Dubrovnik Info Needed

My family & I will be in Dubrovnik in August. After doing the wall, some shops in town and lunch, we may want to relax at a beach in the afternoon. Does anyone know of a nice family beach near town? By near, I'm thinking maybe a 5-mile radius? Thanks.

Robin

Here's a helpful page from the main tourist web site: http://web.tzdubrovnik.hr/beaches.shtml See, also, the Riviera/islands section.

We did the walls and Old Town (charming place) and then chartered a boat with operator for the afternoon (very reasonable for our family of 4), many are available at the pier where the tender dropped us just outside of the Old Town marina gate. The boat took us all around for scenic views and swimming in different spots. We didn't go to any beaches, but there was some beachfront on the coastline and also on an island, I think? I'm not remembering a lot of sand, it was a very rocky area, the beaches could be pebble vs. sand? I am thinking if you did your research, you could request the boat take you to a beach (if on an island, otherwise, of course, you'd go by taxi).

I don't know what itin. you are doing, but we did the Millie Barc-Ven in June, and the best beaches by far were in the Greek Isles--we had fabulous beach days in Santorini and Mykonos. Other than that, beaches aren't the big draw.

Have a great time!

Artemis,

Thanks for the link, it's very helpful for general info about Dubrovnik!

L-

Artemis--

Thanks. We are also going to Santorini. Do you happen to remember the names of the beach or beaches in Santorini you went to? I've read, I believe, that there are black and/or red sand beaches there. Is this true? Thanks again.

Robin

Hi, Robin,

My trip notes are inaccessible at the moment, but I think my recall of the name of the beach is unimportant if you have a guidebook or use a net resource. Our kids voted for the black sand beaches, so we headed over to the east part of the island (I assume, right side of map) where the black beaches were marked on the map (red beaches were also on the east side to the south of the black beaches, unfortunately, we ran out of time to go check them out to compare)(we rented a car in town). There was a several miles-long strip of beachfront, commercialized, with restaurants and shops lining one side of the road, strip of beach on the other. Not the most scenic beachfront we've seen, but we ended up having a great time. Ate a lazy lunch of delicious traditional Greek food, kids went on across from us to start beach/surf play, lots of other kids around to play with, we sat and enjoyed ouzo, dessert, coffee...then crossed over to the beach and lolly-gagged on our chairs under the umbrella. Leaving the area, we stopped at a local grocery store on the parallel street inland--that is always our favorite way to check out what's the same, what's different in a place new to us.

We did the sunset at Oia. If you haven't read about it, you will. It was an event. Pretty incredible, best shopping on the island is out there.

Your kids may like the donkey ride up the cliff from the tender pier to the old town. Well, our teen daughter turned up her nose and rode the cable car :rolleyes: , but the rest of us laughed ourselves silly riding the donkeys. :D

We like a lot of the same ships. I see you're trying your first Radiance-class next month. We took the Serenade's maiden voyage from Amsterdam to Boston in Aug. 03 and loved her. Gorgeous! Enjoy your break from winter....

Artemis--

Thanks for all the wonderful info. Our daughter is only eight so I was actually going to try to talk her and Daddy out of the donkeys. (They actually sounded pretty gross to me. I guess I'd have to vote with your daughter on that one!) The black beach sounds wonderful. Is the sand finer or any different? It seems like it would be more coarse. Also, are their chair/umbrella rentals, or isn't it that type of beach. We like strolling through grocery stores, too. It's fun to see what they have and we don't, even though the brands might be the same!! We plan on renting a car too. The island seems pretty car-rental friendly.

We really enjoyed the Voyager class -- we're afraid we might be a little spoiled. But we've heard wonderful things about the Serenade. We're really looking forward to some sun and sand!! You guys going anywhere this winter?

Robin,

You are correct, the grains of black sand were large. Not uncomfortable to lay on, in fact, a fun kind of sand for burying people! Yes, there are chairs/umbrellas to rent.

Sure, you can let dad & your daughter do the donkeys while you take the cable car up. :p But they will be getting some breathtaking views....

