KeithAG

Here are our plans so far:

Arriving in Ljubljana in the morning, 2 nights (Sept.3,4) Accommodations secured.
Visiting bled on the 5th and staying the night in Kranjska Gora. The 6th plan to visit Soca Valley area and perhaps stay in Kobarid or Nova Gorica. The nights of the 7th and 8th we will stay in Rovinj, Croatia planning on visiting Pula, Porec, Groznjan towns of Istria. On the 9th drive to Plitvice Lakes for the night and explore the park the following day before driving on to Split to spend the night on the 10th. Take a ferry on the 11th, with the car, to Harv for two nights. On the 13th drive to the end of the island and take the ferry from Sucumj to Drevnik and onto Mali Ston for the night of the 14th. On the 15th drive to Kotor, Montenegro for two nights (15th & 16th) on the 17th drive to Dubrovnik staying in old town for the nights of the 17th, 18th, and 19th before flying home on the 20th.
We could cut out Kotor and add more time elsewhere in Slovenia or Croatia. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Keith

John_R

Sounds doable to me as long as you don't mind the many hotel changes. You'll get to see a lot of places and since it sounds like that's what you want I'd say go for it.

A note about Rovinj - No cars allowed in the old town so depending on where you stay it could be more difficult than you might think to use it as a base for visiting other places. We stayed at a hotel where they greeted us outside the old town then used their residents pass to get the car within a block of the hotel. They then took the car and parked it for us and retrieved it when we left. Convenient since we didn't plan to leave the city until we checked out but maybe not if you want easy access to the car.

rialtogrl

I'd add another night in Split. Driving there from Plitvice, and leaving the next day on the ferry is not going to allow you too much time to check out what Split has to offer. You should have a whole day there. You could take a day from Dubrovnik and add it here.

When you take the car ferry to Hvar, you have to park your car in a line to get on. So when you choose your ferry and buy your ticket, find out where the ship is, and go put your car in the line. You can lock it and leave it there once you are in line. Just arrive in plenty of time to get back in your car when that line starts to move. It works out well, but it can be a bit time consuming.

Andrew

I loved Montenegro. The Bay of Kotor is beautiful - as you drive around the Bay plan on stopping a few times for pictures and also in the beautiful town of Perast if you can. But if you don't mind staying only one night in a lodging, you could get a decent impression with only one night if you want to add time elsewhere (I stayed only one night). You could even do it as a day trip from Dubrovnik but spending a night or two in Kotor makes it feel less rushed, for sure.

Try to drive the scenic drive from Kotor up through the mountains to Cetinje, via Njeguši. It's a lot of hairpin turns driving up the mountain and might seem scary to some I guess, but I took it slow and had no trouble, really. The views down from the drive are breathtaking, and you can pull over here and there for pictures.

I assume you are aware of the typical one-way drop fee to rent a car in Slovenia and drop it off in Croatia? It might be a lot cheaper to drop the car in say Koper, take a bus or shuttle down to Rovinj, and rent another car there. If you aren't worried about the extra cost, it might be worth it to avoid the inconvenience, I guess.

kja

I agree with railtogrl -- do consider adding a night to Split; you can probably take it from Dubrovnik.

You might be skimping a bit on Bled / Ljubljana -- I could not have seen everything I wanted to see in / around Bled in a even one single long day. But it really depends on your interests.

Two nights in Kotor would have been too much for me, but again, it depends on what YOU want to see and experience. FWIW, I visited Kotor (and Perast) as a long day trip from Dubrovnik. I'm sure I would have enjoyed more time in Kotor, but found it very similar in many ways to Dubrovnik and didn't feel that I was skipping anything that felt important to me. JMO.

I agree with Andrew that you should consider ways to avoid a rental car drop-off fee if you can.

Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will be a great trip!

KeithAG

Wow! Great suggestions, thank you! I will trim a night off of Kotor, but will get in the sites suggested, and add a night in Split. Thank you all again and safe travels to everyone.

suhi2000

Sleep in Goriska brda instead Kobarid or Nova gorica.
Return car in Koper and go with bus to Rovinj or even taxi. It will be much cheaper to take new car there in compare with returning car in Croatia and rent in Slovenia.
On the way to Koper stop in Predjama castel and/or Skocjan cave.