Dubrovnik City Walls walking tour

Dubrovnik's city walls run an unbroken 1,940 metres around the entire Old Town, and in four centuries of standing guard against real threats, they were never once taken by force.

Four centuries of building

Fortification on the site goes back to at least the 12th century, but the walls as they stand today were mostly built during the 14th and 15th centuries, then continually reinforced through the 17th as the threat of Ottoman expansion grew across the region. The result is a wall up to 25 metres high and as much as 6 metres thick on the landward side – substantial enough that no hostile force ever successfully breached it, a track record Dubrovnik's diplomacy gets real credit for too.

The forts along the way

At the walls' highest point stands Fort Minčeta, a round tower whose construction began in 1319 and took its current circular form in 1461. Just outside the western walls, Fort Lovrijenac – nicknamed "Dubrovnik's Gibraltar" – stands 37 metres above the sea, built to guard against attack from both land and water. Walking the full loop takes in both, along with sweeping views over the Old Town's terracotta rooftops on one side and the Adriatic on the other.

A more recent siege

The walls' unbroken record faced its most modern test in 1991, when Yugoslav forces besieged the city during the Croatian War of Independence. Over two-thirds of the roughly 800 buildings inside the Old Town were hit by projectiles before the siege was lifted in 1992 – much of what visitors see restored today reflects careful rebuilding in the years since.

Booking

A guided walking tour of the walls and Old Town runs about two and a half hours, with a guide covering the history at Minčeta, Lovrijenac and the rest of the route. Go early morning or late afternoon in summer to avoid both the heat and the busiest stretches of walkway.