Dubrovnik Palace Hotel

Hotel Dubrovnik Palace. May 2006

by A TripAdvisor Member

My wife and I have just returned after a week at the Hotel Dubrovnik Palace. First impression not at all favourable as we were dumped off the courtesy coach 1/2 mile from the hotel at the bottom of the hill. were forced to walk up the hill dragging suitcases and were met by airport style luggage scanners in hotel foyer. Apparently U.S. Vice Pres Dick Cheney was staying, so hotel was swarming with humourless goons. Following his departure, we thought 'if it's good enough for D.C., it's good enough for us', but the food in the restaurant elefiti was disappointing. Dinner consisted of limited choice and the meats and vegs were only lukewarm - potential tummy trouble which my wife suffered from after day 2, though not positively attributable to restaurant. Breakfast again was poor, with the chef unable to produce a whole, fully-cooked fried egg (fairly basic) and the sausages were cold. We raised this with the restaurant manager and the hotel manager who promised to take action, but no improvement was evident.
The only other niggle was the cleanliness of the first floor pool and children's pool.
That said, there were many positive points and the reception staff were super in every respect. Chamber maids were friiendly and effecient as were the porters and bar staff
Overall, we found this is not a holiday-makers hotel as it caters mainly for conferences, but Croatia is an area well worth visiting to get an insight into the recent troubles which they are making a superb effort into recovering from.

Hotel in Dubrovnik

by lear6t about Dubrovnik Palace

We stayed at the Dubrovnik Palace. This hotel has many restaurants spread throughout the property. It has a Wellness Spa if you need a massage. A Sushi bar. Breakfast buffet is free!!!The dinner buffet was expensive for me. It cost me nearly $38 for a dinner buffet. Don't get me wrong it was good but in the states if you go to a buffet that cost you $38 you better believe that there will be some sort of prime rib or some steak. The pool was the best. You can lay out all day long poolside or go down some steps and lay out right there on the waters edge. Beautiful.
There is a bus stop right in front of the hotel. Bus route number 4 will take you right to the entry gates of the old town. $2 dollars each way. The bus runs until 2am.

A Rainy Day Spawns Opportunity

by tpal

Looking out the floor to ceiling windows of the Sunset Lounge at the Dubrovnik Palace Hotel did not feel warm and comforting. In fact, the Adriatic looked anything but welcoming this day. The dark clouds seemed low enough to touch; the water was not the usual gloriously placid aquamarine, but rather an ominous shade and texture of weathered slate. In the distance the Elaphite Islands faded off to the horizon with ever lighter shades of silvery gray, looking less like reality and more like an illustrator's graphic representation.

The weather being such as it was, we had decided to explore to the western suburb of Lapad. Our goal was to visit the Dubrovnik Palace, which had been totally renovated and was considered to be one of the best hotels in Croatia. Being priced way beyond our travel budget, we planned to enjoy an expensive cappuccino and move on. What we had not counted on was the incredible view of a nearly monochromatic blending of sky, land and water.

As we left the hotel lobby, we noticed a path which led through a wooded area toward the sea. This was the sort of serendipitous discovery that we live for as we travel.

Intro Photo: This photo was taken through the windows of the hotel lobby, something I usually try to avoid but a this point we didn't know we had an option.

Photo 2: The path led to several wooded trails and to an overlook below the hotel. The view of this rocky crescent shaped island with its lighthouse seemed almost other worldly against the blue gray backdrop.

Photo 3: Carol is clearly pleased with what we have discovered. In a few moments the rain would signal the end of our exploration and time to head for shelter.

Photo 4: We caught the No. 4 bus in front of the hotel and headed back to Old Town. By the time we arrived at the Pile Gate, the threatening clouds had become a deluge. Exiting the bus we quickly discovered that every possible covered nook was packed with tourists taking shelter. As we were already totally wet, and as "totally wet" is as wet as it gets, we pressed on to our apartment. We became completely aware that the beautifully polished paving stones of the Stradun had become too treacherous to run on...so we accepted our circumstance and walked carefully on.

We finally we arrived at our door and as we looked back we saw a private waterfall outside our entranceway. All the rainwater run off from all the roofs and the upper stairways was cascading down the narrow passageway outside our door. We could do little more than break out laughing.

Photo 5: Inexplicably, within a few minutes, the rain stopped and the sun shone brightly. The cleansing flow, however, continued on for sometime longer.

Fantastic!

by TripAdvisor Member wowfactor

Stayed at the Dubrovnik Palace in mid May for a week. The first impressions from the outside are not great but when you enter the reception you realise how attractive the hotel is with the glass fronted Sunset Lounge with its amazing sea views. We found the hotel to be five star throughout. Good sized clean rooms, excellent food and superb indoor swimming pool. Perfect venue to chill out and relax or take the short bus ride into the town centre. Would recommend it to anyone looking for a touch of class.

