Advice on diy tour execursions

Hello, not sure if this the right place!

My partner and I are travelling on 28 June with p and o on a western med cruise

Stopping at several places, but I'm interested in any knowledge of doing independent tours a) because I don't want to be with lots of people and b) I'd rather save the cash for other holiday spends!

Not bothered about anything too energetic, also like the idea of a small guided walking tour or anything in general...if you have any ideas or suggested companies/transport hints etc. they'd be appreciated. Ports interested in. Corfu, Dubrovnik, hvar, Messina.

Happy to travel out of the ports, in generally for a day...

Thanks. Paul:)

http://www.tzdubrovnik.hr/eng/#.VWYtNNJVhBc is Dubrovnik's official tourist information site. It's great, and somewhere in there is a detailed map of the old town. You can do a lot on your own, completely DIY, in Dubrovnik. However, keep in mind that 1) most ships dock up at the port north of the old town. You'll need to take a cab, or else a public bus from the nearby bus station, or in some cases there may be a shuttle running to the old town. Typically, buses and shuttles run to the Pile Gate, western side of the old town. 2) To do certain (but not) things (walk the old town walls, very popular, maybe ) or take the cable car, you'll need either a credit card or Croatian kunas.

Info I've compiled from Cruise Critic says:

May take taxi for panoramic tour of City & surroundings. Hour long one thought to be $52 (520 kn). Tour usually includes drive to bridge offering view of Gruž Harbor, Lapad & islands. You may continue along Adriatic Highway with view over entire city & go to Mount Srđ (412 meters). You may also arrange whole or half day excursion & arrange price with driver (http://www.taxi-dubrovnik.hr, http://www.taxi-ragusa-dubrovnik.com). Someone visiting May 2014 paid €10 for 4 to Old Town. Got there before anyone else & walls were not busy. (Maybe share with someone getting off ship.) “IMO easiest thing to do is grab cab & get short tour, then get dropped off at old city. They take you over new bridge & to top of mountain, after that unless want to venture far away everything is pretty much within walls.”

In addition to the official tourist info site above, I found a good guide for the city here: http://www.tomsportguides.com - look for ports or country section and find Dubrovnik.

I can't help with Corfu, although I've heard the old town is walkable. Can't help with Hvar or Messina, and can't help with private tours in that part of the Med.

Enjoy!

I'm researching Dubrovnik Hvar and Corfu myself. Look at Pinterest that's where I get ideas. Hvar has a great Instagram page. Corfu has taxi companies that offer private tours using Mercedes. There are three or four big ones. Just google Corfu taxi tours. Also written about in Trip Advisor. Dubrovnik has lots of information in Trip Advisor plus here in CC

Dubrovnik is easy - at least to do the old town. Most lines will provide a shuttle to the wall entrance……. they ran all day for us. I think there may have been a small fee ($8.00 ??) but that was worth it for us…. convenience.

We wandered the old town, walked the wall, had a great lunch and shopped a bit. An easy DIY and relaxing too.

Corfu - the town is walkable - a bit of a walk but the island is so beautiful….. I can't imagine not getting "outta town" !!! Perhaps you could join a small group tour from your roll call or even rent a car…….. so much more than just the town area !!!

Messina - we did a private tour here. Wanted to go to Castelmola and Taormina with any hassle (train etc) or 50 other people (ship tour) :eek:

Our driver got us to Castelmola before any other tourists were there…… then dropped us off at one end of the pedestrian road and picked us up at the other end.

Cant help with Hvar.

The website for Hvar is http://www.visit-Hvar.com

Thanks everybody for your advice, sorry it took a time to reply ...pc issues!!!

Let me know what you decide to do. I'm still undecided up Hvar.

In Dubrovnik if you're looking for something out of the ordinary and you're both in good physical condition we highly recommend a PRIVATE sea-kayaking tour with Outdoor Croatia! The views of walled city of Dubrovnik are incredible from the water!

They picked us up at the ship and we kayaked from the bay of Lapad to the Old Town of Dubrovnik, seeing all the incredible cliffs, fort, etc... We paddled over to Lokrum, a small island which is a nature park. You can also snorkel or cliff-jump there if you want but we didn't.

It's about 2 hours of paddling plus the time you spend on Lokrum Island. (You can eat there is you want.). Our guide was Marco (he was incredible!!) The owner, Vedran was very responsive to all of our inquiries beforehand.

I should mention that we still had plenty of time after our kayaking to walk all around the town.