Croatia · City break

Dubrovnik City Guide

A complete ring of walls above turquoise water, red roofs to the horizon. Dubrovnik is the stone city by the sea. Lanes climb into the rock as staircases, the old town once ruled as the Republic of Ragusa, and Lokrum sits just offshore. One ready-made day route from the Pile Gate bundles walls, lanes and boat.

The app for iPhone and Android. With map and navigation. Audio guide and offline maps come with Premium.

Our walking tours of Dubrovnik

Ready-made routes from the station guide you through Dubrovnik, to the right spots from the very first step, with no planning needed.

City Walls, Old Town & Harbour

From the Pile Gate up onto the nearly two-kilometre city wall, with views over red roofs and open sea. Then through the old town, past the Franciscan monastery with its 1317 pharmacy, the polished Stradun, Sponza Palace and the Rector's Palace. In the afternoon on to the Old Port with the boat to Lokrum, across to Fort Lovrijenac and, if you like, up the Srđ by cable car.

Stops: Pile Gate · City Walls · Franciscan Monastery · Stradun (Placa) · Sponza Palace · Rector's Palace · Old Port & boat to Lokrum · Fort Lovrijenac · Cable car up the Srđ

Going out & nightlife

Restaurant Panorama (Srđ) · Altstadt (Prijeko und Stradun) · Nautika · Buža Bar · Stadttheater Marin Držić

Practical information for Dubrovnik

Public transport

Operator. Everything that runs as a scheduled bus in Dubrovnik belongs to Libertas Dubrovnik d.o.o., based at Ogarići 12 in Mokošica, phone +385 20 441 444. The company runs three networks side by side. First, the city timetable with lines 1A, 1B, 2A, 3, 3A, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8A, 9 and 17. Second, the eastern suburban service to Cavtat, Gruda, Molunat and Vitaljina with lines 10, 11, 16, 16A, 23, 23A, 25, 27, 29 and 38. Third, the western suburban service to Slano and Ston as well as an island timetable for Šipan. There's no fare network in the German sense spanning all of these, instead the price list lists each municipality separately, with its own fares for Grad Dubrovnik, Općina Župa dubrovačka, Općina Dubrovačko primorje and Općina Konavle. The airport shuttle doesn't run under Libertas but under Platanus, which the airport authority names as the official shuttle on its website. Ferry services to the Elafiti Islands belong to the state-owned Jadrolinija, the boat to Lokrum is run by the nature reserve's own management.

Network. Buses only. The old town is entirely car-free and crossed in twenty minutes.

Modes of transport. Bus · Ferry · Cable car

Operating hours. Libertas runs separate winter and summer timetables and additionally distinguishes between weekday, Saturday, Sunday and public holiday. Line 1A between Mokošica and Pile serves as a good yardstick. From Pile it starts at 4:40am and ends at 1:20am, from Mokošica it runs from 4:50am to 12:50am. Between roughly 7am and 6pm departures follow at 20 to 25 minute intervals, late in the evening the interval widens to 25 minutes. The secondary lines run much less frequently, the intercity lines to Konavle sometimes only three to four times a day, and line 11 to Molunat doesn't run at all on Sundays and public holidays. Every timetable page notes that the schedule can change without notice, which is why the Libertas app is the more reliable source once you're there.

Night service. The current list of city lines shows no line labelled as a night line. In practice, though, service extends well past midnight, since line 1A still departs Pile at 12.25 am, 12.50 am and 1:20am and Mokošica at 12.20 am and 0:50am. Between 1:20am and 4:40am no bus runs. In September 2024, Libertas had also announced an additional night loop line Pile, Ulica Iva Vojnovića, Grawe, Kantafig, Komolac, Mokošica, with departures at 1:15am and 2:30am. Whether this loop line still runs today can't be confirmed from the line directory, it doesn't appear there as a separate line.

Buying tickets. Libertas runs seven sales points. POS Pile sits right at the western gate of the Old Town and is staffed daily from 7am to 11pm. POS Pile Nord a few metres further along opens Monday to Saturday from 8am to 3pm and again from 5pm to midnight, making it the latest-opening counter in the city. POS Lapad is open Monday to Saturday from 7am to 9pm, POS Grawe Monday to Friday from 7am to 2:30pm, POS Mokošica Monday to Friday from 7:30am to 2:30pm, POS Cavtat Monday to Saturday from 7am to 2pm. Libertas explicitly lists the sales point at the cable car as closed in its own contact list. On the bus itself, the driver only sells the single ticket at 2.50 euros. The hourly ticket, two-trip ticket, day ticket and three-day ticket are handled at the counters. All time-based tickets only start running once first validated on the device on the bus, not at purchase.

