk
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There’s an interesting fact about Croatia that’s left out of most tourist guide books — Croatians don’t really follow standard naming conventions and prefer to give their cities and regions oddly specific names just for the hell of it.
Grandma’s Hip doesn’t really have an etymology outside of “it sounds funny,” but at least it’s not as bad as some of their other names, like Svinjarevci (Pig Village), Babina Guzica (Grandma’s Ass), and the classic Veliko Svinjičko (Big Pig Village).
We know that we just made you want to visit all of the places that we just mentioned, but at least let us tell you about Grandma’s Hip before you book the plane tickets.
Babin Kuk is the newest area of the city that comprises buildings that are at most a few decades old. Naturally, most of them are hotels and resorts. The main draw of Babin Kuk is its fantastic beaches and the many water-based activities that you can try.
Cava Beach, for instance, has plenty of beachside bars and lounging areas where you can get a tan. Sanj Beach, on the other hand, is close to a seaside cave that can be explored by way of a kayak if you want to take a tour.
And finally, you also have Copacabana — a private beach surrounded by upscale restaurants and beach-side service that will bring you whatever you want while you wait under your umbrella.
Being the resort section of the city, you should expect the prices of the restaurants and the hotels to be higher than what you’d find anywhere else in Dubrovnik.
Babin Kuk Budget Hotels
- Tirena Sunny Hotel by Valamar has an AC unit and free wifi in every room, a complimentary breakfast every morning, and an outside swimming pool.
- Royal Neptun Hotel is located right next to the beach, it has an outdoor swimming pool, and all of the rooms come with an AC unit and free wifi.
Babin Kuk Mid-Range Hotels
- Valamar Lacroma Dubrovnik has an LCD flat-screen TV and a coffee maker in every room, both an outdoor and an indoor gym, a full sauna, and a fully-equipped fitness center.
- Royal Palm Hotel has an in-house restaurant where you can enjoy your complimentary breakfast every morning, free wifi throughout the property, and rooms with a flat-screen cable TV and an AC unit.
Babin Kuk Luxury Hotels
- Royal Blue Hotel comes with an on-site bar where you can enjoy a complimentary buffet or a la carte breakfast, a front desk that’s always open, and a full-service spa and wellness center with massage options.
- Royal Princess Hotel provides all of the guests with rooms that have an LCD flat-screen satellite TV, an AC unit, and a coffee maker, and the hotel comes with both an inside and an outside swimming pool and free wifi throughout the property.
3. Old Town
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The first thing that might strike you when visiting this part of the city is that it seems oddly familiar. This is more than likely because you’ve seen Game of Thrones, and a lot of the scenes that take place in King’s Landing were actually shot in this part of Dubrovnik.
In fact, there are tours that can take you past what was the show’s set and maybe snap a pic or two. Aside from that, Old Town is famous for its 13th-century architectural design, which remains untarnished to this day.
All of the streets, buildings, and even the fountains and monuments that can be found here have that late-medieval vibe, and it’s truly a treat for history buffs.
The most famous landmarks in this part of the city include churches like the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Church of St. Ignatius, St. Blaise’s Church, and many others.
If you’re not into religious buildings, then you might be more interested in Lovrijenac Fortress or Rectors’ Palace, both of which have detailed histories that you can learn about if you take one ofthe tours that show you around the area. Old Town is without a doubt the most famous tourist spot in the city, which means that it gets a lot of visitors every day.
This usually isn’t a problem, but one of the key characteristics of this area is the narrow walkways, so it can be a real pain to get from one attraction to another without having to shove through huge crowds of people.
Old Town Budget Hotels
- Kingslanding Old Town Hostel provides guests with access to a shared kitchenette and bathroom, and while the rooms might not look like much, they come at incredibly reasonable prices.
- Old Town Hostel provides guests with a complimentary breakfast every morning, as well as a rec room that comes with a ping-pong table.
Old Town Mid-Range Hotels
- Bota Palace comes with either a complimentary continental or a la carte breakfast every morning, a flat-screen TV in every room, and car rental services at the reception desk.
- Scalini Palace has room service that you can call up at any time of the day, a continental breakfast that’s brought to your room every morning, and free wifi throughout the property.
Old Town Luxury Hotels
- The Pucic Palace provides guests with a complimentary a la carte breakfast every morning, rooms that come with a flat-screen TV and a minibar, and an in-house bar where you can grab a drink.
- Boutique Hotel Stari Grad has rooms that come with an AC unit and a satellite TV, an in-house restaurant where you can enjoy your complimentary breakfast in the morning, and there’s free wifi throughout the property.
