Most trips to this stretch of coast mean packing and unpacking at every border. This one stays put instead: five nights at The Pucic Palace inside Dubrovnik’s Old Town, used as a single base for two day trips across the border rather than a series of one-night stops.
One day crosses into Bosnia and Herzegovina for Mostar, centreed on the rebuilt Stari Most bridge, its stone arch reconstructed piece by piece after the war that destroyed it, and the old town’s cobbled lanes and copper workshops gathered around it. A second day runs south along the coast into Montenegro, to Kotor’s walled old town at the head of a bay often compared to a fjord, ringed by mountains that drop straight into the water.
Between the two day trips, Dubrovnik itself is left for slower exploration: the streets and staircases missed on arrival, a long lunch off Stradun, and an evening walk with nowhere in particular to be. One hotel, two countries, and no separate packing for either.