Dubrovnik on our own including the cable car up Mount Srd?

Our Cruise ship will not dock at Dubrovnik until 2pm, therefore my plan is not to hire a tour guide and visit the City wall including most of the major sights within plus taking the cable car up Mount Srd. I would like to know if the most of these sights are within walking distance of the port and can be done without assistance of tour guide within 4 to 5 hrs. I figure I will not be able arrive the port until 3pm and would like to head back to ship by 7pm latest?

We did this last July. Very easy to do. Dubrovnik is very compact. All you need is a map. We used Rick Steves book and he told us which street to go up to get to the gate closest to the cable car. Then it's a block away

Our Cruise ship will not dock at Dubrovnik until 2pm, therefore my plan is not to hire a tour guide and visit the City wall including most of the major sights within plus taking the cable car up Mount Srd. I would like to know if the most of these sights are within walking distance of the port and can be done without assistance of tour guide within 4 to 5 hrs. I figure I will not be able arrive the port until 3pm and would like to head back to ship by 7pm latest?

If your ship is docking in our Gruz harbor, it is not within walking distance to the old part of town. You can take a taxi to the entrance, which is normally called Pile gate area for 75 Croatian Kuna or 10 Euros. Driver will accept Euros but do NOT expect vendors, city wall or cable car to do the same. You can use credit card for the wall and cable car, shops are hit or miss. Depending on how quickly you can walk the wall, I strongly suggest doing the sea side and going down at the Ploce exit. This would put you closest to the cable car, which is just out the gate and up the hill. You do need a map of the old town and surrounding areas...please do try something better than Rick Steves!

When we were there in September, the taxis were charging 13 euros into town for up to 4 people. Also, they were charging 50 euros for an hour trip - all the prices are printed on the wall. This is excellent value between 4 people as we spoke to someone who had done this and the taxi took them into town, up the hill to the top of the cablecar (therefore saving £10 each for the cablecar from town) and then out of the city and over the new bridge. They would then either drop you by the old town or bring you back to the ship. If you're short on time, this would be an excellent way of seeing some of the surrounding area as well as the walled city. There were several taxis all lined up and waiting.

Should I either take the taxi or cable car up Mount Srd first and then tour the city wall or vice versa to avoid the crowd. The sun doesn't set until well pass 8 pm so I assuming it doesn't matter.

You will need to take a taxi to the cablecar anyway - personally I'd take the 50 euro taxi trip which will do both. The cablecar isn't very exciting and we had to queue 30 minutes to get on it. It's the fabulous views that you go for - you would save so much time and I believe the taxis also know where to stop for the best photos. They could then drop you by the city walls so that you could wander, depending on how much time you have. If you have time, it's worth walking the walls but this will take at least an hour depending how busy it is, then you could just wander through the lovely streets and squares. A really nice spot is the Buza Bar, a bar which has been set on the rocks outside the city walls. You can watch people jumping into the sea while having your drink.

Is the 50 Euro taxi fare covers both way up and down Mount Srd? I figure since the cable car will cost approximately also 50 euros for 4 both ways, I will save quite a bit of time to take taxi instead. My plan is to take some photos and take in the view while up there and stay for about an hr. Will the original taxi wait for me or I will have to find another taxi down to the city wall. Also will it be difficult to find a taxi up there?

The taxis do a round tour from the dock for an hour - I guess you could request longer if you require it. They will drive you up the mountain and I believe they stop off at photo points - they will know the best ones. They also go out of Dubrovnik across the new bridge so there should be photo stops there. They will then bring you back to the ship, alternatively you could ask them to drop you by the city walls so that you can visit yourself. You would then need to take another taxi back to the ship or ask the driver to pick you up later.

While a taxi might cost about the same for a group of 4, the cable car is an interesting experience that we find more fun then being crammed in a car. As to getting to the Cable Car station (lower), assuming you are mobile, once at the walled city it is not difficult to walk through the city and over to the Cable Car Station. And while many do use taxis, it is actually pretty easy to take the local buses (inexpensive) between the city and Port (buses stop right outside the port entrance. One caveat with the buses is that I recall we had to use Kuna for the bus fare (Dubrovnik Lady can correct me if this is now wrong). We used to walk across the street from the port and buy discounted bus tickets from the news shop.

Hank

I agree taking the cable car is a unique experience and if you are interested in views, a perspective you can't duplicate anywhere else.