Jadrolinija is not the only ferry service. There is also Kapetan Luka - Krilo www.krilo.hr There is another, but I think it mostly serves Northern Dalmatia and parts of southeastern Istria, and I cannot remember their name for the life of me.

It is a bit early for them to be posting their 2023 schedules. I'd check in early December 2022 to see if they have through April posted. You could probably use April 2022 as a general guide as well. I would not imagine it would change all that much.

We visited Croatia in May a few years ago and ferry services were significantly less frequent than the summer timetables (but still manageable). We also had a lot of rain but I think it was just a rainy year.

Yeah my logic is that even in April, the more northern cities will be cooler and more prone to rain, at least going by averages based on historical records.

For instance, I went to Portugal this past April because on average, Lisbon and especially Algarve have low rainfall that month. Porto does have more rain though. For the most part I avoided rain on that trip but the first part of it there were intense winds when I went to Sintra and Cabo da Roca and then when I went down to Algarve. But Porto was nice for me. Lot of clouds but never fully covering the sun and it was pleasant weather. Same with the Douro Valley.

Costa del Sol is suppose to have even beach weather sometimes in March. However looking at some photos, much of the Costa del Sol doesn't seem that appealing.scenery-wise. Malaga seems worth a couple of days but all the coastal towns look pretty similar. There are some mirador away from the coast which have views of the mountains and the coastline. Otherwise, Ronda and maybe one or two white villages look more scenic.

So I will probably look more inland other than Malaga and make my way to Sevilla and then from there, Madrid and Castilla towards the end of the trip and fly out of Madrid. Instead of day trips, maybe spend a night or two in places like Toledo, to take photos at night.

For the flights, the routing doesn't seem too bad, Madrid and Barcelona probably have the most options, more than Malaga or Sevilla. I am on United and Star Alliance so fly to Frankfurt or Munich and then United across the ocean. I remember my previous trips to Seville, the return flight options weren't great but then I was on Sky Team then.

scrb11,
What I do now instead of relying on historical records, because all of Iberia is heating up, I use https://www.timeanddate.com to check what the weather was like for my dates last year. This autumn, or veroño, has been particularly warm. The high today in Sevilla will reach 31C.

I believe your focus is photography, so you would definitely want to spend a night or two in Toledo, as the city takes on a somewhat mystical, mysterious air at night. For me a night or 2 in Toledo makes for a much more rewarding experience than a day trip.

I did check on routing on matrix.itasoftware.com and from Málaga on Star Alliance (Lufthansa) you can connect back to the west coast (LAX?), but the flight to Frankfurt leaves at 5:50 am from AGP, a total of 16 hrs, 15, min. from Málaga back to LA.

About the Costa del Sol and its scenery----Málaga is a truly lovely city and claims 300 sunny days a year,
The adjacent resort towns (Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Torremolinos) are blighted by high rise overdelvelopment (alas, I worked as a teacher there for 2 summers) and not scenic nor are the beaches particularly pretty (those beautiful golden beaches you'll find on the other coast, the Costa de la Luz.

I would go inland from Málaga, instead.

As I mentioned above, the Ruta del Califato has very scenic hill towns, especially pretty Priego de Córdoba, around the Subbética and of course, the famous pueblos blancos from Ronda to Arcos de la Frontera (Setenil de las Bodegas, Grazalema, Zahara de la Sierra, Olvera, Benajoán with its La Pileta prehistoric caves) are highly photogenic.
Here are some photos-
https://viajes.nationalgeographic.co...os-cadiz_14698
https://www.sensacionrural.es/blog/p...encanto-cadiz/

From these, you can make your way up to Sevilla and Córdoba and back to Madrid.

Even Marbella, with its glamorous image, seemed pretty normal. Did see some nice hotels up in Mijas with ocean views.

