Dubrovnik Day Trips: 6 Day Itinerary
Six days extends the 5-day spine with Korcula, an island day trip that’s genuinely better as an overnight but workable as a long day when it has five other days around it. Days 1 through 5 stay the same: Elaphiti Islands, Montenegro, Peljesac wine and Ston, Cavtat, then Mostar. Day 6 adds Korcula by ferry. See the 7-day version for Mljet National Park added on top, or the full Dubrovnik day trips guide for the ranked list. Check visitdubrovnik.hr for current border and ferry advisories before you lock in dates.
Book these before you go
- A Kotor and Montenegro day tour for Day 2.
- A Peljesac wine and Ston tour for Day 3.
- A Mostar and Kravice Waterfalls tour for Day 5.
- A Korcula day tour for Day 6, or book the ferry direct and go independently.
- Where to stay in Dubrovnik , your base for all six nights.
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Dubrovnik |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Elaphiti Islands (Kolocep, Lopud, Sipan) | ~25-60 min by public ferry |
| Day 2 | Montenegro (Kotor and Perast) | ~2h drive plus a 10 min to 2h+ border queue |
| Day 3 | Peljesac wine and Ston | ~1-1.5h via the Peljesac Bridge |
| Day 4 | Cavtat | ~30-45 min by bus |
| Day 5 | Mostar, Bosnia | ~2.5-3.5h each way plus a second border |
| Day 6 | Korcula | ~2h by ferry |
Day 1: Elaphiti Islands
Ferry lines 807 and 831 leave from the Old Port and reach Kolocep in about 25 minutes, Lopud in 35 to 40, and Sipan in up to an hour, roughly EUR 5 each way. Skip the organised “three islands” booze-cruise boats and take the public ferry to Lopud instead, then walk 15 minutes to Sunj Beach. Check jadrolinija.hr for the current timetable.
Day 2: Montenegro (Kotor and Perast)
Leave by 7 to 7:30am for the non-Schengen crossing at Karasovici and Debeli Brijeg, passport required, with queues that swing from 10 minutes off-peak to multiple hours at a summer midday. An organised tour runs roughly EUR 30-68 per person; an independent bus from Gruz costs about EUR 25-33 one-way. Stop in Perast for the boat to the Our Lady of the Rocks islet, then Kotor for its walled Old Town and fortress climb, around EUR 15 (free November to April). See the Bay of Kotor for the comparison to Dubrovnik’s own bay, and montenegro.travel for current hours.
Day 3: Peljesac wine and Ston
No border today: just the Peljesac Bridge, opened in 2022 to bypass the old Bosnian detour at Neum. Wine tours run roughly EUR 130-150 per person for two or three wineries growing Plavac Mali, plus a stop in Ston for centuries-old salt pans and oysters. Check tzdubrovnik.hr for current Ston hours.
Day 4: Cavtat
Bus Line 10 reaches Cavtat in 30 to 45 minutes for EUR 4-5, or a seasonal ferry (June to October) covers it for EUR 15-20 return. The Racic Mausoleum, by sculptor Ivan Mestrovic (1922), is the one planned stop; otherwise this is a slow-lunch marina town, the recovery day before tomorrow’s longer trip to Mostar.
Day 5: Mostar, Bosnia
Mostar is 2.5 to 3.5 hours each way and a second non-Schengen crossing into a country outside the EU entirely, the longest day of this trip. Tours run EUR 45-55 per person and typically pair Mostar with Kravice Waterfall or Medjugorje. The centrepiece is the Stari Most, the Ottoman-era Old Bridge rebuilt after 1990s war damage, part of the Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar UNESCO listing and the Old Bridge itself. Expect a 10 to 12 hour day door to door.
Day 6: Korcula
The ferry to Korcula runs about EUR 30 one-way, roughly two hours, with some routes stopping at Mljet on the way. Korcula Town’s claim to be Marco Polo’s birthplace is a genuine local tradition, heavily promoted and historically unverified; enjoy the story without treating it as settled fact. Walking the walled Old Town, finding a winery stop, and getting in a swim is tight as a same-day round trip; do this one on an early ferry and accept that it’s the day this itinerary would improve most by turning into an overnight, if your schedule ever allows it.
Should Korcula be an overnight instead of Day 6 of this trip?
If you can spare the extra night, yes; Korcula rewards an evening on the harbourfront that a day trip doesn’t have time for. Within a fixed six-day, Dubrovnik-based trip, though, an early ferry and a realistic list of two or three things (the walls, one winery, one swim) makes it a workable, if tight, day trip.
Is six days of day trips too much transit?
It’s a genuine amount: two international borders, one bridge crossing, two ferry days, and one bus day. If that sounds exhausting rather than exciting, drop either Cavtat or Korcula and spend that day inside Dubrovnik itself instead; neither one is load-bearing for the rest of the spine.
Buy your Korcula ferry ticket a day ahead in July and August specifically; walk-up tickets on the fastest sailings do sell out at the height of summer.