Itinerary thoughts

I have been to both Croatia and Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina a a hand full of times. Hmmm "both"... okay all three. For straight tourism my favorite is Montenegro. That makes what to do with 3.5 days in Montenegro after 10 in Croatia a tough question. A big part of me wants to say save Montenegro for the next trip. Second choice is do Mostar for a night and save Montenegro .....

Or, commit to Montenegro and do no less than 5 nights. But first make sure you are satisfying all your interests in Croatia.

It doesn’t look like OP is considering 3 or 4 days in Montenegro, rather, whether to spend an extra day in Korcula or spend it in Dubrovnik with possible day trip to Montenegro. I haven’t been to Korcula, but I would choose the Dubrovnik option, and daytrip to Kotor Montenegro, or Mostar Bosnia, or both. While I’m not in a position to disagree with Mr. E about Montenegro being worth much more time, a day there is better than no time there, and I found the Kotor trip to be very interesting and scenic. For the Slovenia part, renting the car and then driving it into and out of Ljubljana, and parking it there for a full day where you won’t need it, seems unnecessary, but it may still be the best option, assuming you can rent it in Bled, if you want to drive around north or west of Bled, as you don’t need it in Bled itself either and your arrival will be about halfway between Ljubljana and Bled as that’s where the airport is — but maybe consider seeing Ljubljana first, then renting the car there and taking it to Bled and the rest of the Slovenia part of the trip. It would be handy to have it in Bled to go to the castle, but totally useless in central Ljubljana.

Each to their own so I don’t try and tell people what’s right and what’s wrong, only what I would do. But maybe I should have explained why:

I tend to consider if I will ever be back in that direction again, especially if I did part of it on an earlier trip. Usually, it works better for me and the odds of getting back increase if I save the trip until I can do it well. There is so much to offer that going to Kotor for a night is a little like going to Florence for a night and skipping the rest of Italy.

And I apologize for this being off topic as you described it. But food for thought maybe or for future.

But if you want to run down to Kotor for a day, sure, it’s easy. Kotor is a smaller, less impressive version of Dubrovnik, but the bay is beautiful. The towns of Herceg Novi and Perast, for me, were as interesting as Kotor (after having seen Dubrovnik). But that’s probably the shallowest view of a fascinating country. More interesting or maybe must more fun for me was the P1 road that runs out of Kotor over the mountain. The views are spectacular and I got a kick out of seeing the hams hanging in the prosciutto house.

Even more interesting was the Monastery built into the side of the cliff at Ostrog and more magnificent visually was the Tara River Canyon. Two things so unique and special, and it hurts to miss the. But in 2 days? That would be tough. Then there is Stari Bar which is an ancient hilltop town that was abandoned after an earthquake several hundred years ago. So now its this amazing ancient ghost town. Not much further down the coast is the walled old town of Ulcinj perched on a hilltop overlooking the ocean. This really is where east meets west as the city is at least half Muslim and making seeing churches mixed with mosques in harmony pretty special.

Another abandoned ancient hillside village holds an amazing little winery. On the way to it you can stop and visit an olive plantation and get a lesson in olive oil and try the home cooking. Oh, also know a place where you can take a cooking class in a private home…… Or just let her cook and eat some of the most amazing things.

4 nights would be absolute minimum I would devote to the investment of visiting Montenegro. But, again, just me.

I like to watch videos to help decide where to go. This thread has a pretty good list for Montenegro. I didn’t want to repost it because its kinda long: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/podgorica-to-dubrovnik-by-car

My other suggestion was, with just a day or two you go from Split or from Dubrovnik to Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH). Or you could do it when traveling from Split to Dubrovnik. Something like

• Day 1: Dubrovnik to a winery on the Pelješac Peninsula then to the Koćuša Waterfalls. The falls are pretty and it’s a good place for a late lunch. Nice restaurant (I can look up the name if you want). Then on to Mostar. Drive time is maybe 3.5 hours but with two stops that’s not bad.
• Day 2: Maybe spend the morning in Mostar, then to the 16th century Blagaj Tekija monastery and lunch. Then on to the Kravice water falls. Bring a swimsuit. This isn’t like Plitvice where it is all look and don’t touch. This is interactive. Go swimming. Then back to Dubrovnik. Again maybe 3 hours of driving.

You could also do this from Split and back or from Split to Dubrovnik. You can add a second night in Mostar to get a bit deeper into the town. There is a lot most tourists don’t see. Or use it for another day trip. Naturally all of this will require a car. I hire a driver when I move around the area. A nice hotel in BiH is so reasonable that a driver and a hotel in BiH costs about the same as a hotel and a bus in Western Europe.

And without all the intermediate stops, you can do Mostar as a daytrip. Plenty of tours do it so it would be cheaper too.

BUT, Croatia is good too. For me it’s a bit over touristed and a bit expensive for what you get, but it is beautiful and it is interesting and I still go back from time to time. My last trip to Croatia was 4 months ago and I will be back in Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina in the Spring.

Ohhhh, and one of your other questions. You asked about 3 or 4 nights in Dubrovnik. I actually enjoy the heck out of Dubrovnik, but 3 nights is generally enough.

This is a very rushed itinerary, but I suppose you're young and have to get back to work! I suggest that you spend the day in Ljubliana before picking up the car. Then drive a loop (spending a night along the way) of the Julian Alps, Skokjan Caves, Predjama Castle, Lake Bled, return the car in Ljubliana. Take a bus or train to Zagreb to rent a car in Croatia. There's no point in going to Rovinj for a day. Istria is full of beautiful drives and tiny towns that you won't have time to see. I would spend more time in Slovenia and hike. We spent one night in Kotor and it's lovely but very similar to Dubrovnik. I would love to go back and explore more of Montenegro as Mr E suggested. We found Mostar more interesting than Kotor because it was different, so I suggest that as a day trip from Dubrovnik. I think you need at least 2 full days in Dubrovnik, so you could do a day trip if you spend 4 nights there. I think 2 nights in Korcula is enough unless there's something special you need more time for there.

Well, it feels very rushed. While I enjoyed Rovijn and Skopjan, you’re putting a lot of effort into this leg for so little time. I would not bother with a single night in Rovijn on just about any itinerary. For similar vibes, Korcula fits the bill and your time there is very limited as well. The logistics around this are also unfavorable. On a side note, you may find it difficult to find single night accommodations along the coast. It’s possible you’ll end up staying somewhere that’s not your first choice in this case.

For me, a day trip to Bled was plenty. Depending on when you arrive you might have almost a whole day there to begin with. Maybe grab the car on day one allowing you to get out of town. If you’re not keen on dealing with the rental, the first couple days are just about as easy via public bus and/or small group van tours.

But if you cut Rovijn and Skopjan, you can bus from Ljubljana to Zagreb. I’d spend the night there, I think it’s massively underrated. But you could also grab your rental there immediately and head to Plitvice within a few hours. You could totally get there in time for a late hike, see more of the park in the morning and head to Split. That’s a much simpler route and negligible trade off on sightseeing. This region is tough on itineraries, something cool will inevitably be on the chopping block.