One week in Dubrovnik

Days 1-2: the Old Town at its own pace

Start slow. Walk the walls on day 1 at opening (8am, €35), then spend the afternoon in the Rector's Palace and Franciscan monastery pharmacy — one of the oldest in Europe, operating since 1317. Day 2 is for the neighbourhoods: coffee on Gundulićeva square during the morning market, a swim off Šulić beach beneath Fort Lovrijenac, and dinner at Kopun on Poljana Ruđera Boškovića where the eponymous capon in orange sauce runs €24.

If you want to sleep inside the walls for at least one night, book early — rooms fill up 3 to 4 months ahead in July and August. The Pucic Palace on Gundulićeva square is the benchmark for old-town luxury, from around €420 a night; Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik near Pile Gate is a steadier choice for families at €260-€310; Prijeko Palace, tucked on the restaurant street of the same name, does boutique rooms from €180. Skip the paid Game of Thrones walking tours (€40-€60) — the free self-guided route on the tourist board's map covers the same filming spots for nothing, and the walls ticket already gets you onto Fort Lovrijenac and the Minčeta tower where most of it was shot.

Days 3-4: base yourself in Lapad

Move your bags to Lapad or Babin Kuk. Family apartments here go for €95-€139 a night versus €225 in the walls, and you swap alleys for a pine-shaded seafront path. Day 3: swim at Sunset Beach, lunch at Konoba Dubrava up the hill for grilled squid (€16). Day 4: catch the 9am ferry to Lokrum, then in the afternoon take bus 6 back and rent a kayak at Copacabana beach (€13/hour).

Lapad's hotels also run cheaper than the old-town equivalents without losing the sea view. Valamar Lacroma Hotel and Valamar Argosy Hotel both sit on the Lapad Bay seafront with pools, from €140-€190 a night in July, while Hotel Lero near Gruž is a 15-minute walk to the ferry port and closer to €110. Bus 6 and bus 4 both run every 15-20 minutes from Lapad into the Old Town until around midnight, so you don't need a car for these two days. Skip the taxi rank outside your hotel — a ride into town runs €15-€20, versus €1.86 for a single Libertas bus ticket bought on board.

Days 5-6: Elaphiti islands and Ston

Day 5, ride the local Jadrolinija ferry (not the tourist boats) from Gruž port to Šipan, the largest and least-visited Elaphiti island. Round trip is €7. Rent bikes at the harbour, ride to Sudurad, swim, eat lunch at Kod Marka. Day 6, drive or take the 10am bus to Ston (€10 one way, 1 hour). Walk the 3.1 miles of stone walls (yes, longer than Dubrovnik's), then eat oysters at Bota Šare on Mali Ston harbour — €2 apiece, pulled from the bay in front of you.

Šipan has two villages worth knowing — Šipanska Luka where the ferry lands, and Sudurad 20 minutes away by bike where Kod Marka serves the lunch. If you have a spare afternoon instead of Ston, swap in Lopud, a 50-minute Jadrolinija ferry from Gruž (€6.50 return) with no cars at all and a sand beach, Šunj, a 20-minute walk across the island. Mali Ston's oyster season peaks October to April, but they're pulled and served year-round; pair them with a bottle of Pošip from the Pelješac vineyards you passed on the drive in, and don't bother with the bottled water-view restaurants closer to the Ston walls entrance — Bota Šare on the harbour is cheaper and the oysters are fresher.

Day 7: Cavtat, then home

Cavtat is a 45-minute boat ride from the Old Port (€17 return) or a €5 bus from the main terminal, and it's where locals go when Dubrovnik feels like a theme park. Whitewashed harbour, the Račić mausoleum by Meštrović on the hill, and a swim off the rocks below the pine trees. Lunch at Bugenvila, then to the airport (10 minutes by taxi, €22).

Stay over in Cavtat rather than day-tripping if you'd rather end the week somewhere quieter than Dubrovnik's port queues. Hotel Supetar Cavtat and Hotel Cavtat both sit on the harbour promenade from €95-€130 a night, while Croatia Hotel up on the Sustjepan peninsula has its own private coves and runs €160-€220 with a pool and spa included. The coastal path around the peninsula, past the Franciscan monastery, takes about 40 minutes on foot and is shadier than anything in central Dubrovnik at midday. If you're flying out in the afternoon, this is a better last morning than fighting the cruise-ship crowds back at Pile Gate.

Getting around for the week

You'll use four kinds of transport across seven days: the Libertas city buses (€1.86 a ride, or €4.90 for a day card, bought from kiosks or the driver), the Jadrolinija car ferries and passenger catamarans from Gruž port, long-distance coaches from the main bus terminal next to Gruž, and, only if you're reaching Ston or Pelješac independently, a rental car. Parking inside or near the Old Town runs €3.50-€4.50 an hour or up to €35 a day at the Ilijina Glavica garage, which is the real reason to leave the car in Lapad and bus in instead. Ferry and bus timetables shrink outside June-September, so check Jadrolinija's site the night before rather than assuming the summer schedule.

A one-week Dubrovnik Card (€250 for adults, cheaper in shoulder season) covers the city walls, several museums, and unlimited Libertas buses, and pays for itself if you're doing the walls plus 3-4 museum stops; skip it if the walls and a couple of swims are all you want, since the card's museum list is heavy on smaller collections you may not reach. Airport transfers run about €35-€40 by taxi or shuttle for the 25km drive from Čilipi; the Atlas shuttle bus is €7 a head but only meets certain flights, so confirm before relying on it for a 7am departure.

When to go, and what to skip

Late May, June, and September give you the swimming weather without July-August's cruise-day crowds crushing Stradun between 10am and 4pm — those are the hours to be on a boat or a beach instead, not in the Old Town. Avoid booking the walls ticket for a day when 2 or more ships are in port; the tourist board publishes the day's cruise arrivals online, and anything over 4,000 passengers turns the Buža steps into a queue. The stone-paved Stradun itself is worth one slow evening walk after 9pm once the day-trippers have gone, when the marble underfoot is empty enough to hear your own footsteps.

Skip the Elafiti "four islands" speedboat tours sold on Stradun for €60-€90 — they spend more time picking up passengers from other hotels than actually on Šipan or Lopud, and the same islands are reachable on the public Jadrolinija ferry for under €10. Skip Banje Beach in August unless you're paying for a sunbed at one of the beach clubs; it's the closest beach to the walls and the most crowded by 10am. The honest trade-off for a full week is fewer nights inside the walls and more on buses and boats — that's what buys you Ston, Šipan, and Cavtat instead of a longer look at streets you'll have already covered by day 2.