October 11, 2022 - Press Release. Sun Gardens Dubrovnik, a premier five-star resort and member of The Leading Hotels, provides event planners and the MICE industry with a choice of 201 hotel rooms and suites and 207 residences on the Adriatic coast, as well as one of the best conference centers in the region, featuring some of the largest and most flexible meeting space in Dubrovnik, such as spacious ballroom, eight meeting rooms, and a range of on-site venues for hosting memorable events.

It is no surprise that Sun Gardens Dubrovnik has been chosen to host the leading specialist event of the MICE industry - m&i Private Forum - from October 9 to 12, 2022. m&i Private Europe connects independent and boutique hotels, as well as local hotel groups, with event planners looking for unique properties. The Forum, organized by Worldwide Events with a support of Croatian Tourist Board, the DMC operator Korkyra Travel and AV specialist FIFI Sound, will bring together more than 200 suppliers and buyers from the MICE industry.

The m&i Forum seeks to bring together major European buyers and MICE suppliers in Dubrovnik so that they may connect and network. Three days of high-quality networking, events, and tailored 1-2-1 introductions will help them to form solid business partnerships with one another. Such events are held in carefully chosen places and destinations and give an excellent chance to showcase the destination's complete conference offer.

This event once again confirms Dubrovnik as one of the best conference destinations in Europe, and Sun Gardens Dubrovnik as one of the leading conference centers in the region, for which this event comes as the crown of a very successful MICE season.

To learn more about Sun Gardens Dubrovnik, visit the official website.

To learn more about Pearl of the Adriatic, check out the Total Croatia Dubrovnik in a Page guide.

October 10, 2022 - There are many promoters of destinations in Croatia, all doing their own thing. Meet one of the best in Dubrovnik, Ivan Vukovic, and his magical lens.

Dubrovnik in the international media again, this time on CNN. Someone sent me the link, and I smiled. I didn't even have to guess which name would be featured as the local expert, for I already knew based on past experience.

Ivan Vukovic.

An accomplished tour guide, photographer, world traveller, and plenty of things I know little about, when it comes to the local flavour of international promotion of Dubrovnik, the name of Ivan Vukovic is usually involved. 

One thing I really appreciate about his photography of the Pearl of the Adriatic is how Ivan manages to capture a more less touristy flavour with his shots. He kindly sent me these photos and (his) descriptions to give a little more colour to the magnificent Pearl of the Adriatic. 

And if you are looking for a tour guide with an alternative take on the city,  check out his Dubrovnik Tour Guides site.

Tiramola in the backstreets. Typical laundry line and way of life in the old town.

Blue hour in Dubrovnik. Windy September night on Stradun.

Minceta fortress - standing proud and tall.

The views from there are the best in the sunset for photo enthusiasts.

Lovrjenac fort - Gibraltar of Dubrovnik.

Famous Red Keep in Game of Thones.

Sunrise in Dubrovnik. In case you want to avoid crowds and heat in the high season, just wake up early.

Stradun in early morning. Old town wakes up slowly. Soft light and quietness.

The view from Bogisic park.

St. Ignatius church and Lokrum island in the background.

Stradun - main promenade. Typical example of roman urbanism. Do not be afraid to explore side streets. Beware of stairs and cats :)

Saltwater pool by Banje beach.

Instagrammable hotspot.

September the 22nd, 2022 - The European Film Academy has thrown the most famous Croatian street of all, Dubrovnik's gorgeous Stradun, into the limelight.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Film Academy is expanding its scope and promoting European films from classics to contemporary titles, celebrating the richness and diversity of Europe's incredible film heritage. From this year on, the Academy will also focus on special anniversaries and thematic programmes related to European film.

With this aim, it founded a new department for European film heritage, under the leadership of Pascal Edelmann. One of the first steps is to start building a pan-European network of film heritage that will connect cinematheques, film archives and institutions in order to exchange information about the anniversaries of film artists, individual films, institutions or specific topics relevant to the history of cinema in different European countries and regions.

22 new locations were added to the "Treasures of European Film Culture" list

One of the first activities of the new department, ahead of this year's 35th European Film Awards, was to add 22 new places to the list of "Treasures of European Film Culture", which will bring the total number of ''heritage locations'' to 35. This is the Academy's list of places of symbolic importance for European cinema, that is, places of historical value that should be maintained and protected, both in the present and for the benefit of future generations.

