3 weeks in Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Germany

3 weeks is a long time.
Places like Bled, Ljubljana, Sarajevo and Mostar can be easily seen in a day or two.
Dubrovnik is also small, even with side trips it does not take more than a few days.
What time of the year are you going
can also make a big difference.

I'll be traveling in May-June 2009.

Do you think 3 weeks is actually too much for what I want to see? I'm scared to cover too much distance because transportation tends to cost a lot. But I wouldn't want to get bored also.

Any suggestions for other cities I could visit?

Nessa, with three weeks you could cover quite a bit of ground. Will you be renting a car, or how will you go about getting around? I would probably start in Dubrovnik and work your way up the coast and Bosnia. Definitely visit Plitvice when you are in Croatia. Zagreb is also nice and tends to get passed over but is worthy of a day or so and only a few hours from Ljubljana. From Dubrovnik take a daytrip, or spend a couple of days, in Montenegro.

From Bled you aren't too far from Austria and Munich. The Salzkammergut region is stunning and Salzburg is a delightful city. Neuschwanstein is easy to reach from Munich but would also make for a nice place to spend a few nights, where you could also take a ride up to the Zugspitz and see some of the nearby towns (Oberammergau, Mittenwald) and another of Mad King Ludwig's castles, Linderhof.

Best wishes,
Tracy

What time of year?
We spent 10 days but with a small tour group and visited
Saravejo
Mostar
Dubrovnik
Split
Plitvice Lakes
Bled
A wonderful trip for our first visit but would love more time in each place. I think you could fill in 3 weeks easily. The coast of croatia is beautiful with lots of islands to visit, Plitvice lakes has many walks,we stopped at some wonderful towns you could possibly do as day trips from larger towns such as Slit. Bled deserves an overnight at least- we stayed 2 and could easily have stayed longer. We also visited some wonderful caves in Slovenia.

I think I'm doing the same in the opposite direction.
Intending to go from Prague via Cesky Budovice/Cesky Krumlov to Graz. Then to Ljubljana, Zagreb to Sarajevo, Mostar and Dubrovnik. Then by ferry up to Split via Korkula and a return flight to London.
I'm intending to do all this by train without reservations in July. In about 2/3 weeks. Pity I will miss you. Post your comments please.

My- June is a good time for Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia.

How much time one spends in small towns depend on one's interest.
It also may make a difference if you traveling alone.
Ljubljana, Bled, Sarajevo and Mostar
can each easily be seen in a day or so .IMO

A few days in Dubrovnik with side trips to Montenegro .

You will have to move a lot, so you will need time to travel from place to place - if you depend on buses and trains , even more time.
If you start in Ljubljana you are in the north so you can work your way to Zagreb and than to the coast.
From Dubrovnik you can go to Mostar and then to Sarajevo.
There are number of flights from Sarajevo to Germany but I don't know the cost .

I do agree with Danon on the length of time for many of the places you want to visit. Of course we all have different opinions on what constitutes enough time at each location, but we spend 3/4 of a day in Ljubljana and a half day in Bled and that was plenty for us to see what we wanted to see. Granted we were in Bled in November, so it was quite chilly and therefore we didn't venture out to the little island. Dubrovnik is wonderful but also tiny. We had two full days there, plus a day in Montenegro, and were happy.

Because many of the towns are small, you could easily do the trip you want in three weeks and not feel rushed.

Tracy

Thanks for the replies!

I will be traveling alone and will not be renting a car.

This is what I'm thinking right now:

fly to Split
1 day in Split
day trip to Hvar
day trip to Plitvice (any suggestions for an organized tour for this?)
bus to Dubrovnik
2 days in Dubrovnik
with day trips to Korcula and/or Montenegro
bus to Mostar
2 days in Mostar
bus/train? to Sarajevo
2 days in Sarajevo
overnight train to Zagreb
2 days in Zagreb
train to Ljubljana
2 days in Ljubljana
day trip to Bled
train to Salzburg
1 day in Salzburg
train to Munich
2 days in Munich
day trip to Neuschwanstein
train to Frankfurt

What do you guys think?

I think you are doing exactly the same as I am and in about the same time-frame. I too will be travelling alone without a car. I plan on getting trains including the overnight Zagreb to Sarajevo. I too am intending to pick up a tour in Dubrovnik for Montenegro and in Zagreb for Plitvice. I hope to travel from Dubrovnik to Split by ferry via Korcula and Hvar. Our ways diverge after Ljubljana as I will be coming from Prague, Dresden and Berlin.

Two ideas.
1. As Gertie has alluded to, it ought to be easier to get to Plitvice from Zagreb since the park is relatively far north of Split.
2. Bled is small and you can see it in a day, but one of the things that I liked best about Bled was participating in some of the activities (rafting, canyoneering, hiking etc) nearby. The town has a number of outfitters who can guide you on trips, so if you're into seeing some of the regions natural highlights, you might devote a bit of time to that.

I like the ferry idea. Thanks Gertie!

You definitely have to let me know how your trip goes. When will you be traveling?

I'm leaving Prague on 1 July. Have a flight booked out of Split on 19th.

2 days in Mostar is too long IMO.
You may wish to spend an extra day in or around Dubrovnik instead.

p.s.
agree : visit Plitvice from Zagreb - not Split .

You could ferry to Hvar and then continue on to Dubrovnik (or perhaps stopping in Korcula, which is a bit far for a day trip from Dubrovnik) from there.
Check out the ferry schedules to see what overnight you could do on those islands. The good thing about Korcula is that you could bus to Dubrovnik from there.
Agree you should visit Plitvice from Zagreb.

