Dubrovnik Yacht Charter Guide: Finish Under the Walls or Start for the South

“Dubrovnik is the walled city at the end of the coast: the grand finale of a week going south, and the base for the quiet islands when the week starts here.”

Dubrovnik is the city everyone has seen from the air: a complete ring of medieval walls around a stone town, terracotta roofs inside, Fort Lovrijenac on its rock outside the gate, Lokrum island a swim away. It is also King’s Landing, and the Red Keep is Lovrijenac. From the water it is better than from the air, and the sea approach along the walls is the reason our Split to Dubrovnik week saves it for day seven.

For a yacht it is two different weeks. Finish here at the end of a one-way run from Split, with Korčula, Lastovo and Mljet behind you, and pay the yacht’s empty run home as the one-way fee. Or start here and stay south: the Elafiti, Mljet and Korčula on a round trip without a long day, which our Split or Dubrovnik guide recommends for a second Croatia charter or a group that wants a quieter loop. Dubrovnik airport is thirty minutes from the marina.

Must-dos in Dubrovnik

The sea approach along the walls, then a swim off Lokrum before you dock
The wall walk in the late afternoon, the towers, the roofs and your yacht below
Dinner at 360, in the walls, or oysters at Proto, open since 1886
A long lunch at Bowa on Šipan, reached by yacht, on a Dubrovnik round trip
The salt lakes of Mljet, an island on a lake on an island

The walls, Lovrijenac and Lokrum: the old town

View over Dubrovnik, Croatia — Dubrovnik's walled old town from above, the old harbour, and yachts anchored below the walls; library photos.

Dubrovnik old harbour and city walls seen from the water — Dubrovnik's walled old town from above, the old harbour, and yachts anchored below the walls; library photos.

The old town is inside a two-kilometre ring of walls, and the walk round the top of them is the thing to do: climb in the late afternoon for the light, take in the towers, the roofs and the sea, and look down on your own yacht. Fort Lovrijenac stands on its rock just outside the Pile gate, the Red Keep of the series. The cable car up Srđ takes ten minutes and gives the whole picture, city, Lokrum and the Elafiti in one frame. Lokrum itself, the wooded nature reserve just offshore, is the swim stop by tender before or after the town.

Dinner is where Dubrovnik earns its reputation. 360 is built into the walls above the old harbour with a Michelin star and one of the most memorable views on the Adriatic; Proto has been serving seafood since 1886; Nautika looks across at Lovrijenac and the old harbour. The city is the gateway to southern Dalmatian food, oysters from Ston, and wines from Korčula and Pelješac. Our advice is the walls late, then back to the yacht for dinner on board or a tender to a seafront table. For the night before a charter, our Dubrovnik hotels guide has the Excelsior, the Bellevue and Sun Gardens.

ACI Dubrovnik, Gruž and Cavtat: where yachts lie

Crewed yachts do not berth in the old harbour; it is too small. The charter base is ACI Marina Dubrovnik at Komolac, a few miles up the sheltered inlet of the Rijeka Dubrovačka behind Gruž, the port where the cruise ships and ferries come in. From the marina the old town is a fifteen-minute drive, and the airport at Čilipi about thirty. Larger yachts lie at anchor off the old town or off Lokrum for the view and tender in to the old harbour, and Cavtat, the small town by the airport, is the other anchorage, with its own waterfront and a short run to a morning flight.

Boarding in Dubrovnik means a first afternoon on the Elafiti, an hour away, rather than a passage. Finishing here means the crew brings you along the walls on the last morning and the airport is thirty minutes away.

The Elafiti and Mljet: the islands off the city

Elafiti Islands, Croatia yacht charter — The Elafiti islands off Dubrovnik, Šipan, and St Mary's islet on the salt lake of Mljet National Park.

Sipan Island, Croatia — The Elafiti islands off Dubrovnik, Šipan, and St Mary's islet on the salt lake of Mljet National Park.

The Elafiti are the three islands just north-west of the city: Koločep, Lopud with its sandy Šunj beach, and Šipan, the largest, with Šipanska Luka and Suđurađ at either end and Bowa, the rustic, exclusive restaurant reached by yacht, for a long lunch. Our six-islands guide closes its ranking with Šipan as the deliberately quiet last stop before Dubrovnik.

Mljet is further out, thirty miles, and the national park covers its forested western end: two connected salt lakes, the twelfth-century monastery on St Mary’s islet in the larger one, and anchorages at Polače and Pomena inside the park. It is the nature day of a southern week and one of the favourite stops on the Split to Dubrovnik run; the park has its own rules for yachts on anchoring and berthing, which the captain confirms before arrival. Korčula and Lastovo are the next islands north, and Ston, at the root of Pelješac, has the oysters and the second-longest walls in Europe after China’s.

Fitting Dubrovnik into the week

Dubrovnik is a finish, or a base, and rarely a stop in the middle:

Finish here: our Split to Dubrovnik week, Brač, Hvar, Vis, Korčula, Lastovo, Mljet, then 32 nautical miles and about three hours from Mljet to the walls on day seven. The one-way fee covers the yacht’s return.
Start here and loop: Elafiti, Mljet, Korčula, Pelješac and back, no leg over three hours, the shape we recommend for a catamaran, a gulet or a sailing yacht that would find Split to Dubrovnik rushed.
See the city by land instead: on a Split round trip, turn at Korčula or Mljet and visit Dubrovnik before or after the charter, as our Split to Dubrovnik guide suggests; Split airport has the better connections home.

More than nine in ten of our luxury charters run in this southern half of the coast, per our three-itineraries guide. Dubrovnik and the Kornati do not fit the same week.