SaraFay

Good morning, my husband and I are looking to go to Cinque Terra and Croatia for a total of 14-15 days. We would probably do 5 days in Cinque Terra and the rest in Croatia. We love to explore cities by leisurely walking around, try out local restaurants, get drinks in bars, relax on the beach, and just enjoy pretty scenery.

A few questions:
Does anyone have recommendations of what town to stay in for Cinque Terra?
Should we stop in Venice for a day or 2? (this would take away from our time in Croatia)
In Croatia, we'd split our time between Dubrovnik and Split, and want to go on a few island tours and a day trip to the Plitvice Lakes. Are there any day trips or towns we should add to this?

Mimar

How are you getting to the Cinque Terre? How are you traveling between Italy and Croatia? How are you getting around in Italy and in Croatia? When you say island tours in Croatia, do you expect to be bused around with a tour guide? And will you be going anywhere else on this trip?

5 days is a long time in the CT. The only thing to do there is hike the trails and you could do the length of the 5 towns in one day if you're in good shape. There's been storm damage to the trails and they may not all be open, even by September. And if it rains, there's nothing at all to do there.

SaraFay

Hi Mimar,

Thanks for the response. We would be taking the train from Milan down to Cinque Terra, and not sure yet how we would get to Croatia, but most likely a train to a port on the eastern coast then a ferry to Split.

The island tours I mentioned would not actually be tours with guides... we would just take a ferry out to an island during the day and return at night. The 2 at the top of our list are Korcula and Hvar.

The only other place we were considering was Greece, but I've read we might be trying to do too much with the amount of time we have.

I will also look into the CT / storm damage. It's been one of the #1 spots on my list for a while, but if it's a bad time to go I think we'd save it for another trip.

Any comments or suggestions are always appreciated.

Thank you,
Sara

yorkshire

Considering how much time the travel from place to place would take, I would reconsider. There is some lovely hiking to be done in Croatia. You don't get the town-to-town convenience that CT provides, but you don't get the mobs of people, either.
Here are my go-to resources for Croatia, in addition to a good guide book:
http://www.jadrolinija.hr/ (ferry schedules)
http://croatia.hr/en-GB/Homepage (comprehensive tourist board website, with links to local tourist boards--another good resource)
http://islands.zesoi.fer.hr/ (a lovely description of the islands)

If you have your heart set on CT, do some logistical research about the ferries and flights.

With 2 weeks in Croatia, there is no need to do island day trips, you can stop over on the islands as you move between Dubrovnik and Split.

samuell

easy jet - Mxp and Spu

bvlenci

There's no leisurely walking around in the Cinque Terre, and hardly any beaches. In September, the place is practically sinking under the weight of the tourists.

Many of the lower trails have been closed for several years, not so much because of storm damage, but because of the risk of landslides. I agree that hiking is really the only reason to go there. The vast majority of the restaurants is touristy, and there's not much to do other than hike or buy postcards.

Here is a trail map (in Italian) for the Cinque Terre:

http://www.parconazionale5terre.it/s...sp?id_lingue=1

The map is towards the bottom. The blue trails are the easiest, and the red trails are closed. Good hiking shoes are necessary, and a certain level of physical fitness.

If you don't want to hike, I suggest spending only two nights there, or choosing another destination.

maitaitom

I'd bag the CT and use your extra days in Slovenia (Ljubljana, caves, Lake Bled, Vintgar Gorge) instead. It will cut your travel time, and Slovenia is gorgeous (without the crowds of CT). By the way, I love the CT, but it seems out of the way for this trip.