The Balkans: Dubrovnik, Mostar, Sarajevo, Durmitor and Kotor

1. Day 1: Arrive in Dubrovnik

   Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) to your hotel in Dubrovnik

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Dubrovnik
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) at Čilipi, about 20 km south-east of the old town. A driver meets you whatever time you land and takes you to a central hotel for two nights. Plan to land by about 4 pm if you want to join the evening walk; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: three countries, three border crossings, what the mountain days in Durmitor are like and how the walking is paced. Then we walk in through the Pile Gate and down the Stradun, the polished limestone main street, after the day visitors and cruise passengers have gone and the stone starts to glow in the low light. Dinner is together at a restaurant in or near the old town, a first taste of Dalmatian fish, olive oil and local wine.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Dubrovnik Airport (DBV), whatever time you land
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk through the Pile Gate and along the Stradun
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the early-evening briefing

   

2. Day 2: Dubrovnik: the walls at opening

   Dubrovnik old town on foot

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Dubrovnik
   Day 2 details

   We are at the city walls when they open, around 8 am in the main season, to walk the full circuit of about 2 km before the heat and the cruise crowds. The walk looks down on terracotta roofs, the old harbour and Lokrum island, and climbs to the Minčeta Tower, the highest point. Afterwards a licensed local guide takes us through the old town at street level: the Rector's Palace, the Sponza Palace, the Franciscan monastery with a pharmacy working since the 14th century, and the stories of the 1991 to 1992 siege that you can still read in the patched roof tiles. The tour ends by late morning. Lunch and the afternoon are yours: swim off the rocks below the walls, take the small boat to Lokrum, or ride the cable car up Mount Srđ for the view back over the city at sunset. Your guide suggests places to eat away from the Stradun prices.

   Included

   • Dubrovnik city walls at opening, full circuit (ticket included)
   • Old town walk with a licensed local guide: the Rector's Palace, the Sponza Palace and the Franciscan monastery

   Optional experiences

   • Boat to Lokrum island
   • Mount Srđ cable car
   • Sea kayaking below the walls

   Easier option: Walk the walls from the Pile Gate as far as the Minčeta Tower and leave at the next exit; the steps are steepest on the land side.

   More active option: Walk up Mount Srđ on the zigzag path (about 400 m of climb) in the late afternoon and take the cable car down.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The walls involve a lot of steps and little shade. Go early, bring water and a hat.

3. Day 3: Into Herzegovina: Počitelj and Mostar

   Dubrovnik north along the coast, across the border to Počitelj, then Mostar

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mostar
   Day 3 details

   We leave Dubrovnik at about 8:30 am and drive north along the coast, then turn inland at the Neretva delta, where the river reaches the sea through orchards and mandarin groves. The border into Bosnia and Herzegovina is at Metković and Doljani; waits are usually short but can run to an hour on summer weekends, so we leave a margin. The first stop is Počitelj, a fortified Ottoman village stacked up a hillside above the Neretva. Climb the stone steps past the 16th-century Hajji Alija mosque to the round tower at the top for the view down the valley. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the valley, then it is half an hour on to Mostar, where we stay two nights. In the late afternoon a local guide walks us through the old town to the Old Bridge, rebuilt in 2004 after its destruction in 1993, and you may see a diver jump from it into the river, about 20 metres below.

   Included

   • Počitelj: the old village, the mosque and the tower viewpoint
   • Sit-down lunch in the Neretva valley
   • Mostar old town walk with a local guide: the Old Bridge (Stari Most) and the old bazaar

   Free time: Evening free in Mostar

   Activity: Počitelj is all steep stone steps and uneven paving; the climb to the tower is optional. Border waits are added to the drive time.

