Croatia - Dubrovnik

September 14 - 21

Dubrovnik is a beautiful city near the southern end of Croatia. The old town is well preserved and full of great architecture, the abundant beaches are crystal clear, and the nearby Elaphiti Islands provide different perspectives of Dalmatian life. Add all this to the ties to Game of Thrones, and it’s easy to see how this has become one of the favorite vacation spots for people around Europe and all over the world.

Day 0 - Arrive from Bordeaux

Day 1 - Home school

Day 2 - Old Town Dubrovnik

Day 3 - Elaphiti Islands

Day 4 - Lokrum Island

Day 5 - Home school & local activities

Day 6 - King’s Landing, Cliff Jump & Sunset Beach

Day 7 - Depart to Split

Voyagers tips: Old town is the main attraction in Dubrovnik, but Lapad offers more modern beach luxuries. Bring your swimming gears with you, as there are many places to take a dip in the Adriatic sea. Water shoes are highly helpful, as there are usually rocks and pebbles by the water. Lokrum Island is a must, whereas the 3-island hop is nice but a bit rushed with crowded ships. Most locals speak English well. Tommy is a popular supermarket to get groceries. Use Tripadvisor to find restaurants away from Old Town if you want restaurants with better values. A car is not needed to explore Dubrovnik. Buses are convenient, but for a family of four, Uber is very convenient and often cheaper than four bus tickets.

Day 2 - Old Town Dubrovnik

Pile gate, the main entrance to the city wall that surrounds old town.

Stradun, the main street in old town.

Looking down into old town from the wall.

The city wall surrounds old town. Walking the wall is a must-do in Dubrovnik, but there is little shade along the walk.

King's Landing from Game of Throne.

Cafe Buza, the place for the famous cliff jumps. We didn't bring our swimsuits and had to go back another day.

Cafe Buza from above.

Almost done with the walk! It took about 2 hours.

Anchor, a new kind of seesaw?

View of the city wall from the outside.

Terracotta roofs cover the town.

A tower of the city wall.

Can you spot the ladies on top?

Peaking through the tower window.

Interesting water fountain where we can refill our water bottles.

We stopped for a nice lunch to escape the heat for a bit.

We climbed up the stairs towards the church, then Cafe Buza.

Lots of swimmers and cliff jumpers here.

Chilling by the cliff side, wishing we had our swimsuits.

Interesting architecture.

We didn’t look into the history of this dude but his big nose was rubbed to a gold color.

At the port outside the wall.

A relatively hidden spot around the bend from the port. Good spot to chill or swim. Water is crystal clear even though it’s so close to the port.

Rocky beach.

Old town Dubrovnik, surrounded by city wall. We walked along the wall, explored the town, and found some cool swimming spots.

Voyagers tips:

Pile Gate is the main entrance to Old Town.
City wall: Very little shade, can get hot during mid-day. Go early in the morning or in the evening. Entrance is a small green gate on the left after entering from Pile Gate. Several Game of Throne scenes are shot from various spots on the wall, pay attention if you’re a GoT fan.
Swimming: Bring swimsuits with you as you explore old town, in case you want to stop by a swimming spot and take a dip. For the swimming spot around the port, walk out one of the doors to the port, and walk around the city wall on the right, as the swimming spot is behind the wall and cannot be seen from the port. Cafe Buza is a good place to swim in Old Town also.

Day 3 - Elaphiti islands

We took the 3-island hopper tour to visit three Elaphiti islands: Kolocep, Sipan and Lapud.

Water was very clear, you can see the fish very clearly.

Franjo Tudman bridge of Dubrovnik.

The view from the boat was quite nice.

The boat we took was nice and new, but oversold and very crowded. Scenery was gorgeous.

We met this nice British couple on the boat, the lad was teaching the girls a card challenge.

The first island, Kolocep. We didn't find much other than a nice beach.

Sea urchin was spread through many parts of the port so gotta be careful where to step into the water. Surprisingly and thankfully, there weren't any in the roped-off beach area.

Having some fun at the beach.

Did not see the photo bomber. The rest of the scenery was pretty.

Cartwheel time!

The mackerel served onboard the ship was quite tasty.

Sipan, the second island.

Water is crystal clear.

A small beach to relax. Also didn’t see much on Sipan other than shops and the beach and coastline.

The water is unbelievably clear. Pebble beach water tends to be clearer than sand beaches.

Saying bye to Sipan, going to Lopud.

The seagulls were chasing us when leaving Sipan. Not sure why, but it was pretty cool.

Third island - Lopud. Most populated of the three. Plenty of shops and restaurants.

We took golf cart taxi to the beach on the other side of the island.

The girls can float in ocean water.

What’s up with these photo bombers?

Heading back after our dip.

Heading back to the boat.

This British couple from Bath, England was lovely!

Heading home after a fun day.

Nice sunset from our balcony.

Lopud Island - A's Backflip

Lopud Island - M's Flips

Lopud Island - Camouflage Fish

We hopped on a boat from Dubrovnik to visit three Elafiti islands: Kolocep, Sipan and Lopud. Each island has its own charm.

