Where to Stay in Dubrovnik
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Dubrovnik is a small city with a very famous middle, and where you sleep changes the trip more here than in almost any European town we know. The walled old town is magnificent and almost entirely pedestrian — which means no car reaches your door, the lanes are stepped, and the stone is polished slick. Ploče, the hill just east of the walls, holds most of the grand hotels and looks straight back at the city. Lapad, twenty minutes west, is where the beaches, the flat promenade and the sensible prices are. Gruž, around the harbour, is the practical choice for the ferry and the bus. This page goes through all four honestly, then names hotels by the kind of stay you want.
Where to base yourself in Dubrovnik
Four distinct places to sleep, and they suit quite different travellers.
Inside the walls (Stari Grad)
Unbeatable for atmosphere: you step out of your door into a marble-paved lane and the city is yours at seven in the morning, before the day-trippers land. The costs are real, though, and worth knowing before you book. No vehicle can reach your door, so the taxi stops at a gate and you carry your bags the last stretch over stepped lanes. Almost nothing has a lift. And in July the noise carries up the stone walls until very late. Wonderful for the sure-footed traveller with one small bag.
Ploče — the hill just east
The address for the grand hotels, and our pick for most first-time visitors who want comfort. Ten to fifteen minutes on foot to the Ploče Gate along a level road, and the view back at the walled city from this side is the one on the postcards. Hotels here have lifts, terraces and swimming platforms on the rock below. The walk back up from town is a gentle climb rather than a stair.
Lapad & Babin Kuk — west, by the beaches
The best-value part of Dubrovnik, and much the kindest underfoot. Uvala Lapad has a long, flat, traffic-free promenade of restaurants running down to a pebble bay, and the hotels here are largely modern with lifts, pools and parking. You are twenty to thirty minutes from the old town by bus or boat, which most people find a fair trade for paying a third less and being able to walk about in the evening.
Gruž — the working harbour
Where the ferries dock, the buses leave from and the morning market actually feeds people. Unglamorous, central to your travel arrangements, and the cheapest beds in the city. Good if you are catching a boat, arriving late or leaving early; less good if you came for the view.
Luxury
Both of these look straight at the walled city across the water. Both have lifts, which in Dubrovnik matters.
Hotel Excelsior Dubrovnik
The grande dame of Dubrovnik, on the Ploče side with the old city framed in the window and the island of Lokrum beyond it. A historic wing and a modern one, a proper spa with an indoor pool, and a terrace that is worth the price of the room on its own. The walk into town is level and about ten minutes. This is the address we would choose for a milestone trip where comfort and a lift are not negotiable.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Villa Dubrovnik
A small, low, modern hotel terraced down the cliff at Sveti Jakov, a little further east and a great deal quieter. Every room faces the sea, there is a lift through the levels, and the hotel runs its own boat to the old town, which is a genuinely lovely way to arrive. It is calm and adult in feeling rather than lively, and it suits couples who want the view and the hush more than they want to be in the middle of things.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Boutique & heritage
Small, characterful, and both with private access to the water.
Hotel More
A small five-star on the Lapad side with the most memorable bar in the city — a natural cave discovered during construction and left as it was found, with the rock ceiling above your head and the sea just outside. The rooms are calm and modern, there is a lift, and steps lead down to a bathing platform. Twenty minutes from the old town by bus or boat, and considerably quieter than staying on Ploče.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Villa Orsula
A handful of rooms in a 1930s villa on Ploče, next door to the Excelsior and sharing its outlook at the walled city. Terraced gardens drop to a swimming platform on the rocks. It is small enough that the staff will know your name by the second morning, and grown-up rather than family-minded — there is no children’s club and nothing much for a restless eight-year-old to do.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Budget & value
Dubrovnik has no true bargains in August, but these two are honest value in a city that mostly is not.
