Disclaimer: Parks and Planes strives to accurately describe and document details as experienced during the date and time of the visit. Please travel safely when visiting the recommended sites and places mentioned in this blog post. As always, all opinions are our own and we only recommend places and products we love! Nothing in this post is AI generated. All photos are our own.
If you hoped to discover a side of Dubrovnik you wouldn’t find in a tourist guidebook, you’re going to have to leave the well-trodden city walls behind and explore the lesser-visited side of the city: Lapham and the Port Gruz area. Both are great places to go for incredible experiences and lesser tourists. Plus, all are within a reasonable walking distance from the city center or accessible via the local bus system.
Here are 6 hidden gems to explore in Dubrovnik this year:
Franjo Tuđmana Bridge
This cable-stayed bridge, named after the first President of Croatia, is unmissable if you are sailing in or out of Dubrovnik via Gruz Port. It stretched out across the Rijeka Dubrovačka (River Dubrovnik) for 518 meters or about 0.3 miles and is said to symbolize Croatia rising above challenges, the country’s strength and resilience, and the interconnectedness of the Croatian people. This bridge opened in 2002 and shortens one’s travels from the western part of Croatia into Dubrovnik by 20 minutes.
Not many know this, but the Franjo Tuđmana Bridgealso has a pedestrian concrete footpath on either side of the bridge. We walked across the bridge and were blown-away by the incredible views of Dubrovnik’s urban city on one side, sparkling river and coastline dotted with fishing and sailing boats below and unparalleled beauty stretching alongside mountains towards the ACI Marina in Komolac, Croatia. Beyond the mountains on this side of the bridge, sits Bosnia-Herzegovina. You’ll also find many eateries in that area including pizzerias and riverfront spots as well as a hiking area called Šetalište.
Bellevue Beach
Being on the beautiful, sun-drenched Dalmatian coast you’ll find yourself next to several incredible public beaches to take a dip at. While there are plenty of easy to access yet crowded beaches in the Old City, we recommend you venture over to BellevueBeach for a more relaxed swimming, lounging and sunbathing experience. At this public (meaning free to use) beach, which is on the smaller side, swim in crystal clear waters against a backdrop of rocky bluffs. Sift through an endless treasure trove of sea glass or take a dive into the sea from a concrete platform. You’ll also find two outdoor showers on the beach but no lockers or beach umbrellas or chairs to rent so be sure to watch your belongings and arrive with a folding chair or beach towel. We spent a leisurely morning, mid-week here arriving around 9 am and departing around noon. There were only a handful of fellow beachgoers here while we enjoyed a swim. The overall vibe was relaxing and peaceful. You can expect more crowds on the weekend.
Getting to Bellevue Beach: located approximately a 20-minute walk from the Old City, it can be tricky to locate the access points for this Beach although you will see multiple directional signs along the way if you plan to walk here. We entered by way of the super swanky, Rixos Premium Dubrovnik 5-star hotel. We found stairs leading down to the beach after entering the hotel and passing through the main lobby leading towards the pool area. We believe you can find the main beach access point off Kortorska ul road, but we were not able to. Here is the address and location of the Bellevue Beach Access in Google Maps.
Quick notes on the beaches in Dubrovnik – There are no sandy beaches in Dubrovnik. That holds true for Bellevue Beach which is considered a pebble beach and offers beachgoers several concrete perches if that’s your preference. For another beach with a relaxed vibe that is further outside the city, consider Uvala Lapad Beach which is in Lapad Bay known as the resort zone of Dubrovnik.
Gruz Market
Shop like a local and absorb the sights, sounds and smells at this vibrant open-air market in Dubrovnik, located in the Port Gruz area/neighborhood. It is best known for its lively, iconic fish market where you can find a wide selection of fish and seafood that was just caught in the sea and fresh off the fishing boats. Stalls start setting up around 6:30 a.m. with most set and stocked by 8 a.m. The best time to visit is earlier in the morning as the fish supply nearly is obsolete come mid-day.
