{"id":5480,"date":"2020-01-01T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-31T22:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/?p=5480"},"modified":"2026-09-17T13:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T11:10:12","slug":"montenegro-croatia-new-year-5-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bronicable.com\/en\/itineraries\/montenegro-croatia-new-year-5-day\/","title":{"rendered":"New Year in Montenegro and Croatia \u2014 five days by coach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’d reached a certain age, and every single New Year of it had been spent in Bulgaria. Time for something different? Time for something different. So there I was, scrolling through voucher sites, and what’s this \u2014 five days in Montenegro over New Year for under \u20ac200. With a guided programme. With Dubrovnik included, the place where both Game of Thrones and Star Wars were filmed. With a festive dinner. Not a lot to think about, really. We’re going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We don’t do advertising here, but since we came away mostly happy I’ll mention that the trip was organised by Bulgaria Travel. It sits on the voucher sites<\/a> more or less permanently and runs all year round, and the New Year price isn’t inflated by much. The programme is full, it’s cheap, and there are optional mini-excursions at \u20ac10\u201315 each. On paper everything looks good. Communication with the operator was easy and painless, but do ask about your seat on the coach. If you’re travelling as a pair, make sure they don’t sit you apart. And believe me, good company matters enormously on this particular trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m attaching a photo so you understand what I mean. Realistically, the coach journey is 15 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 1: The road \u2014 transit through Serbia<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

04:30 at the Russian Monument in Sofia. There’s not much point going to bed at all. Why 04:30, isn’t that excessive? What’s coming? Let me save you the suspense: a murderously long time on a coach. To be precise, around 15\u201316 hours with a handful of stops. Get comfortable, load up on films, charge everything, and bring patience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day one of a five-day trip is a day when practically nothing happens. You transit Serbia with two or three stops and there’s genuinely nothing to narrate. One stop is at a church, about 20 minutes. If you get lucky with a guide who tells jokes, the hours go faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know whether it comes across in my tone, but the coach ride is heavy going and properly draining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You arrive in Budva around 22:00 and go straight into a very late dinner. The format is interesting: salads and bread are buffet, and you queue to pick one main. For what the trip costs, that’s more than satisfactory. Everything tastes familiar and Balkan, but it’s good, and it repairs the mood after the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 2: Croatia \u2014 Dubrovnik<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After a late arrival, what could be better than an early start? Breakfast at 07:30, on the beloved coach by 08:30, and onward to Dubrovnik in Croatia. Two hours of switchbacks, a short ferry crossing, and we’re there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing has changed completely since we travelled: the money. Back then Croatia still used the kuna, worth roughly a quarter of a lev, and euros were accepted everywhere but always rounded up in the seller’s favour. Croatia adopted the euro on 1 January 2023, and Bulgaria followed on 1 January 2026. Montenegro has used the euro unilaterally for years. Three countries on this route, one currency, nothing to exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubrovnik \u2014 the Old Town<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The main attraction of Dubrovnik is the old town, or rather the fortress. Access is free. It’s ringed by a very high, very massive defensive wall. Walking along the top of that wall is a separate ticket and not a cheap one \u2014 around \u20ac40 for an adult in season, considerably less in the winter off-season, so check the current price before you commit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guide offers to lead the group and explain things, or you can wander off like a free electron. He gives instructions about where and when to regroup, and if you’ve prepared offline navigation beforehand you’ll feel a lot calmer about it. Your call, but my advice is to set off with everyone at the start and peel away later. You’ll have a few hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are nods to Star Wars<\/a> and Game of Thrones<\/a> all over the place. The better detail is that Dubrovnik is, de facto, King’s Landing. The island of Lokrum<\/a> is close by and has its own filming locations, plus a botanical garden and a monastery. Boat transfers run around \u20ac10\u201315, but it doesn’t really fit the format of an organised trip like this one. We’ll be back, no way around it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You feel immediately that this is a famous destination. The prices are cosmic. Coffee from \u20ac5\u20136 upwards, bottled water around \u20ac10, pizza from \u20ac10, a main from \u20ac20. A visibly normal lunch starts at \u20ac50 in places that aren’t even especially glossy \u2014 and those were the numbers back then, so budget