laurenanne

Hi,
Wondering if we can visit a little croatia and a little slovenia for about 8/9 days end of june/early july. we have to fly overnight through london and back, so that eats up 2 nights, leaving us 9 nights to work with once over there. Debating whether to fly into slovenia, drive around and down to croatia, or fly into croatia, and leave out of slovenia? Is the drive from the southern islands such as Hvar, etc. far from ljubljana? would that eat up too much of our time trying to drive up there to catch a flight back to london?

Also, how much booking in advance would we need to do given it is height of the summer season? Finally, should we skip slovenia and just do croatia or vice versa? Seems slovenia could take about 4-5 days, so wasn't wanting to spend the entire time there necessarily...
thanks!

yorkshire

I think you should look for flights first. You don't have anything in mind that you must see, so I would find the best flight and then fill it in. I would advise no more than three places with 9 nights.
With Slovenia, you are only going to be able to visit northern Croatia, so if you want to visit the southern coast, then I would save Slovenia for a later trip.
I would not worry about prebooking for early July.

christabir

It all depends on how you like to travel. We wanted to see a lot of Croatia so we drove all over, staying 1-2 nights per hotel. It's personal preference. We rented a car and went nuts - even into Slovenia to see the Lipizzaners in Lipica for a day. I would probably not do that now as we aren't as fun, but we went to Pula, Lipica, Plitvice, Split and Dubrovnik in 8 nights. We saw a lot, but really experienced nothing, but loved it! I would find the best flights you can - I think easyjet and ryanair still fly in/out of Croatia if you are interested - and figure it out from there. Everyone is complaining about expensive flights this year, so see what you can find.

laurenanne

Thanks. Yes, the flights are RIDICULOUS this year. But we can fly on miles out of nyc to london on continental. Then, we can either fly to slovenia (keeping in mind its mostly slovenia and northern croatia), or fly to hvar/split/dubrovnik on EasyJet. I guess I am wondering if we start that far south near Hvar, can we make it up to slovenia to fly out of ljbuljana (sp?) without missing both countries. As mentioned by Cristabir, we also tend to go nuts and drive everywhere feeling like its the last time we will be in a spot and need to pack it all in. Slovenia looks small enough, but croatia looks rather large.

Do you get a taste for croatia by hitting the northern area? Is it similar enough to the southern islands, or is it an entirely different animal?

And if we just wanted to book a flight to Hvar, and do the islands, we would be okay not booking hotels in advanced?

We just came off a 5 week honeymoon in SE Asia and I meticulously planned the trip from top to bottom for weeks. I had fun, but it would be nice to just show up and wing it rather than worry about where we have to be the next day....
Thanks again!
Lauren

yorkshire

You could conceivably make it from Dbv or Split to Ljubljana in 9 days, but I would not recommend doing so. You can always go back--and you will want to use all of that energy exploring your surroundings, not racing across the country.
Both the north and the south have much to offer, it just depends on what you want: sun and islands or forests and castles (oversimplifying of course).
I would book in advance for my first stop, but I don't think it would be necessary to book the whole week. It is fairly easy to wing it in summer--just be aware of the ferry schedules. Renting apartments gives you much more for your money. People convert homes into apartments, that's the way to go in Croatia.

kja

> Do you get a taste for croatia by hitting the northern area? Is it similar enough to the southern islands, or is it an entirely different animal?

They seemed like very different animals to me. The southern coast has jaw-droppingly beautiful scenery and amazing architecture. Istria has smaller towns scattered along the coast and on inland hilltops and has a more Italian feel to it. But maybe that's just the parts of these areas that I saw. Each is wonderful in its own way.

LittleVicky

Venice is only a little more than an hours drive from Slovenia-Croatia and worked out well for me in the past from London.

HarryS

I am flying to Zagreb using points through Continental also leaving from NYC. It was 5k more points then to go to London. There is a stop over of less then two hours in Frankford and a flight on Croatian airlines to Zagreb. There is a two hour drive to Ljubljana from Zagreb. Call Continental and see if there is a flight available to a destination in Croatia. Might save some time.

laurenanne

thank you for the thoughts. will mull it over!

poeandsullivan

If you have time, the islands off the Dalmatian coast are wonderful--Hvar and Korcula expecially. There are ferries from Split and Dubrovnik (Split, by the way, is a wonderful town as well)so you can make a day trip of it. The towns are small and can be enjoyed in an afternoon. Hvar gets hopping at night, fun bar scene on the water, if you decide to stay over.

laurenanne

SOOOO, I am now thinking fly into dubrovnik, out of split. We have award travel to london and will take easyjet from london to croatia. otherwise, at the price of airfare this summer, this trip would not be possible.

that gives us 7 nights. What is the best way to get from place to place? if we rented a car, would we have a drop off fee issue if we left it rented in dubrovnik, dropped in split? should we even take a car?

thanks!
lauren

yorkshire

Alright, it's nice when a plan comes together. There are tons of threads here about that itinerary--flip through those and then you'll have a better idea of what is best for you. There should not be a drop off fee, but a car would not be necessary. There is a 4 hour bus between the two, or take a ferry, stopping on an island in between. Many options, so come back to ask more and fine-tune after you investigate further.

laurenanne

sounds great. thanks!!