Montenegro and the surrounding area offer countless places to explore by car. For example, a vacation on the Montenegrin coast can be greatly enhanced by a day trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia, to explore the old town and swim in the Croatian Adriatic Sea—which is exactly what we did this weekend as part of a tour for my sister who was visiting us.
From Budva and Rafailovici, the distance to Dubrovnik is about 90 km - not a distance at all by Russian standards 🙂 You need to drive along the E65 highway - it is the main Adriatic route. You will have to go around the entire Bay of Kotor - you can’t go wrong here - from the side of Budva and Kotor there is one road along the coast. As you pass Herceg Novi, you will soon see the Debeli Breg sign - this is the border point of Montenegro with Croatia. In the summer, Russians do not need a visa to Croatia, so enter the border control without fear. If you are in a rented car, check with the company that issued you the car for the conditions for traveling abroad - customs will look at the documents for the car. After Montenegrin control, Croatian will follow, everything is about the same, and welcome to Croatia!
Entering Croatia, we truly enjoyed the ride for a few minutes, until… the road deteriorated terribly—or rather, it turned into gravel, covered with rock, some fine, some very coarse—a joy that lasted about 5 kilometers! We were driving at 20 km/h. It was Sunday, and the road equipment was idle—it seems Croatians don't care much about the condition of their roads. However, along the way, we were amused by a car passing us in vintage cars—poor Italians and French—we were afraid their cars would simply fall apart!
Finally the sea appeared 🙂 The road improved. Beautiful 🙂 There are islands in the sea, the weather is excellent. The signs made it easy to find out where to go to get to Dubrovnik. We drove into Dubrovnik, followed the signs of Public Parking to a covered underground parking. Please note that in Croatia the currency is NOT the euro, but the kuna, the exchange rate is approximately 7.4 kuna per euro. We stood and thought, how much is it - 15 kn / hour ...? The parking attendant popularly explained to us that for 6 hours of parking we would be charged about 12 euros - this is the cost of a good dinner in Montenegro! Cheaper parking for only 10 kunas (=1.5 euros) on the roadside, while the machines for paying for parking are quite chaotic - you still need to find such a machine. We spat and drove to the underground parking ...
Our gaze opened the old city, passing a decent number of steps, we went down to the gate. Right at the gate there is paid parking for 30 kunas per hour (= 4.5 euros)! My heart immediately felt somehow warmer, even if we are not in the most expensive parking lot 🙂
We barely even walked through the gates when we were pounced on by boys and girls offering kayak tours, car rentals, excursions, and other tourist services. It felt like southern Russia. The place was absolutely packed—and this was in early June, when all the guidebooks recommend a relaxing holiday! Waiters stood around, insistently calling out to passersby with the words "good restaurant, good food." One thing must be said: everyone spoke more or less good English, which is where Dubrovnik differs significantly from Montenegro. Dubrovnik's Old Town is certainly beautiful; it felt three times larger than, say, Budva or Kotor. It has a wide street where two cars could easily pass each other, but cars are, of course, prohibited. There are cathedrals, palazzos, and churches in the Italian Baroque style; they are definitely worth a visit. However, the pleasure of the walk was significantly spoiled by the crowds. Euros are generally accepted in Dubrovnik's Old Town, but I suspect they'll round up. After exchanging euros for kunas at the exchange office in the Old Town, we left in search of peace and quiet and hoping to spend our kunas more economically. 🙂 In the Old Town, the smallest souvenirs start at 4 (!) euros, a climb to the fortress wall costs 10 euros (!), and entrance to any museum or place of interest starts at 5 euros. The only free entrances are probably to the cathedrals. Not far from the Old Town, we found a restaurant where we decided to have a bite to eat and finally use the restroom. 🙂 When we asked "Where's the restroom?" we were met with the categorical "You must pay"—I've never heard that before in Europe, and I simply can't imagine anyone saying that in Montenegro. When the bartender learned we wanted to eat, he noticeably softened and pointed to the restroom. In the end, the quality of the food did not correspond to the prices in this establishment: ice cream 30 kuna (4.5 euros), coffee (I have never tried worse) 20 kuna, a glass of bottled juice 25 kuna (4 euros), lunch consisted of packaged soup and a second course (French fries and chicken fillet) 65 kuna (= 8 euros), beer 35 kuna (= 5 euros).
While we were in Dubrovnik, there was a strong impression that the city was not worth its prices and that everyone was just trying to rob poor tourists who had been saving up for a vacation for a year. Where has it been seen - to climb the fortress wall, which is nothing special - 10 euros!!! (and we were indignant that the wall in Kotor was paid, 3 euros 🙂) In Montenegro, beer in the most luxurious restaurant costs 2.5 euros, and the service in Montenegro is much better for this money. Perhaps there is a service in Dubrovnik, but you will have to pay 3-4 times more for it than in neighboring Montenegro.
Tired of the heat and the crowds, we decided to return to the car for our swimsuits. At this point, we finally decided to park and save a few kuna for a proper meal. 🙂 After driving a couple of kilometers out of town, we found an unused road with no paid parking signs, on a hill—as it turned out, above St. Jacob's Beach. After wandering around, we found a descent—and finally, as the English say, we "enjoyed ourselves" completely, sipping Croatian Ožujsko pivo in bottles at 0.33 for 20 kuna (2.50 euros), swimming in the warm sea, and lounging on the beach.
Forgive me for such a long history - there were so many impressions! I believe that in Dubrovnik you can have a more pleasant time, but during our first visit we did not really succeed. In a cafe on the beach, the waiter confirmed that Dubrovnik is overpriced, in other cities in Croatia it should be better. Will have to check 🙂
Perhaps next time we will be able to explore Croatia more thoroughly and visit the famous Plitvice lakeslocated in the interior of the country.