Hello!

We leave on our trip in 3 weeks!
Which will be covering Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia

On our personal travel website, we put together some info for our friends and family to better understand the beauty and history of this region!

Also, I will be doing a full trip report when we return towards the end of May...

We have checklists made out for each place we are going of things to see and do.If you are interested in those send me an email and I would be happy to share them with you!

Our travel journal website is...

http://when.do.we.leave.googlepages.com/

then go into Our Next Adventure!

Ciao Ciao!

Karen, I just LOVE your website! I've only just scratched the surface, and I'm looking forward to exploring it in more depth. The information you provide, aside from being interesting with beautiful pictures, is so valuable.

Did you take a class or did you figure out how to do it on your own?

Can't wait to read more on it!

Hi Ellen!

Thank you so much!

It's been a lot of fun to do!

When I started the website, I knew absolutely nothing about doing it.I thought html was an acronym for hotmail!!!

Googlepages Page creator has templates and a great discussion board filled with people who are very generous with their knowledge

Honestly, if I can do this ...anyone can!

Also, smilebox (the photo albums) is really easy to use!

Thanks again for your kind words, that's what makes my take and keeps me inspired to keep adding more..

I'm also open to suggestion of subject matter or creative designing!

I just added the stat counter 2 weeks which I started at 0, and I have been so amazed to see how many times people are visiting!

If you would like to create one for yourself, just send me an email and I will provide more info...

Have a great day!

Karen

Nessa:

Where are you flying from? United has a direct N/S flight from Washington Dulles directly to Munich which is far closer to your destination than Frankfurt...and the price is not too bad at this time.

We're doing a similar trip, but since there are four of us, we're renting a car in Munich and staying there for 3 days to tour.

Then to Salzburg for 3 days and on to Lake Bled for a day via the Hochosterwitz Castle.

Then, on to Ljubljana for 3 days and on to Zagreb for 2 days.

I agree that Plitvice National Park is easier reached from Zagreb.

We'll walk the lakes of Plitvice for a day and then on to Split for 2 days. Then to Dubrovnik for 5 days, taking day trips to Hvar, Montenegro, Ston and Mostar.

We're skipping Sarajevo due to politics, just for safety, and one day is enough in Mostar, IMHO.

Then back up the coast to Trogir for a day, the Isle of Rab for a day and then, one of the highlights of our trip, Slovenia.

IMHO, you are not devoting enough time to this unique region. By staying in a central area, like Hrusevje, you can visit the Karst area - Postonja and Skocjan, Lipica and the best of the Istrian towns like Piran, Porec and Rovinj and even Trieste in a couple of days.

So we'll stay there for 3 days and then drive to Lienz, Austria for an overnight and on to Munich via the dramatic inspiring Grossglockner Drive and Kitzbuhel.

Enjoy your trip and post it to the Forum so that we can all share.

Tenderfoot,
I agree completely about the joys of Slovenia, particularly the Skocjan caves which I think are an excellent diversion, but I can't imagine what the political situation would be that would cause you to pass on Sarajevo. Maybe you can get some competing advice on the forums here, but I think it's very safe. Has something been going on that I've missed in the news? I know about the protests in Mitrovica (Kosovo) and in Belgrade, but I am fairly certain that Sarajevo was and is quiet. Anyone?

There is nothing that I know of in Savajevo, either. I was in Mostar, just south of Sarajevo a couple weeks ago and it was very calm. Other posters have been to Sarajevo recently.

I think even Mitrovica and Belgrade have been calm recently.

I'd also be interested to hear if anyone knows of anything.

Sessa was just in Sarajevo a few weeks ago (search for her name to find her trip report) and sounded like she had a great visit. I don't recall any mention of political issues, and as far as I know its a fairly safe place to visit.

Tracy

Sorry, guys. I wasn't trying to alarm anyone....I'm just an old scaredy-cat when I travel with my family. I've read recently that Americans in Serbia are resented due to the US support of Kosovo's independence. I know the US Embassy fire was in Belgrade...but I can't help thinking of the world issues that have begun in Serbia in the past century...maybe it's an "age thing".

tenderfoot...

we can be scaredy cats together..

after the several embasses were attacked last month and the protests in Banja Luka...and the evacuation of non essential embassy employees out of Sarajevo..we altered our plans!

it sounds like Sessa had a great time, but we decided for our comfort level we would return to sarajevo at a later date!

i meant to say out of Belgrade..

Just saw the comments on Sarajevo not being safe and wanted to respond. We were there a few weeks ago and had no issues whatsoever. You may be referring to the protests that took place after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia - I believe there was one contained and peaceful protest in Sarajevo right before we were there. We were not concerned about that at all and found the city to be very safe. Our tour guide told us that overall Bosnians like Americans (after all the US helped to end the siege of Sarajevo), and they are even building a new US Embassy in Sarajevo.

I strongly encourage you to go as it was one of the highlights of our trip. We stayed at Guest House Halvat, and they arranged a tour of the city for us with Fikret Kahrovic who was absolutely wonderful.

As Tracy mentioned, I posted a trip report with more details...

Nessa: Thanks for the data on Sarajevo. We will drive from Neum up to Mostar with a stop in Pocitelj and, maybe, if time permits, a brief stop at the "new" pilgrimage site in Medugorje. But, we'll leave Sarajevo for another time....maybe next year when we do Albania and Bulgaria....unless the dollar is in even worse shape, in which case we'll probably head to S. America where the $US is still strong.

For whoever asked, I'm traveling from Montreal, Canada.