Otok Lopud Travel Guide

1 more image

Lopud was home to many wealthy sea captains - some lovely detail to notice on their old villas in the village of Lopud as we strolled along the promenade.

2 more images

Lopud is the second largest of the Elaphiti chain at 4.6 km2. It has a mild climate as evidenced by its lush vegetation lining the promenade. It only has one main settlement, located in a bay, named Lopud on the far side of the island towards Šipan.Two parallel hills are connected by a dolomite valley with the Lopud bay on one end and the Sunj bay on the opposite. The northeast part of the island is inaccessible as it is very steep. The highest peak on the island is Polacica, which is 216m high.

According to the Dubrovnik historian Razzi, in 16th. century Lopud had 30 churches, a vast number of Dubrovnik aristocracy summer manors, several monasteries and greater population. Today on Lopud you can see numerous remains of early-medieval churches, summer manors and fortifications dotted around its hillsides.

At one end of the promenade on Lopud is a Franciscan monasatery, dating from 1483 with a cloister and a defence tower with walls. The monastery holds many valuable art works in its church of St. Mary of Spilica, with works of Pietra da Giovanni, Nikola Božidarević, Girolama da Santacroce, Bassana and many others.

Lopud hasa a sandy beach in its centre - that looked a pleasant place to sunbathe and to have nearby facilities..but for something a bit more peaceful and a beautiful setting head over to Sunj beach (see next tip).

1 more image

Halfway along the promenade at Lopud is a staircase leading up to a park - the botanical gardens. This park is very well known as a former garden of a villa from the 19th century, where plants collected from over the world such as bamboo and various types of cacti grow. Not much sunlight in there so we didn't sped too long in this area.

2 more images

If the town get too busy then take a 30 minute walk to the quiet beach of Sunj on the other side of Lopud. Lopud is only 2.km wide at its narrowest point. Its well signposted from the main promenade. Just see how peaceful and unspoilt that beach is! The walk here was quite nice along country paths - another time we would explore more on foot or by bicycle.