Dubrovnik is the seat of Dubrovnik-Neretva county and the centre of tourism in South Dalmatia. It has built its tourist industry around its valuable cultural and historical sites under UNESCO protection. They are part and parcel with the natural beauty and richness of the entire region which stretches from the Neretva River in the north to the border with Montenegro its southernmost point.
In this area of inimitable sensual experiences around every corner, you can feel the spirit of the famous Dubrovnik Republic, whose inhabitants were skilled in diplomacy, trade and shipping. Thanks to the old Dubrovnik seafarers, you can find plants from tropical and subtropical regions here today, which characterise the lush vegetation of area and enrich the environment of some southern Dalmatian campsites. These plants thrive due to the exceptionally mild climate. Perhaps the Trsteno Arboretum is the best witness to this. It is located about 15 kilometres from Dubrovnik and is the only arboretum on the Croatian Adriatic coast, being a unique combination of cultural and natural heritage. Its fame rests on its historical gardens and its collection of both Mediterranean and exotic plants. The Arboretum was founded in 1948 in the grounds of a historic manor house which the aristocratic family Gučetić-Gozze built here in the 15th century, and it is protected as a monument of landscaped architecture. Within its 25 acres are historical Renaissance gardens with a summer house, a historical neo-Romantic park from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, a historical olive grove, examples of natural vegetation of hrast medunac (native oak woodland), alepski bor (Aleppo pine), cypress, maquis vegetation and coastal cliffs. Numerous plantations of lemons, oranges and various palms and agaves provide the broader South Dalmatia region with a definite identity and a special charm. The Mljet National Park is also in the region, on the island of the same name, which, together with Korčula, Lastovo and Elaphiti, makes up the shortlist of the most important islands in this corner of the Adriatic. Southern Dalmatia also boasts of the Pelješac peninsula, which is the largest peninsula in Croatia after Istria.
