We were told there were no other rooms available in the main hotel as it was so busy, but to try again the next day (we were only staying 2 nights). Excepting this we took our luggage across the courtyard into the Annexe. The room was huge with extremely high ceilings but actually felt quite strange as there was hardly any furniture in the room. It felt cold and uninviting and the view from our tiny balcony, which was actually on the ground floor, looking onto nothing but the back of an alley, was completely uninspiring. I decided after paying so much money that I’d go back to the reception and tell them I wasn’t happy (I’d never done that before). Luckily the chap that had checked me in was busy and I spoke to an extremely nice helpful woman. I told her politely that I was really disappointed and guess what, she found me room in the main hotel on the 4th floor with a balcony and the most fantastic view of the old city. The room was smaller but otherwise identical to the one in the Annexe.

From the outside this hotel looks amazing but I was really quite disappointed with the inside, it felt like the heart had been ripped out and replaced with boring clinical furniture. There certainly wasn’t a grand entrance, just a small area to check in with a couple of desks. Walk up the steps and you are greeted with a long narrow bar area, not particularly inspiring. Rooms are apparently all the same. There was nothing wrong with them, but I wasn’t impressed with the bathroom at all. In fact it was exactly like my bathroom at home, with a shower over the bath with a glass panel! I had previously been staying in the Hotel Regent Esplanade in Zagreb which had really luxurious bathrooms.

The best things about this hotel are:

1. The proximity to the old town, its about 3 minutes walk to the gate – called Pile Gate.
2. The view from the large balcony hotel room was great (it has a table and chairs to sit outside and admire the view).
3. The terrace, where you can have breakfast in the morning, nothing better than alfresco dining, also used for Dinner in the evening.
4. The breakfast itself – buffet style, plenty of variety. The café lattés were great.
5. The staff, very helpful and courteous (all bar one!).
6. The swimming pool, especially when its over 35 degrees heat outside, great to cool down in the middle of the day and then go back to the old town later.

I did enjoy my stay at the Hilton and would recommend this hotel if you weren’t paying too much money for the room. The view made it something special and the staff could not be faulted (well apart for the check-in chap!).

I just feel Hilton could have really done something amazing with this hotel and didn’t, it’s just too bland for me.

We are just back from a long, sunny week in beautiful Dubrovnik and all I can say is if you have the coin, try and stay at the Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik which is just one block from the Pile Gate to the Old Town. You will save hours and hours on your trip if you are planning to spend most of your time in the Old Town since many of the big hotels are miles away.

We got in a bit late, midnight, but the Hilton front desk got us checked in in five minutes. The friendly professionalism extends to each and every Hilton worker -- from the front desk to the restaurant busboy to the pool guy. To say English is spoken at the Hilton is an understatement.

The Dubrovnik Hilton was bombed in the Balkan War and was closed for most of the 1990’s. It was then used as a refugee center. A few years ago, it was bought by some investors and the new owners sunk about 50 million Euros into the place turning it back into one of the city’s showcase hotels. The rooms are painted in warm Mediterranean colors. The beds are very comfortable and the bathrooms are large, especially by European standards. Try and stay on the Executive Lounge level if you can afford it. That gives you entree into the Hilton Executive Lounge all day, with free snacks and drinks and fun.

Every morning, a tasty and expansive buffet breakfast is served at the Hilton and you may sit inside or outside on the restaurant terrace. Eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, potatoes, fresh fruit, breads, pastries, local hams and cheeses and juices, etc,... The staff will make sure your orange juice glass is always filled. We did eat in the restaurant, Porat, one night and I really enjoyed the steak. My wife thought the clams and mussels were good. We had the shrimp as a snack, and it was incredible! Porat is considered one of the finer spots in town and the bar looked like fun.

The Hilton also has a spectacular indoor pool with a glass roof so the sun shines in all day. It does not rain that much in Dubrovik in the summer, but it can rain, sometimes, so if you have children with you, the pool is a great place to camp out until the sun comes back.

I am trying to think of somerthing I did not like at the hotel and all I can say is there is some street noise from all the young men on their motorcycles sans mufflers. We were on the fourth floor, so it was minimal, so try and stay on an upper floor if you can.

The Hilton rooms (many have balconies) that face the old town get morning sun and then afternoon shade. The rooms that face the sea get a ton of sun all day. The rooms that face the hills behind the city (kinda looking northeast) are in shade until late in the day, but see the sunset.

Okay, let’s talk about the town. You know about the walls. Do them the first 90 minutes or the last 90 minutes of the day. Otherwise, it will be way too hot and crowded. One down note is the cruise ships. Yes, they have the right to stop and have fun too, but the local government says the tourists are a bit cheap, as they spend an average of just 5 Euros each during their stay, which barely pays for the cleanup after they leave. The city government is talking to the cruise ships about some sort of tariff, but that’s just talk right now.

The churches and the sites are truly breathtaking and information on them is all over the Internet and guide books. So, I’ll give you a tip or two from the inside, if you will.

