Croatia

If you fly into Dubrovnik, plan on two to three nights and then go to Kotor/Perast in Montenegro. You can do this either as a tour group daytrip or drive there and stay overnight. Be prepared for lengthy delays crossing the border with a rental car from Croatia into Montenegro and crossing back into Croatia. In another day in Dubrovnik, you can take the 15-minute boat from Dubrovnik to LOKRUM NATIONAL PARK on Lokrum Island.
It’s about a 2-hour drive from Dubrovnik to the Peljesac Peninsula where there are fantastic wineries—such as the Mikulics Winery— offering wine-tasting. A few miles further. you reach the ferry port at OREBIC for the car-ferry to KORCULA Island.

After two nights on Korcula , return to Orebic on the car-ferry and drive 2 hours to MAKARSKA, which has lots of beaches and port for the one-hour car-ferry to BRAC ISLAND’S Sumartin ferry port Stay two nights on Brac, then return to MAKARSKA.

Drive south toward DUBROVNIK, stopping along the way to view the walled-city of STON to see its miles-long ramparts and walls. Ston also is the Oyster capital of Croatia.

Overnight in Dubrovnik before your onward flight,

www.CroatiaFerries.com has ferry timetables and fares.

Given your particulars i would split the time between Croatia and Montenegro. Good stuff in both.

But don't waste too much time with Kotor, it's fine for lunch maybe, and don't backtrack to Dubrovnik.

Check leaving out of Podgorica, you can use your time a lot better that way.

There are several others planning trips to Montenegro and Croatia right now so check those forums.

A deeper dive into Montenegro actually does not work with Phyllis’ desire to see Korcula, Brac/Split and Dubrovnik within “9 days max.”

Thanks so much for the suggestions. Do you feel Brac is nicer than Split if you had to choose between the 2? I can fly into Dubrovnik and out of Split.

I would go to Split just to see Diocletian’s Palace. There really is no reason to go other than that.
With a car, Brac makes more sense as it has beautiful beaches and more relaxing towns. (Split is Croatia’s #2 most-populated city after Zagreb).

For a port town on Brac, Sumartin is gorgeous. And then there’s that incredible part of Paklina Beach called “Zlatni Rat”near Bol just 30 minutes away.
However, many do start their trip in Dubrovnik and end in Split because of the airports.

Have a great trip!

I like Croatia well enough; I've been 3 times; maybe 14 days all together and that just not enough time for me to know what I am talking about and to give good advice other than the most general. Also, some of my experiences were not particularly positive and since I know bad, like good, can be a one-off thing its best not make to big an issue of them.

Everyone should consider spending at least a night in Split (here is why: https://www.helenabradbury.com/blog-1/unique-fun-things-to-do-in-split-croatia) , and everyone should consider not spending more than three nights in Dubrovnik, and Korcula is worth two nights for most interests. Not a big fan of crowds? That might be an issue in Dubrovnik, Split and Croatia in early September.

What I am most amazed at is that I usually don’t enjoy museum towns like those. Museum towns are any town where the tourists exceed the locals by 4 to 1 and Dubrovnik must be 1000 to 1 as last I heard only 800 still lived in the old town. In many ways they are as real as Main Street Disney Land and yet they are still beautiful and interesting, and I think they are good trips for anyone. I even had a blast as a day tripper to Plitvice in July.

I did and still do get a lot more enjoyment out of Montenegro. It's less touristed, more natural beauty, more relaxed, speaks more to me, so it is what i return to and what I try and help with. Here is another post on visiting Montenegro from Croatia and it has a lot of links to videos so you can see what it looks like: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/podgorica-to-dubrovnik-by-car

But if you think 9 days is tight for Split to Dubrovnik then skip Montenegro. I just never saw much logic in driving 6 hours round trip for a 3 hour visit to Kotor, a small less impressive version of Dubrovnik. It’s a tour that's been well marketed to tourists who ran out of things to do in Dubrovnik after two days or just had to escape the crowds, or maybe ..... For me, and we are all different, to even begin to make something good out of any time spent in Montenegro it takes at least 1 (if that’s all you have then Perast), much better 3 nights (Budva with a day trip either to the mountains or down the coast as your interest dictates), with flight departure from Podgorica so you don't waste time back tracking to Dubrovnik. And hire a guide or at least the transfers. So much less expensive than Croatia, it's possible to enjoy more and work less.

I agree that Kotor is skippable given your short time frame. I haven't been to Brac but it seems you'd probably find more sandy beaches there than on Korcula. Where are you flying to/from? You could drop the car in Split, spending one night there. You don't need a car in Dubrovnik, it's great to stay in the city. Three nights there should be plenty--it depends on what you want to do there!

I don't care what it costs, and I doubt it would cost much more, but hire transfers. Its a holiday for goodness sake. If you can't find them, PM me, maybe I can.

Watched some utubes of people crossing the border from Croatia to Montenegro and we decided it would be too much car time so we are not going there. I really appreciate the feedback and responses, thanks. That led us to watch the tubes. Do you think with 2 nights in Split and 3 in Dubrovnik we should stay in the cities themselves and walk or take Ubers to the sights as opposed to staying outside and driving 30-40 min. each way to get a beautiful air b n b with a pool???? Not sure where we would park in the cities then even though a pool and the quiet countryside sounds soooo good. Guess we could uber from the air b n bs to the cities but more time consuming?? Thoughts???

It's tough to parse out someone else's preferences, but I always like separating my city time from my nature/relaxation time--I do not like long day trips, so transiting in and out of town every day would not be my preference. I would make your list for Dubrovnik and Split and allot time there to see what you want to see, then pick a spot for the relaxing portion on an island or on the mainland in between. No need for a car that way.
Where are you flying in and out? You can stay on Brac and do an easy day trip to Split, but if you are flying out of Split, then I'd just plan on ending there.
Just FYI, you will find limited sandy beaches and the pebbles ones are usually better. There is Lumbarda on Korcula, but I did not like walking through the abundant seagrass/seaweed.