Using an eSIM in Dubrovnik

What Dubrovnik is like on a phone

Dubrovnik is a compact old town ringed by high stone walls right at the water. Visitors include people staying several nights, people ashore from a ship for a few hours, and people using it as the start of a trip to the nearby islands. Because the old town is small and arrivals come in waves set by the ships' schedules, the density changes enormously from hour to hour. Coverage works, but the thick walls and the canyon-like streets between buildings make the old town feel quite unlike the newer quarters.

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Dubrovnik airport (DBV) is at Čilipi to the south, linked by bus and taxi along a coast road with the sea in view most of the way. Cruise ships berth at Gruž, on the other side of town from the old city, and the Pile Gate is the main way in through the walls. Switch the eSIM on in the terminal or before you step off the ship, because cars cannot enter the old town and you need to agree a clear luggage drop with your host. The clifftop road in keeps a good connection, open to the sea.

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The Stradun, the wide central spine of the old town, is open and works well, while the side lanes — narrow, stepped, walled in high stone — weaken and push the pin off. Step up onto the city walls and it improves at once, being high and open to the sea; the same is true at the top of Srđ, reached by cable car. On days when several cruise ships are in together, the speed inside the old town falls noticeably from mid-morning through the afternoon.

What a day here costs in data

A Dubrovnik day spends most of its data on pictures, because the walls and the high viewpoints produce long runs of photographs that go straight up, on top of the map in the lanes and booking a boat to a nearby island. That usually comes to about 1 to 1.5GB a day. People ashore from a ship often use more in a shorter window, because they keep re-checking the all-aboard time while they are on land.

Districts travellers ask about

• The Old Town and the Stradun — The wide central spine works well, but the stepped lanes branching off both sides are narrow between high stone and weaken the moment you turn in.
• Lapad — The hotel-and-beach peninsula to the west, with wider streets and lower buildings, so it is steadier than the old town and the easier place to sort bookings.
• Gruž — The port quarter, where the cruise ships and the island boats go from; open along the water and well served, except in the hours when several ships load at once.
• Ploče and Banje beach — Just outside the walls to the east with the full view back at the old town; open to the sea, it picks up well and uploads go through more easily than inside.

Day trips out of the city

• Lokrum — A short hop with the city in sight the whole way, so it is workable on the boat and on the island, though it thins in the thick woods in the middle; remember the last boat back.
• The Elafiti islands — One boat calls at several islands in a day; between them, out on open water, the connection eases and returns at each quay, so download what you need before leaving the main port.
• Across the border to Kotor or Mostar — This route crosses an international border. Check entry conditions and document requirements with official sources before every trip, because the rules and the border systems in this region are being changed, and data coverage bought for one country may not extend to the next.