LOPUD is an island with the village bearing the same name and a small harbour in the Elaphite Islands group, northwest of Dubrovnik. The only village, Lopud, lies on the inner edge of the cove of Lopud (large beach).

Favourable climatic conditions (2,584 hours of sunshine a year), luxuriant vegetation and the closeness to Dubrovnik have contributed to the development of Lopud into an important seaside resort. The village of Lopud has a nice large beach; beautiful stone houses are enclosed by gardens with palm-trees, cypresses, lemon-trees and other subtropical species. Lopud is really an island of peace (no motor vehicles), which has always attracted those who appreciate quiet and peaceful vacations. Apart from the valuable cultural heritage, the tourists who are keen on cultural and entertainment programs may find the richest program of cultural events in the nearby Dubrovnik.

In ancient times Lopud was known as a Greek (Delaphodia), later as a Roman (Lafota) habitation. From the 11th century, Lopud was attached to the Dubrovnik Republic; from 1457 it was the seat of a principality. In the 15th century the island was settled by the refugees from the areas occupied by the Turks. The inhabitants of Lopud were oriented to seafaring from the early days. In the 16th century they participated with their ships in the invasions of Spanish rulers on Tunisia, Algeria, Portugal and England, so that the saying about the three hundred Vica widows of the fallen seafarers from Lopud became legendary (a poem based on the legend was written by Antun P. Kazali).

The oldest monuments on the island are the ruins of a pre-Romanesque church of St. Elias (wall painting), St. Peter, St. Nicholas, St. Maurice and St. John (fragments of "pleter" - interlacery ornaments). The cove of Lopud was defended by two fortresses: one on the peninsula and another one (Sutvra, 1563) at the foot of the highest peak. At the entrance into the harbour is the Holy Trinity church (16th-17th c.). Above the harbour is the Franciscan monastery with a cloister from 1483, abandoned in 1808. The monastery church of St. Mary of pilica keeps a number of valuable works: a polyptych by the Venetian painter Pietro di Govanni (1523), a triptych from the workshop of Nikola Boidarevi, parts of a polyptych by Girolamo da Santacroce, The Crucifixion, a work by a member of the Venetian family Bassano, the painting of Mary in a Wreath of Flowers, a work by a Flemish Baroque painter, the carved choir stalls from the 15th century.

On a prominent location above the village are the ruins of the Duke's Palace, a two-story Gothic structure with a terrace garden. On the south-eastern side of the island is the cove of Sunj, with the church of Our Lady of unj (12th c., reconstructed until the 17th c.) with the wooden, carved main altar; the church keeps a number of paintings: Our Lady with Child (Jacopo Palma the Elder), The Holy Family, The Annunciation (an early Baroque Umbrian painter), parts of the polyptych by Matej Juni from 1452.