maja30

I posted a rough Balkans Itinerary last month and got a lot of help from this forum! Thank you all again! I wasn't sure if I should continue posting from there just because there's a lot to scroll through, but we (2 females mid-20s - the other 2 have dropped out) have decided to add an extra week since this is a bit of a celebratory trip and that gave us a lot more extra time so we also decided to add back Montenegro and Skopje. I'm pretty satisfied with it, but I want to make sure it's realistic.

1 potential change: switching Belgrade and Skopje. We really wanted to end in Belgrade, but surprisingly we are getting better priced flights with decent itineraries into Ljubljana and out of Skopje. If we can't find anything better, we will just end in Skopje and go from Sarajevo -> Belgrade before.

For the budget - we are aiming for 50-60 CAD per day per person, not including any flights.

Some questions:
1) Is it a better idea to go straight from Dubrovnik to Budva (we can reach there around 12:45) and then do a day trip to the Bay of Kotor? This would be easier with our luggage left back at the hostel rather than having to leave it somewhere (not sure where).

2? Will we be too old to party in Hvar and Budva? Is it 18-22 year olds primarily? Or do they attract older crowds as well?

Flight July 31

1) Ljubljana 2 nights (1-2)
- Arrive afternoon
- on 2nd trip to Lake Bled via direct bus to Bled*
- on 3rd Predjama Castle and Postojna caves - leave onward to Trieste*

2) Trieste day trip 1 night (3)
- spend the 4th in Trieste before heading to Pula at 6:00 PM (reach 8:20 PM)

3) Pula 2 nights (4-5)
- 1 day in Pula/Brijuni

4) Zagreb 0 nights
- arrive 7:30 am in Zagreb via flight*
- explore Zagreb and transfer to Plitvice in evening

5) Plitvice 1 night (6)
- arrive in the evening on the 6th
- visit on the 7th*

6) Zadar 2 nights (7-8)
- arrive around 8 PMish
- 1 day in Zadar

7) Split 3 nights (9-11)**
- leave Zadar @ 12:00 PM, arrive at Split at 2:00 PM
- maybe day trip to Trogir on 11th

8) Hvar 1 night (12)**
- 1 night in Hvar at Carpe Diem (ferry from Split @ 10:30 - reaches ~12)

9) Dubrovnik 3 nights (13-15)
- arrive at 12 via ferry from Hvar (departs at 8:55 am)*
- evening + 2 full days

10) Budva 3 nights (16-18)
- Dubrovnik -> Bay of Kotor -> Budva 16th*
- Budva - 17th**
- Lovcen National Park if not exhausted on the 18th

11) Mostar 2 nights (19-20)
- direct transfer from Budva to Mostar via Kotor & Trebinje 8 am-12 pm on the 19th*
- (Day trip to Pocitelj on 20th if time)

12) Sarajevo 2 nights (21-22)
- bus to Sarajevo on 21st
- 1 full day in Sarajevo**

13) Skopje 3 nights (23-25)
- flight from Sarajevo to Skopje - non-direct 4:15pm-10:30 pm on 23rd
- 2 full days in Skopje

14) Belgrade 4 nights (26-29)
- flight from Skopje to Belgrade 3:00 PM - 4:10 PM
- 3 full days in Belgrade**

thursdaysd

I don't understand the Trieste bit - are you spending the night or not? Either way, I don't think it's worth the time. Whereas Plitvice is easily worth two nights, especially if you're using public transport.

I don't think Dubrovnik is worth three nights unless you're day tripping to an island one day. See http://www.portdubrovnik.hr/girica1.php
to find out how many cruise ship passengers will be in town when you are.

Sarajevo deserves more time.

It's worthwhile doing a day trip to Lake Matka from Skopje. Pity you don't have time for Lake Ohrid while you're in Macedonia.

For my most recent trip to the Balkans go to https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/ and put your destinations into the search box.

maja30

In Trieste we are going to be arriving the night after we are done with the Postojna Caves. We will probably be done with Predjama and Postojna Caves before 3:00 PM so we can take the train and arrive at Trieste around 6 (2.5 hours it's supposed to take). We'll be spending the next morning there and then going to Pula later in the evening. I don't want to skip this as I had already skipped it when it was originally supposed to be a day trip from Venice during my last trip to Italy.

We may remove the 3rd night in Dubrovnik since there are many cruise ships arriving that day and add it to Sarajevo, but I was also told that 1, even 2, full days in Dubrovnik is not enough during August.

thursdaysd

I'm not sure who told you that about Dubrovnik, but believe me, you can see the old town and walk the walls in less than a day. That gives you late afternoon and evening for hanging out and admiring the views.

I hope you like Trieste more than I did. Admittedly the weather was so bad I had to skip Miramare, but the town itself was too Hapsburg monumental for my taste.

maja30

Even if Dubrovnik is crowded? Although since our second day there is going to be filled with cruise ships, we might just head out early.

thursdaysd

Yes. Plan to walk the walls either early or late. The old town is not that big, look at it on google maps.

MattLaSerb

You should definitely choose to save Belgrade for the last destination, cause I think it would leave much better last impression of your whole tour. Although, it is cool plan in general. Enjoy your staying in Serbia!