Walking Dubrovnik's city walls

The Dubrovnik city walls are a continuous defensive circuit enclosing the old town, 1,940 metres long (just under 2 km), with a maximum height of 25 metres. Walking the walls gives an unobstructed view of the old town from above and the Adriatic below from almost every section.

Entry

Tickets are €35 per adult (2026 prices, includes all fortifications within the ticket). Available online at the official Dubrovnik Walls website, strongly recommended to buy in advance, particularly July through September. Same-day tickets at the gate require a queue that can be 45 to 90 minutes at peak hours.

Three entry points: Pile Gate (main western entrance), near the Ploče Gate (eastern), and inside the town near the Dominican Monastery. Pile Gate is the most used; the line there is longest.

The walk

The recommended direction is counterclockwise (turn right after the Pile Gate entrance, heading south along the Adriatic-facing wall first). This direction takes the steepest section, the climb to the tower above the Minceta tower, relatively early in the circuit. The views from the Adriatic-facing wall sections are the most photographed: orange roof tiles of the old town, the sea and harbour below, and on clear days the islands of Lokrum and the more distant Elaphiti Islands.

The circuit takes 60 to 90 minutes at a relaxed pace. There are two café/bar stops on the route, one approximately 1/3 of the way and one near the halfway point. Both are over the sea on the southern wall section. Entry to the cafes is from the wall path.

The staircase sections

Several sections involve stone steps, approximately 40 to 60 steps at a time, upward and downward. The walls are not suitable for guests with severe mobility limitations. For guests who are generally fit but not fast staircase climbers, the 1.5-hour estimate is realistic.

Heat and timing

The wall circuit is almost entirely exposed. In July and August at midday, the stone wall and the paving beneath it are extremely hot. The walls are always exposed to sun on the southern sections. Do the circuit at 09:00 to 10:30 for best comfort and lowest crowds. At 14:00 in August, the temperature on the southern wall sections can feel 5-8°C warmer than the shaded old town streets.

What the walls show you

The interior courtyard view of the old town is the primary visual reward: the uniform reddish-orange of the rebuilt tile roofs (a post-1991 rebuilding programme after the siege damage), the bell towers and domes visible from above, and the narrow street grid. This is the perspective that all standard ground-level photography of the old town cannot show.

The sea view on the south and eastern sections shows the small harbour of the Dubrovnik Riviera and the island of Lokrum (ferry, 15 minutes from the harbour) immediately off the eastern wall.