Itinerary and Costs of Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia Trip

We created an itinerary through Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro.  I was fortunate to fly for free to Dubrovnik using a voucher on American Airlines. Without the voucher, the airfare would have been $825.

We rented a car with Green Motion via Priceline which cost $300.  In addition, I was charged a fee of $50 to cross the international borders (only pay one to enter both Bosnia and Montenegro).  Do not try and avoid this charge by lying to the car rental companies.  I was asked for the liability endorsement at border checks. Total of all gas was $112 and tolls were $3. I paid $50 for supplemental car insurance.

Here’s my itinerary:

Day 1:

Medugorje-I arrived a day before my friend and drove out to Medugoje on my own. I timed it wrong.  The best date to be in Medugorje is the second of each month for the apparition.  I missed it by one day.   Be forewarned– I followed Google Maps and wound up at a road that has been closed off with a boulder since the war.  Ask before you venture out. I drove back to Dubrovnik before night fall, had dinner and inquired about the room for rent sign. I got a room for $80 across the street with a great view.

 

Day 2:

Dubrovnik-Hotel Sol $112-Decent place with small, clean rooms.  Finding a bargain room in Dubrovnik is not easy.

Day 3:

We drove to Split and spent the night in Trogir.  Hotel cost in Trogir was $74 for a room at Villa Meri overlooking the main square.  We booked it with Hotels.com, but had to go to the local tourist office to pick up the keys.  Overall a decent place that was a bit dated but maintained its charm.

Day 4:

We drove to Zadar and on to Mostar.  We spend the night in Mostar at Motel Deny for $55.  The place was the perfect location!  I was just across the street from the scene in the photo below. We absolutely loved Mostar.  This is a “do not miss city” in my opinion.

Day 5:

We drove to Sarajevo.  We drove around the city numerous times missing the street for our hotel countless times.  Luckily, we finally found it.  Cost for one night at Hotel Old Town was $92. Very nice hotel with recent updates.

Day 6:

We drove a lot that day and spent the night in Trebinje. This city wasn’t not on our original “to do” list, but since we drove all day, it turned out to be a good stop. Trebinje is a walled city and within the walls and outside, one will find many good restaurants. Finding a room that night was a bit of a challenge since some even was taking place in town.  However, we went into the most expensive hotel in town and the kind concierge knew of someone who had rooms.  Lucky us! We found a room at Apartamani Vila Kosa for $50.

Day 7:

On to Herceg Novi where we dined and sipped wine by the water before driving on to Kotor.  Parking is tricky in Kotor.  Luckily we met the police officer before he gave us a ticket.  He gave us 20 minutes to take our bags to our room and move the car to the place down by the school where he told us to park. DO NOT park overnight just anywhere you find a parking place because you will get a ticket.  We stayed at the Hotel Rendez Vous and paid $93.  This room was small, dimly lit and the bed was slid under the dormers.  Putting it is perspective, I reminded myself that I was in Kotor during peak tourist season.

Days 8 and 9:

We returned to Dubrovnik with no hotel reservation.  We resisted paying $200 a night all we could to avoid staying in someone’s house. The more we checked out overbooked hotel after overbooked hotel, the more we realized we had better snatch up the airbnb before it was gone.  We got an entire small house to ourselves overlooking the old town of Dubrovnik for $400 for the two nights.  On our last day we took a day trip to Cavtat.

Day 10:

Drove to the airport and said goodbye to beautiful Croatia.

All totaled the trip would have been $1560 a person for a party of two.  Given that my airfare was free, I spent $735 on this trip exclusive of meals and site admission.

~Bella