The Walls of Dubrovnik, once a source of pride and protection, have witnessed more than their fair share of sorrow. They have echoed with the cries of the besieged, the groans of the wounded, and the chilling silence that follows a bloody conflict. But even in the face of such grim realities, there is a certain macabre beauty to be found in exploring the remnants of the past. Walking the Walls of Dubrovnik is the most quintessential tourist experience so choose from any number of private or group tours or join me on this perilous self-guided walking tour along the Walls of Dubrovnik.
Don’t miss out on this! This article is also featured on GPSmyCity. To download this article for offline reading or create a self-guided walking tour to visit the attractions highlighted in this article, go to Walking Tours and Articles in Dubrovnik.
If you don’t want things to be quite as simple, I’ve provided an alternate way to aid your navigation and to ensure you do not miss a single enchanting detail: a convenient link to Google Maps is provided for each captivating stop. For those who wish to survey the entirety of this delightful itinerary before setting forth, here’s the full map.
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Where to Start
Here’s more information about how to get to Dubrovnik, getting around Dubrovnik, where to stay, where to eat, and more information about what to expect.
I must advise you to start your Walls of Dubrovnik walking tour first thing in the morning to beat at least some of the hordes of tourists and save yourself from too much of the relentless sun. So grab a bottle of water, slap on some sunscreen, and head to Pile Gate to start your tour. If you’re coming from outside of Old Town, you’ll enter through this gate, and if you’re already in Old Town, stay inside.
Dubrovnik Walls Walking Tour
The Dubrovnik City Walls wind their way around the ancient heart of the city, offering a panorama of the Adriatic Sea. As you wander along their crenellated parapets past towers, bastions, and forts, you cannot help but feel as though the past is never truly dead.
1. Pile Gate
The unfortunate souls who seek entry into the Old Town of Dubrovnik must first pass through Pile Gate, the main entrance located on the western side of the city walls. This forbidding structure, erected in the fourteenth century, once boasted a wooden drawbridge, raised each night to keep out the undesirables.
It is just inside Pile gate and to the left that you can buy your tickets for your self-guided walking tour around the walls if you do not have a Dubrovnik Pass. A ticket costs €15 in the winter and €35 in the summer. Once your tickets are secured, be prepared for an arduous ascent to the top of the city walls. From here, you are directed to proceed along the walls in a counter-clockwise direction.
2. Fort Bokar
As you make your way along the western wall, you’ll notice the monstrous scale of the walls. On the southwest corner, Fort Bokar stands before you as a grim exemplification of the city’s desperate struggle against the relentless tide of invaders.
A portion of Fort Bokar is precariously perched upon a detached rock, its stability and connection to the city maintained by a series of arches. Even now, the relentless sea continues to churn beneath this fort.
In the summer, Fort Bokar, with its commanding position and expansive platforms, is transformed into a venue for summer festivals.
I’ve been told that Fort Bokar is also featured in a few scenes from “Game of Thrones,” though I am not unfortunate enough to claim to be an expert in any such television program.
From Fort Bokar, gaze to the west to see Fort Lovrijenac, which you can visit later, using your Walls of Dubrovnik ticket.
3. Fort Lovrijenac
A sorry sight awaits those who dare to gaze upon the grim visage of Fort Lovrijenac, a monstrous edifice clinging precariously to a sheer cliff face some 131 feet above the sea. This grim sentinel protected by 10 cannons, was born of a most unfortunate turn of events, you see.
In the eleventh century, a chilling rumor slithered through the streets of Dubrovnik: the Venetians plotted to erect a fortress where Lovrijenac now stands, in a plot to further dominate the people of Dubrovnik.
Now, the citizens of Dubrovnik possessed a peculiar and somewhat unsettling law: each soul within the city walls was bound to act as an unwitting guardian for the city’s well-being. Thus, driven by a desperate fear of Venetian oppression, the entire populace was conscripted into the unpleasant construction of a fortress. For three agonizing months, the city hummed with the melancholic sounds of construction, the air thick with the stench of sweat.
And so, Lovrijenac was born, a monstrous testament to the tyranny of civic duty.
Should you find yourself unfortunate enough to visit Dubrovnik during the oppressive summer months, you may witness theatrical performances taking place within the walls of this fortress. And if you are a fan of that most unfortunate television program, “Game of Thrones,” you may recognize this as the location of the Red Keep.
As you continue eastward along the sea, you will pass a small stand selling drinks. Grab a bottle of water here if you need, but if you can wait a few more minutes, there is a larger cafe at the next stop with a bigger selection, as well as more seating, shade, and views.
4. Fort St. Peter
In ages past, Fort St. Peter played a vital role in the defence of Fort Lovrijenac against attacks and plundering by seafaring foes. It served as a crucial vantage point for those tasked with the duty of spotting vessels approaching the west harbour.
This portion of the wall offers vistas of breathtaking and endless waves, a spectacle both terrifying and sublime. From any point along the southern wall, one may gaze upon the merciless expanse of water.
