Oh, Dubrovnik. I knew this would happen. I knew eventually we would come to a place that didn’t quite meet expectations and I would hit a traveling wall and my inner vagabonding balloon would deflate.

Fitting that this happened in a place known for its staggering 13th century walls rising from the sea (which we didn’t even get to walk, by the way. But that’s later).

Dubrovnik is simply too expensive, too crowded, and too touristy for us on this trip. I wish I had seen this article sooner, but honestly, we aren’t going to love every place. On our big 2016 road trip, I didn’t love all of our destinations. In fact, I downright hated some (here’s looking at you, Catalina Island). It is unrealistic in the extreme to think I will find every destination magical, and we’ve been so lucky to far. A dud was in our future, and we found it here on the shores of Croatia.

I don’t want it to seem like I’m slamming Dubrovnik. I’m not. My good friend Katie and my cousin Rachel both told me great things about the city, and I trust their judgement wholeheartedly. Travel is wholly dependent on perspective, luck, time, and place. My Shangri-La may be another’s sh*thole, and vice versa. Dubrovnik also coincided with my first bout of food poisoning*, and a general feeling of travel fatigue.

There were aspects of Dubrovnik that I didn’t like that are NOT the fault of the city, like the time I spent barfing. But this is my blog** with my opinions and feelings, so our time in Dubrovnik was definitely a Travel Fail. Here’s why:

The Prices

Oh, money. We were batting outside our league with how much everything in Dubrovnik costs. Restaurants, even the supposedly reasonable ones, were outrageously expensive. Sipping a cappuccino on the Stradun, the main street in Old Town, set me back $8, and that’s eight U.S. DOLLARS.

Groceries, usually the bastion of the budget traveler, were similarly steep. A walking tour, sea kayaking, museums, a ferry to Lokrum island….everything seemed to cost much more in Dubrovnik than similar experiences in Prague, Budapest, Krakow, and Sarajevo. Which makes sense: unlike those cities, Dubrovnik is actually a fairly small town (43,000 residents) and the economy is based on almost entirely on tourism. While Budapest is bigger, real people live in Budapest and they sure as hell aren’t paying eight bucks for a cappuccino (or 2,242 florints). So oddly, we are finding it much easier to stay on budget in larger cities. We are adjusting our itinerary, and ’ll chalk up our cringeworthy spending in Dubrovnik as yet another costly Travel Lesson.

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I don’t blame the locals for charging a lot: the economy is largely based on all of us showing up and demanding to be fed and entertained. If the hordes are coming, why not make some dough? We just…don’t have as much money as the average travelers. So we spent a lot of time walking around and taking pictures (walking is free!), eating bread and cheese in our Air BnB, reading, and being kinda bored***.

The activities we did end up spending money on, for the most part, were underwhelming. We paid almost $50 for a Game of Thrones walking tour…which was my least favorite of all of the walking tours we’ve done, and the only one that hasn’t been free.

We went on a kayaking tour, and realized that kayaking is not only physically punishing but not enjoyable when you are trying to keep up with a huge group (are all of these people Olympic kayakers or part dolphin? How are they so fast?!) . And that was before it poured rain on our sad paddling selves. When we finally dragged ourselves onto the beach, it looked like we had fallen out of our kayaks and into the ocean, we were so soaked…and had a 30 minute hike back in the rain. Oof.

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We foolishly bought Dubrovnik Cards (WARNING: Biggest rip-off in the place) that ate up a full ⅕ of our total budget, reasoning that for the cost of the city walls, the 10 rides on the busses, and one of the places we would hit up on our GoT tour (all of which were included in the card), it would “pay for itself”. Famous last words. The busses were an unmitigated disaster (see below) that we didn’t end up using that much, the fort that is used for the Red Keep had only a small entrance fee, and we didn’t even get to walk the city walls because they CLOSE them at 5:30, and we showed up 20 minutes later excited for a sunset walk. (And by the way, in all of the guides and blogs I read about Dubrovnik ahead of time, none of them mentioned the early closing of the walls. Aaaargh!) We will never buy a city card again, even if it’s the best deal in the universe. Another costly Travel Lesson.

The Hills and The Bus Go Round and Round

Even though Dubrovnik is a pricey, pricey place, our accommodations were reasonable….because it was the off-season, and our Air Bnb is a punishing half an hour away from the city. Normally a 30 minute walk wouldn’t be a dealbreaker, but this particular trek was up and down the most torturous stairs. Stairs that hurt going down and coming up, which I–with my relatively young knees–didn’t think was possible. Stairs that were uneven and sloped funny ways and were, above all, STEEP. There was a gym right by our Air Bnb, and we walked by that place many, many times and I never saw anyone in it. Because why do you need a gym when you HAVE THOSE STAIRS. I haven’t been that winded, hands-on-my-knees gasping for breath, since I tried to backpack in Yosemite and ended up at a Best Western in San Mateo instead.

