The walls are the least interesting thing about arriving by sea. The point of Dubrovnik on a boat is everything within twenty miles of it.
Dubrovnik is the most visited place in Croatia and, for a charter, the most logistically awkward. The old city has no harbour a yacht can use. Cruise ships dominate the mornings. And the marina is not where people expect it to be.
Where you actually berth
- ACI Marina Dubrovnik
- Up the Rijeka Dubačka inlet in Komolac, some six kilometres from the old town. Well protected, well serviced, and a taxi or bus ride from the walls. This is the base.
- Gruž
- The commercial and ferry port, and where the cruise ships lie. Not a place to spend a night on a yacht.
- The old port
- Picturesque, tiny, and for small local craft and excursion boats. Not for you.
The anchorages that make it worth it
The Elaphiti islands — Šipan, Lopud and Koločep, an hour or so north-west. Sheltered, green, largely car-free, and the reason to sail this end of the coast at all. Šipanska Luka is a deep protected bay with a village at the head of it.
Lokrum, directly off the old town, is a park island with clear water and, in settled weather, a pleasant lunch stop with the walls as the backdrop.
Mljet, further north-west, has the saltwater lakes and the national park and is worth two days rather than one.
Go into the old town at seven in the morning or after eight at night. Between those hours it belongs to the ships.
Eating beyond the walls
Prices inside the walls are the highest in Croatia and the quality is not correspondingly high. The better food is in Lapad and Gruž, where people who live in the city eat, and on the Elaphiti islands, where a handful of konobas cook what the boats bring in.
The one thing worth doing inside the walls at any price is walking them — at opening time, before the heat and the ships.
Approach notes
The approach to Gruž and the marina inlet is busy with ferries, cruise tenders and excursion traffic, particularly between eight and eleven. The channel is straightforward but the traffic is not. Further south the Montenegrin border is close, and crossing it requires clearing out properly — which is a day of the week, not an afternoon.