- Thirsty? There is a refreshing cafe here where one can rest and enjoy something to drink.
As you continue on, you’ll pass Buža Bar and Buža Beach on your right, and a basketball court and plenty of hanging laundry on your left.
5. Fort St. Margaret
Built in the sixteenth century, Fort St. Margaret is a Renaissance-style monstrosity jutting out into the unforgiving sea.
This outpost, blessed with a terrace of somewhat generous proportions, provides a modicum of space to pause without the oppressive sense of urgency that pervades the remainder of the walk around the walls, where the relentless tide of humanity threatens to sweep one along in its inexorable current.
Here, one may observe the spectacle of vessels arriving and departing the harbour, enjoy a panorama of Old Town, and see the cursed island of Lokrum in the distance.
6. Fort St. Stephen
Fort St. Stephen is a relative newcomer to the city’s fortifications. Erected in the seventeenth century, it stands in contrast to the earliest fortifications, dating back to the grim seventh century.
As a whole, the construction of the walls was a project of immense scale and questionable sanity that dragged on for thousands of years.
7. Tower of St. Saviour
The Tower of St. Saviour looms on the southeastern edge of the walls. It affords a vista that is as unsettling as it is expansive. As from this lofty perch, one may gaze out upon the treacherous waters toward the cursed Lokrum island, or down the perilous cliffs to Buza Beach.
8. Fort St. Ivan
Nestled on the southeastern side of Dubrovnik, one finds Fort St. Ivan, which was the main fortress that guarded the port of Dubrovnik. In the murky depths of the medieval era, piracy was a scourge upon the seas but the cunning citizens of Dubrovnik devised a most ingenious defense: When a warning call was sounded, a monstrous iron chain was stretched across the harbour’s mouth. This contraption, designed to ensnare the unwary pirate, would surely doom any ship that dared to navigate these treacherous waters. Those unfortunate enough to collide with this fearsome obstacle would be left at the mercy of the cannons.
Alas, the days of pirate raids are long past, and within the stony walls of this once fearsome fortress one may now find a museum dedicated to the city’s maritime heritage, and a modest aquarium.
9. Luka Tower
This is one of two colossal bastions that once guarded the east port of Dubrovnik. One can almost hear the mournful cries of the defenders, the clang of swords against stone, and the distant boom of cannon fire echoing through the ages.
10. Ploče Gate
Ploče Gate bears an unsettling resemblance to Pile Gate, both boasting a pair of arches and a bridge of questionable stability (originally a wooden drawbridge).
The outer gate, erected in 1628, and the stone bridge, built in the 15th century, contribute to the overall air of foreboding.
For those unfortunate souls familiar with the ‘Game of Thrones’ television series, this is apparently the gate through which Cersei was forced to pass before being greeted by Qyburn after her walk of shame.
11. Fort Revelin
At the far end of the Ploče Gate bridge is the Fort Revelin, which was built as a lookout point over the gate and harbor in the 16th century.
This fortress took 11 years to build and miraculously wasn’t damaged in the 1667 earthquake. There are three entrances to the fortress, and it protects the Old Port on the East side of Dubrovnik. Today Revelin is a popular nightclub and used for the stage for the Summer Festival as well.
Now you’ll head down the north wall, the last wall on your Walls of Dubrovnik walking tour.
12. Buza Gate
This northern entrance into Old Town is simply a cutout in the wall, created in the 1900s when the town was under Austro-Hungarian Empire rule. Should one choose to leave Old Town through Buza Gate, perhaps to do laundry, one must first climb several blocks of stairs to get up to the gate from the Stradum.
- Thirsty? Stop at the small cafe where you can grab something to drink and maybe sit for a few minutes on your way to the last and most harrowing part of your journey.
13. Minčeta Tower
A walk west from Buža Gate will eventually deposit you at Minčeta Tower at the west end of the city’s forbidding north wall. This monstrous wall boasts a height that would make even the most hardened soul despair. And atop this monstrous wall sits Minčeta Tower, the highest point on the walls, built to repel the ferocious onslaught of the Slavs.
To reach the summit of Minčeta Tower, one must endure the agonizing ascent of something like 750 treacherous steps, a journey that will test the fortitude of even the most seasoned adventurer. Yet, for those souls who manage to conquer this daunting obstacle, a reward awaits – a vista of the city below, a panorama both breathtaking and eerily familiar to those unfortunate viewers of the “Game of Thrones” television program.
Having exhaustively circumnavigated the fortifications, a treacherous staircase will deposit you unceremoniously back into the labyrinthine depths of the Old Town, where your exploration may commence anew at street level. Do keep a vigilant eye out for an upcoming self-guided Dubrovnik Old Town walking tour, which will undoubtedly prove to be a most rewarding experience.
I’m sure you’ve enjoyed this Walls of Dubrovnik walking tour. Keep in mind that a visit to Fort Lovrijenac is included as part of your ticket so be sure to explore that as well. If you’re looking for more, here are all of my posts about Dubrovnik and Croatia, including tips for planning your trip and essential Croatia travel experiences.
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