...Dubrovnik

twinge

get the hell out and head to Bosnia and Montenegro!
Dubrovnik is BEAUTIFUL, but the services are crap and the Croats have no clue about service. They advertise that you can buy the Dubrovnik card (free public transport and sites) on-line, but the truth is, you can't. There is no contact number in case (as they did with us) take your money and don't send you the access code for your Dubrovnik card per email. The physical places that advertise the card have nothing to do with the admin, so they can't help you. The code for the card came three days later, when it was waaaay too late and they didn't offer a refund.
The second thing that really shocked me is even simple restaurant service is bad! My husband ordered a well-done steak, only to discover it was half raw (literally dripping with blood!) When we complained, the waiter breezily said "that's the Croatian way of making a steak!", and did not seem to comprehend the fact that you have to give the customer what he ordered! (Yes, I explained this to him and got a blank look) The manager rushed over (probably to keep me quiet), so we got a weak apology from the waiter.
Bosnia is fascinating, beautiful and sad. The Croats will bore you to tears about their experience of war (to the point where it seems suspiciously like propaganda!), but the silence and destruction of a place like Mostar will leave you stunned.
Montenegro is fun, dirty, but at least they use the Euro and are cheaper that Dubrovnik.
I really liked the scenery of Dubrovnik, but can't recommend it to anyone.

orchidsrpretty

I had the opposite experenice when I was there a few years ago. We had booked a hotel on hotels.com only when we arrived at 11pm that night the hotel was just shutting down for the winter season. The staff were so helpful in arranging another hotel that we could move to, called us taxis etc as the place was in the middle of nowhere.
We wanted to go on some tours and we found a tour guide off some leafets that we were handed in the old town. He was Croat and very nice and helpful that we ended up doing three tours with him all booked at seperate times and he gave us the third one free( day trip to montenegro) so saved us about 100e each! He did think we were on honeymoon though and we did nothing to disuade him:)
I also found the taxi drivers etc really friendly, very willing to talk about what its like living there, the cost of living etc and the history of the country which I always enjoy hearing about as that is one of the reasons you would visit a country in the first place!

bosnian

Hi.

I just want to that I used to go in Croatia (Dalmatia) every summer from like 2000 to 2007 (people from Balkans are mostly satisfied going to the sea once a year, other destinations are not widely considered ). And I have to agree that their service is very poor, especially in restaurants. I always thought it was because I'm from Bosnia, and there are tensions still, and all that. But I was reading some reviews from people from Germany as well, and they are not very satisfied either. Their pushing up prices, and not investing anything in getting better in tourism. Also, if you don't spend money that some waiter thinks you should have (like you order just coffee), it's not a problem at all to hurry you up, and eventually to get you away.
I'm not writing this on national basis or anything, I've been there many times, and it's always the same story. In Turkey, for €500, you get 7 days in all-inclusive hotel and they treat you like you're king.

Also, regarding Bosnia. I think most of Irish tourists only visit south part of the country, which is reasonable because both Aerlingus and Ryanair fly to Dubrovnik and Zadar, if I'm not mistaken. Sarajevo is great (as you go through it, you can actually see its history, from Ottoman Empire, to Austro-Hungary and latest), as well as Bosnian mountains (Olympic mountains by the way). You have great medieval town of Vranduk, as well as Kraljeva Sutjeska, center of medieval Bosnia. Also, great place to see, is town Bihac, and river Una (the most beautiful river) in north-west part of Bosnia, it's not too far from Zadar, maybe hour or two driving. On the sad side, you can visit a Memorial Centre in Potocari, Srebrenica, cemetery of 8,000 people. Silence is astonishing. And price are lower than in Croatia. In Sarajevo, which is most expensive place in BiH, a beer is like €2-3. Cigarettes are very cheap, €1.5 etc. And food is great. But also, Bosnia is not investing enough in tourism, and all that. If you ever visit, don't use public transport, and taxi drivers will try to take as much cash as they can.

cheers.