Why this ride
A 173 km round trip from Dubrovnik - roughly 4 h 25 in the saddle. On the way it passes Vjetrenica Cave, Boljuni and back through Vjetrenica Cave. It crosses from Croatia into Bosnia & Herzegovina - carry ID and check the toll rules.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Lokrum Island and Boljuni
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 173 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 25
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 50 km this is Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 50 km
- Named road
- Adriatic Highway, Jadranska Magistrala
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Lokrum Island
From the walls of Dubrovnik you look straight across a short stretch of sea to a low, dark green island covered in pines and holm oaks. That is Lokrum, and it is the closest thing the city has to a back garden. No cars or motorbikes are allowed on it, and nobody may stay overnight. You leave the bike on the mainland, catch one of the regular boats from the old harbour, and in about a quarter of an hour you step onto a quay with peacocks strutting about as if they owned the place, which they more or less do.
Read the complete Lokrum Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lokrum Island is where the day begins. Next is Vjetrenica Cave.
2. Vjetrenica Cave
The karst country inland from Dubrovnik is a landscape of grey limestone hills, stony fields and long, flat-bottomed valleys called poljes, which flood in winter and dry out in summer. Popovo Polje, on the Bosnian side of the border, is one of the largest, and at its edge, near the village of Zavala, lies Vjetrenica, the most famous cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its name means wind cave, from the strong current of air that blows out of its entrance, cool in summer and noticeable from a distance.
Read the complete Vjetrenica Cave write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vjetrenica Cave comes up about 50 km into the recorded legs. Next is Boljuni.
3. Boljuni
In the stony hills of eastern Herzegovina, a few kilometres from Stolac, a field of grey limestone blocks lies scattered among oak scrub and dry grass. These are stećci, medieval tombstones carved between roughly the twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and Boljuni has a few hundred of them, many decorated with reliefs: rosettes, crescents, spirals, hunters with spears, dancing figures holding hands, a man raising an oversized hand as if in greeting. Nobody fully agrees on who made them or what all the symbols mean, which makes standing among them oddly moving. Together with other cemeteries across Bosnia and Herzegovina and its neighbours, Boljuni is part of the UNESCO site of Stećci Medieval Tombstone Graveyards, inscribed in 2016.
Read the complete Boljuni write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Boljuni. Next is back through Vjetrenica Cave.
4. back through Vjetrenica Cave
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Vjetrenica Cave write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Vjetrenica Cave, late in the day. Next is Lokrum Island.
5. Lokrum Island
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lokrum Island write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Lokrum Island. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Lokrum Island to Vjetrenica Cave
Lokrum Island → Vjetrenica Cave is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vjetrenica Cave to Boljuni
Vjetrenica Cave → Boljuni is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Boljuni to back through Vjetrenica Cave
Boljuni → back through Vjetrenica Cave is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Vjetrenica Cave to Lokrum Island
back through Vjetrenica Cave → Lokrum Island is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- St. Barbara and Bijača · 350 km
- Old City of Dubrovnik and Boljuni · 168 km