There used to be a show called Mediterranean Life on HGTV and they featured a couple of episodes set in Costa Tropical, which is east of Malaga. They showed some homes up in the hills overlooking the coastline below but I can't find those locations in Google Maps. The one I found was in Salobrena, there's a castle overlooking the coast. But not as many miradors (at least in Google Maps) given the terrain of hills not too far from the coast.

The old quarter of Marbella is quite photogenic.
I've seen all the Spain episodes of Mediterranean Life.
That section of the coast is a haven for expats--Frigiliana, Nerja, La Herradura, Salobreña. Nerja has a particularly large population of Northern Europeans. Its Balcón de Europa, though, is a scenic spot, but again, for more rural authenticity and a stronger Spanish feel, I would visit the white towns inland.

By the way, if your timing includes April 2nd to April 9th, this is Semana Santa and it is an electric time to be in Seville, with a full week of dramatic processions (they even broadcast these live for hours on end on local TV) - - and all places in Andalucia will have festivities that affect the daily activity (as well as the hotel prices - - but it can be well worth it as a powerful experience).
https://www.cuddlynest.com/blog/sema...o%2012%20hours.

I tried to find out about ferries between Istria and Venice, because that seemed to me the best way to enter and exit Istria without these long drives to other parts of Croatia, including Zagreb airport and of course Dalmatia.

According to Venezia Lines, they start their 2023 service at end of April, so that'a another reason maybe Croatia isn't in the cards for April. They also seem to arrive in and out of San Basilio, which is facing Giudecca so seems like a long way to get to Piazzale Roma with luggage if you need to get to or from Marco Polo airport. Unless there's an Alilaguna line near San Basilio or something.

I did pull my wheeled luggage to Piazzale Roma, from really close by and you just simply can't avoid at least one bridge with stairs between a vaporetto stop and a hotel or in this case, between Piazzale Roma and a nearby hotel. So be prepared to lift your suitcases at some point.

Taking a goopti from Venice airport to Istria Is faster and much easier than the catamaran.
goopti.com

That's like a shared transfer car service?

Not bad but appears 2.5 to almost 4 hours depending on which part of Istria you depart from.

The question is, does the transfer time get stuck at the border and in traffic?

But the difficulty is that the only departure times are after 19:00 from Istria, arriving around 22:00 or later.

The ferry departs early in the morning and gets you to Venice around 10 AM, which may still leave time to board a flight heading back to the US.

It is my understanding that *most* flights to the US from Venice depart early and before 10am. You might have to stay in Venice overnight or see how flights are out of Ljubljana or Zagreb (expect a layover in a hub city, potentially regardless).

Border control: this depends on Croatia's status in the Schengen Zone. Currently, they are not, but supposedly in works for them to be. So by April, who knows.

In my experience of crossing borders in Istria from Slovenia to Croatia via a bus, yes, using GoOpti could get stopped at the border if there is no change in status. Slovenia is in the Schengen zone, so no issue between Slovenia and Italy once you're "in the zone."

FWIW, traveling via bus required every passenger to disembark at Slovenia's border, embark and drive to Croatia's border, and disembark/embark again. With a shared transfer of just a few passengers, I doubt you would have to disembark/embark. In fact, I only saw busses having to do this.

But yes, there is possibility of traffic at border IF there is not Schengen Zone status in effect.

‘Shared or private.
There is not much border traffic in April and if Croatia joins Schengen in January there will be no border. Traffic in Italy maybe. I am not sure where you are seeing they only have transfers at night, they are all day. Maybe play around with the website a little more.

I would never depend on Venezialines catamarans for a flight. Bad weather? They cancel. They are not 100% reliable even in good weather.

Their web site, I entered Istrian cities to Venice and they were all at night.

Some parts of Istria are actually closer to VCE than ZAG by car, except for that border.

what Istrian cities? I suggest, if you decide on this journey and really want a transfer, to try again. I can assure you, between Istria and Venice, Goopti transfers do not only run at night. For an airport transfer service, that would make zero sense.

