AirBalloon

Hi,

Our friends our trying to convince us to change our vacation plans to Spain this summer and join them in Croatia. We had done planning for Spain but we are now considering travelling with them instead.

It will be no problem changing our flights and Croatia, with the preliminary research we have done here and on other sites (shhh, don't tell anyone), really does seem to have it all.

We will have 16 full days in Croatia. We will be starting off in the north, in the Istria region, then travelling south along the Dalmation coast, ending in Dubrovnik.

Any advice on where to base ourselves in Istria and as we travel south would be welcome as we do not want to move around that many times. We would like time at the beach, but the beach part of our trip does not have to be at a beach resort. We do not mind staying in a beautiful village near or on the beach so that we can use our car to travel to other beaches for a few hours. We have also read that we do not need much time in Dubrovnik (is that true?) and we enjoy seeing/staying in places that are less travelled.

Many people talk about Hvar and Korcula, but there seems to be so many islands to choose from so any advice on other islands that may be just as interesting and less touristy would be very helpful (if there are any that do compare to either Hvar and Korcula).

Also, it seems that many travellers say that spending some time in Split and Zagreb is important. Is it a must to spend a few nights in one or both of these cities?

We would also like to spend a a night or two in a hilltop village. Any advice on which one to look at?

Your help on an itinerary for these 16 days would be very helpful.

Thanks.

Andrea

nocloset

First of all, I'm afraid to tell you that "shhh, don't tell anyone" is futile. Everyone has already discovered how great Croatia is, and you're likely to encounter crowds if you're there in peak or shoulder season. (I don't see where you mention when your trip is, but I'm assuming you're going sometime in the summer, when it will be very busy with tourists.)

If I were doing an itinerary like yours, I'd spend 3 nights in Rovinj as my base to explore Istria, then a night at Plitvice, then head down to the Dalmatian coast and from there it's really a buffet of nice options: Zadar, Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik, Cavtat, and the islands. I only visited Hvar and Korcula, so I can't comment on the others, but from what research I did in planning my trip, it seems there is no bad option. So I think your best bet is to read about the different islands and the various towns on the coast, and pick based on how many nights you want to spend in each location.

And have a great time!

xyz99

Andrea,
Croatia is absolutely wonderful, I am sure you will love it and not regret visiting it instead of Spain.

Your plan sounds great, we did something similar back in 2006 (wow, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years already). We stayed 4 or 5 nights in Rovinj and explored Istria peninsula. Lots of Italian influences, great food (best pasta with truffles we ever had), beautiful hill villages (are you going to have a car? I recommend one), lots of history (Pula, Porec). Rovinj is beautiful in itself, and I will always treasure the memory of the sunset we saw there.

You did not mention it, but try to get to Plitvice Lakes. It’s not on the coast, but it’s amazing. Try to spend a night there and see the park in the morning, before all tourist buses arrive.

We visited Hvar, but I think a lot of other islands deserve some time. I don’t think you can go wrong. We did not care about beaches, but I hear they have some beautiful ones. Try Brac island, I think it’s less crowded.

Dubrovnik is very nice, spend some time there, visit Cavtat for the day and have lunch by the water…so many things to do.

Other places I wish we had visited but had no time for: Trogir, Krka national parc, and the old villages in-land. Croatia is definitely one of the best places we ever visited!

PolSmit

Important to know what time of year you will visit. Croatia can be very busy in middle summer.

AirBalloon

We will be traveling between early and mid August. We will have a car and would want to see Plitvice Lakes as well.

Can you recommend any small medieval hilltop villages that we can stay at that would make a good base to explore the interior?

"nocloset", what I meant by "shhh, don't tell anyone", is not about going to Croatia, but about researching on other sites...

Thanks so much everyone.

Andrea

xyz99

We did not stay in any hilltop village, but visited Motovun, Grozjnan and Hum. Motovun is the biggest, so I would check that first.

"that would make a good base to explore the interior" - I assume you mean Istria interior, not Croatia interior.

Istria is fairly small, so any of those would be fine. Look at a map, see driving distances, and depending on what you want to do/see there, pick a place somewhere in the middle.

Andrew

I loved Rovinj - it's small so the town itself can be explored fairly quickly, but it makes a great place to come back to at night. As noted above, it's also a great place to take in the sunset.

I thought Motovun was nice but touristy. Grožnjan was my favorite - seems fully restored, small and quaint, almost like an outdoor movie set, yet still charming. Still, I would never want to stay in one of these towns myself when I could stay in Rovinj instead. It's a different experience, I guess.

AirBalloon

I was referring to small, medieval villages not located in Istria.

When I say interior, I was talking about hilltop medieval villages to stay in that are located away from the beach along the Dalmation coast, a place we can spend a few nights exploring the countryside, outside of the larger cities.

Andrea

AirBalloon

Hello everyone.

We are thinking about skipping Dubrovnik and spending more time in the north of Croatia, in Istria, Zagreb and the northern interior of Croatia, which looks just beautiful, including seeing Plitvice National Park.

It is a long drive down to the southern tip to see Dubrovnik (over 600 km) and although it does look very nice, many days will be spent getting to and from Dubrovnik (we are flying in and out of Venice). As well, many people do tell us that you do not need more than a day or two to see Dubrovnik.

We can cut out a lot of driving and be more relaxed concentrating our attention in the north.

What do you think?

Andrea

Andrew

You could of course drop the car in Dubrovnik instead of driving all the way back north. In August, there are direct flights from Dubrovnik to Italy at least a few days a week, to Milan and even to Venice. (Easy to take a train from Milan to Venice.) Or you could fly to Dubrovnik to start from Italy and work your way north, depending on the timing.

But you would want to drop the car in Croatia, not return it in a different country, to avoid a huge one-way drop fee. You could ferry from Venice to Rovinj and rent the car there and drop it in Dubrovnik or vice versa.

No one says you HAVE to see Dubrovnik, though. It's an amazing old city, truly unique, even if small, but there are lots of great things to see north of there.

AirBalloon

Hi,

True, but we would rather not have to spend a day travelling back to Venice, then adding a day or two in Dubrovnik. We know it is a gorgeous place, but not really worth all the time it will take, especially with many beautiful places to see in the north.

We just do not like having to feel like we have to see everyone else's "must-sees". We have always found in our travels that many of the "off-the -beaten-path" places we have visited are simply beautiful and make our trips so memorable.

Are the islands nearer to Istria as nice as the ones further south? Which ones would you recommend that have beautiful beaches and great for exploring it's medieval villages.

Thanks

Andrea