My husband and I took nearly that same itinerary in spring of 2024, though ours was about seven days; I bet you’ll all love it. I would have had no problem spending ten. As the Dubrovnik airport is actually closer to Cavtat, we spent our last two nights there. It’s a quaint fishing village, quite walkable, with its own sites to see. I used RIck’s guidebook to plan our stops.
We only spent one night in Kotor but we did spend two nights in Split between our two nights in Dubrovnik and Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina. From what we saw of Kotor, I think that was a good option for us. Kotor is lovely but we had enough time to see the old town and take the Kotor Fortress hike after dinner which was amazing in itself let alone the view of the city and inlet below. More time in Kotor would have allowed more time for a boat tour, traveling south a bit to other other beach areas, and additional hiking, weather permitting. There is basically one road into Kotor and it was packed when we went as they were getting ready for a car show. Once we got to our Airbnb lodging, we didn’t want to venture out again due to traffic. Luckily, we were within a 15-minute walk to old town and we had a lovely evening. We got a little flummoxed coming into town as our Google directions didn’t mention boarding a ferry to cross the straight to get into Kotor. We figured it out, backtracked, and caught the next one. They cross about every 30 minutes. On our return trip back towards Dubrovnik, we chose to drive around the inlet rather than take the ferry across. That allowed us to stop in the lovely little town of Persat for breakfast, looking out at the water while we ate. You would need to get there early, as there is limited parking, but a great stop.
Highlights of our Trip:
Dubrovnik: Staying above Old Town and seeing city lights at night; Old town and wall = given; hike up Mt. Srd with a guide to tell the history, walking around Napoleon’s fort at the top; sunset from the top; eating at waterfront restaurants near south and north walled city entrances (1836 Restaurant & Cafe, north side)
Split: Diocletian's Palace, walk up Telegrin Peak
Kravika Waterfalls: en route to Mostar
Mostar: old town restaurants and bridges, in-town cemeteries from Yugoslavian war juxtaposed with vibrant wall murals near university, mosques
Kotor: walled city, Kotor Fortress hike
En route between Kotor and Cavtat: Persat, Pet Danica Walkway at Herceg Novi, Konoba Vinica Monkovic restaurant
Cavtat: waterfront dining, Mausoleum at top of hill walk (gorgeous sculptures inside)
Our Airbnb host picked us up from the Dubrovnik airport, we stayed within a ten-minute walk to the Old Town so we only walked while we were there. From Dubrovnik, we took a ferry to Split but in hindsight I would rather drive and explore unless you plan to get off at one of the island stops en route and stay for a night or two. It was just a plastic commercial ferry and a bit of a long ride. It was when we left Split that we rented the USA pre-reserved car to go into Mostar, Bosnia. Driving was easy, though there are narrow roads in the cities and you're pretty much by your lonesome on the roads between Mostar and Kotor. We got our international drivers’ licenses from AAA and paid the extra fee to drop off at different location and to cross countries.
We primarily stayed in Airbnb’s though we did score once of Rick’s recommended lodgings in Mostar, Muslibegovic House, which really added to the cultural ambiance.
This has been my only trip outside of the US, save Canada, so I’m pretty high on it.
