Best Places to Photograph Dubrovnik

I’m going to go out there on a limb and guess that you’ve seen Dubrovnik before. Featured in countless episodes of Game of Thrones, impossibly photogenic, and very, very easy to fall in love with, Dubrovnik is everything you could want in a town to click away in. Everywhere you look will be terracotta roofing, centuries old churches, long sloping city walls and the deep azure of the Adriatic beyond. Yet, where in town is the best spot to capture this beauty?

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Park Orsula

Located a few km to the south from Dubrovnik, the views from the steep Park Orsula are breath-taking. A good way to get away from the heat of the city, Park Orsula also provides some excellent viewpoints from which to shoot Dubrovnik, the island of Lokrum, or Cavtat to the south. You can get to park Orsula by walking for 25 minutes southwards from Dubrovnik, or catching the number 10 bus, which should have ‘Cavtat’ labeled clearly. Easily the best photos I took of Dubrovnik were from Park Orsula – just picture it, 200 metres above the sea, away from the tourist crowds, lost in the pine forest – a perfect place to click away on your camera.

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The City Walls

This is probably the obvious one, but the long, winding city walls that enclose the old town of Dubrovnik are probably one of the few ‘high-points’ in the town proper that will allow you to capture detail shots of the city streets like the Stradun, and of the terracotta roofing that slopes throughout the city. The city walls stretch for several kilometres in a great loop around the city. Each side offers new perspectives of town, but my money’s on the eastern edge, where the walls increase in size, offering you the best perspective shots of the old town. You’ll pay $30 USD for the pleasure, but the experience is thoroughly worth it for the photographic opportunities alone.

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Lovrjenac

Fort Lawrence, or Lovrjenac, is located a few hundred metres from the famous Pile Gate of Dubrovnik. Standing an imposing hundred or so metres above the sea, Lovrjenac provides the perfect location from which to capture the undulations of the city walls, and is especially gorgeous at sunset. You can visit Lovrjenac as part of your ticket for the city walls ($25 USD), or as a stand-alone experience, ($10 USD). During the low season, however, they’re only open until 3 pm, so get there in the morning or around 2:30 for the best lighting, otherwise it’ll be way too harsh for anything too memorable.

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Parking Dubrovnik at Park Gradac

Just below Park Gradac, on the next cliff up from Lovrjenac (Fort Lawrence) sits a very unassuming gravel carpark. The carpark, possibly sitting on the most scenic hill-side in all of Europe, offers the best, and cheapest viewpoint from which to photograph the city. You can access the carpark by leaving from the Pile Gate and following the main road up the hill until you reach a densely wooded park (Park Gradac). Take the gravel driveway up and you’ll reach the carpark. From here you’ll be afforded amazing shots of Lovrjenac, the city walls and the many turrets and fortifications that dot the city exterior. What’s better, there are a series of sloping rockfaces to the west of the carpark, above the sea. From these, you’ll be able to get really awesome shots of the city walls and the sea below, providing easily some of the most scenic photography you’ll find in town.

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Buze Gate

One of the main portals to the city, the eastern facing ‘Buze Gate’ opens up to easily the most scenic street in the entire city. A long series of sloping stairways descends from the mouth of the gate, giving you the opportunity to frame your shots of the town beyond with the perfect leading lines offered by the staircase. An excellent spot to use a prime lens for ‘detail shots,’ or for greater perspective of the city, the Buze Gate is my personal pick for where to shoot from in town.

Mount Srd

Taking the cablecar (or hiking) to Mount Srd should be on everyone’s list on what to do in Dubrovnik, due to the sheer beauty of the mountain, and for the amazing views out over Dubrovnik that the mountain will provide. The cablecar will cost you $25 USD, which is hellishly steep, so I’ll recommend that you do the hike. It will take about an hour, but the path up is truly beautiful and the views from the top will be oh so worthwhile after sweating your way there. I’d recommend timing your visit to Mount Srd for 3-5 pm, before then, the light reflected by the ocean is way too harsh for decent shots, but with the sunset, truly perfect. Make sure you have a decent zoom or fixed lens for this as you’ll be situated a ways back from the town.

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