"Instead of limiting our activities to the organisation of the European Film Awards, the European Film Academy will also embrace European film history and individuals who have contributed to the European film scene. This will lead to new projects with exciting partners, but also become recognisable in all the programmes we're going to organise during the year. I'm particularly proud of the ever-growing list of treasures of European film culture, especially in new locations in parts of Europe that haven't been included before, such as Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Latvia and Scotland. Our desire is to find new locations every year," says the director of the European Film Academy, Matthijs Wouter Knol.

The most famous Croatian street - Stradun - as a film set

In its hundred-year film history, Dubrovnik's beautiful streets, walls and palaces have all been an inspiration to numerous creators and artists. The unique preservation of the architectural harmony of Dubrovnik, especially its main street, Stradun, known as the most famous Croatian street, easily allows for a variety of cinematic expression.

Although the most famous Croatian street of all has starred in many a ''moving picture'' throughout many years, in much more recent times, the popularisation of Dubrovnik as a film location saw spaceships from a distant galaxy fly over Stradun (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2017) as well as rebels led by Nottingham's hero Robin Hood march through it (Robin Hood, 2018). All of them were attracted by the warmth and light of Stradun, Dubrovnik's living room, where everyone feels at home.

You can view all 35 locations from the "Treasures of European Culture" list here.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

September the 12th, 2022 - A pair of Dubrovnik newlyweds were fined in the amount of 2000 kuna due to their driver's behaviour behind the wheel and his disrespect to the UNESCO-protected city itself.

As Morski writes, a driver of two Dubrovnik newlyweds who completely nonchalantly parked his car next to the Small Onofrio fountain in the very heart of the ancient old city last week did not get permission to do so from the Dubrovnik city utilities. Because of him deciding to park his car carrying the Dubrovnik newlyweds inside the walls, no more and no less than on Stradun itself, he was forced to pay 2000 kuna out of his own pocket as a fine.

As local Dubrovnik portal DUlist found out from the Dubrovnik City Administration, the car entered the heart of the walled city with a permit for wedding purposes, but that permit didn't include parking the car there under any circumstances.

This type of permit only applies to cars physically entering the historic core and letting the newlyweds exit the vehicle, after which the car may no longer remain within the walls and must leave, let alone park. This time, that didn't occur, and the car remained parked near the Small Onofrio fountain during the church wedding ceremony, which took place in the church of St. Blaise (Sv. Vlaho).

From the Dubrovnik City Administration, thoughts about the complete abolition of permits to enter the historic core of the city for wedding purposes can be heard more and more loudly. Many people are of the firm opinion that there is nothing more beautiful than walking from Pile Gate or Ploce Gate to the Church of St. Blaise, and that this practice of entering the city's core with a car for newlyweds is actually unnecessary, and is often abused.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 21st, 2022 - Only emergency vehicles and those with specially issued permits can enter Dubrovnik Old Town by car, but delivery vehicles are continuing to cause issues for the UNESCO-protected tourist Mecca.

As Morski writes, for the residents of the historic core of the Pearl of the Adriatic, the same old story is being repeated and relived almost every day. Despite the extremely clear rules for vehicles entering Dubrovnik Old Town which is shielded by exceptionally well-preserved Medieval walls, delivery vehicles constantly violate local communal rules, so the city administration has decided to put an end to this with a proven method.

In the area of ​​Ploce Gate which leads you into the walls of Dubrovnik Old Town, local municipal wardens fined the driver of delivery vehicle extremely heavily recently for illegally entering a part of the old city centre in said vehicle.

The City of Dubrovnik has since announced that the Municipal Police Department, following an event in which a delivery vehicle entered the historic centre through Ploce Gate without any of the proper authorisation to do so, turned the driver back and charged them a hefty fine of twelve thousand kuna in total.

Due to continuous violation of the city's very clearly and simply explained decision to not allow any vehicles into Dubrovnik Old Town unless they're emergency vehicles or have special permission to be there, the City of Dubrovnik will implement a passage control system by means of the lifting of pneumatic bollards at the entrance to the heart of the historic core from Ploce Gate.