To piggyback a bit further on rialtogirl's reply, I played with the website a bit, using a date in April 2023 from Porec with a VCE arrival time of both 5am and 8am, and the results returned with pickup times around 1:30am to 3:30am, respectively.

When you search, what date are you using? Are you using October 2022? If so, they might be fully booked on that date and may be affecting your results.

A suggestion I have here, though, is to research flights from Istria airports (include Zagreb, Ljubljana in addition to VCE) and see what time they depart for your flight home. You need to guage this before yoi decide on your method of transfer to the airport.

Personally, I would not risk a long transfer (i.e. more than an hour) to the airport on the day you are set to leave - too any things could go wrong. It might be better to stay overnight at the airport most convenient for your flight home.

Istria airports? You mean Pula or Rijeka? A good suggestion but in April, not too many flights.

Ljubljana and Zagreb have more but hands down Venice is the best connected for flights from the US.

I understand that, just trying to give the OP options to consider/research what is best for them.

Has anyone dined at the parador restaurants?

I'm considering staying at the Toledo Parador for the views. But for those views, it's about 3 kilometers out of town. Not sure how walkable the route is, whether there's a sidewalk all the way or some parts of the roads are mainly for cars.

They do offer half board options and they seem to have a lot of tables out in the terrace, which would be my preference in good weather. You look at tapas bars and tabernas in those narrow medical streets and they're like caves, with tables packed together during a pandemic.

But I'm not always interested in having a big dinner every night and reviews seem to suggest that the parador restaurant menu (which I can't find) tends to be meat-heavy.


I've reserved some apartments in Granada and Ronda with great views. A lot of places in those cities don't open for breakfast but they actually offer tortillas after noon. Guess it can be a dish for meals other than breakfast. Pity though, I have good recollections of having them at some bar in the mornings.

In Toledo, near the cathedral, at Cuesta Sal 5, is a little no-frills bar with a local clientele called Bar Skala. You can eat tapas and portions, you can even order a 'media ración' (half portion). The 'patatas Skala' and a typical Toledo dish called 'carcamusas' (pork stew with vegetables and tomato) are recommended.

scrb11,
I've dined at many Parador restaurants over many years, and honestly, they're not my favorites.
Although elaborately presented, the dishes often taste bland, "banquet" type cuisine.

My exceptions: the La Granja Parador, which has won an award or two, and the Segovia Parador (for its roast suckling pig, which they do well-it has a Repsol sun-we had dinner there fairly recently as we were staying there on a road trip).

The Parador de Toledo dining room offers regional specialities, like partridge and other game dishes (yes, meat heavy), and great views of the city below, the same as in the El Greco painting, "View of Toledo", but I feel there are better places to dine.
You can get the same views by taking the tourist train up to the Mirador.
Or with a car, drive up to the Parador and have a drink on that terrace.

Here's the menu (only in Spanish online):
https://www.parador.es/es/gastronomi...ador-de-toledo

I've stayed at the Toledo Parador 3 times but with a car and on my way down to or back from touring in Andalucía. It does have a pool, but it's seasonal and unheated. I don't take the half-board plan because I like to eat lunch or dinner elsewhere.

The Parador isn't walkable to the historic quarter at all. There is a bus that stops in front of another hotel, a 5-minute walk away but it only runs every hour. A taxi ride will cost 8-10 euros (more going down than going up, as the Parador will call you a taxi that will come with the meter running).

In town I like the Santa Isabel hotel and have recommended it to others. For meals, the Alfileritos 13 (on calle Alfileritos), housed in an historic, atmospheric home with a tavern on the ground floor and a dining room upstairs, with well-spaced tables, where we dine. Also Taberna Botero.

scrib,
There are plenty of places open for breakfast in Granada: for example, the lovely café pastry shop López Mezquita in the center on Reyes Católicos. These cafés- pastelerías will open early and have seating. And there will be bars open for the workers that will serve tortillas.

And in Ronda, you´ll find pastelerías and cafeterias (not self-serve but instead cafés) open for breakfast.