Crowds in Dubrovnik demystified

If you are interested in Dubrovnik one of the things you probably came across is news reports about huge crowds plaguing the town and which could potentially ruin your vacation. The stories are told about swarms of tourists that suck all the air, eat all the gelato, and there is no place to stand to take a photo, presumably. Here, I want to inform you and make you realize how this is not exactly true and how, with a little planing, you will never see a big crowd in Dubrovnik.

So where all these news reports, internet portal stories and photos come from? We all know that sensationalism sells news and collect clicks and taps alike. I really had it with these and I want to set the record straight and provide you with some insights into the matter to make your vacation in Dubrovnik more pleasant.

All the photos of the crowds that you find online and otherwise, come from a very small time frame. Big cruise ships do come and visit Dubrovnik daily (although not every day) and the town absorbs all these guests with ease as they mile about the Old Town. Most of the ships arrive to Dubrovnik for a day carrying around two thousand people aboard and this is nothing that you would notice. They trickle into the Old Town and enjoy their day mixing with town “regular” guests and locals alike.

Crowds are formed when two or sometimes three large ships arrive at roughly the same time, usually on Thursday morning. Some companies use Dubrovnik as a selling point for their cruise but, they stay in town for only a few hours (saving money on port charges?). Not wanting to miss out on the star of their cruise the guests all go to the town centre at once and clog the place. Spectacular photos of huge crowds can be taken at this point and news portals can start collecting those clicks and taps I mentioned earlier. 

However, just a few hours later, generally around 1 PM, all of that crowd must return to their ships for departure and the town is left with enough gelato to satisfy all of our guests.

You can download the cruise arrival monthly report at the Port of Dubrovnik website http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php and find out when is a good time to avoid the Old Town and spend some time on the beach, but rule of the thumb says that Thursday morning is the hot point so all you have to do is go on the beach or take one of many tours that are available and which take you away from the town center for a few hours.

I am a tour guide and I do not have any of those on offer so you will have to check with my competition for those, sorry :).

For a guided walking tour of Old Town or Game of Thrones Tour however, you should visit https://www.dubrovnikwalktour.com/ and I will make sure you enjoy your time in Dubrovnik even more.