Day trip out of Dubrovnik

The 3 island tour that many operators run is pretty great and they all seem to include wine and lunch

I am doing the same thing in july Dave, and I'm considering the day trip to Montenegro. My only concern is that some reviews say it can take up to 2 hours getting across the borders. Does anyone have experience with this? Is the tour worthwhile and if so, any recommendations for a tour company?

I've crossed the border into Montenegro a number of times, and it never took more than 30 minutes.

As for the day trip, going to Kotor after seeing Dubrovnik is a bit of a let down, but there are great places to visit. PM and I can give you an idea.

I have the same questions: From Dubrovnik in late May, take a day tour to the Elafiti Islands or the longer bus tour to Kotor?
There seems to be enough to do at a leisurely pace in Dubrovnik to keep us busy for a couple of days post Best of Adriatic tour. Recommendations?

Dat trip totally worth it. We hired a great driver. He took the border crossing on the coast and there was no one there.

Call or write Dijana and ask her opinion and rates for a day trip to Montenegro. Tell her James said not the town of Kotor (after Dubrovnik, there are better options)

Dijana Krkotic
Executive director
DOCLEA TRAVEL
Address: Bulevar Sv. Petra
Cetinjskog br. 79
81 000 Podgorica
Phone: +382 20 675 197
Mob: +382 69 277 749
E-mail:[email protected]
www.docleatravel.com

I am in Dubrovnik now. Yesterday we went on a day trip to Montenegro, Kotor.
Here are my thoughts.
It cost is $61 each. We thought it would be a big bus, but was not. It was a van with 6 of us and a driver and a guide. It took us maybe 10 minutes at the border.
Van vs big bus? You would think the smaller vehicle would be better. Not really. Most of the drive is on a populated road with buildings both sides. At the level of a van, no view. In a big bus you would be elevated.
Big bus you can fall asleep if you want. Small van had our guide half turned to us and while talking all the time (as in constantly) we had to kind of make believe pay attention.
Our Lady of the Rocks. So, so. Small island. We were there almost first so no bus crowd. But really the church is minor, and the museum an extra €2. Overall, blah.
Perast at the docks for the boat to the island. Not much. More or less a Main Street along th water with nothing special. It is April and not all restaurants were open. Then again, during the season when they are you would be hard pressed to find a table and get served and back to your bus in time. Off-season, less restaurants. In season, packed.
Kotor not much different than Dubrovnik. Walk around for several hours. Cobble stones, narrow streets. The usual scattered restaurants. It was cheaper than Dubrovnik.
A cruise ship was in town. So a lot of people. And the ship was right there. Looming over everything.
I would say that the cruise ship people will get a whole lot better view of the bay than we ever got. They would be up high and traverse the entire waterway into and back out to the sea.
That’s the way it was, April 2023.
Off to Mostar tomorrow on the public bus. Will stay three nights there.

We were in Dubrovnik last August. We did day trips via private car and driver to Kotor as well as Mostar.

We absolutely loved Kotor and the entire bay. The scenery and bay completely surrounded by the black mountains was breaktaking, like something out of a James Bond movie. Because it was August, we had a longer wait at the border in the morning, despite getting an early start. I think it may have been about 45min or an hour. We got to the bay and stopped at a lovely bayside place called Verige 65 for some coffees, waters and bathroom. Our driver took us back a bit south the way we came to hop on the Lepetane-Kamenari ferry for a very quick hop across the narrow part of the bay to really begin our drive around the bay.

Spent time in Kotor, climbed the old wall behind the old town about halfway up for an amazing view. We arrived ahead of a cruise ship, so the town was not too crowded, you can look it up online to see what dates Kotor will have a cruise ship or 2 in town so you can try to avoid that if you wish. Did lunch in Old Town and walked the city walls.

Outside the city walls we hired a speed boat to take the 4 of us on a tour of the bay. I think we paid 100 or 120 Euro to hire the entire boat for ourselves - compared to paying less and waiting for him to find a few more people to fill it up. The boat ride was amazing, our 2 kids age 6 and 11 loved it, it was a highlight of the entire vacation. Speeding across the bay surrounded by the gorgeous mountains was a once in a lifetime treat. We stopped at the Lady of the Rocks as well as the town of Perast. Back to Kotor to meet our driver for a beautiful ride back to Dubrovnik via Bosnia this time - this was a different than the direct route we took to get to Kotor, but climbing the road into the mountains over the bay and driving through the mountains of the Bosnian countryside was wonderful and very memorable and didn't take much extra time - plus the border crossings at this time of day, on this route were empty.

We were back in Dubrovnik by like 6 or 630pm - in time to catch an amazing water polo match in the water right outside of the old harbor and city wall - another highly recommended thing if you are lucky enough to be there for a match. The Croatians have an amazing water polo talent, and the crowd was fun to be a part of.

Good luck!