Dubrovnik

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Dubrovnik
<map lat='42.65' lng='18.1' zoom='12' view='0' />
Information
Country:
Flag of Croatia
Croatia
Population: 44,000
Licence plate: DU
Major roads: E 65
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Dubrovnik is a nice town in the far south of Croatia. The old town is a UNESCO world heritage site and nearly over run by tourists in the summer months, it is extremly difficult to CS in this place.

There is a ferry to Bari, Italy departing in Dubrovnik. The town is close to the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

Hitchhiking out

North towards Neum, Mostar, Split and Zagreb E 65

Hitchhiking north out of Dubrovnik - does require some patience, all the rest areas seem to be located on the coast, making it difficult to find a good area.

Option 1: The spot below works although you might have to wait for a while. Go the the main bus station, in the north. Cross the road and keep walking north and look for steps leading up the hill side. If find yourself under the bridge, you have gone too far. If you follow the path, it will lead you all the way up to the E 65. Then, cross the bridge and continue across to the other side, where you will find a rather small pull in spot. Make sure you stay behind the barrier and make yourself as visible as possible, because there is not a lot of space for stopping and drivers can't see it from far away.

Option 2: Easier to get there. There are bus stops on the Jadranska Cesta Street. A good one to hitch is the one opposite to the Lodpudska Ulica. Hitch with a HUGE sign "Ploče". You can take bus #3 from the city centre to get there, but the place is not as good as the bridge described above.

  • I don't want to discourage anyone, but, I was hitchhiking from Dubrovnik to Ploče, to anywhere out of Dubrovnik towards the north-west for about 2 hours and nothing. What I noticed were cars full of people, mostly families going back home from vacation. It was in august. Maybe if it's not the season, it will be less traffic but more useful one. My friend was HH two times from Dubrovnik to Ploče. Once he was waiting one and a half hour til he got a ride, second time 2 hours without any success. Another option is a bus, but you have to walk down from HH spot to the bus station near the sea for about 20 minutes. Bus costs 10 Euro. I stuck there at night, it was 20:00 so, at that time, bus sounded as a good option. (by NixyJungle)
  • Tried this spot in August 2015 and waited approximately 1h 20m for a ride to the Bosnian border near Neum. It's a relatively good spot because of the bridge, which makes it visible but most cars are full during summer time. (by uncle_sam01)
  • I hitchhiked from the bridge in March 2017. It was still low season so there aren't as many full cars. But there is still quite a bit of traffic. I found a ride all the way to Mostar in about 30 minutes. The guys offered to take me all the way to Sarajevo! (by Henridv)
  • July 2017 - we went to the bus station described in Option 2 from where we walked through the bridge (there is a bit of road with no pavement, don't worry, its normal here to walk along the road). On the other side of the bridge, described place looks much better than described in Option 1. There is a lot of space to stop and you are visible. I felt confused by what I found on Hitchwiki, as it was described as a mediocre spot, where in real it looked great. Got a 15 km ride in 20 minutes and another one all the way to Split in another 20 minutes.

East towards Montenegro E 65 8

Quarim's backpack with a Montenegro sign in front of the historic old town of Dubrovnik

Hitchhiking out of Dubrovnik - which is the last major town in the south of Croatia - does not seem that difficult, although it might require quite some luck. Just climb up to the coastline road and hitchhike on the E65. A couple of kilometres after the city, there is a scenic view with a café and a large parking space, large enough to stop a truck. IMPORTANT! If you are already on the part of E65 close to the old town, don't move any further east! For the next 2.5 km there is not much space to walk - not to mention to stop for the cars because of crash barriers, and you will have to walk it all. Its a very scenic - but also not very safe walk, in case you want to give it a try.

Most drivers, though, are heading mainly towards either airport or the small town of Gruda. It is still about 10 km from there to the Montenegro-Croatian border crossing between Herceg-Novi (Montenegro) near Gruda (Croatia). Since the traffic is pretty low on that road - especially in the late afternoon/evening - you will need some luck to find someone crossing the border and willing to take you. Most probably you will be picked up by some tourists.

