Go DIY

How much for a week in the Pearl of the Adriatic?

Where:Dubrovnik, Croatia
When:September 14th-21st

With the tour operator
Croatia Tours ( www.croatiatours.ie) has a week at an upmarket-looking hotel in Dubrovnik for just over €3,000 per couple. The deal has us staying at the Libertas Rixos Hotel, which has been built into a cliff with views over the old town. We leave Dublin on Sunday, September 14th - the Croatia Tours website doesn't tell us at what time the flights leave - and come home a week later. The basic price for a couple is €2,922, to which taxes and charges of €88 are added. There is also a fuel surcharge of €60, which is only partially cancelled out by an online-booking discount of €40.

Total€3,030.

On our own
The hotel has a website,  www.rixos.com, where we are quoted a fairly hefty €360 a night. The total cost of our accommodation for the week is €2,520. We visit  www.tripadvisor.comto see what people who had stayed in the hotel thought of it, something to do before making any DIY booking. The reviews were decidedly mixed, but we decided to proceed nonetheless. The cheapest flights we could find were with Aer Lingus. We leave Dublin at 7.30am on Sunday morning and return a week later at 12.40pm. The total cost of the tickets, once all taxes and charges were added, is €510.12. Taxi transfers from the airport to the hotel can be pre-booked at a cost of €10 each way.

Total€3,050.12.

Tour operator savings€20.12.