App and payment. The Libertas app is available for Android and iOS and provides the timetable, active lines and real-time arrivals. It doesn't include ticket sales, so it doesn't replace the counter. Payment on the bus, however, has been cashless since 2024. Libertas launched card payment on the Ston–Dubrovnik route on 11 March 2024, then extended it to all suburban lines and, on 3 April 2024, to all city lines. The driver still accepts cash. The 2.50 euro price applies regardless of payment method, there's no discount for paying by card.

Which ticket. For the Dubrovnik city area, the Libertas price list lists five tickets relevant to visitors. The ticket bought on the bus for one trip costs 2.50 euros. The hourly ticket costs 1.73 euros and expires one hour after first validation on the vehicle. The two-trip ticket costs 3.19 euros, each of the two trips is valid for 30 minutes from its own validation, working out to 1.60 euros per trip. The day ticket costs 5.31 euros and runs for 24 hours from first validation, the three-day ticket costs 11.95 euros and runs for 72 hours. That produces clear thresholds. The day ticket costs as much as 2.1 single trips bought on the bus, or 3.3 hourly tickets. The three-day ticket costs as much as 4.8 single trips bought on the bus, or 2.25 day tickets. For 20 trips there's also a card at 21.24 euros, so 1.06 euros per trip, with each trip valid for 30 minutes.

Fare zones. The city fare ends at the city boundary. A single trip to Župa dubrovačka costs 2.90 euros, to Cavtat 4.00 euros, to Slano 3.70 euros, to Ston 6.40 euros. The price list lists the day and three-day tickets exclusively for the Dubrovnik city area.

Tip. The bus from Gruž port to the Pile Gate runs every few minutes.

Getting there

Main station

Location. Dubrovnik has no rail link. The transport hub is the coach station in Gruž.

Long-distance trains. The bus station in Gruž also serves as the terminus of the airport shuttle. Platanus departs there from platform 8, reaches the Grawe stop about five minutes later and the cable car stop near the Old Town about ten minutes after that. From Gruž the trip to the airport takes about 35 minutes, from the cable car about 25 minutes. There's no sale on board the bus, tickets are available online, at the counter in the bus station, at the cable car station and at the airport counter. A one-way trip costs 10 euros, a return 15 euros valid for 15 days, children under six travel free, one suitcase is included in the price. A few steps away is the Gruž ferry harbour. From there Jadrolinija runs line 831 to Koločep, Lopud and Suđurađ on Šipan. On Šipan itself, Libertas continues with its own island timetable.

Opening hours. The Autobusni kolodvor Dubrovnik in Gruž operates daily from 6:30am to 10pm. The counter and left-luggage office take two breaks, from 9am to 9:30am and from 4pm to 4:30pm. Outside operating hours there's no one at the counter. On public holidays such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve, shorter hours apply.

Airports

DBV

Into the city. The Platanus shuttle takes about 30 minutes to the Ploče gate and 35 minutes to the Gruž bus station. By car the airport estimates 30 to 35 minutes, up to an hour during the summer months.

Frequency. The shuttle runs about 30 minutes after every landing, from the first flight in the morning to the last at night, every day including weekends and public holidays. In addition, Libertas lines 11, 27 and 38 serve the airport daily.

Local quirks

Cruise ships determine the day. When two ships are docked at the same time, the Old Town is packed in the morning. Early morning and late afternoon are quiet.
Pile and Ploče are two separate bus hubs. The official network map shows lines 1A, 1B, 2, 2A, 3, 3A, 4, 6, 9 and 17 terminating at the western gate, Pile. At the eastern gate, Ploče, only lines 5 and 8 stop. The airport bus also serves Ploče, not Pile. Anyone waiting at the wrong gate is waiting for a line that never stops there. Between the two gates lies the Old Town, about fifteen minutes on foot.
The penalty ticket costs 13.27 euros. The Libertas price list lists the Kaznena karta, the penalty ticket, at 13.27 euros. That's more than five times a single trip. Validation happens on the device on the bus, including for the day and three-day tickets. Their validity only starts with this first validation, not with purchase at the counter.

Good to know

Currency: EUR €
Emergency number: 112
Plug type: C · F
Time zone: Europe/Zagreb
Driving: right

Speed limits. built-up areas 50 km/h, outside towns 90 km/h (expressway 110 km/h), motorway 130 km/h

The town sign alone isn't decisive. Within built-up areas, traffic signs can permit up to 80 km/h. From November 1 to March 31, dipped headlights or daytime running lights must be on even during the day. With an unbraked trailer, the limit is 80 km/h, and 90 km/h on the motorway.

Tipping. Ten percent in restaurants, rounding up in cafés.

Tolls. Motorways are tolled. Take a ticket and pay on exit. The Pelješac bridge is free.