Stradun and Dubrovnik Old Town Walk: Route, Sights and Opening Times

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: The Stradun is 298 m long and runs from Pile Gate to the Bell Tower on Luža Square (Tourist Board). Walk it west to east: the Large Onofrio Fountain, the Franciscan Monastery, the Small Onofrio Fountain, Orlando’s Column, Sponza Palace and the Rector’s Palace. Then turn off for the cathedral, Gundulić Square and the Jesuit Staircase, and Prijeko. The street is free; the museums on it have winter hours that end between 14:00 and 16:00. Or book a tour: Dubrovnik: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guidead (from €20, 4.8 stars from 6,067 reviews) walks the same streets with a guide, which saves you reading the plaques and choosing the order.

⚠️ Winter closing times bite. From 1 November to 31 March the Franciscan Monastery museum closes at 14:00 (and is shut on Sundays), the City Walls at 15:00, and the Rector’s Palace at 16:00 (and is shut on Mondays), so do the museums first and the street last.

The route

Start at Pile Gate. The Tourist Information Centre at Pile, at Brsalje 5, is open Monday to Sunday 08:00 to 20:00 (Tourist Board).

1. Large Onofrio Fountain. A polygonal fountain with 16 carved maskerons that water flows from, just inside the gate. Onofrio della Cava of Naples designed it and the smaller fountain at the other end of the street, for the public water supply completed in 1438, which brought spring water from Rijeka Dubrovačka, 12 km away. The 1667 earthquake damaged its cupola (Tourist Board).
2. Church of St Saviour and the Franciscan Monastery. The votive church, built from 1520 and completed in 1528, stood untouched in the 1667 earthquake, and is a Dubrovnik Renaissance church by Petar Andrijić of Korčula (Tourist Board). Between it and the walls stands the Franciscan Monastery and Old Pharmacy at Placa 30, with a €8 ticket. The walls’ main stairs start beside the church.
3. The Stradun itself. The Tourist Board says the city statute of 1272 set the plan of both the city and its main street. After the 1667 earthquake the street was rebuilt with uniform Baroque houses, shops at street level and knee-like entrances.
4. Small Onofrio Fountain. It stands in a niche on the facade of the City Guard building, at the east end of the Stradun. Onofrio della Cava designed it in 1446, and Pietro di Martino of Milan finished the stonework. Its octagonal pool has reliefs of boys, dolphins with shells and masks (Tourist Board).
5. Luža Square. The Tourist Board lists the sights around it:
   • Orlando’s Column: a medieval knight with a sword, made under a 1418 contract by Bonino of Milan. During the Festivities of St Blaise it carries a banner of the saint, and during the Summer Festival the Libertas flag (Tourist Board).
   • The Bell Tower: built in 1444, with a bell cast by Ivan Rabljanin in 1506. The bronze figures that strike the hours, the Zelenci, are copies from the 1929 rebuilding, and the originals are in the Rector’s Palace (Tourist Board).
   • Sponza Palace: a 16th-century Gothic-Renaissance customs house designed by Paskoje Miličević, with a shady portico and atrium. It houses the Dubrovnik Archives. The Memorial Room of Dubrovnik Defenders inside is open Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 15:00 (Homeland War Museum). A Latin inscription on the wall forbids false measures and says God weighs the goods with the merchant (Tourist Board).
   • The Church of St Blaise: the Venetian Baroque church of the city’s patron, begun in 1706 to a design by Marino Gropelli on the site of a Romanesque church destroyed by fire, and dating in its current form from 1715. The silver statue of the saint, holding a model of the city, survived the fire. His feast on 3 February is the day of the city (Tourist Board).
6. The Rector’s Palace. The seat of the Republic’s government, now the Cultural History Museum, with a €15 ticket and a portico of Gothic and Renaissance arches. See the Rector’s Palace page.
7. The cathedral and Gundulić Square. The Baroque Cathedral of the Assumption was built from 1672 and finished in 1713 after the 1667 earthquake destroyed the earlier Romanesque basilica, and the Tourist Board’s Croatian page lists a 16th-century Titian polyptych of the Assumption over the main altar (Tourist Board, in Croatian). Behind it is Gundulić Square, with Ivan Rendić’s 1892 statue of the poet Ivan Gundulić, and a green market every morning supplied by farmers from nearby villages (Tourist Board).
8. The Jesuit Staircase. The Roman architect Pietro Passalacqua designed the Baroque staircase in 1738, connecting Gundulić Square with the Church of St Ignatius and the Collegium Ragusinum (Tourist Board). It is also the Game of Thrones setting for Cersei’s Walk of Shame.
9. Prijeko. The street runs parallel to the Stradun and crosses a grid of 14 steep streets. The Tourist Board says Prijeko has the largest number of restaurants (Tourist Board). For where to eat, see where to eat in Dubrovnik.