  • August 2015: We weren't able to stop a car for 3 hours. We were heading to Montenegro, but locals discouraged us from this telling us that most of traffic goes to the airport or Gruda. However, we saw many cars from Montenegro passing. During the RedBull hitchhiking competition which received quite good media coverage, locals were stopping very often but now it was pure misery.


  • August 2016:

You can take Bus 1a or 1b from Pile Gate(Old Town) to central Bus Station near cruise ship port for 15 Kune, 12 if you buy it at kiosk. From there you can take bus 10 towards Cavtat and get off at Kitzovica 20 km outside of town which might help you avoid the Dubrovnik tourists who won't pick you up...( the name is either Kitzovica or very similar to that, ask your bus driver to tell you when you're there). You can also take this bus simply to the top of the hill above old town and get off there if you don't feel like climbing the hill with your stuff. The #10 bus is only 25 Kune to Kitzovica and progressively less if you don't go that far. From the Kitzovica stop I walked 20m and hitched from right in front of bus stop so cars could pull into bus space and I got a ride within literally 5 seconds all the way to Bar.

From Airport to Dubrovnik

Just ask someone in front of the airport to go with them. If you just landed in Dubrovnik, there is usually someone with a car, waiting for their friends and families from the same flight as yours, so it shouldn't be a problem.

Sleeping

axler8's backpack at his scenic stealth camping spot, just before the bridge at the north part of Dubrovnik

Stealth Camping

Along the coastline road there are plenty of places where you can put up a sleeping bag, though few places large enough for a tent. However, be very careful and use a torch, as there are sudden drops in many places and walking here without light is dangerous.

From city centre - or pile (city centre bus hub) take a main street called Branitelja Dubrovnika for about 1 km, on your left side you will see green rail and few benches down in the small park. There is one stairs going down. Go down there and turn to right, at the end of this small park there is another hidden stairs going down. Go there and you will find really nice spot called Club Boninovo. It's place what local made for their relax. During season it could be crowded during day, but during night it should be safe. There is grill for use and stairs down to water. Also you can jump from rock to the sea. Enjoy! May, 2015. Moody

  • This is a beautiful spot. Favourite part about my stay was this spot. Be warned, the walk from the spot to the hitchhiking spot is primarily stairs, so plan accordingly if you are trying to get out early.
  • Great spot indeed, in the weekend however students were here 'till 1 or 2 am, so prepare for the possible option that sleeping is not going to happen before early hours. June 2016
  • one of the best sleeping spot I had. It might be better to arrive a bit before night because of the stairs. We met 2 different groups of hitchhikers the same night. Locals arrived from 8am.

Another option is to go to the peninsula Babin Kuk, which is an area of small forests, beaches and a (quite expensive) camping. It's possible to find a wild camping spot here, and it's a half-hour walk (1 hour from old town) or 5 minute bus ride from Dubrovnik.

  • Babin Kuk was recommended as a reasonable wild camping area by a local. We ended up sleeping in our sleeping bags in a more secluded part of a commercial tourist centre there (it felt safe), though you can also find normal camping spots near the beach. June 2014. Nick

Hostel

Sleeping in a Hostel in Dubrovnik is an option which costs around EUR 13 per night. You can be unlucky in the summer months where it might be booked out if you appear without reservation. Check pages like hostelworld.com or hostelbookers.com.

CS, HC

It seems to be very hard to get someone who will host you. Because Dubrovnik is loved by tourists, couchsurfers from this town are spammed by requests and will probably not answer.

Port of Dubrovnik

500 metres from the main bus station in the direction of the old town is the "port of Dubrovnik", which is open 24 hours a day. In summer, the place may be a bit noisy and inconvenient to get some sleep, however, in other times of the year it would generally provide a good night's sleep especially if it's cold or raining.

  • "We tried to sleep there but they closed waiting room over night like one hour after ship to Italy left the harbour. May, 2015, Moody"


nomad:Dubrovnik