Dubrovnik - is it worth it? (Balkan Trip Part 5)

Dubrovnik, set of Game of Thrones, the rival of Venice, the mainstream spot for Instagram and the best place in Croatia. We Austrians also say "The Hallstatt of Croatia". It's also a place my father wants to visit so badly, after visiting 60+ countries. So my expectations were already high, let's see if Dubrovnik can meet it.

Unlike every city I've been so far on this trip, the bus station is pretty far from the old town. After exchanging some money to the already familiar Croatian Kuna (btw Croatia will adopt the Euro in 2023), I took the bus to the old town, which costs 15 HRK (2€, to me it's a very annoying currency to calculate).

I wanted to make my way to the hostel and I had 2 hostels in mind, but because I felt already a bit broke after the dinner, I went for the cheaper hostel, which is located a bit far from the old town. I spent 45 minutes walking there and I finally arrived... and it was closed. It was weird to see a hostel closed which was technically bookable online, but I had no other choice than going back again for 45 minutes for the second hostel I had planned. On my way, my phone battery died, but luckily I have a good orientation skill, so I didn't need it to find the hostel.

It was although tough to find, the pinpoint of the hostel seemed to be a bit off in the end and there was a small pathway missing on the map, but I eventually found it after 20 minutes, just to see that it was... also closed.

There was a phone number written on the door of the hostel, so I went to a random bar and asked if I can charge my phone. I had a beer and called the number. They told me there is only a single hostel opened right now in the winter season, which I thought is... very confusing, because there are so many hostels listed online. They sent me the address and I could finally relax. Not only was it the only hostel, I was also the only guest. So I had a whole room with 10 beds for me alone, I basically stayed in a Hotel.

Budget travel + Dubrovnik are 2 contradicting things, because it is like a theme park, you need to pay entrance fees for everything. Museums costs I think 10€ in general, the walls of Dubrovnik 20€, and the cable car to get the best view of Dubrovnik for about 22€ one way. Although it seems like it's cheaper to book it online. You can also buy a Dubrovnik card, which costs around 34€ for one day to enter the walls and many museums (cable car excluded). It sounds cheap for a family holiday, but definitely not for a student like me.

Glad I decided to spend a second day here, it really is a beautiful city. Not only the city, the surrounding water is crystal clear.

Because I ran out of things to do without paying, I decided to go up the mountain to get the view over Dubrovnik from above. I asked the tourist office how to get there (I didn't want to pay for the cable car, but it wasn't operating in the winter season anyways) and they told me that I can take a bus to a small village called Bosanka and walk to the top in half an hour. I decided to do so, but I really struggled to catch the bus. I figured out that I was waiting on the wrong bus stop, so I went to the correct one and waited for an hour. (Yes it only comes once per hour.) It was a small bus and I was the only passenger. When I tried to buy a ticket, the bus driver said "Ajde, it's okay". So he let me ride for free... I wonder why, but nice I guess ^^. The ride took about 20 minutes, so if you count the time walking to the top, it took me 50 minutes (actually almost 2 hours if you include the waiting time). So you either pay almost 50€ with return for the cable car to get up in 4 minutes + queing time, or you take my budget route for absolutely free (4€ if you had to pay) to get the epic view ;).

So, did Dubrovnik really meet my high expectations? My answer is yes, absolutely, BUT it's just not a place for my type of traveling. The old town is just beautiful, but once you explored every street in the old town, it started to get boring on the second day, especially because I didn't spend much time on other attractions like museums. If you really want to enjoy more, you have to pay more. And everything feels like a well thought structure to make you spend more money. But I assume if you have some money to spend, it's a perfect place to visit.

Also the mainstream factor makes it feel a bit less worth in my opinion, it is just one place many people has already been to, so there are not so many new and interesting stories to tell. But apart from that, I was really lucky to visit Dubrovnik in a season with almost no tourists. Everything was comfortable, I never had to wait in a queue and it felt like you have the whole town for your own. The only downside is that some restaurants and hotels and attractions like the cable car are closed, but I can definitely recommend visiting in February, you also get to experience spring quite early.

My schedule was tight, I only had 2 days to get back home. I was excited to visit an another country I initally didn't plan to visit, Bosnia and Herzegovina. A country I didn't expect to be that interesting. Stay tuned!