accordingly today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In exchange, the fortress itself is a joy to wander. Narrow streets, beautiful buildings, views \u2014 honestly, a pleasure. Two hours disappear without any effort at all. There’s a map of the main sights<\/a> online too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The park<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After roughly two hours in the old town there’s a bit of free time left. Nearby on the map there’s a marked panoramic viewpoint<\/a>. It’s called Gradac Park. Twenty minutes is enough to walk it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The day starts at 08:00 on the coach and ends around 18:00 back at the hotel. A fast sweep of the area, but fatigue has the final word and it’s time to switch off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day 3: Montenegro \u2014 Kotor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

31 December. The programme says Kotor today. The drive is about half an hour. We learn along the way that Kotor<\/a> is a historic town, once part of the Roman empire, and that it has things to show. What interests us mainly is the old town \u2014 the link has the coordinates<\/a> if you’re heading there under your own steam. There’s no entrance fee. Like Dubrovnik it’s enclosed like a fortress, but you simply walk through the gates into what feels like a neighbourhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Old Town<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Step through the gates and you’ll feel the echo of Dubrovnik immediately, which makes sense given the shared Roman past. The similarities are there, and so is the difference: size. Size always matters, and Kotor is visibly two or three times smaller. An hour of aimless wandering will do it. There’s a cat museum, and tributes to our furry friends everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the operator offers an extra trip for \u20ac15 \u2014 a boat out to Gospa od \u0160krpjela<\/a>, a church on an islet in the Bay of Kotor. The alternative is a demanding path with a serious climb up to the Church of Our Lady of Remedy<\/a> above the town. It’s under a kilometre, so roughly 30 minutes each way, but you’ll spend the whole climb worrying about whether you’ll make it back in time if you’ve booked the boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the old town. It resembles Dubrovnik, it’s quicker to walk, and the cats are the running theme. I won’t lie: after Dubrovnik there’s nothing here that hits you as radically different. Next to the centre there’s a shopping mall, the first one we’d seen. On the coach the driver had explained that the central parts of these towns have no malls and no big chains. He’s broadly right, and this is the small exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The boat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve picked the boat and skipped the climb, the harbour is near the entrance to the old town. The operator’s instructions about time and place are clear, no room for error. The crossing is about 30\u201340 minutes each way, the boats are packed with people, and somehow it’s still pleasant. The panoramas across the whole bay are lovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stop at the islet, and entry to Our Lady of the Rocks<\/a> itself is symbolic \u2014 it was \u20ac1 when we visited, and today the church and its museum cost around \u20ac2\u20133. If you’re coming independently rather than on a group trip, the water taxi from Perast is about \u20ac5 return, and organised boat tours from Kotor run anywhere from \u20ac15 to \u20ac45 depending on how many stops they bolt on. You get about an hour and fifteen on the island, which is more than enough. It’s a great spot for photos and a mini picnic. There’s exactly one toilet for visitors and the queue is savage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Budva<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The good old coach returns us to Budva in the early afternoon, around 15:00\u201316:00. It’s New Year’s Eve and the weather is superb. There are people walking around without jackets. The climate is mild. Extremely pleasant for a wander, and we get an hour or so before it goes dark and turns brutally cold. Enough to read the place, though: old architecture alongside modern buildings, the sea, parks, monuments, fortress rock. I can’t wait for tomorrow and a proper circuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Day 4: Montenegro \u2014 around Budva<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year. First of January. There’s an optional organised excursion for \u20ac15 to Tivat<\/a>, a town on the coast. I assume it’s interesting; on the map it looks like a small resort town. In my view, though, it costs more than it gives, because it leaves almost no time for Budva. We skip Tivat. We’re staying to look at Budva properly, which is nominally the main destination of the whole trip. The irony being that Budva gets two or three hours in the operator’s programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We scouted the ground the previous day, so we know where the good part is: around the Old Town. In the evening there’s a concert with Hari Mata Hari and Ceca. By pure coincidence, and despite having nothing whatsoever to do with Ceca or that genre, this will be the second concert I’ve watched in a few months. During the day the stage belongs to the Mediterranean Revolutionary Orchestra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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