Hotels in Dubrovnik

Ready for a city break that is part medieval fantasy, part sun-soaked daydream? Dubrovnik's hotels let you wake up inside the city walls, lounge by a pool with the Adriatic underneath you, or roll out of bed onto a pebble beach.

The choice here is less about star rating than about where you put yourself. The Old Town is the reason you came and it is small, walkable and busy. The peninsulas just west of it are where the beach hotels and the big pools are, ten minutes from the walls. And the Riviera running north and south holds the quiet resorts, where you trade the walk for a bay to yourself. Everything below is grouped so you can find your level, and if you want the wider picture on beaches, restaurants and getting around first, the Dubrovnik holidays guide covers all of it.

Dubrovnik Hotels: Where to Stay

Dubrovnik is smaller than people expect and the areas are only minutes apart, so this is a question of what you want to walk out into rather than how far you are willing to travel.

• Old Town, Ploče and Pile put you at the walls. Ploče sits just east of the gates with the best views back at the city, Pile just west at the main entrance. You pay for the position and you walk everywhere.

• Lapad and Babin Kuk are the two peninsulas about ten to fifteen minutes west, and this is where most of the beach hotels, big pools and family resorts are. Lapad has the bay and the promenade, Babin Kuk the larger resort properties. Buses into the Old Town run constantly.

• Srebreno and Mlini are seventeen minutes south along the coast, quieter, with proper beaches and a couple of the smartest hotels on the Riviera.

• Cavtat is twenty-five minutes south and closer to the airport than the city. A working harbour town with palm-lined waterfront restaurants, and the pick if you want somewhere that feels like a place rather than a base.

• Slano is forty minutes north and the furthest of these that still counts as Dubrovnik. Quiet bay, big resort hotels, and you will want to plan Old Town trips rather than drift into them.

For what each area is actually like to spend a week in, and where the beaches and restaurants are, the Dubrovnik destination guide goes into it properly.