Suggestions for one day visits to Sorrento, Giardini Naxos, Split, Dubrovnick. Kotor, and Rovinj

Venice to Split is probably 5-6 hours. If you want a Balkan experience, I'd go to Ljubljana - fun little capital, small and self-contained, 2 hrs from Venice. Rovinj is the only other sensible choice.

Check the schedule carefully for berth/tender and departure time. You might get to walk around one of these places after the daytrippers leave. Are you game to take the short public bus ride from the Dubrovnik cruise port to the actual town?

I personally would choose a walking visit on your own, but a ship tour of an hour or two is not wasted time.

When in Giardini Naxos I'm sure most of the passengers will be going to Taormina and it's definitely worth doing. It's only a 10-15 mins by taxi or bus so worth doing on your own (unless ship excursions are included in the cruise price). Giardini Naxos in itself is a nice beach resort town but with only 1/2 day or so I wouldn't spend the time there. If you have a whole day there some time on the beach would be nice. We were there in late Sept and it was still quite balmy, not sure about October.

Thanks for the thoughtful and quick responses. I continue to be amazed at the great group of people on the forum. Thanks! Susan

When we were in Dubrovnik for a day (traveling by cruise) we got off the ship and there was a very nice taxi driver waiting and when we told him we wanted to go to the bottom of the tram (or whatever it's called), he suggested we bypass the line at the bottom and let him drive us to the top and back down. Not only did he let us explore at the top, he took some pictures for us, and then drove us back to town. In town we walked the walled city, and had time for a nice lunch. The people there are so amazing.

Roving is a very picturesque place. You can wander around by yourself and have a nice day. If you want to branch out, there are not-terribly-frequent public buses to Pula (some Roman ruins, though not the world's best, I think), Porec (colorful architecture) and the little hill-top coastal village of Vrsar. I don't know how much a taxi to one or more of those places would cost.

Kotor is a very nice place except on days when a monster cruise ship is in port, so if yours is a large ship, you might want to escape. There are public buses to Budva and Herceg-Novi, both interesting destinations. Montenegro is a very scenic country, so a tour that lets you see something in addition to the coast would be worthwhile if the opportunity presents itself. If you can put together a group of three people, you might be able to get a reasonable price from a taxi driver. I believe the national parks are lovely, but there is no public transportation to them--or at least there was not as of 2015.

While you're in Giardini Naxos, if you decide Taormina is not for you (it's gorgeous but full of high-end boutiques and probably thousands of your fellow cruisers), you might consider the nearby city of Acireale. I believe there's both train and bus service, the buses probably being more frequent. You can Google for photos.

Alternatively, the large city of Catania has a good (reportedly--I missed it) WW II museum, a pretty historic area around the cathedral, and an interesting market. The market would be best in the morning, I imagine. There are trains and buses to Catania from Giardini Naxos. If you venture that far from Giardini Naxos, allow plenty of time to get back to your ship. As far as I know, Catania still has two or three separate bus ticket offices rather than a single bus station. Everything's close together, but it can dtill take a bit of extra time to find the right ticket office, buy the ticket, and then get to the bus parking lot (maybe about 2 blocks away).

Take a cruise.

OP is on a cruise

• Kotor and Dubrovnik are outstanding. However Dubrovnik can get crowded early. We walked the walls as soon as they opened and had them to ourselves, but an hour later when we were back to the beginning, it was wall to wall people.
• Kotor wasn't that busy, however we were there on a cruise late in the day so maybe it had emptied out. It's very pretty but doesn't take long to wander.
• Sorrento is nice, but really just a place to base yourself to visit other places. Pompeii is only half an hour away by train.