We had been recommended to visit Banje Beach Dubrovnik when we were staying in the city for five days. The boys love a beach trip and we enjoyed some great snorkelling in Croatia so after spending half a day travelling from Split to Dubrovnik on the ferry. On the first morning of our visit, we decided to visit Banje Beach, opposite the Island of Lokrum.
Where is Banje Beach?
Banje is a popular beach is located within walking distance from Ploce gate close to the old town of Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik has many beautiful beaches in the new town with several beach resorts located there. Banje beach is the only one which is within walking distance of the old city and so consequently the city beach is normally really busy. After all, you generally do not go to the walled city of Dubrovnik for a beach holiday. To reach the beach which is only a five-minute walk from the front of the Eastern entrance. You just walk along the footpath in front of you past Lazareti and then you will see a sign for the Banje Beach Club. Follow the stairs down to the bar and the public beach is right next door. It is really only a short walk.
Is Banje Beach Sandy?
Not as much of a sandy beach as I was expecting. The vast majority of the beach is pebbles which the boys enjoyed looking for unusual stones in. Finding different colours of marble kept them entertained for quite some time. The green pieces are particular favourites. The pebble beach is also the only place we managed to find sea glass during our holiday in Croatia. Consequently, it does mean that there is the same crystal clear water that we found in other parts of Croatia.
Do you have to pay for Banje Beach?
Well technically no. Although it is set up or you to do exactly that. The beach is divided into a public area and an area occupied by Banje Beach Club. The public area is indeed free. Although if you would like to rent an umbrella it is 50kn for the day. There are no sunbeds or lounge chairs on the public beach. If you want to have a shower then it is 2kn for 30 seconds and you need coins to operate it.
Banje beach club occupies a larger part of the beach with rows of wooden sun loungers with cream cushions. Although interestingly the same small umbrellas on the public beach. They charge 150kn per sun bed and 50kn for an umbrella. The sun beds are sold in pairs. You can even rent a towel for 30kn or if you want to splash the cash a day bed for 550kn. Unsurprisingly it seemed more popular with younger people when we visited rather than families.
Behind it there is an outside dining space, beach bar and club. Looking at the drinks prices on the way through. You have to walk through the club to access the public beach prices for drinks looked comparable with what we had found in the city.
Top tips when visiting Banje Beach
- The best time to arrive is either early or late in the day when there are fewer people. We were visiting in high season and it was extremely busy. Arriving at 10.30 am we did not have many places to pitch up on the free beach. It was very crowded by the time we left at 1 pm. Even though people were still arriving and squeezing in amongst each other. With people on top of each other and hurriedly putting their towels down to claim their territory.
- To avoid the busiest times you may want to check the cruise ship website which tells you when the cruises are due to dock [link]. Meaning you can hopefully stay away from the cruise traveler.
- I did not see a lifeguard but the bay is roped off to keep boats out of the area.
- The beach drops away quickly in comparison with others we have visited which does mean it is not great for children. As there are not many shallows to splash about in.
- The sun sets to the West of the walled city but it is still a perfect place to watch the sun go down. Seeing the sky turn various colours of pink and purple over the Adriatic sea.
Facilities at Banje Beach
I have mentioned the showers above. But there are also changing cubicles which are free and a nice touch, much better than the single strip of plastic we had seen elsewhere. There is also a masseuse offering various deep tissue massages in wooden structures with white floating curtains. These are set off from the beach on the walkway. Next to these, there is a water sports company that offers kayaks, rubber rings and masks for hire. Below is a list of their current prices. I was surprised to see that you also have to pay to hire a life jacket as this was not an additional cost when the boys went on jet ski in Sibenik.
The biggest plus point that Banje beach has going for it is the beautiful views it has of Lokrum Island, Dubrovnik old town and the old port. I can imagine out of high season it is a beautiful beach and would make a great place to watch the sun going down. Assuming of course the music at the beach bars is not too deafening.
Although the boys enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach it was not our highlight! There are so many other things to see and do in Dubrovnik I am not sure this would be on our list for a return. However when you are travelling with kids…
Related Blog Posts
If you are thinking of visiting Dubrovnik then you may be interested in some of our other posts about our stay. You may find this post on luxury hotels in Dubrovnik helpful when choosing where to stay. We visited Croatia for two weeks and spent half of that in Sibenik enjoying the beach resorts, before moving on to Split and then spending five nights in Dubrovnik. During our visit we did get up to quite a bit:
- Walking the Dubrovnik Walls is THE thing to do and our favourite activity, but don’t go without reading all about our top tips for walking the walls.
- You can see the beautiful Lorkrum Island from Banje Beach read all about our visit – A day trip to Lokrum Island Dubrovnik
- We also took the cable car up to the Panorama restaurant too take in the views and watch the sun go down. It wasn’t quite as good as we were expecting – A trip on the Cable Car in Dubrovnik & dinner at the Panorama Restuarant
- Dubrovnik is known for its museums, as we brought a Dubrovnik city card we could visit many of them for free. Although we definitely had our favourites – The Best Dubrovnik Museums
- We had a lot of questions about whether you should choose Dubrovnik or Split as a city break. If you can’t do both during your trip then we weigh up the pros and cons of Dubrovnik or Split. We most definitely had our favourite.
If you are visiting as part of a wider road trip to Croatia you can read all our Croatia content in one place.
Have you visited Dubrovnik? I would love to hear about your favourite parts in the comments below.
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