Finally found somebody else who likes poking around in local groceries! Definitely do it in Greece--a lot more unique things than in western Europe, say. The meat dept. was pretty interesting. And my DH still talks about the vats of wine in the equivalent of a 7-11 next to the car rental office. You just bring in your own bottle (like a plastic water bottle), put it under a spigot, and voila! or I guess they'd say opa! That was our first time in Greece, and we fell in love with the people, culture, natural beauty, great food. Definitely a place we plan to see via land trip soon.

We had to cancel at the last minute what would have been our 6th annual holiday cruise, so we are suffering from winter cruise withdrawal as we speak! We've avoided spring break cruising :eek:, but looks like we may just have to give it a try. Serenade is drop dead gorgeous. In our family, everyone else wants to stick with Voyager class forever! But they did like the Serenade.

Take care,

Thanks again, Artemis. We look forward to all of our new adventures.

Thank you Artemis.

The web site is very helpful. Since Dubrovnik uses its own currency, did you have to do a money exchange for local currency or did you find that vendors and restaurants in the tourist areas were willing to accept either dollars or euros? We did the Scandinavia/Russia cruise last May and thought that we would have to do currency exchanges in several locations but we discovered that US dollars were widely accepted in Scandinavia countries and even in Russia for small purchases where we really didn't want to use a credit card ( or where CC's were not accepted at all).

I'd hate to waste valuable touring time dealing with money!

We were also wondering about the currency in Dubrovnik. Do they take euros at all and what about US currency?

Important to know- ALWAYS DONKEY UP, NEVER DOWN

We're doing the Barcelona - Venice route in October. Just yesterday I popped across to the currency exchange place across the street and bought $40 cdn worth of Kunas (Croatian Currency). They don't charge any fees. Thought it might be handly to have some petty cash for stuff.

We were in Dubrovnik last July. They took our Euro's without a problem. Celebrity used a shuttle bus to bring us to the old town from the ship. It was so hot, my kids just wanted to go swimming (they're older 15 & 18). We walked through town, around and through the marina (we kept asking for the beach) and finally got to the beach. We saw quite a few people there from the ship. The water was perfect, the beach is smooth rocks, a little hard on the feet. You can also rent chairs and umbrellas, I don't remember how much. I found that the local's spoke very good English. The food, especially seafood was very cheap, fresh and delicious! In Santorini, the beache that we went to had black, volcanic sand, almost tar like. It will stain light colored clothing, it stained my light green bathing suit. I have to say that I don't like the beaches here. We spent most of our time in Oia. We were in Santorini last year for one day on our cruise, but 10 years ago we spent 1 whole week in a cliff vila in Oia. Santorini is one of my favourite places!!

Artemis;:confused:

I saw your post regarding Dubrovnik. Did you Pre-arrange for the boat charter or can you do that the day that you arrive. Sounds like a neat thing to do. Do you have any other advice for this port? ............ Dick

Artemis;

I saw your post regarding Dubrovnik. Did you Pre-arrange for the boat charter or can you do that the day that you arrive. Sounds like a neat thing to do. Do you have any other advice for this port? ............ Dick

Here's a helpful page from the main tourist web site: http://web.tzdubrovnik.hr/beaches.shtml See, also, the Riviera/islands section.

 

We did the walls and Old Town (charming place) and then chartered a boat with operator for the afternoon (very reasonable for our family of 4), many are available at the pier where the tender dropped us just outside of the Old Town marina gate. The boat took us all around for scenic views and swimming in different spots. We didn't go to any beaches, but there was some beachfront on the coastline and also on an island, I think? I'm not remembering a lot of sand, it was a very rocky area, the beaches could be pebble vs. sand? I am thinking if you did your research, you could request the boat take you to a beach (if on an island, otherwise, of course, you'd go by taxi).

 

I don't know what itin. you are doing, but we did the Millie Barc-Ven in June, and the best beaches by far were in the Greek Isles--we had fabulous beach days in Santorini and Mykonos. Other than that, beaches aren't the big draw.

 

Have a great time!