The move will see the city utilise a physical barrier to prevent any would-be violators from carrying out illegal activities such as entering with a vehicle that cause communal disorder in the UNESCO-protected area of Croatia's southernmost city.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

August the 15th, 2022 - Dubrovnik and Porec sustainable tourism is resulting in some excellent numbers this summer tourist season, as both cities, but particularly Dubrovnik, desperately needed a more sustainable strategy than the mass tourism they've become (in)famous for.

As Morski writes, Dubrovnik's deputy mayor Jelka Tepsic has stated that since the beginning of this year, Croatia's southernmost city is at 80 percent of the overnight stays and 70 percent of the arrivals realised back in the pre-pandemic, record year of 2019.

''Currently, 26,000 guests are staying in the City of Dubrovnik and this is a real indicator of the success of this summer season, but also of the good management of the destination, because through our ''Respect the city" project, we want to provide a high quality of stay to our visitors, but also boost the quality of life of our fellow citizens,'' said Jelka Tepsic.

Porec has also achieved two million overnight stays on the same day as it did back in 2019, and Porec sustainable tourism is the new way in which this gorgeous Istrian city is leaning.

''We've reached two million overnight stays, we're also happy that we've managed to reach that number of overnight stays we have at the time we have, even when we have 700 less beds in the city due to the reconstruction of two hotels. We extended our summer tourist season, the pre-season was also good, as even before Easter we had 40 percent more visitors staying in Porec than we did back during the record year of 2019. All this is happening because we combined what's private and what's public, sport and tourism, and in doing so we brought a large number of tourists to the city,'' said the mayor of Porec, Loris Persuric.

One of the key goals for Dubrovnik is the creation of sustainable tourism. Jelka Tepsic explained what this specifically refers to:

''Five years ago, Dubrovnik was highly prominent among European destinations as a city that is actually in danger of being crippled beyond return due to too many tourists. We were almost on the blacklist for many people, so we made a management decision to change with the desire to achieve a balance between the quality of the stay for our visitors and the quality of life of our fellow citizens,'' she stated, emphasising that they managed to introduce rules and restrictions for cruise ships, so now they have a limit of 4,000 guests in one part of the day, or just two cruisers. So this year, she said, we're witnessing the full application of these new rules in Croatia's tourist Mecca. They can now limit traffic around the historic core, have a surveillance system, have improved parking conditions, and the list goes on.

''Sustainable development is also important in Porec, as is Porec sustainable tourism,'' said Mayor Persuric. The basis of everything, he explained, is the spatial plan of the local self-government unit, which, in addition to accommodation capacities, also develops the city's complete infrastructure. They are ready, he says, for a large number of apartments and accommodation capacities to spring up, and although they definitely do have some unfortunate examples of illegal construction, that number is thankfully not that large.

For more on Dubrovnik and Porec sustainable tourism, not to mention that of other Croatian cities and destinations, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.

August 1, 2022 - "He lives in the hearts of those he saved." Tragedy as firefighter Goran Komlenac dies tackling last night's fire near Dubrovnik, reports Index.hr.

A 42-year-old member of the Dubrovnik Fire Brigade, Goran Komlenac from Orašac, has died. This information was also confirmed by the Croatian Fire Brigade Association. They wrote that the investigation into the causes of the death is ongoing and that the information will be known to the public after the investigation is completed.

Chief fire chief Slavko Tucaković expressed his condolences on the occasion of this tragic event.

"In these difficult moments for the Croatian fire department, on behalf of the Croatian Fire Association and on my own behalf, I express my sincere condolences to the family and colleagues of the firefighter who passed away prematurely. The firefighter lives forever in the hearts of those he saved," said Tucaković.

As a reminder, four Canadians and 80 firefighters managed to stop the spread of the fire that broke out around noon above the Dubrovnik settlement of Orašac yesterday.

From 12:30 p.m. until the evening, firefighters fought the fire that consumed 87 hectares of dense pine forest in the area of ​​Orašac - Gromače near Zaton (Dubrovnik). The firefighters defended the houses near Ljubač, brought the fire under control and were on duty all night.

July 21, 2022 - After a successful performance at the club 'Diamond' on Krk, Shaquille O'Neal (aka DJ Diesel) arrived in Dubrovnik, where on Friday night, he set the atmosphere at Culture Club Revelin to a fever pitch with mixed sets of trap, hip-hop, and dubstep.