Hotel Vis
A straightforward, well-kept hotel right on Lapad bay, a few steps from the flat promenade and the pebble beach at its end. Nothing here is trying to dazzle you; the rooms are comfortable, many face the sea, there is a lift, and the bus into the old town runs from the top of the road. For travellers who would rather spend the money on dinner and boats than on a marble lobby, this is the sensible Dubrovnik.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Hotel Ivka
A plain, friendly, family-run hotel up above the Gruž harbour, close to the ferry terminal, the bus station and the excellent morning fish and vegetable market. It is a working part of town rather than a pretty one, and the price reflects that. If your Dubrovnik days are going to be spent on boats and buses, this is a practical base with a lift and a proper breakfast.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Family-friendly
Both are resort-style properties with pools and space, which is what actually works with children here — the old town has none of either.
Rixos Premium Dubrovnik
A large, modern five-star west of the walls with its own stretch of shoreline, a spa and a good deal more space than anything inside the old town can offer. The scale is the point: children can be children, there is somewhere to swim that is not a public beach, and the walk or short bus ride into the old town is easy enough to do twice a day. Ask for a sea-facing room; the difference is considerable.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Sun Gardens Dubrovnik
Not in Dubrovnik at all, and honestly better for it if you are travelling with grandchildren: a large resort at Orašac, about seven miles up the coast, with several pools, tennis courts, apartments as well as rooms, and a children’s programme. There is a shuttle and a seasonal boat into the city, so a day in the old town is perfectly practical — you simply do not have to fight for a car park at the end of it. Be clear-eyed that spontaneous evenings in Dubrovnik are not on the menu from here.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Adults-only & grown-up quiet
Neither of these advertises an adults-only policy, so we will not claim one — but both are grown-up, hushed places with no children’s club and nothing organised for young families. If a formal adults-only policy matters to you, confirm it with the property before booking.
Royal Blue Hotel
A modern five-star on the Lapad side, built up the slope with a rooftop pool and a long view down the coast. It is a calm, contemporary, rather grown-up hotel — the kind of place where the loudest sound at nine in the morning is a coffee machine. Lifts throughout, which matters on that slope, and an easy walk down to the Lapad promenade for dinner.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Hotel Bellevue Dubrovnik
Built into the cliff above Miramare bay on the west side, which produces the strangest and best feature in Dubrovnik hotel-keeping: you check in at the top floor and take the lift down to your room and again to the private pebble cove. Every room faces west over the water, so the sunsets are the hotel’s real amenity. Fifteen minutes on foot to the Pile Gate along the road above.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Pet-friendly
Both of these are listed as accepting dogs. Pet policies, fees and size limits change often — confirm yours with the hotel before you pay.
Hotel Lero
A solid, unfussy four-star on the road between the Gruž harbour and the old town, with an outdoor pool and a lift, at a price that would not buy you a broom cupboard inside the walls. The location is genuinely convenient — buses in both directions from outside the door, and a walkable twenty-five minutes to the Pile Gate. It accepts dogs, which in this city is not common.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Grand Villa Argentina
The other great Ploče address, a cluster of a main hotel and historic villas in terraced gardens running down to the sea, with the walled city in full view across the water. Lifts, a heated pool, and one of the shortest walks into the old town of any comfortable hotel here. It also accepts dogs, which makes it an unusually good pairing of luxury and travelling with a small companion.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Beachfront & swimming
A reminder that applies to all of Dubrovnik: the shore is rock and pebble, never sand. Rubber swimming shoes are the best few euros you will spend.
Hotel Kompas
Our first suggestion for anyone who wants the sea without the stairs. The Kompas sits directly on the flat, traffic-free Lapad promenade with the pebble bay at the end of it, so an evening stroll to dinner involves no hill and no steps at all — a rarer thing in Dubrovnik than it sounds. Indoor and outdoor pools, lifts throughout, and the bus into town from the top of the promenade.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Hotel Dubrovnik Palace
Out at the tip of the Lapad peninsula with water on three sides, so every room has a sea-facing balcony and the sunsets go on for ever. There is a large spa, several pools and bathing platforms on the rocks below. The honest trade is distance: you are a good half-hour from the old town by bus or seasonal boat, which is fine for a restful week and tiresome if you meant to pop in and out three times a day.
