Lolie

Friend and I (two women in 50s) are wanting to travel to Croatia, Serbia and/or Montenegro. We will leave US on a Thursday and return 9 days later on a Saturday. Possibly doing this trip in June or July. Neither have traveled this part of the world before. Looking for suggestions on what can or should be done during this trip. We are first looking to come up with an itinerary and how best to travel throughout. We will then figure hotels, attractions, etc. Any suggestions are welcomed.

kja

With 9 days, you will need to be EXTREMELY selective for this part of the world. NONE of us can come up with a reasonable itinerary, as you are proposing travel through an area that could easily take 1.5 or 2 months for just the highlights -- so it really depends on YOUR interests and priorities.

I suggest that you and your friends spends some time with good guidebooks -- perhaps at your local library -- and then come back to us with questions that are a bit more focused.

Note that your likely travel time is during "high season" -- which could influence some of your choices. (For example, if Dubrovnik is on your wish list, be sure to consult the cruise ship schedules.)

It's a beautiful part of the world -- no bad choices, just hard ones!

Andrew

You've really got only eight nights with the overnight flight. That's a really long trip (from San Francisco?) - hope it's worth it to you for such a relatively short stay.

I can only recommend places I've been - and I haven't been to Serbia. With your limited time, consider this quick itinerary:

Fly to Dubrovnik:
Take a shuttle immediately to Kotor, Montenegro. (Dubrovnik airport is south of Dubrovnik and not far from the Montenegro border)

Kotor - 2 nights
Take a bus back to Dubrovnik proper
Dubrovnik - 2 nights
Take a catamaran to an island - Korcula or Hvar
Korcula or Hvar - 2 nights
Take a catamaran to Split
Split - 2 nights

Fly home from Split

Or - 3 nights each in Dubrovnik and Split and do a day trip to Kotor from Dubrovnik.

You could do this in reverse order, too, but I guess it depends how your flights would work out.

There are day trips you can do from both Dubrovnik and Split. I suggest you get a good guidebook. I recommend the Rick Steves Croatia/Slovenia book - has been a great help on my trips to Croatia and covers all of the places I mention (but not Serbia if that still interests you).

kja

Interesting option or an itinerary -- not my choice, but worth considering!

FWIW, I would strongly encourage you to consult a variety of guidebooks, perhaps at your local library. I found the <i>Rough Guide</i> particularly useful. In contrast, I found the <i>Rick Steves</i> guide to the area so without merit as to be a waste of money. To put that statement in context, I've used well over 100 guidebooks for planning 19 different trips -- averaging more than 6 guidebooks per trip -- and the <b>only</b> guidebook that I bought that I didn’t think worth my time or money was the Rick Steves guidebook for Croatia and nearby areas. JMO.

Lolie

Thank you for the responses. We are eliminating Serbia from our itinerary and looking at Croatia and Montenegro. Thank you, Andrew, for the suggested itineraries. It really helps since we don't know much about the area and need to start booking flights, etc. now.