August trip to Italy/Croatia
 

Hi, My husband and 2 teenage daughters are looking to travel to Western Italy ( Naples, the Amalfi Coast,.) and
Croatia (Dubrovnik, Split, the Plitvice Lakes). We are looking to go for approximately 2 weeks the end of August. Looking for suggestion on an itinerary including best things to see and recommendations of hotels or airbnbs. I would also appreciate any help on best ways to travel to Croatia from Italy.
Thanks for any suggestions.

OK -- What do you mean by 'approximately 2 weeks'? 10 days, 14 days, 17/18 days (?) . . . makes a HUGE difference. But just playing with 14 days total time - that will net you 11.5 days on the ground. If so, I would do only Italy or only Croatia.

So how long do you actually have?

Easyjet has direct fllights from Naples to Dubrovnik. The more expensive alternative would be Marinobus from Naples to Bari plus overnight ferry.
I suppose you will fly home from Zagreb.

Both Italy and Croatia has so much to offer for those two weeks of your time, maybe settle on one country and explore it thoroughly

You could never explore Croatia "thorougly" in 2 weeks only, you would need months for Italy.
But the OP plans to visit Naples, Sorrento-Amalfi, Dubrovnik, Split and Plitvice only. That should be possible in 2 weeks although it might get a bit stressing.

Agree that if you limit yourself to the places mentioned it is 'doable' in two weeks. A few more days would be even better. Fly into one and out of the other. Look at Easyjet and other carriers for flights from Naples (or even Rome) to Dubrovnik (or Split).

We did a similar trip (although we had three weeks, but we spent several days in Rome). We had 8 nights in Sorrento with day trips to Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Naples, Capri. Then we had 8 nights split between Dubrovnik, Korcula and Split (you would substitute Plitvice for Korcula in your proposed itinerary). Here is that trip report - https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...-weeks-854867/

I hope you are aware that the Mediterranean coast of Italy can be blisteringly hot (not as hot as some other places, but hot) and swarming with crowds in August - or do you mean you'd be arriving at the very end of August (in which case it won't be quite so bad)? I imagine coastal places in Croatia would be the same.

I would also choose one or the other--spend that time enjoying whichever place you choose rather than heading back to the airport (you would have to fly to make this remotely doable) and being in transit.
Have you looked at the likely flights, etc. yet?

Coastal places in Croatia are now some of the worst crowds in Europe I just read - comparing Dubrovnik to Venice and the whole coast crowded in summer - a special favorite of Germans.

There are ferries from Croatia to Italy - mainly overnight ones - could be cool. Just Google Croatia to Italy ferries.

The Croatian Coast was called "Teutonengrill" (Teuton grill) in the fifties of last Century already.
You may avoid the worst crowds if you go to Islands like Unije, Ilovik, Susak, Cres, Lastovo.....
https://www.visitlosinj.hr/losinj-archipelago.aspx