What should I avoid in Dubrovnik?

Prijeko Street runs parallel to the Stradun, and every 4 or 5 metres another restaurant has someone outside waving a laminated photo menu. The food tends to be microwaved, and prices run €22-28 for a pasta dish that costs €12-14 near Dubrovnik Cathedral. You'll smell the same recycled fryer oil at every doorway along Prijeko. Any restaurant in Dubrovnik with food photos on a laminated card is cooking for tour-bus turnover, not for you. Walk past the Rector's Palace into the narrow side streets where Azur serves grilled tuna with soy and ginger for around €18. Or catch bus 6 for 15 minutes to Pantarul in Lapad, where a slow-cooked veal cheek for €15 might be the best plate in the city. Both take reservations, and in July you will need one.

Dubrovnik's Old Town sits inside walls that stretch roughly 320 metres from Pile Gate to Ploce Gate. On a cruise-ship morning, 3 or 4 vessels dock at Gruz port and funnel 6,000 to 10,000 day-trippers through those gates between 9am and 11am. The Stradun goes shoulder-to-shoulder by 10:30am. The City Walls walk turns into a single-file shuffle, and the wait for Buza Bar's cliff-side tables can hit 45 minutes. Check the port schedule at dubrovnikport.hr before you plan anything. Ships tend to clear out by 4pm. If you're visiting on a 3-ship day, spend the morning on Lokrum Island. The ferry from Old Port runs every 30 minutes for around €20 round trip. Walk the walls after 5pm when the light turns amber and you might have whole stretches of the ramparts to yourself.

The City Walls circuit is 1,940 metres with almost no shade. In July and August, limestone reflects heat upward and the still air between the walls and the terracotta rooftops can feel suffocating. Surface temperatures reach 45°C by 1pm, and you feel it through your shoes by the time you hit the Minceta Tower steps. There is one water stand near the halfway point, and it charges around €5 for a small bottle. Bring at least a litre, wear a hat, and start at 8am when the walls open. The 8am slot has a second advantage. Cruise passengers have not arrived yet, so you'll share the stretch above Fort Bokar with maybe 20 other people instead of 200. The ticket runs around €35 for a single walk of the full circuit.

Taxi drivers at Dubrovnik Airport sometimes quote a flat €40-50 to Old Town. The meter fare tends to run €30-35, and the Atlas shuttle bus costs around €8 for the 30-minute ride to Pile Gate. Uber works reliably in Dubrovnik and is usually cheaper than either. Banje Beach, the pebble strip closest to Ploce Gate, charges €30-40 for two sunbeds and an umbrella in high season. The same view of the walls from water level is free at Sveti Jakov Beach, a 20-minute walk east past the Lazareti. Worth noting, restaurants along the Stradun sometimes add a couvert of €2-4 per person that does not appear on the menu board outside. It is usually printed in Croatian at the bottom of the bill.