The stairs were not only lung-draining, they were prohibitive and made logistics difficult. Going to the store to grab groceries was more draining than Orange Theory, and when we left for Old Town, we had to pack for the day because going back and forth was such an ordeal.

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Normally, if our place was 30 minutes away from all the stuff to do, I’d hop on public transportation! Figuring out local transit systems has actually been one of my favorite things about this trip: from the creaky horror movie tram of Sarajevo to the incredibly punctual, efficient leviathan that is the Berlin system, it always feels like in the game of travel, I pass Go every time I successfully get from Point A to Point B using the buses and trains.

However, public transportation in the small town of Dubrovnik (remember, 43,000 residents) presented a different challenge. Namely, that the small bus system didn’t show up on Google Maps (WHY GOOGLE OVERLORDS?! WHY?!). When I realized that the local bus system was not incorporated into Google Maps I nearly had a nervous breakdown. This had never happened before. How were were going to get around?! We got our hands on the paper map, and realized it isn’t entirely accurate and doesn’t show all of the stops, and the busses seemed to go in different directions from the same stop depending on the whims of the driver or the time of day. We also often experiences our bus just sailing on by a stop because another bus happened to be loading up in front of them. It took days to sort of figure this system out, and me making pronouncements about how God is my witness, I am never climbing those stairs again, before we were sort of confident using the busses. Sort of. Needless to say, it was extremely confusing and we were often faced with a no-win choice a long, swerving bus ride to God-knows where or a steep trek up the stairs, AKA Satan’s vertebrae.  

Trip Purpose: AKA…We Don’t Need A Vacation

Dubrovnik is absolutely swarming with visitors (I’m not hating! I’m one of them!). The Old Town seems to merely exist as a medieval staging ground for cruise ship day trips, and there are hotels and apartments for rent absolutely everywhere. Clearly, this is a popular place. For a particular kind of traveler, I think Dubrovnik is a great destination. If you are looking for a week-long vacation with relaxation, beauty, and (I hear) great food AND you have a luxury budget, Dubrovnik is the place. I would love to find myself in the “Pearl of the Adriatic” after a stressful few months of work. It would be perfect for a honeymoon, a romantic vacation, or a short trip where you want to drop some dough on wine and sea views. It is an incredibly beautiful place: the sea is a hypnotic shade of turquoise blue, crystal clear, and it was warm enough to swim in well into October. There are many beaches and alcoves and little ladders into the sea, so you can swim every day in the most gorgeous of settings. Second, we saw so many chic resorts that I’m sure rival luxury digs on tropical islands and the Amalfi coast. The Old Town is enchanting to explore, and there are many day trips and other activities in the area to like kayaking and visiting peacock-filled islands and wineries: again, IF you have the money budgeted. Finally, I hear the food and wine is amazing. That wasn’t our experience, but the entire internet can’t be wrong.

However, Ben and I don’t need a vacation destination. We aren’t working. Dubrovnik is for romance, luxury, and relaxation. I found out that people who are taking a year off from their jobs really don’t need any of that. I don’t need to chill on a relaxing beach because I haven’t spent the last month and a half corralling 8 year olds and working 60+ hours a week. I don’t need a romantic vacation because I get to spend every day exploring with my impossibly awesome, sweet, handsome husband (which, honestly, is the best part of this whole trip: I get so much Ben time, way more than I get in real life.) And I’d like luxury–who doesn’t?!–, but I’m on the road for several months and have to stretch my dollars so I can get to Japan.

So for the traveler on a budget looking for an exciting city to explore, Dubrovnik isn’t the place (may I suggest Sarajevo!?). It was a misstep in our planning****, and it made me reexamine our itinerary and remove anywhere that a) cruise ships visit and b) is for relaxation and luxury (goodbye, Thailand beaches!). We are realizing on this trip that we are most excited and challenged by cities that we can learn a lot from, that are budget-friendly, and that aren’t just for tourists. More Sarajevos, fewer Dubrovniks.

*All I’m going to say is, I will never eat shelled shrimp again. To be fair, it was the cheapest thing on the menu. Sticking to our budget was a killer….of my stomach.

**As Ben continually points out, these are truly just my thoughts, not his. Text him for his opinions:)

***If I were still teaching, I would read that and be all BOO HOO, RACHEL. You get to sleep in, read, take strolls, and EAT CHEESE all day. Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Answer: no. Not at all. But just because I’m a lucky human on a magical year off doesn’t mean that Dubrovnik isn’t hella expensive and out of reach for us budget travelers.

**** My mom asked why we didn’t just leave if we didn’t like it. Great question. When you use Air Bnb, you prepay for your accommodations and it is hard to get a refund: something would have to be wrong with the place and it’s a whole process. It did make me question using Air BnB for this very reason, but the cost is so much lower and the amenities so important to us that we are continuing foward with our Air BnBs for now.