On 5 May 2025, we set off from Memmingen Airport to Dubrovnik – the start of a bigger Balkan road trip that also took in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Seven days on the Adriatic, deliberately planned with a hire car rather than a ready-made package.
Getting there – a tiny airport and next to no luggage
I found the cheap flight, €50 per person return, via Google Flights and booked it through trip.com. That price only worked because the fare allows nothing but small hand luggage – max 40 x 30 x 20 cm, no cabin trolley. For seven days on the Adriatic, that was plenty.
Find comparable flights to Dubrovnik →
I booked parking for the 5th to 12th of May through Airparks, €80.10. The uncovered spot was about a ten-minute walk from the terminal. Memmingen Airport itself is tiny and offers little beyond a small café – if you're there early, bring your own provisions.
Take-off was at 6am, and after an hour and a half we landed in Dubrovnik.
Landing, the hire car, and a fee for crossing borders
Just a short walk across the car park, and we were already at the rental desk. We went with Enterprise, booked through CHECK24, and got a brand-new Opel Mokka. Because we also planned to drive into Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, there was an extra fee for crossing borders on top. I couldn't find the exact original figures for either cost any more – so the numbers in the cost table below are based on current comparable prices, not the exact amount we paid at the time.
Compare hire cars in Dubrovnik →
After checking the car over for damage and fuel level with the rental agent, we headed straight to our accommodation.
A base in Lapad – deliberately not in the Old Town
We chose not to stay in or right next to the Old Town, quite simply because of the cost. For two nights at K-Apartments in Lapad, near Uvala Lapad bay, we paid €139.86. That particular place doesn't exist any more, at least not on booking.com, where we'd originally booked it. You'll find other places to stay in Lapad here:
Strategically, the location worked well and was easy to reach by car. On foot, though, it meant around 100 steps each way to get to the beach or the restaurants. Just because Dubrovnik and the towns along this coast sit by the sea doesn't mean it's flat. Stairs and steep climbs are a constant here – pack proper shoes.
The first evening – Sunset Beach and dinner on my own
Luggage dropped off, and straight away we were out exploring. First stop was the beach known locally as Sunset Beach. Not a sandy one, and in early May it was still too cold for us to swim. We settled for a scoop of ice cream instead, €1.20.
That first evening, I ate dinner on my own, at Restaurant Maškaron. Lovely place, a big menu, and the food was tasty. Price-wise, I personally found it on the steep side – a plate of ćevapi for €20 already felt proud; today it's €22 there.
Into the Old Town by bus
The next morning we headed into Dubrovnik's Old Town. The bus stop was about 100 steps from our accommodation, with a bakery right opposite where we picked up breakfast. We took the orange bus, line 4, from Uvala Lapad 1 to Pile, the terminus right at the gates of the Old Town. Depending on traffic, the ride takes about 15 to 20 minutes. Tickets cost €2.50 per person, bought straight from the driver – bring exact change, as drivers don't give any back. It's cheaper at a kiosk, but there wasn't one at our stop.
The terminus itself is chaos, since every line ends there and everyone's heading the same way into the Old Town. As soon as you get off and walk towards the centre, there's a lovely viewpoint on the right where you can photograph Dubrovnik's city walls and Fort Lovrijenac.
The Old Town – beautiful, but seriously hyped
Upfront: the Old Town is genuinely beautiful and well kept. Thanks to Game of Thrones, though, it's become pretty overrun. Everyone wants to see the famous filming spots and grab a photo on the Jesuit Stairs, where Cersei was publicly shamed in the show. A scoop of ice cream here cost us €2.50 – roughly double the price in Lapad.
My personal highlight was Bar Mala Buža and Buža Bar. Both are hidden, reachable only through fairly small gaps in the city wall – from there you're sitting practically right above the sea.
What we skipped – and what's worth knowing anyway
We deliberately gave three things in and around Dubrovnik a miss. To be clear, these aren't things we experienced ourselves – they're recommendations from my own research.
You can take a boat from the old harbour to the island of Lokrum and see, among other things, the famous Iron Throne replica. Each crossing takes roughly 15 minutes, but a return ticket runs around €30 per person – too much for us, so we didn't go.
Walking the city walls is supposed to be a real experience, from what I've read in several places – but we never did it ourselves. Entry currently runs €35 to €40 per adult, depending on the season. If you do go, avoid the blazing midday sun in summer and carry enough water.
Also skipped: the cable car up Mount Srđ, said to offer a great view over the Old Town and the Adriatic. A ticket currently costs €30 return, €17 one way. You can book through the official site, ulaznice.hr (a plain information link, not one of our affiliate links) – or, better still, buy it on the spot at the lower station.
The walk back and one last drive
We walked back to our accommodation, breaking up the roughly 45-minute stretch with a stop at Restaurant Belvedere, Ul. Iva Vojnovića 58 in Dubrovnik. The food there was cheaper and, I'd say, even tastier than the night before.
In the late afternoon we headed out again by car, down to Dubrovnik's harbour, across the Franjo Tuđman Bridge, and for a short drive up into the mountains.
The next morning we moved on – into another country neither of us had ever visited before. More on that in Part 2.
What This Leg Cost
| Item | for | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Flight Memmingen–Dubrovnik return, researched via Google Flights, booked via trip.com | 2 people | €100.00 |
| Parking at Memmingen Airport, 5–12 May, via Airparks | 1 car | €80.10 |
| Hire car Opel Mokka, 7 days, via CHECK24 (original receipt no longer available, figure based on current comparable prices) | 1 car | approx. €187.92 |
| Cross-border fee for Bosnia and Herzegovina & Montenegro (also estimated, see above) | 1 car | approx. €50.00 |
| Accommodation Lapad, K-Apartments, 2 nights | 2 people | €139.86 |
| Bus ticket line 4, Lapad–Pile, one way, €2.50 p.p. | 2 people | €5.00 |
| Ice cream at Sunset Beach | 1 person | €1.20 |
| Ice cream in the Old Town | 1 person | €2.50 |
All told, around €567 for flights, parking, the hire car plus cross-border fee, accommodation, and a few odds and ends along the way. Two lines in the table are marked "approx.": the hire car and the cross-border fee, because the original 2025 receipts are no longer available and I've estimated them from current comparable prices. Not included are food beyond what's mentioned and the two restaurant meals, since I no longer have the full bills for those. Also not included: the city walls, the cable car and the Lokrum boat trip, because we didn't actually do any of the three.
All Booking Links at a Glance
- Flights: trip.com
- Parking Memmingen: Airparks
- Hire car: CHECK24
- Accommodation Lapad: booking.com
- City wall tickets: GetYourGuide
Part 2 of this trip takes us on to a country that was completely new to both of us – more on that soon.
And if reading this left you thinking "I'd love a trip like this, just without doing all the digging myself": that's exactly what I do. The first chat's on me.