Shaq does not hide his enthusiasm for Croatia. He confirmed this in numerous interviews, especially after his performance at Zrće 2019 as DJ Diesel. It is interesting that Shaq, unlike many fellow athletes, does not "run away" from the media, but is happy to give interviews and statements. He is also enthusiastic about his fellow basketball players, and dedicated one verse, 'I want to shoot like Petro', to Dražen Petrović! Shaq has been in music since 1993, when he released the rap album 'Shaq Diesel', and two years later he started performing at festivals and clubs.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DR. SHAQUILLE O'NEAL Ed.D. (@shaq)

"Culture Club Revelin is proudly entering a new season, which will be visited by the world's biggest stars of electronic music. This summer season of Culture Club Revelin, along with the stars of electronic music, every night will be marked by an attractive, unique, and interesting program, which will introduce the spirit of fun in this part of Europe. In this way, Dubrovnik will be on the map of young people from all over the world who will be able to enjoy one of the world's most attractive cities and most beautiful summer destinations in a completely different way - they have already stood out and raised the bar high for themselves.​

You can see more photos on the Culture Club Revelin Facebook page. 

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

July the 21st, 2022 - Novak Djokovic visits Dubrovnik following his recent outstanding Wimbledon win. One of the best tennis players in the entire world is likely hungry for a break from the pressure, and what better place to find that than in the Pearl of the Adriatic and on its nearby Elaphite islands?

Djokovic is no stranger to Dubrovnik or to the Croatian coast, spending a lot of time here either for leisure or in the organisation of various tennis related events. The Serb, who rose to fame quickly and is currently ranked a wildly impressive number seven in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, has won 21 Grand slams. 

Novak Djokovic visits Dubrovnik and the wider region often, and he's just one of a string of celebrities making appearances along the Croatian coast, the most recent of which being the Beckhams, who also visited the area, showcasing their time spent on the Elaphite islands (primarily Lopud), which lie just north of Dubrovnik on the mainland on Instagram.

Novak couldn't let a visit to the Pearl of the Adriatic slip by without a visit to BOWA, a very popular restaurant on the island of Sipan, which does well in attracting big names from across the board, as reported by The Dubrovnik Times. Djokovic is known for his outward friendliness, and was more than happy to engage with staff at the restaurant, taking selfies with them and relaxing in the Mediterranean atmosphere that draws countless visitors to Dubrovnik, the nearby islands and the extreme south of Dalmatia year after year.

For more on celebrities in Croatia, make sure to keep up with our dedicated news section.

July 19, 2022 - The latest flight news to Croatia as British Airways Zagreb flights see further reductions in September and October this year. 

After reducing its August schedule, British Airways has revised its flight schedule for September and October, announcing that further changes are possible, reports Croatian Aviation. 

It was recently announced that the British Airways route between London (Heathrow) and Zagreb had been reduced for August, but the airline has now reduced the number of planned flights for September and October as well. 

On July 17, the airline changed its flight schedule for July and August on several European routes. Namely, until September 11, the rule of Heathrow Airport is in force, which limits the number of passengers at this airport daily due to the lack of workforce. 

Many flights on the line between London (Heathrow) and Dubrovnik have been announced for September. However, instead of 20, the carrier will operate 22 return flights on this route, which is why flights between Heathrow and Zagreb have been reduced. Namely, that line was initially planned with 39 return flights in September, but now it has been reduced to 36, which is an almost negligible number.

However, in October, British Airways is significantly cutting operations on the route to Zagreb again. Until July 17, the carrier had planned 52 monthly flights to the Croatian capital, but the flight schedule was reduced again. Namely, 52 flights were initially planned for October, but 12 were canceled, so now 40 flights are available for booking in October.

It is likely that by September, the airline will further reduce the number of monthly flights for October, not only to Croatia but at the European level, so additional cancellations are undoubtedly possible. However, unlike Zagreb, given that we are in the peak summer season, the flight schedule to the airports on the coast (Pula, Split, and Dubrovnik) has no significant cancellations, except for Split, where several last-minute cancellations were recorded.

For more on flights to Croatia and other travel announcements, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.