4. Day 4: Mostar early, then Blagaj

   Mostar old town, then Blagaj and back

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Mostar
   Day 4 details

   Mostar fills with day visitors from the coast from late morning, so we go out early. At 8 am the Old Bridge is nearly empty, and the light comes down the Neretva gorge onto the white stone. Climb the minaret of the Koski Mehmed Pasha mosque for a view down onto the bridge, then walk the lanes of the Kujundžiluk, the old coppersmiths' street, as the shops open. Mid-morning we drive twenty minutes to Blagaj, where the Buna river rises fully formed from a cave at the foot of a 200-metre cliff. Beside the spring stands the tekke, an Ottoman-era dervish house that you can visit inside. Lunch is a long one on a terrace over the water, where trout from the river is the local dish. Back in Mostar by mid-afternoon, the rest of the day is free; the walk along the east bank at sunset gives a good view of the bridge from below.

   Included

   • The Old Bridge at 8 am, before the day visitors
   • Koski Mehmed Pasha mosque and minaret
   • Blagaj: the Buna spring and the dervish house (tekke)
   • Sit-down lunch by the Buna river

   Optional experiences

   • Kravica waterfall, about 40 km away, for a swim in summer
   • Museum of the Old Bridge
   • War Photo Exhibition

   Easier option: Skip the minaret climb (narrow spiral steps) and watch the bridge from a café on the west bank.

   More active option: Climb from Blagaj village to the ruins of Stjepan Grad fortress above the spring, about an hour up on a rough path.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Remove shoes and cover shoulders and knees in the mosque and the tekke; scarves are lent at the door.

5. Day 5: Up the Neretva to Sarajevo

   Mostar to Jablanica, then Sarajevo

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sarajevo
   Day 5 details

   We follow the Neretva north through its gorge, the river running green between steep limestone walls and the lakes behind its dams. The first stop is Jablanica, where the wreck of the railway bridge blown up in the 1943 Battle of the Neretva still lies in the river beside a small museum. Jablanica is known across Bosnia for lamb roasted on the spit, and that is lunch: a sit-down meal at a roadside restaurant, a Neretva valley custom. From there the road climbs past Konjic and over the Ivan pass to Sarajevo, about two and a half hours of driving in all. We reach Sarajevo in the mid-afternoon and check in for two nights. In the late afternoon your guide walks you through Baščaršija, the Ottoman bazaar quarter, past the Sebilj fountain and the Gazi Husrev-beg mosque, then along Ferhadija street, where the Ottoman city turns into an Austro-Hungarian one at a line marked on the pavement.

   Included

   • Jablanica: the Neretva bridge wreck and the museum
   • Sit-down spit-roast lamb lunch in Jablanica
   • Orientation walk in Sarajevo: Baščaršija, the Sebilj fountain, the Gazi Husrev-beg mosque and Ferhadija

   Free time: Evening free in Sarajevo

6. Day 6: Sarajevo: the siege and the city

   Sarajevo, the Tunnel of Hope and Trebević

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Sarajevo
   Day 6 details

   This morning a licensed local guide takes us through the siege of 1992 to 1996, the longest of a capital city in modern European history. We drive along the boulevard once known as Sniper Alley to Butmir, where the Tunnel of Hope museum keeps a short section of the 800-metre tunnel dug under the airport runway in 1993, the city's lifeline for food, fuel and people. Back in the centre we stop at the Latin Bridge, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot on 28 June 1914, and at the City Hall, burned with the National Library in 1992 and reopened in 2014. Lunch is at an aščinica, a Bosnian home-cooking canteen. The afternoon is free. The Trebević cable car, reopened in 2018, climbs to the mountain and the graffiti-covered bobsled track from the 1984 Winter Olympics, a good walk in the late light.

   Included

   • Siege of Sarajevo tour with a local guide
   • Tunnel of Hope museum
   • The Latin Bridge and the City Hall (Vijećnica)
   • Sit-down lunch at a traditional aščinica
   • Trebević cable car ticket

   Optional experiences

   • Gallery 11/07/95, on the Srebrenica genocide
   • The Jewish Museum in the old synagogue
   • A Bosnian coffee and sweets tasting

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The siege tour is detailed and can be upsetting; your guide answers questions openly.

