Dubrovnik airport to Budva and Montenegro tips

[Superwomann]

I’m thinking of going to Budva or Kotor and the best / cheapest flights are to Dubrovnik. Has anyone taken a taxi from the airport to Montenegro? Any tips? I don’t know much about Montenegro either so if anyone has been there please share your tips and ideas on what to do/ not to do.
We’re only going for 5 nights and like good food, trekking and also some beach time.
Thank you 😊

We hired a car in Dubrovnik and drove. The mountain road is better than the coastal road for crossing the border - although this was 10 years ago.

Kotor and surrounds is much nicer than Budva unless you're into a more built up Costa del Sol vibe. We stayed between Tivat and Kotor, basically anywhere round the Bay of Kotor is beautiful.

Hi,

We've just got back from 16 nights in Montenegro. Loved every minute as it's such a beautiful place. Be aware though as a largely orthodox country they tend to close a lot of things / shops on Sunday (restaurants remain open).

The roads are hellish, drivers impatient (lots of honking for no reason) and the boarder crossing by road can take a fair bit of time. But there is now a ferry that goes from Dubrovnik to Budva that takes a couple of hours. We used it for a day trip from Budva to Dubrovnik and found it really straight forward and comfortable.

https://adriatic-lines.com/dubrovnik-budva-ferry This is the ferry company.

We stayed just around the coast from Budva at a place called Rafailovici. You could walk to Budva from there through the tunnel. The beaches are good around this area, although budget for sunbed hire unless you want to go on the public part of the beaches, which aren't as well looked after.

Really pleased we didn't stay in Budva itself as lots of construction going on at the moment and the scene is more like somewhere I would have gone in my twenties. Still beautiful and the old town is worth exploring. Kotor is also lovely and great for a day trip but very busy on cruise ship days. If you want beach, Kotor is not really the right place but if you want cute little eateries and history and lots of little side streets to explore, it's fantastic. The cable car is also good if you want some trekking as the national park trails start at the top.

If you get the chance, look at doing the Boka bay boat trip as you get to see so much.

Thank you for all the tips! I’m very excited for our holiday now. We will stay in Kotor and are flying to Dubrovnik. The border crossing worries me a bit on the return but I guess we have to set off extra early to the airport. How long did it take you?

Sorry I think you maybe just took the ferry. It doesn’t seem to run in October so taxi it is.

I holidayed in Montenegro in July and flew to/from Dubrovnik. We had transport to the airport and I think the driver used a smaller border crossing and it took about 5 mins as no other cars there. Montenegro is beautiful.

If you’re staying in Kotor Boka Bay Area: use Red Taxi, WhatsApp/viber/ email.
Sunday closing started about 2 years ago, but garages are open as well as touristy shops and certainly restaurants. But normal food stores will be closed.
enjoy!
Oh go to the old town (Kotor) after 4pm when the cruise ships usually leave.

We did 8 days in Igalo recently. We did a day trip to Kotor.

It's about 50km from Dubrovnik airport to the border, the main mountain border crossing was reported to have over 2 hour waits for customs according to locals and TUI. Our driver took the costal route but TUI dias they also use the crossing into Bosnia as it is quieter.

Herceg Novi was OK, bit rural and not a lot to do. Rose is beautiful, as is Tivat. Kotor was lovely but very busy. Budva looks much more tourist orientated.

We were advised not to hire cars to explore as the mountain roads are prone to rock falls etc. But more importantly the local drivers are absolutely insane. It is literally taking your life in your hands!

But as a country Montenegro is lovely. The food is amazing, the people are truly lovely. Big towns speak English but more rural places either speak Montenegran or various Russian dialects.

Budva is quite a way from Dubrovnik, what you would spend in Taxi fares or car hire may not be less than just flying into Tivat.

Really surprised at other people's stories of being warned not to drive! We didn't do the border crossing though.

We went in July, stayed in Herceg Novi and hired a car for a few days. Drove all over the place and never had an issue. Some of the roads across the national parks were basically empty. There was a bit of traffic in and out of major towns, with Kotor being the worst, but I never saw any driver aggression or heard any horns. Public transport isn't great, so I'd really recommend getting a car and driving up into the hills.

In fact, we drove up the Kotor Serpentine, which was super busy and couldn't really fit the buses and coaches that were insisting on using it (at most of the switch backs, the coaches had to basically do three points turns to get up the road and it was chaos when they met a coach going the other way). It took over 2 hours to do a journey that should have taken about 15 mins! The locals were fab at jumping out of their cars and directing traffic as required. No one was impatient at all. In fact we remarked at how different it would have been in the UK!

We hired a car and drove to kotor from Dubrovnik. We nearly missed the plan coming home..set off in plenty of time but the traffic.wasnt moving at the border. My husband ended up doing a uturn and finding another border crossing and we just made it, ended up running through the airport for the flight . If I did it again I'd stay the last night in cavtat or Dubrovnik itself

I would recommend getting a flight to Tivat if you can, as a taxi from Dubrovnik would be many euros - although I agree that Red Taxi is a good shout.(Always use Red Taxi - someone was quoted €80 for a ride back to Kotor from the cable car in the last two weeks - they secured it for €15 in the end). At peak summer months that border crossing is not fun - it can take many hours but when you're going should be fine.

There have been lots of complaints about Tivat airport due to overcrowding however this year, but in October it should be fine.

It's great that you're staying near Kotor - the best area in my opinion. I don't like Budva at all - apart from the Old Towb. There's roadworks between Kotor and the coast at the moment 'scheduled to go on for a while' - perhaps they will be finished by the time you get there but my friend was stuck in the tunnel for over 50 minutes this week so be aware!

Things to do in 5 days - Kotor, Perast, Budva Old Town, boat trip to Island in the bay, fortress walk (from Kotor), cable car, Vizapar for Skader lake taking in view to Sveti Stefan. If you had longer I would suggest going up to the north.

If you like cats - or even if you don't - please do check out Kotor Kitties - a UK registered charity that funds sterilisations of the cats there. Every donation matters!

Looking back I think you're going to and from Dubrovnik- there is some useful information on the border crossing in the website link below - including webcam links to show you how long the queues are!

www.montenegropulse.com/montenegro-croatia-border.html

This website is very useful generally - with sample itineraries.

Thank you everyone! So much great advice 😊
We can’t wait for our holiday!
I would love to climb Bobotov Kuk but it’s in the Durmitor national park so it’ll be a long drive for just a day trek but it looks amazing.