Dubrovnik neighbourhoods

Lapad has a lot of hotels and Cavtat is a fine choice (cheaper than inside the walls of Dubrovnik). The local bus works well to get you around. I don't have comments about a local guide, I used Viator (consolidator of tours) for two tours: Korcula and Montanegro (each cost about 70 Euros back in 2011). Otherwise, you can rent a car and drive yourself.

We love staying in Cavtat. You can take a bus (about 5 minutes) or boat (about 40 minutes) to old town Dubrovnik. We've done the bus tour to Montenegro, which was great; never had a local driver but I'm sure your hotel could help you find one.

We hired a guide for a day and has a great time. We drive from Dubrovnik to Ston, to Medjugorje, to Mostar in Bosnia, had lunch there, and then to Split. We wanted to avoid taking the bus to Split, while seeng some different things along the way. Great guide, learned a lot, had so much fun, border crossings were easy. Worth every single Euro. 9 hours for 300 US dollars. If you want the name of our guide, let me know and I can send you his contact information.

Kay, I would like the name of your guide. We are looking for a driver/guide Hvar to Dubrovnik which will allow us to
experience more of the area than being on a bus. Looking for a bit more than just a ride.

We used Petar Vlasic - located him on this website:) - and he was awesome. We did two day trips with him: one to Montenegro and one to Mostar. He was really excellent - funny, informative and a really safe driver, which is not always the case, I have discovered. We also took the boat to Cavtat one day. It's a really pretty little spot, but I wish I had done a little more research on the boat trip itself. It looked like a harmless little jaunt, but it was awful. The water was so incredibly choppy that the man next to me threw up and we all looked a little dubious about our tiny boat making through the fairly large waves. We did make it, but our boat was inundated with water several times, and I toured Cavtat in soaking wet clothing - shirt, pants, shoes and all. I did a little research after the fact and that is apparently a commonly rough crossing. We took the bus back to Dubrovnik - much better!

I stayed in Cavtat and was so glad I did instead of staying in Dubrovnik. It's utterly charming, and a lot cheaper than Dubrovnik itself.

Cavtat is a lovely place to stay, particularly if you like things a little quieter. However an earlier poster is wrong to say that it is only 5 minutes by bus to the old town – 20 minutes is the norm, and summer traffic can make it longer.