Forgot to say time of year we want to travel is May 2012. Will we have any problems?

Don't you have towns in Croatia you plan to see. I would think your itinerary would dictate the amount of driving time, not the other way around. I've never thought of traveling solely in terms of how far to drive in a day. For instance, if you plan to drive 4 hours each day and the sights you want to see are only 2 hours apart, what do you do then?

I think you should plan your itinerary and then determine how far each place is and how much time you want to spend in each town. That will determine driving time.

In any country with animals the worst times are dawn and dusk. You have to be aware of all wildlife, especially deer which will destroy your car if you hit them. And deer are native to Croatia.

I don't like to waste my vacation time trying to find accommodation so I normally book ahead. This goes back to your itinerary. If you have one (and I believe you've mentioned certain town you want to visit) I would plot a route and book accommodation, especially in large towns. If you don't book ahead you should definitely be in the town long before the TI closes for the night so they can find you a place.

Well this is good feedback adrienne. Thanks for your input. Yes we do have towns we like to see. Your answer just confirmed what i was thinking. Just one more question when looking into the distances of the towns on google, how correct is that. For example, lets say Split-Zadar Google says 1hr 50mins how close is that estimation?

I always add about 25% more time for the distances I get from mappy or viamichelin. I do not drive fast since I'm on vacation and in no hurry and sometimes stop to take photos or for a coffee. Driving also takes longer when you're unsure of where you're going. This is true even at home.

We always plan out our itinerary before leaving for Europe and we have all of our accommodations booked as well.

We normally don't like to travel more than 4 hours in a day and sometimes will do less. We usually stay in each location 2, 3 or 4 days depending on what there is to see and how many day trips we plan to make.

But there is no hard and fast rule. We have spent several nights in Berchtesgden then drive the 1-1/2 hours to St. Gilgen on Wolfgangsee and spent 3 nights. We could have done one or the other as a day trip, but decided we wanted to experience the area in more depth.

I am so thrilled with all this feedback thanks all. I was thinking of staying for a couple of days in each place.

We are thinking

Dubrovnik ~ Split ~ Zadar ~ Plitvice Lakes ~ Zagreb. Two days in each place.

Thank You Betty for your feedback as well.....

Adrienne Whats Mappy and Viamichelin?

The are internet mappy sites. Google.com also has one:

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

I was in Croatia in May of 2009 and we only had the first night accommodations. We were able to find a place to stay each night with no problem as May is still kind of off season.

However, it does require a bit of work on your part as you have to walk up to some places and negotiate a price with the landlord/hotel mgr.

**ps, no wallabies in Croatia so don't worry about that (!)

lol krgystn so funny re wallagies.

mama - in May in croatia you should be able to get somewhere to stay in the place you want to stay in with little difficulty.

that gives you the advantage of being able to stay where the mood takes you, and you are not stuck somewhere that you have booked in advance but dislike when you get there.

OTOH, you can waste time looking for somewhere, you may not find somewhere you like, and in somewhere like dubrovnik, there may not be anywhere at all.

you may decide to book ahead, but you need to be pretty confident of your itinerary before you start booking.

Good feedbak annhig...wow thanks everyone. T

Well, I meant to say "internet mapping sites".

mappy.com
viamichelin.com

thanks guys

Hey everyone - Really appreciate the web sights. They will be very useful to me.

Have done numerous road trips in europe - at least 25 - and we always reserve all of our hotel in advance. If you have an open budget and are not particular about amenities you ay want to risk reserving as you go - but we have very specific requirements (location, good concierge, 24 hour room service etc) - so we reserve everything in advance.

Typically we try to drive no more than about 4 hours per day - stopping along the way at a town we've picked in advance - often for lunch and sights - as well as other stops if we see something esp cute/interesting along the way. We plan on spending 5 nights at least in larger cities and at least 2 or 3 in small cities towns (often doing a day trip from the town).

We find moving every night is way too much trouble - and doesn;t give the time to really see any place.

Wow great tip nytraveler. I would have to talk to my husband to see what he thinks will be the best for us. So far I am leaning towards booking the accommodation before we leave Australia, for peace of mind. I can speak the language extremely well and I feel that i will have no trouble sorting out any issues that may arrise regarding our accomm. Now that I know about mappy and viamichelin I feel more confident with our plans. I think that being confident with the itenary is the first step in a successful trip. We only have ten days so will have to gauge how the trip goes. if we see that we have more time on our hands well we may have to adjust lenght of stays.

Thank YOU all
Sue

We usually book our first night only and then follow our plan of where to stop. Driving more than 3 hours takes away from the enjoyment of the trip. We used to book our hotels in advance years ago but then it became stressful driving into the town and searching for both the address and the hotel. It is less stressful for us to enter a town and see a hotel and stop off to see about vacancies. It can also lessen the surprise when you find the hotel you've booked and find it not up to the advertised expectations.

I would not book in advance, if it is a driving vacation.

If I am driving along and enter into a village and it is exactly what interests me, there is a festival on, some music concerts that night, the people are friendly, the food good....would I want to have to say..sorry, we have to leave, our hotel is booked 3 hrs from here.

What if you book a hotel in a drab town, while 1/2 hr away is a wonderful B&B recommended by people you met along the way?

On a holiday where exploring is the norm, booking limits the exploration and adds stress.

If...it were a really busy time of year, maybe.

I do bring guidebooks, so when I arrive in a town I have some ideas of where to stay.

Hello Alan and Michael

Thank You for your input. Having this sort of information really helps a new traveller to get their own sense of travel savvy. It sounds like you have many years of experience. Not just the both of you but every person who responded to my question have given me information (very helpful info) so I can plan our trip.

One thing that I got from all your comments is confidence that I can arrange such a trip. Thanks all for teaching me

It is especially beneficial that you speak the language. I had to find lodging and make negotiations working with their broken English many times and in one case their broken (and my worse-than-broken) German!

You know krgystn I don't really know why I worry about this trip. I can speak the language, I do it every other day with my mother here in Australia. So negotiating will be a breeze......I was born in Vukovar 50 years ago and moved to Aust more than 40 years. Havent been back for many many a year, at least 35+ years. Hmm it will be an emotional trip for me, especially when I hit Vukovar. At least I will have relatives guiding me there.

Hvala
Sue

Dober dan, mama. I think the worst part of the trip for you will be waiting a full year till you get to go!

Joj sine moje jedva cekam?

(Ohh my son I can hardly wait)

ps little note re above comment to krgystn. "Sine" means son in Croatian, however mothers sometimes use the word "sine" to all their children, even if the child is a daughter.

So the transelation should really be: "Ohh my child, I can hardly wait"

I agree with the book first night and then as you go. In my travels I would have missed some lovely unplanned stops for festivals, etc. Also weather can make a difference in where you might want to stay or push on. But then I don't require anything fancy--just clean and comfortable. I always go with rough itinerary but with the idea that things can change if something better shows itself.

Have a great trip!

Mabe this should be a new thread, but I'll try it because so many of you sound like you have great insight into driving in Croatia. Question: Does a Garmin with a current map of Europe function accurately in Croatia? Thanks.

jretired, I can't answer your question, but it is pretty easy to drive there especially on the coast as there are not that many roads; a map works well. However you may want to start a new thread to get better responses.