Why Dubrovnik, Croatia Should Be Your Next Summer Getaway

By Serena Bancroft, Town and Country

 

Considering that most of your friends went on a family trip to Rome in seventh grade, why not spend your last days before college in a place outside the tourist-industrial complex—and one that offers a lot more bang for your kuna?
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Call it the Game of Thrones tour. A generation ago young travelers were likely to hit more familiar European capitals, but today’s millennials are grabbing the opportunity to spend whatever time is left after we’ve completed our internships and before school starts in places our parents never dreamed of going. These days the place to visit before you matriculate is decidedly Dubrovnik. I went with six friends on a perfect post-graduation trip, making other stops throughout Europe before we headed off to various colleges, and there was no place that came close.

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The ancient town is scenically set on the Adriatic Sea and offers translucent waters to rival Santorini’s, the historic walls of Rome (literally), and views that make Positano’s feel meager. But the city isn’t without more modern charms, too. The downtown-adjacent Hotel Bellevue has a private beach to play on, the Nishta café offers a seaweed-and-avocado bowl that wouldn’t be out of place in Silver Lake, the view from the cable car on the ride to the Panorama restaurant might be the most Instagrammable in all of Croatia, and your best memories might be made (or forgotten) during a Karlovacko-soaked night at clubs like Revelin, a disco stationed in a 500-year-old fortress.

Sure, Dubrovnik is the stand-in for a violent kingdom in the HBO fantasy series that films there, but off-camera it’s much more suited to a role as today’s unforgettable destination.

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