If you are looking for a quick snack, around the Pile Gate, walk just half a block from the Pile Gate (on the water side) and stop at Taverna Dubrovnik. It’s a small, one-story, family-owned restaurant with pizzas and sandwiches and some seats outside. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza in my time, and must say their pizza rocks!

If you want to get out of Old Town, grab a bus or cab to Copacabana Beach -- the biggest beach in town with tons of stuff to do -- sunbathing, swimming, water slides, para-sailing or just hanging out. We spent a long afternoon there and had a great time. Note that the taxi drivers have some cool new cars (Audis and BMWs), so do not get into their cab with a wet bathing suit on. The cabbie will not like it and may even refuse you a ride.

If you want to balance the fun, with some serious stuff, please try and go see War Photo Limited, off the Stradum. Currently, this small museum/gallery is exhibiting war photos from award-winning women photographers who have risked their lives to tell us the news. There is one photo of a young Albanian boy watching the Yugoslav army burn down his village that I will never ever forget. There are still bullet marks and scars all over Dubrovnik, so tread lightly on the political stuff in casual conservations. The Iraq War, IMHO, has had very little impact on our day-to-day lives here in America, while the people of Dubrovnik still live with haunting memories of their war every single day.

On a lighter note, if you are planning to take the city buses, to get around town, the good news is they are new, clean and run all the time. The bad news is they are packed and you may have to wait for the next one, especially down by the Old Town. They run very late, some until two in the morning.

Note: There is a cool, comfortable Croatian Airlines bus that meets every plane at the Dubrovnik Airport. It will carry you all the way down to town for a small charge. It dropped us at the Pile Gate, a block from our hotel. But, get this -- if you want to take the Croatia Airlines bus back to the airport (it leaves 90 minutes before each Croatia Airlines flight), you must get on the bus at the Gruz Harbor bus station, not Pile Gate. Also, anyone can take the bus, not just Croatian Airlines passengers.

In closing, I can safely say Dubrovnik is the most beautiful city we have ever visisted (after travelling around world for 25 years now), so please go and have some fun. And try the Croatian wine. My wife says it’s great and we were able to bring some home, one day before the new flight restrictions began.

Cheers!

Sid
Portland, OR USA

We chose to stay at this hotel because we had stayed at several Hilton hotels before and we had very much enjoyed our stays. We had also read good reviews of this hotel on this website.

At check-in, no staff offered to help us take our luggage to our room.

We booked a standard room for seven nights. It was very comfortable. However, its view was of rooms in the older part of the hotel. We sometimes looked out of its window to find people in their rooms staring back at us. On the first day we asked reception for a different room with a better view. They told us there was currently nothing else available (it was the high season) and we should keep asking. On the third day, we were told that we had one of the best standard rooms and if we wanted a better view then we would need to pay extra for it.

We did like the décor and the air conditioning throughout the hotel was wonderful. During our stay, the temperature outside was sometimes around the mid-thirties. We enjoyed using the hotel fitness centre. It had a good sized swimming pool, sauna, steam room and gym.

One night we came back to our room to find it had not been made up. (The room next to ours had also been missed.) We rang housekeeping and this was promptly corrected.

The breakfast was buffet style. There was good variety of average quality. Occasionally, when we requested items (eg. boiled eggs) from the waiters, they arrived too late or never arrived.

The hotels lobby is small. The hotel staff were polite. There was no concierge, but there was a small tourist information centre opposite the hotel.

By far the best thing about this hotel is its location. It is yards from the Pile gate entrance to the old town. We attended some Dubrovnik summer festival concerts. It was great to be able to easily walk back to the hotel late at night. Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful places we have ever visited.

The Imperial Dubrovnik is not our favourite Hilton hotel. At some other Hiltons, we have paid much less and had an executive room with a good view (and better service). However, the location of the Imperial for the old town is perfect. We would stay at this hotel again if we could afford say an executive room (perhaps off-season), with a sea or old town view.

We now understand that all Imperial Dubrovnik rooms have king-size beds and that all room rates include breakfast. Yet, on the Hilton website, we noticed that some of the cheaper room rates for this hotel to do not specify this. (Obviously, you should investigate this yourself before finalising a cheaper room rate booking.)

Absolutely beautiful. The building is a restored Venetian type palace and the service is impeccable. Must agree with a previous reviewer- not a typical Hilton.
My room was lovely, overlooking red-tiled roofs and a garden and was so much more beautiful and spacious than any other room I'd stayed at in other Balkan cities, ie Zagreb, Lljublana, Split...
Ordered room service a number of times and it was always delivered with a smile and of excellent quality. Didn't use the gym, but the pool and sauna facilities were very nice.
The location, right outside the old city walls was wonderful and access from the Dubrovnik airport was a breeze.
Dubrovnik is such a beautiful and unspoiled place that I'm sure even a drab, depressing hotel wouldn't ruin it's charms, but the grandeur, beauty and hospitality of the Hilton surely made my stay in the city all the more memorable. I will definitely return.