Dubrovnik has a reputation as Croatia's priciest city, and the €35 wall ticket earns it. But the pine parks, the free coves beneath the ramparts, the Gruž produce market and the Srđ footpath cost nothing beyond a bus fare. Three days built entirely around them.
Pine-shaded clifftop park west of Pile, laid out in 1900 above the Danče peninsula. Benches face Fort Lovrijenac and the open Adriatic, and the concrete bathing platform at Danče below has ladders, deep water and no entrance gate.
Free Spirit Tours and Dubrovnik Walking Tours both start pay-what-you-want Old Town walks from the stone bridge at Pile Gate, usually 10:00 and 12:00 daily. Ninety minutes on the Ragusan Republic, the 1667 earthquake and the 1991 siege.
A pebble cove reached by roughly 160 concrete steps below the Ploče coastal road, facing the walls and Lokrum head-on. No entry fee, a freshwater shower, and a flat rock ledge people jump from into water that stays clear all season.
A 25-metre pebble strip wedged into Kolorina Bay directly beneath Fort Lovrijenac, down the stairs left of the Pile bus stop. No facilities, no fee, and swimming out gives you the western walls at sea level for nothing.
The city's working produce market on the Gruž waterfront, roughly 06:30 to 13:00 Monday to Saturday. Figs, Konavle sheep cheese, olive oil and mandarins at well under Old Town prices, with the fish hall trading alongside it.
A street-food window in an Old Town lane serving octopus burgers, fried anchovy cones and squid-ink brioche. Counter stools only, plates in the €7-10 range, and it keeps serving long after the sit-down kitchens have closed for the night.
Despite the name it is a Bosnian grill in a side lane off Stradun. Ćevapi in somun bread, begova čorba soup and homemade burek, with portions large enough to skip dinner and a shaded terrace that stays cool through the afternoon.
The stone arm curving off the Old Port past St. John's Fortress, free to walk, with iron ladders into deep water and no bar anywhere on it. Stone benches face Lokrum, and the evening light hits the island straight on.
The old Austrian switchback trail climbs from Jadranska cesta above Ploče to 405 metres in about 60-75 minutes. It delivers the same panorama over the walls, Lokrum and the Elafiti that the cable car sells, for the price of nothing.
The outer terrace and ramparts of the Napoleonic-era Fort Imperial are open ground you can wander without a ticket, along with the white limestone cross on the ridge above the fortress and the exposed 1991 defensive positions.
Libertas bus 6 runs from Pile to Lapad in 15 minutes, ending at a pedestrian promenade and a free pebble-and-sand bay with showers, shallow water and shade trees. The cheapest full beach afternoon inside the city limits.
A restored stone amphitheatre cut into the cliff on the Adriatic Highway southeast of the city, free to enter, looking straight back at the walled town across the water. Summer concerts here are among the cheapest tickets in Dubrovnik.