1-3 day itinerary after Best of Adriatic Tour

Scroll down to the Montenegro videos. ;-)
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/podgorica-to-dubrovnik-by-car.

THEN, after a week in Montenegro take the discount flight from Podgorica to Budapest for a week before returning home. Hey. You can dream.

We know Mr E likes Montenegro, but you have three days max, so to me that means be efficient when considering distances.
Are you flying out of Dubrovnik, and what month?

Since the tour doesn’t go to Zagreb, and you probably have to fly through there to get home, why not a few days there.
It is the capital and will give you a feel for the people who do not live on the coast. They are more Germanic than the Italian influences on the coast.
Since there are six of you, hire a private driver to take you. I can recommend a company if you are interested. PM me.

We know Mr E likes Montenegro, but you have three days max, so to me
that means be efficient when considering distances.

The bay of Kotor is about an hour from Dubrovnik (plus often about 15 min at the border crossing) I can't think of much, not already seen on the tour, that's closer.

If the return flight isn't locked in, more options will exist if you consider, along with Dubrovnik, Podgorica and Tivat as departure airports and that way no back tracking.

Barbara's suggestion of Zagreb is interesting too. It's only a 7 hour drive. But Montenegro is much more beautiful and to valadelphia's point, closer.

Or, make the 2 hour trip direct to the airport in Podgorica from Dubrovnik and fly to Budapest in about 85 minutes for about $80. But the direct flights are only twice a week, so that has to line up.

It really, really depends on where you are flying home from and what kind of transport you prefer, so without that it is really just throwing darts.

What did you decide? My wife and I are looking at a similar option as we are doing the same trip next year and looking for ideas.

Leif, I spend a bit of time in the region each year. If it were a friend asking me what to do after the tour the answer would depend on how much additional time you want to spend and would require not having bought round trip tickets yet. I will just assume this is between May and September.

Montenegro depending on how much time.
Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi to Perast to Kotor to Budva to Stari Bar to Ulcinj, fly out of Podgorica.

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Dubrovnik to Mostar to Jajce to Travnik to Sarajevo, fly out of Sarajevo

Both
Dubrovnik to Mostar to Jajce to Travnik to Sarajevo, Zabljak, Ostrog Monastery, Stari Bar, Budva, Kotor, Perast, Herceg Novi, Dubrovnik, fly home from Dubrovnik

Must stop locations in bold. Others optional

I’d consider simply staying in Dubrovnik a few more nights. Given the fast pace of these tours, just cooling your jets for a day or two at the end sounds very attractive to me. Dubrovnik is an easy place in that way, and two nights isn’t all that much. Dubrovnik has options, and has them at the ready. Day trips to Lokrum or Cavtat are easy, there’s plenty of boat excursions or other activities. And of course you can arrange a longer day trip to Kotor as well. With a group, folks might be ready for some more personal time too. Personally, after running all over for two weeks you’d probably find me chilling at Buza bar :)

Stay in Dubrovnik? It is a facinating and beautiful place, but its also Disneyland .... escape!

And of course you can arrange a longer day trip to Kotor as well.

Of all the choices, Kotor is at best a lunch stop. So, so, so much good stuff in BiH and Montenegro. Take advantage of your location and see the future Croatias before the tourist masses do what they have done to Croatia.

Update - we have decided to stay an extra day in Dubrovnik and have hired a RS recommended guide for the day to go to Kotor and a couple of other places that slip my mind at the moment. The next day we will fly to Naples (Dubrovnik to Rome to Naples), take a train/bus to Sorrento and stay there for 4 nights. We are going to Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, and Capri. On the last day, we will get an early start and go to Naples to see the Archeological Museum, do the RS walking tour, then evening bus/train to Rome and fly home the next morning. We have already toured Rome and northern Italy so this seemed like a good way to see part of southern Italy since it is fairly easy to get there from Dubrovnik.

Mr E. We would becoming in June of next year. It wouldn't matter where we end up as we are flying in / out of Rome. I see there are so many options for after the tour. We might have 3 days after the tour depending on travel arrangements.

Mr E. I have emailed the travel company you mentioned in a lot of your posts. I am sure that they must be busy but I have yet to hear back and I emailed them last Friday. Is it coming for them to take a while to respond? Thanks.

That Fly Guy, do you have a Viking name? If so the email got hung up in her outbox or something. There is another thread on the forum this week about WhatsApp. One of the beauties of using it is that most times (the receiver can change the setting) but most times you can tell that the message was read. Adds to the peace of mind.

You are correct about the options after the tour being endless. It comes down to what you think you will enjoy.

Mr E, yes I do. I just updated my handle online.

I was making sure it was your email that got hung up. I guess its solved by now. You know I used her company several times over about 6 years, they always did a good job so I recommended the company to friends and family and on the forum (google the name and see the reviews from others). But here is the secret, I did everyting remote, had her set up and plan things, provide transfers, book some hotels that I couldnt book, used her for a lot of advice, but in all that time never met Dijana or anyone with her business until a few weeks ago.

Thanks. How come you never met her before? Did you have other drivers and guides for your previous trips? What first drew you to the company?

I think I found her on LinkedIn. I used for the first trip and every subsequent trip. I'm not very social, I hired her to make recommendations on, what, when, where, how then to arrange the details. She was flawless. No reason to meet LOL. This last trip she wanted to say thank you so she showed at the airport for myself and some friends i started the trip with and she did a day trip for the olives and wine with me. Good kid. And despite a few major changes due to rain in the mountains washing out my fishing and a Hungarian Tax issue demanding I return 2 days early ... once again she was flawless changing hotel reservations and transfer dates.

All this talk is making me want to go back. Its hard not to. Its only an hour and ten minute flight. Yup, 15 June, $48 on Wizz. Beach hotel room with a balcony under $180 (if i can still find one with a balcony). Or a 3 star off he beach for a third of that.