Voyagers tips: It was a fun day, but in hindsight, the three islands trip was too rushed. Even in mid-September, the boat was over-sold and people got back onto the boat early to get seating, making the island time even less. If you do want to do this island hop, don’t take the shuttle pickup service, as the seats will be gone by the time the shuttle passengers arrive at the boat. If you only have one day of island time, Lokrum as a full day visit is much more enjoyable.

Day 4 - Lokrum island

We took a short ferry ride to Lokrum.

There are bat conservation efforts to protect the bats on the island. Here's a big one.

There is a nice outdoor gym.

A peacock came over to work out with Megan.

After a short walk, we found a nice spot for picnic.

Never had peacocks come begging for food before. These peacocks were not shy!

Black rabbit wanted a piece of our lunch too.

We went in for a swim in the Adriatic sea.

Swimming with schools of fish.

There were lots of fish; the small ones were abundant, there were bigger ones also.

Countless small fish.

Photo bombing from the water!

The peacock had a stand-off with the rabbit, opened its feathers to show the rabbit who's the boss.

Enjoying the snacks and the view.

A peacock is now going after A's chips.

The Dead Sea of Lokrum is a pond with ocean water. Easier to swim for kids since it's enclosed and part of it is shallow.

M's honing her photography skills.

The real king of the seven kingdoms!

Look at the young queen on the Iron Throne!

M's turn!

Long live the queen!

A nice view of Old Town Dubrovnik on our way back.

A nice chapel with Game of Throne museum inside.

Getting lost in the garden.

Heading back to port of Dubrovnik and enjoying the ferry ride.

Lokrum Island, just a short boat ride from Dubrovnik, was an awesome island to visit. Fantastic way to spend a day!

Voyagers tips:

If you only have one day for islands, do this one over the 3-island hop. A day in Lokrum is much better. Take a whole day and enjoy some time by the water.
To catch the ferry, no reservations are needed. Walk out through Old Town to the Dubrovnik port, just buy the ticket at the ticket stand and hop on to the boat, which departs every 30 minutes. Kids (under 12?) are free.
Bring your swim suits, there are many great spots to swim. Don’t forget sunblock, towels, water shoes and goggles (if you want to see fish). The left side of the shore is a real cliff, so nowhere to stand on. If you want places to stand in the water, go to the small bay on the right side of the coast, and water shoes or sandals in the water make it easier to walk on rocks. If you go even further to the right, there are very few people and you get more space to yourself.
Don’t miss the Game of Thrones museum in the chapel.

Day 5 - home schooling

We took a break from home schooling and ate at a local restaurant called Konoba Tabak.

Most restaurants in Dubrovnik are tailored for tourists and are overpriced. This is a restaurant for the locals, with tasty food and great prices.

Most locals speak English well, but Ivan went to a barber that didn't speak a lick of English. This was the result of playing charades with the barber.

In addition to home schooling, we found a local restaurant for lunch and Ivan got his haircut by playing charades with the barber.

Day 6 - kings landing, cliff jump, sunset beach

King’s Landing

Climbing King’s Landing. There were so many GoT tour groups here.

Great view right outside the entrance.

Lower level of the fort. Several scenes were shot here.

Nice view out the window.

Great view from the second level of the fort.

Much of the top of King’s Landing in GoT is CGI, the actual fort is quite bare.

Is this how you operate a cannon?

The very top of the fort looks nothing like the show.

Ashlyn found her napping spot.

Nice quiet spot on the way down.

Overheard a tour guide say there’s a scene similar to this in GoT?

Fort Lovrijenac, known as King’s Landing by Game of Throne fans.

Voyagers Tips: To get here, go to the bus stop right outside Pile Gate, find a staircase behind the mirror plaque next to the restaurants, and walk down the staircase. They supposedly close at 5pm, but in reality, they stop letting people in much earlier.

Cafe Buza - Cliff Jump

Ivan's first jump.

The cliffs are tricky to find, you have to walk through the cafe to get to it.

Ivan's second jump.

Keeping the arms in this time, learning from the first jump.

A went for a smaller jump.

We did it!

Ivan cut his foot on the rocks, so we went back to treat it and ate on the balcony.

Cliff jump at Buza 1

Cliff jump at Buza 2

Swimming by the cliffs at Cafe Buza

We went back to the cliffs with our swimsuits this time. The jump was fun!

Voyagers Tips: To get to the cliffs by Cafe Buza, walk through old town and up the stairs to the church, then turn left and keep going around the bend until you see a small door on the left. Walk through the cafe, you don’t need to buy any drinks. Just walk through and down the stairs to the cliffs.

Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach, aptly named.

Went for a nice yet simple meal afterwards. Most restaurants in Dubrovnik are overpriced for tourists, but TripAdvisor helped us find some cheap ones that even the locals are willing to pay.

We went for a stroll into Lapad (newer part of town for modern beach life, different feel compared to Old Town) looking for a good spot for sunset. Luckily, we saw signs for Sunset Beach and gave it a shot. It was the perfect spot to watch the sunset.