7. Day 7: Over the mountains to Durmitor

   Sarajevo to Foča, across the border at Šćepan Polje, up the Piva canyon to Žabljak

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Žabljak
   Day 7 details

   This is the long day, and the one the route cannot avoid: there is no faster road from Sarajevo into the Durmitor mountains, and an overnight on the way would add a one-night stop. It is about 185 km and four and a half hours of driving, so we break it into short pieces. We leave at 8:30 am, drive south through Foča and cross into Montenegro at Šćepan Polje, a small border post where the Tara and Piva rivers meet; waits are usually short but vary. The road then climbs the Piva canyon through a string of rough-hewn rock tunnels above the green water. Lunch is a sit-down meal near Plužine, beside Piva lake. In the afternoon we climb onto the open plateau, with wide views across the high pastures, and reach Žabljak, at about 1,450 metres one of the highest towns in the Balkans, in time for a walk before dinner together.

   Included

   • Drive through the Piva canyon with photo stops
   • Sit-down lunch near Plužine and Piva lake
   • Dinner together in Žabljak

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Žabljak

   Activity: Longest drive of the trip, over the 4-hour cap because no shorter road reaches Durmitor; it is broken by the border, photo stops and a sit-down lunch. The plateau road is narrow and closes with snow, which is why the trip runs from late May to early October.

8. Day 8: Durmitor: Black Lake and the Tara Canyon

   Žabljak to the Black Lake, then the Đurđevića Tara bridge

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Žabljak
   Day 8 details

   Durmitor National Park, listed by UNESCO in 1980, is limestone peaks, glacial lakes and pine forest, with the Tara river canyon cut into its edge. We start on foot from Žabljak's edge at the Black Lake (Crno jezero), about 3.5 km around on a forest path, with Međed peak reflected in the water in the still morning. A local mountain guide joins us for the day. Mid-morning we drive about 25 km to the Đurđevića Tara bridge, a concrete arch finished in 1940 that crosses the canyon about 170 metres above the river; the Tara canyon is among the deepest in Europe. Lunch is a sit-down meal of mountain food (lamb, kačamak polenta, cheese and kajmak) at a farm or restaurant near the canyon. Back in Žabljak by mid-afternoon, the rest of the day is yours.

   Included

   • Walk around the Black Lake with a local mountain guide
   • The Đurđevića Tara bridge and canyon viewpoints
   • Durmitor National Park entry
   • Sit-down mountain lunch near the Tara canyon

   Optional experiences

   • Zipline across the Tara canyon at the bridge
   • Half-day rafting on the Tara (season and water level permitting)

   Easier option: Walk only part of the lake path and wait for the group at the lakeside café.

   More active option: A half-day guided hike from the Black Lake on the marked trails into the high pastures, about 12 km with 500 m of climb, in place of the morning loop; the route is set on the day by the weather.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Žabljak sits at about 1,450 m, so mornings and evenings are cool even in summer; bring a warm layer and a rain jacket.

9. Day 9: Down to the sea: Perast and Kotor

   Žabljak to Nikšić and Risan, then Perast and Kotor

   • Drive about 3.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kotor
   Day 9 details

   We leave the mountains after breakfast and drive about three and a half hours south: through Šavnik and the karst country around Nikšić, then down a long descent until the Bay of Kotor appears below, deep blue between grey mountain walls. At Risan we reach the water and follow it to Perast, a small baroque town of sea captains' palaces. A boat takes us across to Our Lady of the Rocks, the island church built by Perast's sailors on a reef they raised from the sea, with a museum of votive silver plaques and paintings inside. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the Perast waterfront. Then it is twenty minutes along the shore to Kotor, where we stay three nights inside or beside the walled old town, listed by UNESCO in 1979 together with the bay. The evening is free to wander the lanes once the cruise passengers have left.

   Included

   • Boat from Perast to Our Lady of the Rocks, with entry to the church museum
   • Perast waterfront walk
   • Sit-down lunch in Perast

   Free time: Evening free in Kotor

10. Day 10: Kotor old town and a free afternoon

    Kotor on foot

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Kotor
    Day 10 details

    Kotor's old town is small enough to walk end to end in ten minutes, and it is busiest from mid-morning when cruise passengers come ashore, so our walk with a local guide starts at 8 am. We go in by the Sea Gate, through the Square of Arms to the Cathedral of St Tryphon, consecrated in 1166, and through the small squares named after flour, milk and the old seafarers' guilds, to the Maritime Museum in a baroque palace, which tells the story of the Boka sailors you met in Perast. By late morning the tour is over, and the rest of the day is free: a coffee on a square, a swim at a small beach along the bay, or a sea kayak trip. If you want the view of the whole bay, the climb to the St John fortress is best in the early evening light, when the stone has cooled.