Nice hotel, but quite far from old town

by TripAdvisor Member Caroline1043

The Dubrovnik Palace is on the Lapad peninsula outside of Dubrovnik. It has fabulous views, especially of the sunset, but the downside is the bus into town. Its fine on the way into town as the bus stop is just outside the hotel, but on the way back at peak times (between 3 and 5pm) you have to fight your way on with lots of other tourists, school children and commuters. We didn't manage to get on the first bus every time and there is often a half our wait for the next one. Aside from this the hotel itself is of a very high standard with lovely rooms, a nice pool and good breakfasts.

A great hotel - shame about the bar prices!

by TripAdvisor Member miacasa

Just returned from the Dubrovnik Palace - the hotel is very good - the location, rooms , staff,cleanliness AND breakfast were all excellent. Having read the reviews , before booking , we decided to go B&B - judging by comments of others staying on half board , a wise decision.However the Taverna Masalina serves very good lunches and dinners!
What 'shocked' us was the prices in the bar and of wine eg:
2 EXTREMELY small Amari Averna were £3.20 each - even in , supposedly expensive Italy , you can get a bucketful for that price - and they serve them with lemon - ugh!!
For our first Taverna lunch we ordered TWO glasses of red wine = £11.20 - this in a wine producing country??
Generally we found the area fairly pricey , compared to 2 years ago , but still a beautiful place to visit and we will return.
Resaurants we enjoyed:
Locanda 'Pescy thingy'at the old port.
Polkisar at the old port
Kamenice in Grundilic (?) Square - limited menu BUT what they do , they do WELL!
Nautica - very good , maybe a little pricey BUT the light lunches looked reasonable.
PLUS all of the restaurants in the beach area of lapad - good cheap light lunches at the La Perla with a very drinkable house wine at £7.00 / litre.
Just two points about money:
- bills at the Dub Palace - they are available to check continuously on the TV in the rooms,
just choose INFO and select bill.
- while I rabbit on about M& S having the best high st rates for foreign exchange , and they
do , the VERY best rates are on your credit card !!

Super Hotel, wonderful staff!

by A TripAdvisor Member

My husband & I stayed at the Dubrovnik Palace for 10 nights, May 20-30th,2006. We have stayed in many hotels, in many countries, & this was undoubtedly the best ever. The reception staff were courteous & efficient, every part of the hotel was spotlessly clean, in fact gleaming! The view from our room - 618 - superb. Our bed linen & towels were changed daily & the room was immaculate at all times. The exterior was maintained to the same high standard: being early risers we witnessed the ground staff brush & scrub the paths & walkways at daybreak, unaware of our observation!
The breakfast buffet was the most extensive we have ever seen (that accolade until now belonged to the Grand Hotel in Zell-am-Zee, Austria). Two chefs were on duty each morning to quickly cook fresh crepes & egg dishes, & always amenable to the often difficult requests of what in our opinion were unmannerly, snobbish guests.
We chose the b&b option, so as to experience dining in the many excellent fish restaurants in the city, & so had dinner on only two occasions at the hotel. Again, we were not disappointed, both meals were superb, & the price in line with what we would expect to pay at home for a good meal.
The latest reviews of the Palace bear no resemblance to our experience of the hotel, & no guest we spoke to during our stay had anything other than praise for the hotel & it's staff.
If we had wanted lower prices, we would have stayed in a cheap hotel. We wanted good service, good manners, good facilities & spacious grounds where we could find a private hideaway by the Adriatic to relax - we found all of this & more at this wonderful hotel.
Don't just take our word for it, go see for yourself!

Not quite 5*

by TripAdvisor Member Annie5553

Returned from this hotel on 27th September after 2 weeks full board (drinks included). The 5* rating comes from facilities on offer rather than the food, which was nice but not 5* standard. Drinks from the bar are VERY expensive - one couple we spoke to paid around £11 for 2 glasses of red wine & another group paid around £25 for 4 drinks. Plenty of sun-beds available around the pools & on the rocks and the staff are generally very helpful. There was a large conference taking part during our first week at the hotel - a lot of very noisy delegates wandering around in business suits, which rather spoilt the holiday atmosphere for us. The beds in the rooms are the most comfortable hotel beds we have ever had!

Lovely Corners of Dubrovnik

by Madlena

"Palace"

"Inside the Palace"

"One of the Narrow Streets"

"Another Narrow Street"

"From the City Walls"

"Roofs of Dubrovnik"

"Patio in the Dominican Monastery"

"Around the Patio in the Monastery"