The Large Onofrio Fountain at Pile. Photo: Pat Neary, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

What costs money on the route

The Stradun, the fountains, the squares and the exteriors are free. The sights with a ticket are the museums and the walls.

Tours of the Old Town

The street needs no ticket and no guide. A guided walk is for the stories behind the plaques and for the order: it points at what to enter before the winter closing times. Check each listing’s date options for what it covers.

Old Town walking tour with a local guide

From €20 · 4.8 stars from 6,067 reviews · 1.5 to 3.5 hours · free cancellation

Dubrovnik: Old Town Walking Tour with Local Guidead: a guided Old Town walk flagged as a bestseller on the listing, with a private option. Book at least 10 hours ahead.

Shorter Old Town walk, wheelchair accessible

From €20 · 4.9 stars from 839 reviews · 1.5 hours · free cancellation

Dubrovnik: Old Town Walking Tourad: a 90-minute guided walk that the listing marks as wheelchair accessible, with a private option. Book at least 10 hours ahead.

Walls, Old Town and Franciscan Monastery

From €28 · 4.8 stars from 2,526 reviews · 2.5 hours · free cancellation

Dubrovnik: City Walls, Old Town Walking Tour & Adriatic Viewad: the walls and the Old Town in one 2.5-hour walk, with Stradun and the Franciscan Monastery named in the listing, skip-the-line entry and a private option.

Game of Thrones locations

From €22 · 4.9 stars from 7,914 reviews · 1.5 to 3 hours · free cancellation

Dubrovnik: Game of Thrones Tours + Lokrum & Iron Thronead: a Game of Thrones tour that names the Walk of Shame, Blackwater Bay and the Red Keep, for the Jesuit Staircase in step 8 above.

Sponza Palace on Luža Square. Photo: Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

East of Luža

East of Luža, the street between the Dominican Monastery and the city walls leads to Ploče Gate. On the way are two small churches, St Luke’s, built between the 13th and 14th century and now an art gallery, and the 16th-century Church of the Annunciation (Tourist Board). The City Walls have an entrance next to St Luke’s, opposite the Dominican church, so the walk can end on the ramparts (see the City Walls tickets). The Old Port and St John’s Fortress, home to the Maritime Museum, are at the south-east corner, and the boat to Lokrum leaves the Old City Port.

Prijeko, the street of restaurants. Photo: Z thomas, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In winter and at Christmas

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board runs Saturday Winter Mornings, free themed guided walks and folklore performances, with Saturday dates in its events calendar on 14, 21 and 28 November and 5 December 2026 at 09:30 from the Pile tourist office (Tourist Board).

Advent u Gradu runs from 28 November 2026 to 3 January 2027. The opening concert on the Stradun is on 28 November at 19:00 with Silente. The programme is in the winter and Christmas festival guide.

For a hotel on or near the Stradun, see where to stay in Dubrovnik.

What to see next

• Rector’s Palace: the museum on Luža Square.
• Franciscan Monastery and Old Pharmacy: the cloister at the Pile end.
• City Walls tickets: entrances at Pile and at the east end.
• Fort Lovrjenac: the fortress beside Pile Gate.
• Game of Thrones guide: the Jesuit Staircase and Lovrjenac.
• Free things to do in Dubrovnik: the fountains, the market and the park walks.

Common questions

How long is the Stradun?

The Dubrovnik Tourist Board gives the length of Placa, the street everyone calls Stradun, as 298 m. It runs between Pile Gate and the Bell Tower on Luža Square.

Why do the buildings on the Stradun look alike?

The houses were rebuilt in uniform Baroque style after the 1667 earthquake, with shops at street level and knee-like entrances. The city statute of 1272 had already set the plan of the street.

Where does the Onofrio fountain water come from?

The Large Onofrio Fountain at Pile and the Small Onofrio Fountain at the east end were built for the public water supply completed in 1438, which brought spring water from Rijeka Dubrovačka, 12 km away. The old supply is now connected to the city waterworks.

What is Orlando's Column?

It is a column topped by a medieval knight on Luža Square, made under a contract of 1418 by Bonino of Milan. A flag flies from the mast beside it.

Is there anything on at Christmas?

Advent u Gradu runs from 28 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, with concerts on the Stradun.

Are there free guided walks in Dubrovnik in winter?

Yes. The Dubrovnik Tourist Board runs Saturday Winter Mornings, free themed guided walks, with Saturday dates in the events calendar on 14, 21 and 28 November and 5 December 2026, starting at 09:30 at the Pile tourist office.