    Included

    • Kotor old town walk with a local guide at 8 am
    • Cathedral of St Tryphon
    • Maritime Museum of Montenegro
    • St John fortress ticket, for whenever you climb

    Optional experiences

    • Sea kayaking on the bay
    • A small-boat trip to the Blue Cave on the Luštica peninsula

    Easier option: Stay at street level: the old town, the museum and a café on the Square of Arms.

    More active option: Climb the walls to the St John fortress, about 1,350 steps and 260 metres up, in the early evening; your guide goes with anyone who wants to.

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: The fortress steps are uneven and polished; wear shoes with grip.

11. Day 11: Lovćen, Cetinje and the Budva coast

    Kotor up the serpentine to Njeguši and Lovćen, then Cetinje, Budva and back to Kotor

    • Drive about 3 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Kotor
    Day 11 details

    After breakfast we drive the old road out of Kotor, 25 hairpin bends up the mountain wall, stopping where the whole bay opens below. At the top is Njeguši, a stone village known for smoked ham and cheese, where we stop for a tasting. Then we climb into Lovćen National Park to the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović Njegoš, prince-bishop and poet, on Jezerski vrh at about 1,657 metres; 461 steps through a tunnel lead to a viewpoint where on a clear day you see much of Montenegro. Lunch is in Cetinje, the old royal capital, followed by Cetinje Monastery and King Nikola's palace. In the afternoon we drive down to the coast with the Budva Riviera below and stop in Budva's walled old town before returning to Kotor, about three hours of driving in all. The farewell dinner is in Kotor tonight.

    Included

    • The Kotor serpentine road with viewpoint stops
    • Njeguši ham and cheese tasting
    • Lovćen National Park and the Njegoš Mausoleum
    • Sit-down lunch in Cetinje
    • Cetinje Monastery and King Nikola's Museum
    • Short stop in Budva old town
    • Farewell dinner in Kotor

    Easier option: Skip the 461 steps to the mausoleum and wait at the café by the car park, which has its own view.

    Free time: Late afternoon free before dinner

    Activity: The serpentine road is narrow with tight bends; take motion sickness tablets if you need them.

    

12. Day 12: Back to Dubrovnik

    Kotor around the bay to Herceg Novi, across the border, to Dubrovnik Airport (DBV)

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    A last breakfast on the bay, then we leave Kotor at about 9 am and drive around the inner bay through Risan and Morinj to Herceg Novi, then cross back into Croatia at Debeli Brijeg and Karasovići. This is the busiest of the three crossings in summer, and it is a Schengen external border, so passports are checked on both sides; allow time. From the border it is about twenty minutes through the Konavle valley to Dubrovnik Airport, about 75 km and one and three-quarter hours of driving in all, so we expect to arrive around midday or a little later. Your guide sees you to the terminal. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm. If you fly out of Tivat (TIV), 8 km from Kotor, we drop you there instead; if you are staying on in Dubrovnik, we take you to your hotel.

    Included

    • Drive around the inner Bay of Kotor
    • Drop-off at Dubrovnik Airport (DBV), Tivat Airport (TIV) or a Dubrovnik hotel

    Activity: Book a flight from Dubrovnik leaving after about 2 pm; border waits in July and August can be long.

    

Wildlife and weather: July and August are hot on the coast and in Mostar, often over 35°C, and the busiest months in Dubrovnik and Kotor, so we start early and keep the middle of the day free. Late May, June and September are the best balance. Durmitor is much cooler, with snow possible into May and from October, which closes the plateau road and sets the season.

• Dubrovnik2 nights
• Mostar2 nights
• Sarajevo2 nights
• Žabljak2 nights
• Kotor3 nights