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  So trying to get a good idea of what would be the best option for my next trip and before I get the airfare.  Going to plan to spend some time in each city mentioned, this will be a 2 week trip in the Spring (May)

Option 1
Fly into Zagreb - Split - Mostar - Dubrovnik - Budva - fly out of Podgorcia

  Seems there is a good train and bus between Zagreb and Split.  And see there is a bus service to Mostar from Split and Dubrovnik.  I assume there is no train service between Dubrovnik and Budva though and the best is to just take the bus to Budva and then I see a lot of buses from Budva on (www.busterminal.me/) to Podgorcia?

  Would you say that all those cities would be easily accessible by either train/bus (mostly bus I would think closer to Montenegro and Bosnia) with multiple times a day every day?


Option 2
Fly into and out of Zagreb - Sarajevo - Mostar - Dubrovnik - (Maybe Budva if time) - Split - Zagreb

  With this option do you think with bus/train this route would be doable?  How are the services between Zagreb and Sarajevo?  I would think there would be a lot of buses or trains from Sarajevo to Mostar?

  Trying to figure out if this options would give me a few days in each place and be able to get back to Zagreb without feeling too rushed?

  My ultimate goal would be to visit at least 3 countries on this trip (Croatia, Bosnia and either Montenegro or Slovenia) and be able to spend some time at least in all 3 in a 2 week period.


Thanks again...

Fly into Zagreb - Split - Mostar - Dubrovnik - Budva - fly out of Podgorcia

Croatia, BiH and Montenegro are great places to visit, however a bit puzzling seems to be the choice of some destinations. In Dalmatia for instance Split is probably not even in top 10 most interesting places to visit. Yes, it is a big city (at least in Croatian context), but, imho, choosing it as destination to spend few days...khm... maybe just make it a base camp with "radial" journeys to more interesting places - Trogir, islands etc. Also slightly awkward seems the choice of Budva in Montenegro, especially taking into consideration that between Dubrovnik and Budva there is such a pearl as Kotor.

Seems there is a good train and bus between Zagreb and Split.

Yep, during the high-season there are usually a couple of daytime trains (roughly 6 hour journey) and two overnight ones. And obviously plenty of buses, however if you do decide to use the bus, then we would advise you spend some extra time and take one of the "longer" buses that travel by the seaside road (via Zadar, Sibenik) and not the highway. 

And see there is a bus service to Mostar from Split and Dubrovnik.

There are buses between these destinations, although obviously not as frequent as domestic connections in Croatia (e.g. between Split and Mostar about half a dozen departures, a 3-4 between Mostar and Dubrovnik)

I assume there is no train service between Dubrovnik and Budva though and the best is to just take the bus to Budva and then I see a lot of buses from Budva on (www.busterminal.me/) to Podgorcia?

Long long time ago Dubrovnik had a railway line connecting it to the rest of the world, but nowadays it's only about buses. In Montenegro on the line Herceg Novi-Kotor-Budva-Cetinje-Podgorica buses run like every 20-30 min, so it's very easy to travel to Podgorica, even no need to think about tickets in advance or timetable - just get to the bus station and board a bus. 

With this option do you think with bus/train this route would be doable?  How are the services between Zagreb and Sarajevo?  I would think there would be a lot of buses or trains from Sarajevo to Mostar?

There is daytime direct train from Zagreb to Sarajevo + multiple buses. Between Sarajevo and Mostar there aren't many train as one would predict - only two daytime train + again multiple buses, but in this case would really recommend taking a train - great scenery.

Trying to figure out if this options would give me a few days in each place and be able to get back to Zagreb without feeling too rushed?

Well, all the listed destinations aren't that big, for almost all of them a day or two is totally enough, imho. Thus two weeks seems to be more than enough time, even if you chose to travel during the day (NB: with Zagreb-Split and Zagreb-Sarajevo distance allows an overnight journey)

  Great thanks again for the info.

Yes I chose Budva as I was thinking it was one of the better "beach type" atmosphere towns in Montenegro.  I was trying to find something that had some nice beaches and had a lot of the beach style pubs etc (sort of like Montenegro's version of Sunny Beach in Bulgaria).  I have heard nice things about Sveti Stefan, but figured that was harder to get to and a lot smaller and Bar seemed to be out of the way and not on a direct link between Podgorcia and Dubrovnik.

  Split I decided because it was just kind of central between Dubrovnik and Zagreb.  I would have chosen Hvar (as I heard that was good), but thought with the ferries and such that it would take too much time to reach on my schedule, plus I thought the beaches near there are actually outside of Hvar and not near the town.   But maybe that isn't the case as you seem to think I will have more than enough time doing all this in my 2 weeks?

  So how are the buses between Dubrovnik and Herceg Novi?  Are they relatively common?

 

Yes I chose Budva as I was thinking it was one of the better "beach type" atmosphere towns in Montenegro.

Well, then you'll need to be ready to see a lot of drunken Russians 
Anyhow, all the towns there located close to each other, so basically it doesn't matter much where exactly you stay. If you get bored in Budva, then with 10-30 min. bus ride you can reach almost any nearby interesting place (Kotor, Sveti Stefan etc.)

Split I decided because it was just kind of central between Dubrovnik and Zagreb.

Obviously everybody has there own sightseeing habits, but as with Budva in Monenegro, I'll advise you to have a plan B in case you get bored in Split and decide to make a trip somewhere nearby.

So how are the buses between Dubrovnik and Herceg Novi?  Are they relatively common?

Couple buses per day, Dubrovnik bus station schedule can be found here

  Yeah, I think Kotor is a must at least for 2 nights.  Seems most the beaches anyways in Montenegro are pretty much rocky beach so I can always just skip that or maybe do a night in Budva and just check out the pub scene at least or just skip it altogether and go from Podgorica to Kotor (is Herceg Novi worth it to visit?).
 
  With Split, I just figured it was the easiest place to go from Mostar without a long bus journey.  But I may opt to just try and spend a night there and then a few in Hvar instead and go from there to end up in Zagreb eventually.

  Main point is that I see that everything between Podgorica and Zagreb and the towns I've mentioned will be pretty easily connected by buses and I shouldn't have an issue getting to any city or town between the two.  Do you think I'd need to book any thing in advance (ferry, bus) for any of the trips?  Hvar especially or Mostar?  I would think most the buses and trains I can just get the day of or a day or two in advance while I am there...

is Herceg Novi worth it to visit?

If compared to Budva, then definitely yes, but making a long stopover probably isn't worth it. Maybe, in case you have time, make a stop for a couple of hours on the way from Dubrovnik or back, it should be enough time to see the town, Herceg-Novi isn't big. 
 

Do you think I'd need to book any thing in advance (ferry, bus) for any of the trips?  Hvar especially or Mostar?  I would think most the buses and trains I can just get the day of or a day or two in advance while I am there...

No point to buy anything in advance (actually in many occasions it's not even possible to buy tickets online or in advance), locals usually just buy their tickets before departure. Plus it will be much easier to make some minor itinerary changes. May is a very early start of the season, so there is absolutely no need to worry about anything being sold out 

Great.  I'll just base out of Kotor and maybe do a day trip or something somewhere then.  And good to know about the tickets.  Usually I always get tickets the day before at the station, but just because it's early in May this year, I didn't know if buses/trains were less frequent and more packed, but doesn't seem like the case. 

  Hope I can get enough time to visit all the places, but I'm sure I'll figure it out I'm sure.  Thanks again...