Geocaching in Dubrovnik - pure variety of experiences

If you come to Dubrovnik, you probably don't come here exclusively for caching. The cache density is manageable low. But geocaching in Dubrovnik is pure variety of experiences!

In just a few hours you can fly from Germany to Croatia or drive your own car. June, as the end of the pre-season, was an ideal time for us to travel here. In addition to a lot of sightseeing in the old town and some history, there is still some time for one or the other cache. Today we want to report on the best caches according to our taste.

The city of Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik is located in south-east Croatia, directly on the Adriatic Sea. The typical old town, which is surrounded by a massive stone wall with towers, is well known. The entire pedestrian zone of the old town is paved with limestone. There are many small shops and restaurants here. In February 2016 it also became known that scenes of the film Star Wars Episode VIII were filmed in Dubrovnik. So not only for Game of Thrones, but also for other films Dubrovnik served as a backdrop.

Cache “Dubrovnik in detail” https://coord.info/GC6DDY5 gives a nice route through the streets and is really fun.

Lapad and public transport

This is a sort of suburb of Dubrovnik that is home to many hotels. Only 3.6 km as the crow flies from the gate to the old town, these hotels are easily accessible by bus. Line 4 runs from Lapad and for only 15 Krona (approx. 2 EUR) you can get one-way to the city or back to the hotel. Almost all buses end at "Pile", which is the entrance to the old town. At the kiosk at Pile you can get bus tickets for 12 kronor. There are also day and multi-day tickets. In addition to public transport, the Dubrovnik Card also includes discounts on many museums and sights. With a price of around EUR 30, it's not exactly cheap, which is why we didn't buy it.

The bus ride on the way back is just as easy as starting at your own hotel. The departure point is right across the street from the arrival point - right in front of the large entrance gate to Dubrovnik's Old Town. A large board above the bus stop shows which line is next and in how many minutes it will leave. We never had to wait long for our line 4.

Geocaching in Dubrovnik - the Old Town

The old town of Dubrovnik is something special. Car-free and a backdrop for Game of Thrones... Dubrovnik serves as a filming location for numerous scenes of the TV series Game of Thrones. The fortress, the Pile Gate or the city walls are known to fantasy fans as filming locations. However, you will (still) look in vain for a cache on the subject of this fantasy story.​ The only exception is the cache “King´s Landing” (https://coord.info/GC69XFQ ), which deals with the topic and also offers a little thrill. Dubrovnik's Old Town is also a World Heritage Site, and not without reason. In the early morning it was really easy to stroll around, there were only a few locals setting up their restaurants. Later in the day, the number of tourists increased more and more. Every house in the old town of Dubrovnik is worth photographing and admiring. Many small windows, balconies, everything in the typical stone construction, which makes the charm of this city enormous.

The Roland Column, symbol of a free city, is a statue that you automatically look at when you make your way to the Earth-Cache St. Blasius. (https://coord.info/GC6K9VK)

The stone wall

Anyone who has ever been to Dubrovnik or has dealt with this city knows the stone wall. This completely surrounds the city.

At Geocaching in Dubrovnik you quickly come across a new virtual. The new Virtual in Dubrovnik (https://coord.info/GC7B77T) revolves around this very stone wall. A photo of a specific part of the wall is required. However, the owner also allows alternatives, because with an entrance fee of around EUR 20, the walk on the wall is anything but cheap.

Lokorum (Insel)

The beautiful island of Lokorum is only 2 km away from the old town of Dubrovnik. If you walk through the old town you automatically end up at the sea. There, many different organizers offer boat tours of all kinds: glass-bottom boats, island hopping and a trip to Lokorum. The sales stand is in the middle of the pier, directly at the ship landing stage. On the table you can clearly see the departure times from Dubrovnik, but also from Lokorum. On both of our trips, the start was right on time. While for us tourists the boat trip of EUR 20 is quite expensive, the use of the ship is free for local pensioners. I was at the dock early in the morning for the first boat tour at 9am - with me just a few retirees who knew each other and went to the island for a swim. I had put my swim pads for the afternoon near the hotel and was annoyed as soon as I arrived that I didn't have my bathing suit with me. Some of the ship passengers quickly lay on large slabs of rock. There is a large bay around which the nearby Earth Cache also revolves. The whole island is incredibly green and also provides cool shade with its many pine trees. Everywhere in the bay there are large slabs of rock that are used for (sun)bathing. A silver staircase leads from almost every rock slab directly into the water, which is deep in all places. During my conversation with a local retiree, who drives back to Dubrovnik with me after a good hour, I find out that she meets her friends here 3 times a week for a morning swim. The stairs and the bay have the advantage that you don't have to walk over stones with water shoes, as in most other bays, but can start swimming straight away. Of course a cache, the Earth-Cache Lokrum Island Pigeon Cave (Otok Lokrum) was a goal for our island tour https://coord.info/GC78NWA.

Higher T-scoring caches

It's no wonder that higher T-scoring caches in Dubrovnik are mostly water-related. There's a T5 that requires a boat to cross, several T4.5s for swimming, and other niceties. The caches under the name “Urban….” such as "Urban Swimming", "Urban Diving", "Urban caving" and "Urban (rock)climbing" promise a little thrill.

Preise

I would like to add something, even if it has little to do with geocaching. Prices for drinks, food and souvenirs in Dubrovnik are extremely high. In the outskirts of Croatia you have significantly lower prices than in Germany, in Dubrovnik they are significantly higher. This can also be felt in hotels. For EUR 70 a night in a double room in Lapad – just outside the center – you get just a ** hotel, where you start to wonder where the second star in the rating came from. But geocachers are not in the hotel, they are in nature and mainly come to the hotel to sleep...

A trip to Dubrovnik is always worthwhile, not only for Croatia, but also for experiencing the country and its people!