Hi,

we are 4 people who would like to travel to Croatia in August for 9 nights. We are flying from Barcelona to Venice, and then catch a ferry to Pula, and we have booked a flight at the end of the 9 nights from Dubrovnik back to Barcelona. The problem is, there are so many place to visit from the north to the south!!!

We are planning to rent a car to go from Pula to Zadar (visiting also the Plitvice Lakes) and there in Zadar we would like to go to Split by ferry, and go jumping thru some of the islands until we would arrive to Dubrovnik. We would like to visit towns but also enjoy the beautiful beaches that appear in all the Tourism brochures.

Do you think we are doing right with this itinerary?? Are we forgetting something important, such as a very beatuiful island or a hidden beach? Is it easy/cheap to rent a car in Croatia?

I forgot, we also would like to rent a boat, just for one or a couple of days, do you know any website where I could find interesting prices??

Thanks to all of you!!!

With only 9 days there's more places you won't see than will see. To see Croatia fully, you need about 2 weeks. As for islands, the only one we spent time on was Hvar, which we enjoyed very much, but there are plenty of other islands. You should plan at least 2 days in Dubrovnik. Also, do a search on the forum as there are loads of threads on Croatia itineraries.

You can also rent a boat, as you mentioned, but there are just so many things you can do in 9 days. I think you are getting carried away with your planning. You will arrive in Pula and there are several delightful towns to to visit on the Istrian penisnula, like Rovinj and Poran.

With 9 days and arriving in Pula, I would spend a day or 2 in Istria, drive to Plitvice and stay overnight in order to see it in the morning, drive to Zadar and stay overnight, (underrated but we loved it), visit an island (maybe an overnight), and then get to Trogir (nice town for an overnight) and Split, (which is overrated). After Split, drive down the coast to Dubrovnik for 2 nights. That's 8-9 nights already. Keep in mind that driving down the coast from Split to Dubrovnik is slow going and you will probably need a base for one overnight stop. There are nice beaches all the way down the coast, but they are narrow and rocky. The nicest beaches are on the islands.

Also, check out my 2 web pages on 2 of our trips (there have been 4) to Croatia. Here are the URLs.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/croatia/slovenia.htm (2006)
http://www.travel.stv77.com/croatia/croatia.htm (2003)

Just wanted to add this possibility for you to think about. You can combine 2 things you want to do (visit an island and rent a boat) by taking a day trip to one or more islands on the many tourist boats available from most decent sized cities along the coast - Zadar, Trogir, Split, Dubrovnik and probably others. It's a convenient way to visit an island or two without too much hassle. You pay your money, sail to an island, spend the day there and then sail back. There are also boats which visit several different islands. There are many different possibilites.

Thanks sssteve!!!

trogir is nice- we liked it better than zadar even though it is smaller
we rented a car from sixt- no real dramas
but the mietwagenmarkt site is cheaper i think - seems to gather deals from all over - we are looking for a car now for norway and the cars are about 500 dollars cheaper on average for the tens days we need

plitvice we did in a morning
we had a meal in zadar later that same day

then we stayed overnight in trogir
travelling down to dubrovnik where we stayed three nights - visiting montenegro one day
then we travelled back to split and hired a yacht for a week
we saw hvar brac and vis

i hear korcula and mjlet are nice too
but you do have to choose

we had an afternoon in zagreb - nothing much to see but if you have a few hours you might as well

As stated, nine nights really isn't enough to do Croatia justice, you will end up feeling that you missed a lot. However, with that in mind and trying to get more "bang" for your buck, I'd suggest:

1. Unless you love to visit roman ruins, get out of Pula and site yourself somewhere more central on the Istrian coast as soon as you get off the ferry. Carefully plan which hilltowns you would like to see and figure out the route in advance. Try to forget about the rest of them as you drive by...

2. Plan on possibly spending more time driving than you think. We were re-routed twice because of road closures and construction which ate up a lot of time...and this was in the off-season.

3. As sssteve said, don't expect sandy beaches wherever you look...they are definitely in the brochures but aren't around every cove.

4. Decide if your group likes hiking and how much. Plitvice Lakes is perfect for hikers, but for leisure walkers it will be impossible to see it all in the few hours you may have before going on to Zadar. On the other hand, a full day may be too long if no one likes to hike...or the weather is poor. (BTW, if going to Zadar, the sea organ is pretty neat.)


5. If you are going to an Island, pick one and forget about the rest. Decide if you want a party site or a relaxation desitination and go from there.

We found the car rental in Croatia to be easy but a bit more expensive than other places. We really had to search to find an ok deal. But it wasn't incredibly expensive and was well worth the ability to go when and where we wanted. Have fun planning!
--Annie