Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik’s Old Town is a masterpiece of medieval urban planning, a city of luminous stone that has risen from the ashes of war with breathtaking resilience. Encircled by its iconic 13th-century walls, the Old Town is a car-free sanctuary of marble-paved streets, baroque churches, and elegant palazzos. Walking the full circuit of the city walls is an unforgettable experience, offering a bird’s-eye view of the terracotta rooftops on one side and the shimmering Adriatic on the other. The Stradun, the city’s main thoroughfare, pulses with life, connecting the Pile Gate to the bustling harbor. Beyond its physical beauty, Dubrovnik carries a profound historical weight, having been a powerful maritime republic that rivaled Venice. Its cultural legacy is palpable in the Rector’s Palace, the Franciscan Monastery with one of Europe’s oldest pharmacies, and the countless hidden squares that reveal themselves to those who wander. It is a city that feels both grand and intimate, a living monument to human artistry and endurance.

Snaking across the limestone spine of the Pelješac peninsula, the Walls of Ston are Europe’s answer to the Great Wall of China — a 5.5-kilometre stone serpent built by the Republic of Ragusa in the 14th and 15th centuries to protect the precious salt pans that once filled Dubrovnik’s treasury. Forty towers and five fortresses punctuate the ramparts, which climb steep hillsides in a display of medieval engineering audacity. The circuit connects the twin settlements of Mali Ston and Ston, the latter a planned grid of Renaissance streets laid out in 1333, its main square dominated by the Rector’s Palace and the Gothic-Renaissance Cathedral of St Blaise. Walking the full length (allow two to three hours) rewards with vertiginous vistas over the Mali Ston Channel — famous for its oyster beds — and the vineyards of Dingač and Postup clinging to the slopes above. Inside the walls, the salt works still operate much as they did in 1333, harvesting “white gold” by solar evaporation in geometric ponds that mirror the sky.

Lokrum is a micro-escape located just a short, churning ferry ride from the ancient walls of Dubrovnik. Within minutes of leaving the harbour, you are enveloped in the scent of thick Mediterranean pine forests, wild laurel, and olive groves. The island boasts a tiny saltwater lake (the ‘Dead Sea’) and the ruins of a Benedictine monastery where Richard the Lionheart was supposedly shipwrecked. It is a place of quietude and romance, offering a necessary respite from the bustle of Dubrovnik’s Old Town, alongside the dark lore of a cursed monastery.