4. Ploce
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Ploce is located east of Old Town, and the famous Dubrovnik City Wall is the only thing that separates the two. If you’re interested in climbing on top of this massive wall and walking around the edge in order to get a better view of the city, then it’s best to do so via the Vrata od Ploča (Door of Ploce).
The same door that can be used to gain access to the wall can also be used as the eastern entrance to Old Town. You also get to it by crossing a 14th-century stone bridge, which means this one gate has several historical sites surrounding it.
Ploce is also home to quite a few beaches you can visit if you’re in the mood for a swim or if you just want to lounge around in the sun.
There are a lot of beachside activities that you can try, including volleyball and badminton. As for the beaches themselves, the water is crystal clear, and the sand on the beach is fine, so it’s ideal for both swimming and tanning.
Having said that, Ploce has a lot of the same issues as Lapad, namely, the fact that the center of the city has the most entertainment venues, Babin Kuk has the best beaches and resorts, and Old Town has the most interesting historic locations. This leaves Ploce with very few actual attractions outside of the ones that we just mentioned.
Ploce Budget Hotels
- Love Dubrovnik Hostel has an AC unit and a private bathroom in every room, and some rooms also come with a kitchen.
- Villa Glavić comes with a full-service spa and wellness center with plenty of massage options and treatments, an in-house bar where you can enjoy your complimentary breakfast in the morning, and rooms that come with an AC unit and a flat-screen TV.
Ploce Mid-Range Hotels
- Grand Villa Argentina has two outdoor swimming pools, rooms with an AC unit and a flat-screen TV, and a complimentary breakfast served every morning.
- Hotel Excelsior comes with a fresh-water outdoor swimming pool, two hot tubs, a full-service spa and sauna, and rooms that come with free wifi and 24-hour room service.
Ploce Luxury Hotels
- Villa Orsula provides guests with a room with an AC unit and a flat-screen TV, a full-service spa and wellness center with massage services, and a private beach that hotel guests can take full advantage of.
5. City Center
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The city center is where you’ll find most of the entertainment venues in Dubrovnik. There are plenty of bars that you can check, lots of live music, and many restaurants where you can sit down for a nice Mediterranean meal.
There are also theaters and cinemas if you’re interested in catching a movie or a stage performance. This is also where you’ll find most of the bigger stores in the city.
There are hundreds of boutiques with famous brands that you can check out, souvenir shops where you can get something that reminds you of your trip, and all sorts of other stores as well. If you still aren’t sick of learning about the history of the city, then you might like to visit the Homeland War Museum or the Red History Museum.
The former tells you a bit about the Croatian war for independence, while the latter focuses more on modern history and what life was like in the country back when it was still part of Yugoslavia.
You’ll also be able to find quite a lot of monuments and interesting sites by just walking around this area of the city. The most notable would probably be the Majsan Armoured Vehicle, which was used in the defense of Dubrovnik during the Croatian War of Independence.
The center of the city has plenty of entertainment venues but very few historic attractions and beaches, which are generally the two things that people come to Dubrovnik for.
City Center Budget Hotels
- Hostel Hakuna Matata comes with free private parking and access to a shared lounge and kitchen at a very reasonable price.
- Villa M offers a complimentary breakfast every morning, a flat-screen cable TV in every room, and an outside swimming pool.
City Center Mid-Range Hotels
- Villa Dorma has rooms with a flat-screen satellite TV, free wifi throughout the property, and a complimentary breakfast served every morning.
- Hotel Lero comes with a buffet breakfast every morning, free wifi throughout the property, and a full-service spa and wellness center with many treatments you can choose from.
City Center Luxury Hotels
- Rixos Premium Dubrovnik includes three in-house restaurants and three in-house bars, so you have plenty of choices, and the hotel also comes with a two-story spa center and two outdoor swimming pools.
- Hotel Bellevue Dubrovnik comes with a full-service wellness center, an outside seasonal swimming pool, an in-house bar with quite a large selection of wine, and rooms that come with a flat-screen satellite TV and free wifi.
So, Where Should You Stay in Dubrovnik?
Dubrovnik is a great place for history buffs to check out all of the monuments, cathedrals, fortresses, and most of the other historically significant buildings that the city is known for. But there’s so much more to see than just history.
Let’s recap the best places to stay on a visit to this storied city to maximize the most of your travel budget:
| 🥾 Best Area for Hiking | Lapad |
| ⛱️ Best for Relaxing on the Beach | Babin Kuk |
| 🏰 Most Historic Area | Old Town |
| ⛵ Best for Activities | Ploce |
| 🍺 Best Area for Nightlife | City Center |
So, with so much to see and do, and countless amazing places to stay, what are you waiting for — book your trip today and experience for yourself all that Dubrovnik has to offer. Happy travels!