How to Get From Dubrovnik to Kotor by Bus
After spending 3 days in Dubrovnik, it was time to leave and head to our next destination, Kotor in Montenegro.
For this journey, we decided to travel by bus. The journey time is only 2 hours and 45 minutes.
There are currently 13 buses a week that run from Dubrovnik to Kotor. I assume the number will increase during the summer season. We made this journey at the beginning of April.
The current bus times are as follows:
Monday, Tuesday & Thursday: 15:00-17:00 (2 hrs); 17:30-19:50 (2 hrs 20 mins)
Wednesday: 07:15-09:45 (2 hrs 30 mins); 11:00-13:10 (2 hrs 10 mins); 15:00-17:00 (2 hrs); 17:30-19:50 (2 hrs 20 mins)
Friday: 07:15-09:45 (2 hrs 30 mins); 15:00-17:00 (2 hrs); 17:30-19:50 (2 hrs 20 mins)
Saturday: 11:00-13:10 (2 hrs 10 mins); 15:00-17:00 (2 hrs); 17:30-19:50 (2 hrs 20 mins)
Sunday: 15:00-17:00 (2 hrs)
All buses are run by Croatia bus-Globtour-Touring-Jadran ekspres, except the 15:00 departure, which is run by Božur Podgorica. The Croatia bus-Globtour-Touring-Jadran ekspres buses have toilets on board but I don’t know whether the Božur bus do or not. See below for more about the onboard toilet.
Booking our ticket online
We booked our tickets the GetByBus.com website. We’ve used them many times in the past and have always found them to be reliable. The tickets cost 24.82 EUR each. As is usual in this region, we had to pay the bus driver an additional 1 EUR each for our luggage.
Once we booked the tickets we got an email confirmation with the tickets attached. The tickets contain an QR code that you show the bus driver, so there’s no need to print the tickets.
Note that the 15:00 departure is run by a different bus company and you need to print the tickets for them. We don’t have access to a printer, so we couldn’t get that bus if we booked online.
Dubrovnik Bus Station
Dubrovnik bus station is around 3 km from the old town. The cheapest and easiest way to get there is by local bus. See How to Get From Dubrovnik Bus Station to the Old Town. The reverse journey is covered as well in that post.
Our Bus
Our bus wasn’t as good as the other buses we traveled on in this region. It was a Jadran ekspres bus that should have had toilet and wifi. However, the toilet was locked and the wifi was very slow to begin with and then didn’t work at all. The heating on the bus also didn’t work, which meant it was pretty cold. Other than that, the bus was ok.
As you can see above, the seating is pretty comfortable. You don’t get allocated a seat when booking, so can seat wherever you like.
Bus wifi speed
The wifi on the bus was slow to begin with and then stopped working. Not a big problem for such a short journey though.
Bus route
You can see the bus route above. It was quite a short journey but involved a border crossing, as all our bus journeys have so far.
The Croatia/Montenegro Border Crossing
Getting through both the Croatia and Montenegro immigration took longer than expected. The traffic was very light, so I dread to think what it’s like in high season. Traveling outside the high season has its benefits.
At the Montenegro immigration there was a sign warning tourists that the need to register with the authorities and pay 1 EUR per person per day tourists tax. I’ve written another post about this, as it’s something you make sure you do, as well as keeping the documents to show immigration when you leave the country. See Make Sure You Pay Your Montenegro Tourist Tax.
Kotor Bus Station
Kotor bus station is a small station that’s close to the old town. Our bus arrived around 30 minutes later than expected. This was due to the time spent at the border crossings.
Getting to Kotor Old Town from the bus station
The old town is only around 600 meters from the bus station, so it’s an easy walk. No need to get a taxi.
Where to stay in Kotor
We stayed at Old Town Square Kotor Apartment for our first three nights and then moved to Boskovic Apartment for the next three nights. They have the same owner. We wanted to stay at the first apartment but it had already been booked by someone else.
If you prefer to stay in a hotel, check out the excellent choices at Agoda Kotor.