Book Me on Trip.com ›Dubrovnik in your later years
Dubrovnik rewards a little planning if stairs, heat or uneven ground are a consideration — and it punishes none at all.
Sleep on Ploče or in Lapad, not inside the walls
This is the single most useful decision. Hotels on Ploče and in Lapad have lifts, level approaches and a taxi that can reach the door. Inside the walls, no vehicle can reach you, the lanes are stepped, and most buildings have no lift — charming for a week at thirty, punishing at eighty.
The Lapad promenade is the flattest ground in the city
Uvala Lapad’s promenade is traffic-free, level, lined with restaurants and ends at a pebble bay with a gentle entry to the water. If walking is a consideration, basing yourself along it changes the whole holiday for the better.
Be realistic about the walls
The circuit is about two kilometres of uneven stone with a great many steps up and down, no handrail in places, and almost no shade. It is glorious and it is genuinely demanding. If in doubt, go at opening time, walk as far as the first stair you dislike, and turn back — nobody minds. The view from the Buža bar in the wall costs the price of a drink and asks nothing of your knees.
Take the cable car rather than the hill
The cable car up Mount Srđ is level to board and delivers the finest view in Croatia without a single step of climbing. It is the best-value outing in the city for anyone who would rather not walk uphill in the heat.
Go in May, late September or October
Dubrovnik in the mid-eighties with white stone throwing the glare back at you is hard work at any age. The shoulder months give you the same city at a temperature that lets you enjoy it, at half the price and with a fraction of the people.
Ask two questions before you book
Is there a lift, and can a car reach the entrance? Booking sites often answer neither. A short email to the hotel will, and it is the difference between a good week and a difficult one.
Dubrovnik hotels — questions
Should I stay inside the old town walls?
Only if you are steady on your feet and travelling light. Inside the walls is magical at seven in the morning and after eight at night, when the day-trippers have gone. But no vehicle can reach your door — taxis stop at a gate and you walk the rest over stepped marble lanes — almost nothing has a lift, and in high summer the noise rises off the stone until very late. For most visitors, and for nearly everyone with a suitcase or a knee, Ploče or Lapad is the better bet.
How far is Lapad from the old town, really?
About two and a half miles, which is twenty to thirty minutes by the frequent public bus, a similar time by the seasonal boat from Lapad bay, and ten to fifteen minutes by taxi. Most people staying in Lapad go into the old town once a day and are perfectly happy about it. In return you pay roughly a third less, you can walk to dinner on the level, and there is somewhere to swim that is not a queue.
Which hotels have lifts?
Every hotel we have named on this page has a lift, which is deliberate: it is the single most useful thing to know in a city built on a hillside. Inside the walls, by contrast, most guesthouses and apartments do not, and many involve a narrow stone stair. If a lift matters, ask before you book rather than after.
When is Dubrovnik at its worst for crowds?
A July or August day between about ten in the morning and four in the afternoon, especially when cruise ships are in. The city agreed to cap arrivals at two ships at a time under the arrangement it announced in 2018, but even so the old town can hold many thousands of people in a space you can cross in ten minutes. Staying the night rather than visiting for the day is the whole answer: be inside the walls before nine or after six and you will have a different, much better city.
Are there sandy beaches in Dubrovnik?
No. Banje beach below Ploče and the bay at the end of the Lapad promenade are the two main swimming spots and both are pebble, as is every other beach here. The water is exceptionally clear in exchange. Buy rubber swimming shoes at any supermarket for a few euros — every local owns a pair, and after one barefoot attempt on the pebbles you will understand why.
Do I need a car in Dubrovnik?
No, and it is a positive nuisance. The old town is entirely pedestrian, parking is scarce and expensive, and the buses run frequently between Gruž, Lapad, Ploče and the Pile Gate. Hire a car only for the day you drive up the coast or into the Konavle valley, and let the hotel park it the rest of the time.
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