Sansan_mountain

Hi Folks,

We have 16 days in Europe. My friend will arrive 7am in Milan from Hong Kong, and i will be flying from UK to meet her there

Here is my rough itinerary so I can start booking accomadations

Day 1 - Friend arrive at Milan airport then take train to Venice where i will fly from UK to Venice to meet up with her
Stay a night at Venice

Day 2 - One day at Venice

Day 3 - Take train to Trieste (2 hrs train)
Sightseeing at Trieste and stay 1 night at Trieste
Day 4 - Whole day at Trieste
Stay 1 night at Trieste

Day 5 - Rent a car at Trieste and drive to Bled in Slovenia.
Stay a night at Lake Bled
Day 6 - Enjoy Bled for half a day and drive down to Ljubjana
Stay a night at Ljubjana

Day 7 - Whole day at Ljubjana
Stay night at Ljubjana

Day 8 - Drive to Zadar or Split
Stay a night at Zadar or Split
Day 9 - Drive and spend a whole day at Pittvice National park

Day 10- Drive to dubrovnik
Stay at Dubrovnik
Day 11 - whole day at Dubrovnik
Day 12 Somewhere in Croatia? or drive to Montenegro?
Day 13 Somewhere in Croatia? Montenegro?

Day 14 - Drive back to Milan
Day 15- Whole day at Milan
Stay a night at Milan

Day 16 - Fly back home

This is only a rough idea. I am open to options, but the main place I really want to visit is Croatia and if enough time I would like to drive from Croatia to Montenegro.

So i have a few questions.

1. Should I fly to Milan and meet up with my friend first? Or fly to Venice and meet her?
2. Should we go to Venice or go to Lake Como? or can we drive to Hallstatt?
3. Where should we stay in Croatia? Dubrovnik and somewhere else?
4. Should we rent the car in Italy or in Slovenia? Which option would be cheaper?
5. Will we have any troubles driving in all those places?

Thank you guys

Travel_Nerd

First question I have: WHEN are you going? What month? What year? Our recommendations may vary depending on your trip time.

For example, if you're heading to Croatia coast in October, some of the hotels and restaurants have shut down for the season...

Second question: Have you or your friend already booked your plane tickets yet?

If not, suggest flying open jaw for both of you - multi-city tickets rather than heading back to Italy...fly home from Dubrovnik. You're going to waste valuable time just to get back to Italy from Croatia... Also, why isn't your friend flying directly to Venice instead of Milan? If Milan is the only city, then fly from Dubrovnik to Milan and then on home from there.


You seemed to have packed it in pretty tight between Italy and Germany plus with Croatia and Slovenia... I would consider scaling back. Your current itinary has you seeing more of highways/train stations than actually seeing anything. One day in Venice? Why just one day? Also, you're underestimating how long it will take to arrive in each city, get to your hotel, check in to your hotel. By that point, your time is sucked away with logistics!

As to your questions:
1. This is between you and your friend, really. To me, it seems to be a waste of time to fly into Milan when you're heading directly to Venice. I've heard that Milan is "cheaper" to fly into, however you instead spend that money, and more importantly TIME, to head to your ultimate desitation. But, I don't know the schedule or availability of flights from Hong Kong, so if it is possible...fly directly to Venice for both of you, if you want to actually see the city.

2. What do the two of you want to do? Do you want to go to Venice? Go to Venice. Do you want to see Lake Como? Go to Lake Como. This is your trip. Fly into and out of where you want to go... Personally, only one day in Venice seems to be a waste, but that is my opinion.

3. Others will answer this one as I have not yet been to Dubrovnik.

4. Some rental car companies charge a steep drop off fee for renting in one country and dropping it in another. You will need to research what is the cheapest option. Also, some companies may not allow cross-boarder rentals as well.

5. What sort of problems are you referring to? Road conditions? You may need an international driving license and some countries - Slovenia (maybe Italy, too) require a vignette to access their roads. Purchase at a gas/petrol station as soon as you cross the border.

Some advice: Pick up some good guidebooks of everywhere you're thinking of traveling. Use the Michelin website for driving times between points (better than Google). Plan what exactly you want to see in each destination. Talk to your friend and determine exactly what your goals are.

PalenQ

4. Some rental car companies charge a steep drop off fee for renting in one country and dropping it in another.> Nearly all do and not just a little but often 300 euros or more. Either fly back to Milan or take the train from the last place in Slovenia you could return the car to.

Sassafrass

They were renting the car in Trieste, which is probably why they were returning to Italy for the drop off.

Be sure the company you rent from will let you take the car to places you wish to go.

Doing return to Milan eats up time and money.
Try to do a more straight line itinerary, not a loop.
If you must, then do the loop from Venice and skip Milan altogether.
If your friend must arrive and depart from Milan, meet her there. Fly to your furtherest destination and work your way back. Or, meet her at you furtherest destination and work your way back.

The Milan thing always seems appealing because of initial cost, but is often not the best logistically.

John_R

A couple of points -

- Plitvice Lakes NP is between Ljubjana and both Zadar and Split. You are not going to want to go back north to it after passing it while going south, and then driving south again to Dubrovnik. You'll be going round in circles. The better plan would be Ljubjana- Plitvice-Zadar-Split-Dubrovnik.

I drove from Venice to Plitvice in one morning, saw the upper lakes in the afternoon, the lower lakes the next morning and then drove straight to Dubrovnik. Both drives were 4 - 5 hours and not particularly difficult but driving is driving and even on Croatia's nice roads you get tired.

