dubrovnik--- specific hotel questions. should we stay within walking distance of old town or near the beaches?

Would you consider an apartment? We stayed at Villa Gregus, a clean, roomy, modest apartment located immediately next door to the Hotel Bellevue with the same great view from their terrace. It is walking distance to the Old Town, but also has great bus service if your feet ache. This apartment as well as others can be seen at www.dubrovnik-online.com. Apartments save lots of money both in rental and in the fact that the kitchen is handy for light meals and breakfast. I'll be glad to answer specific questions about this apartment if you are interested.

I would definitely stay near Old Town. The hotels in Lapad have nice views of the water but are totally isolated. You will either need to walk 30 min to town or take the bus. There is NOTHING to do in Lapad. There are beaches right outside the Ploce gate, so you have the best of both worlds near Old Town. We stayed at the Villa Adriatica and it was great. As an alternative, I would recommend Cavtat. We spent 2 nights there. It is a lovely town. There is a brand new hotel there (Hotel Cavtat?). We stayed in Supetar which was fine but a bit tired.

Unless you have luggage, you shouldn't take taxis anywhere. The local buses are very reliable and clean. They travel regularly between Old Town and Lapad/the new port (catch those buses by the Pile Gate) as well as Cavtat (catch that bus a block from the Ploce Gate).

crckwc: Is it possible to stay in an apartment for 2/3 days? Do they prefer longer? I've never done apartments for this reason. Should I try?

Hi, gertie3751, Depends on the individual apartment. We have rented for as few as 5 days. Ask. The worst they can say is "no." In one case, we stayed only 5 days but had to pay for 7 days. The per diem rate worked out to be less than a comparable hotel, plus we had more room, a kitchen, etc. Good luck.

I would stay near the old town (hopefully you'll find an apartment).make sure you find out how far uphill it is located. old town is wonderful especially at night when all the cruise ships have cleared out. We were there in Oct and loved it.

Hi, I was in Dubrovik this past October. My friends and I (3 of us) stayed in a wonderful apartment in Old Town. It was nice to be centrally located. The best part was that when all the tour groups left (they come in from the cruise boats) it felt like we had Old Town to ourselves (realatively speaking). I forgot which website i used, however if you are interested i could look for it. They were fine with us booking for only 3 nights and then we had to extend the stay an additional night and that was fine with them since no one else had reserved the apartment after us. Hope that helps.
-dilly

dmelo1
Do you have details of the apartment? The name or the name of the booking agent?

-gertie, I found it for you. The web site is www.dubrovnik-area.com/eng.asp
Just search for Apartments, the place i stayed at was was called Apartment Picasso. Great location right in Old Town and the folks who ran it speak english and were very helpful with anything we needed. Enjoy your trip.
Dilly

Wonderful. Just what I need. Thank you so much.

thank you. we are making reservations at the villa adriatica......

I did not get a response from Villa Adriatica or from several other hotels I contacted via email. Planning this trip is much more difficult than I'm used to! I did get a prompt response and exchanged several emails with Jadranka at Benussi Sobe -- it sounds like a great location, in Pile near the entrance to Old Town. Around 50 euros/night for September. And he sounds wonderfully helpful. However we decided to stay in Cavtat, at Hotel Castelletto. It was ranked the #1 hotel in Cavtat on Trip Advisor, with great reviews. Just 90 euros/night including breakfast and free pickup at the airport. Now we're trying to figure out lodging for the rest of our trip... 4 nights each in Korcula and Hvar and 3 nights in Trogir. I'm a planner so don't know if I'd be comfortable waiting til I'm there and finding sobes, so any suggestions of responsive places would be welcome!

Sorry, forgot to leave email address for Benussi: it's mbenussi@inet.hr
As of today (Jan. 9) he had a room available for Sept. 2-7.

lina....how did you book with villa adriatica and how much was it?
we are having no luck with email.

I booked through their website (email) and our rooms were around 60 euros/night. I can't remember...my trip report has the exact figures. Sometimes I had to wait 4-5 days for a reply. Good luck!

dmelo: Apartment Picasso looks wonderful . . . but it also looks as if it's way up on a hill, or up a couple of flights of stairs, which would be a problem for me . . . would you please let me know about its location? Thanks!

hi, i am new to the board, but am extremely excited to have found so much information . . . . i will be travelling to dubrovnik this march, and after comparing hotel prices with apartment prices, there are only 2 of us, i think the apartments look like the way to go.

should we just stick to the OLD TOWN area?