Across the street from the fish/seafood stalls, the market extends and includes a hearty selection of fresh produce. It’s a great place to take a stroll through and pick up some fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers to take on a picnic or to bring with you on a ferry ride from Gruz Port if that is in your plans. You will find many shaded benches nearby or could always post up along the Marina for breezy, outdoor seating with a lovely water view to enjoy a fresh and inexpensive lunch.
The busiest days at the market tend to be Fridays and Saturdays with most locals showing up on Saturday which is considered a traditional “market day” in Dubrovnik. Also, the fish market was closed for several years but has since reopened (in 2019) after making vast improvements to its conditions and ensuring strict alignment with European standards for the selling of fish.
Marina Frapa Dubrovnik in Gurz Bay
Head here for all the feel-good marina moments! The marina is open 24/7 and close to some of the best eateries in the city minus the hustlers out front trying to lure in diners. We recommend dinner at Peppers Eatery + Cocktails which has a lovely, large outdoor seating space and a globally-inspired menu stacked with dishes intended to be shared. It is “izvrsno!” (pronounced: eez-vur-snoh) aka “delicious!”. Just be sure to make your reservation in advance or be prepared for a long wait time. You can make reservations online.
Also, good to know in advance, this Marina is close to Gruz Market and, little known fact, is the only Marina in the world with piers covered completely in plexiglass.
Love Bar
Looking for a rooftop bar with a sunset view, laidback vibes and affordable drinks? Look no further than Love Bar – the BEST place to escape the buzzy energy of the Old City and leisurely sip a cocktail out on a terrace. Located a 40-minute walk from the Old City, you’ll find Love Bar by the port of Dubrovnik and the Red Museum. We enjoyed the sunset view from Love Bar so much we came here twice for pre-dinner drinks. The WiFi is strong and complimentary, the service excellent and the vibe laidback.
Love Stories Museum
Located right outside the atmospheric Old Town, not terribly far from Pile Gate, you’ll find the Love Stories Museum, a quirky museum that is all about L-O-V-E. From local love legends, film and music love icons and unique love stories from around the world, you will definitely leave feeling all warm and gooey inside from the mega hit of oxytocin you’ll get here. It’s a relatively small, two-floor museum with four different exhibits. We really enjoyed the romantic history and myth of old Dubrovnik collection. Through this exhibit, we learned about the Owl Gargoyle in the Old City and its ties to the quest for true love. As legend has it, a young man found his true love after taking his shirt off while carefully balancing on the top of the Owl Gargoyle stone head. You can put this legend to the test to this day! You’ll find the Owl Gargoyle stone head on the Stradun, main street of the Old Town, on one of the walls of the Franciscan Monastery.
During your visit to the museum, be sure to pen your own love note and pin it up on the “love wall” for others to enjoy. Or do as we did: plan ahead and arrive at the museum with a short write up of your own, real-world love story and a little artifact that symbolizes your story to be potentially displayed in the museum’s Global Love Story exhibit. You can also submit your story to the museum via email and mail in an accompanying artifact too.
We know there is a lot to see and do in Dubrovnik but a visit to this museum is a lot of fun and perfect if you find yourself in the city on a rainy day.
Know before you go: You can purchase tickets in advance or at the museum. We did have difficulty communicating with the museum staff but through lots of gestures were able to purchase our tickets fairly quickly/seamlessly. Credit cards are accepted. We spend about one hour and a half here.
We loved exploring every inch of Dubrovnik during our one-week stay in the city especially the parts beyond the city’s infamous Old City, the congested tourist hub. It’s in the lesser trodden parts of Lapham and the Port Gruz area are where the city’s local secret hot spots are hidden – just waiting to be discovered and appreciated. We hope you’ll one day find your way to each of the 6 hidden gems we mention in this blog and return to tell us what you thought of each one day!
~ Justin and Alyssa
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nice! just typo, He was called Franjo Tuđman, not Franja:)
Thank you SO much for catching that and for checking out this post 🙂
I had NO idea there were so many off-the-beaten-track things to see in Dubrovnik! Thanks for letting us know.
So glad you learned about something new from the post. We were surprised to find lots of hidden gems not in the guidebooks. Was a real highlight for us on this trip.