Ploče

Ploče is the strip of coast running east from the Old Town's eastern gate, pinned between the sea and the road that climbs towards the Srđ cable car's lower sta…Ploče is the strip of coast running east from the Old Town's eastern gate, pinned between the sea and the road that climbs towards the Srđ cable car's lower station. It is the smallest of the city's districts and the most photographed after the walls, because the views from its seafront look straight back at the Old Town, the harbour and Lokrum.

The gate itself passes the Revelin fortress, the sixteenth-century strongpoint that now hosts club nights in its vaults, and the district grew as the aristocracy's summer-villa quarter outside the walls. Today those positions belong to the five-star tier: a run of seafront hotels with private swimming platforms and terraces facing the walls.

Banje, the city's best-known beach, drops away below the promenade five minutes from the gate, with a paid sunbed operation through summer and a free public section. The coastal path continues east towards the quieter beach at Sveti Jakov, and the walk along it in the hour before sunset, with the walls lit behind, is one of the simplest good things the city offers. Restaurants here lean upscale, riding the hotel trade.