Hello, we are planning a trip to Croatia in Sep and during our stay in Dubrovnik we are planning to rent a car and take a couple of day trips to Mostar and Kotor. We are staying in the Old City in Dubrovnik and are wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a convenient company to rent from? Ideally close to the old city with hours that work well for day trips. Thanks for your help!
Posted by
Republic of Texas / U.S.A. / Magyarország / Budapest
23183 posts
Any reason you want to rent a car and watch the road instead of the views?
Dubrovnik to Mostar is about 2.5 hours if all goes well. Its 140 to 150km so that works out to and average of 55 to 60km per hour (35 to 40mph). Why so slow? I imaging the nature of the road requires a lot of attention. Sunset will be 7pm, might be good to be back to the room by then. Leave at 9am and that gives you 10 hours for the trip. Lets round the round trip up to 7 to 8 hours round trip including time to pickup and return the car and border crossings. That leaves you 2 to 3 hours in Mostar. Doubt it will much cheaper than hiring a transfer and sure it will cost more than taking a tourist shuttle or group tour.
Dubrovnik to Kotor is 2 hours. Figure 6 to 7 round trip with time to pick up and retun the car and border crossings. So you get 3 to 4 hours to divide between Herceg Novi, Perast and Kotor.
For the tours do some google work. For a private transfer (the right thing to do) there are a number of sources. I like letting a lady named Dijana handle everything. Here are some references with contact information:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/croatia/great-travel-agent-for-montenegro-and-croatia
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/montenegro/montenegro-help
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/czech/prague-budapest-and-dubrovnik
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/16-nights-in-montenegro
Here are some other suggestions: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/croatia/daytrip-to-montenegro-from-dubrovnik
Posted by
Indiana
1035 posts
I too would highly recommend that you book a tour or transfer service rather than renting a car. My suggestion is that you check out Petar Vlasic, who is an awesome guide. We used his services for three day trips. https://www.dubrovnikrivieratours.com/
Posted by
100 posts
Nova Car rental is just outside the Dubrovnik walls. We picked up a car, drove to Kotor (stopped at Perast) and spent the night in an apartment just outside the walls. The next morning we hiked in Kotor, then drove to Mostar, spending 2 nights there. If you have to choose one day trip, I recommend Mostar. Kotor is very similar to Dubrovnik.
Posted by
1 posts
I'm looking for similar advice, just going from Dubrovnik to Mostar and then to Split.
I read many places that Nova is good but I do not see a Dubrovnik location other than the airport, Can anyone confirm?
Has anyone rented from SIXT? I lie their locations but I have had pretty bad experience with LONG waits to pick up a car. I am traveling mid-September.
Posted by
100 posts
It looks like they no longer have the Dubrovnik city rental office. Sorry--we were there less than 2 years ago! You could email to ask about it. Or take the bus back to the airport to pick up a car--it's sort of on the way to Kotor. I have always avoided Sixt because of bad reviews. The only problem with doing separate day trips would be finding a place to park in Dubrovnik. We are DIYers, but you might consider joining day tours so you don't have to worry about parking in Kotor and Mostar if just going for the day.