DC motors power supply

The L298N has a voltage drop of between 1.8 and 3.2 volts @ 1A, so you're going to need more than 3V drive to the L298N motor supply anyway. There's not much point in using a regulator for the motor supply. I would use 3 or 4 AA cells and no regulator to provide power for the motors, and a separate supply for the Arduino.