- No way you want to plan to drive from Dubrovnik to Milan in one day. That's probably something like 12+ hours on the road, just guessing.

My trip got the longest driving days over with in the first two days then was more lazy driving north up the Dalmatian coast through Korcula island, Split, Zadar and Rovinj in Istria then back to Venice.

- Renting the car at Marco Polo airport in Venice wasn't bad, something like 30 euros a day and Hertz didn't care that I was taking the car on ferries. Not sure how they would have felt if we'd had a problem in Bosnia-Herzegovina's Nuem corridor but it was safe and easy so no problems.

kja

Only 1 day in Venice? Only 1/2 day in Bled? I'm not sure I understand your interests or your strategy for deciding how long to spend in any location.

It seems to me that if you pursue this option, you will be spending an inordinate amount of time on the road, with so little time at any place where you actually do stop that you really won't have time to see much of anything. And BTW, I say that as someone who is frequently criticized by other Fodorites for trying to see too much in too little time!

As John_R noted, your plan for routing to the Plitvice Lakes makes little sense. And while he suggests two half-day visits, I must admit that I strongly urge timing your visit to this magnificent park to allow a single loop of about 6 hours: Each lake has unique microbiota, and as a result, the lakes are different colors. The best way to see that is, IMO, to make a single, long loop through the park -- something on the order of 6 hours or more (including time for the boat that connects the lower and upper lakes). Of course if you can't manage a single 6-hour + tour of the park, John_R's solution would be a good one.

I suggest that you do a bit more research before committing to an itinerary: Consult a good guidebook or two (always a worthy investment, IME, but you can also check your local library), note the things that you most want to see and experience, check their opening hours, and mark them on a calendar. Block out your time for transportation, checking into / out of hotels, meals, etc. Then see where you stand.

Good luck!

Sansan_mountain

Hi there guys,

Sorry for such a confusing and undetailed post, as I was typing it up while commuting.

I will be going at start of august this year! Yes a very last minute trip
My friend is coming from asia and has already booked her flights to Milan, and will be flying back out at Milan, hence why we would need to travel back out of Milan, and obviously do some shopping too, since we are there.

My friend hardly comes to europe and she really wants to see everything all in one go. i know the itinerary is super ambitious. Thank you so much for your input and advice. i am going to take uo the advice and redraft the itinerary, and post back to let you guys know. M

Maybe instead of driving from Croatia back to Venice, I will take a flight back up. My friend just thought we could see more of the scenery if we drive back up too!

kja

"she really wants to see everything all in one go."

Of course the problem is that the more one TRIES to see, the less one ACTUALLY sees.

Travel_Nerd

I second what Kja said above. Scale back. If you go once, you can always go again -- even from Asia. Pick your absolute must-sees and plan for them.

You're going to this region at/around the first two - three weeks of August?

Note that this is the absolute busiest time to be traveling to this region. Expect crowds. You may even need to expect a shortage of accommodations as well. I suspect some of the more popular destinations (Dubrovnik, Split, and Plitvice Lakes) may have already been booked, but you could get lucky. Try your luck with Airbnb and sobes if hotels don't work out.

John_R

Driving from Venice to Plitvice to Dubrovnik to Korcula to Split to Zadar to Rovinj/Pula then back to Venice by car in 8 days is very doable. I know because I did it a couple of weeks ago.

Since you have more time than I did, throwing in Trieste, Bled and Ljubjana to start is probably feasible as well. Finding accommodations in August in all those places would be the real challenge.

Also, I highly recommend GPS navigation using a smartphone and the "Here" app from Nokia. The beauty of it is that you download the countries ahead of time and then you can use it while offline so you aren't paying international data charges. It was amazingly accurate and easy to use and it is free. Made the whole trip a breeze.

bilboburgler

Hi, rushed but possible

1) This is not Eastern Europe, but Central or Southern. Russia is Eastern, which is waaaaay over there->

2) Split is the place to go. Go see the Roman palace

3) go to Venice, even in August you'll be glad you went

kja

"Driving from Venice to Plitvice to Dubrovnik to Korcula to Split to Zadar to Rovinj/Pula then back to Venice by car in 8 days is very doable. I know because I did it a couple of weeks ago."

I'm sure that's true -- but doing so would not suit everyone! It would certainly NOT have let me see the things that I wanted to see in these places. It really depends on what the travelers want to do.

Supermum

Have just done a 6 week trip of Croatia and Slovenia...please realize that in August you will be SWELTERING, it's very hot. You will not feel like hurrying or sightseeing at all but finding a patch of water to dip into!! We visited the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, so lovely but a long way for a day trip, we stayed 2 nights and 4 nights in Dubrovinik,,,the slower you can take the trip the better. Narrow down your destinations.

John_R

Everyone has their own conditions around which they plan travel. For me, my wife and I both have jobs that make it difficult to get away for more than a week or two at a time. When planning Croatia I knew I had about a week and a half including travel to and from the US and I also knew that I might never get a chance to see the country again. For us it made sense to rent a car and see as much as we reasonably could in the time that we had. We spent one night in Plitvice, two nights in Dubrovnik, two nights in Lumbarda (Korcula), one night in Zadar and two nights in Rovinj. We saw a lot and moved a lot but it didn't feel rushed to me while spending hours on various beaches or while casually strolling around various old town areas or while exploring the walled fortifications of tiny towns in Istria. If I could have taken another week and taken a few more days here and there a bit it would have been a nice thing but was a luxury I did not have. As it was the trip was great and the wonderful memories will last forever.