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The perfect first stop on our tour of Croatia, Dubrovnik was an absolute Gem. We were awed by the beautiful old town with its charming cobblestone streets, impressive outer walls, and fantastic food. If you have two or three days in Dubrovnik, the best way to spend them is wandering around the old city. We stayed at an affordable and cozy airbnb at the very top of the hill overlooking the old town. While it was only a 10 minute walk to and from the city, I only recommend this if you don't mind steps. There are tons of guest houses, hotels, and airbnb's in the city. So how far up you go is only a function of your stair tolerance.
Our favorite exploration in Dubrovnik was the tour of the outer walls. For a small fee you can spend a few hours marching around the perimeter and taking in the sights. The views of the city and over the sea was mind blowing. You can see multicolored rooftops and pick out the ones that were bombed in the wars based on the age of the tiles.
Lovrijenac (or Fort St. Lawrence), just north of the walled city was a great stop to get a few different views and see some Game of Thrones filming locations. We had a blast roaming around the fort and catching views of the old city. You can get in for free with your ticket from the wall walk, so make sure to save it!
We took a ride up the gondola right before sunset to see the views. This was a short trip, but highly recommended and the 20 minute wait was well worth it!
Since we were traveling with my parents, we opted for a somewhat tame kayaking trip which took us from the bay between the old city and Lovrijenac, around Lokrum Island, and to a few caves. We did the half day tour with X - Adventure Sea Kayaking. Overall we were pretty disappointed with the trip. It was beautiful to kayak under the walls of the old city, but the bay and caves were pretty crowded and the experience felt like a tourist trap. We didn't have much time to stop along the way to enjoy aspects of the trip so it was basically just paddling.
If we had to do this again we would have gone for a more off the beaten path trip such as Adria Adventure, which takes you to a few different islands. We also could have replaced the trip with a simple day of expolring Locrum.
While researching the trip I found tons of off the beaten path beaches to spend time at. Unfortunately, since we had so much fun exploring the old city, we only made it to Banje Beach, which is adjacent to the old city. This was a nice place to go for a dip, but pretty crowded. Here is a great post if you are looking for top beaches in Dubrovnik.
When we planned to go to The Balkans, we made it our mission to learn everything about the history and the wars of the 90s. We had family involved in a few of the conflicts and had never really understood what happened and why such atrocities were committed. The War Limited Museum was an amazing learning experience and taught us so much about the three wars. It was a beautiful photojournalistic exhibit and did an incredible job breaking down the causes of the conflicts.