honeyluna

We have about 8-9 days. Neither of us have been to Italy or Croatia, and are flying from new york. Since there aren't any direct flights to Croatia, we are thinking of flying into rome and doing a few nights in Umbria, then taking the ferry to Croatia and seeing Hvar and Dubrovnik, and returning from there (via dublin with no overnight stay). I thought of 3 nights in Italy and 5-6 nights in Croatia. Is this too short a time to combine these places? I appreciate the help!

danon

Too short time ( even for one country) .
I would stay in Italy.

honeyluna

any other opinions?

GeoffHamer

I'd happily combine Italy and Croatia, and that's exactly what I did over Christmas, but they weren't my first visits. I'd spent several weeks in Italy before I first went to Yugoslavia (as it then was) in the 1980s. I've been back to Italy and Croatia several times over the years, and feel at home there.
If it's your first visit, you should think about what you want to do and how much you want to learn about each country. Lots of people on cruise ships visit a different country every day so you can do it, but your experience will be very superficial.

honeyluna

thanks! any other thoughts about croatia versus italy if we have to pick just one. I believe croatia will be cheaper since they don't have the euro. we mostly like to walk around little towns, eat, and see pretty scenery. Thanks!

Dukey

It is YOUR trip...if you feel that three days in Umbria is enough and you also want to go over to Croatia then why not?

I'm sure people are trying to be helpful but some people don't need as long in a place as others to feel they have been there, done that.

We are planning to combine a few days in Croatia with a few days in Italy as well as Munich and beyond soon...it is what we WANT to do and will do.

GO for it! At least you are GOING!

Mimar

I agree that 8 or 9 days are better spent in one place. In this case, Croatia. Have you worked out the transportation time to Europe as well as transportation time/method between Italy and Croatia? You may have less time than you think.

Plus most of us arrive with some degree of jetlag, which cuts into your effective sight-seeing time.

danon

Dukey may be right - for some people it is enough to spend 3 days in Italy and cross it off their list .

It is your trip ( to state the obvious), but by posting here, it seem you do wish some input.
Croatia is much cheaper than Italy and has all you are interested in : small towns, nice scenery , not many museums or big cities,
Where would you take the ferry to Croatia from ? How much of 8-9 days you wish to spend moving from place to place?
What time of the year are you traveling?

honeyluna

thanks! We both are the types that don't need too long in one place, but I also don't want to be on the move the whole time. The ferries were a bit longer than I realized. Perhaps for the honeymoon we will just pick one country so we get to relax a bit. Such a hard decision when we haven't been to either place-I appreciate the advice.

honeyluna

We're traveling at the beginning of July. I guess as little time getting to one place to the other is best. I liked the idea of a short ferry from perscara to hvar, but found out the ferries from ancona were overnight, and it's even farther to get to dubrovnik. We could potentially do Italy and Hvar, but would miss out on Dubrovnik, which seems amazing.

pat

I would stick with one country. There is just too much to see for one trip anyway, in either country. I hope you can make it to both eventually. Too bad you don`t have a few more days!

Nikki

If you can get a flight between two places so the travel time isn't too burdensome, I really enjoy vacations that compare and contrast different countries. I have taken a couple trips of eight or nine days that did just that, and really enjoyed them.

I don't see it as spending three days in Italy and crossing it off a list. When I travel anywhere, I don't think of it as an exhaustive trip to see everything. No matter how long you spend, you won't see everything. I think of it as spending some time in one place and some time in another place. Would it be fun to spend three days in Umbria? Absolutely. Would it also be fun to spend five days in Croatia? Sounds good to me. The only drawback I see is the transportation between the two, and if it is the slow boat or nothing, you would have to decide if the transit time would make the trip less appealing.

danon

July is a great beach time in Croatia
but also a rather busy season.
At that time of the year, you may find direct flights to Split - easyjet from London, Croatian airlines from several European cities( not sure about Dubrovnik).
Many on this post have been all over Croatia and can give you lots of info.
I was there long time ago ( only to Zagreb and Split after the war).

danon

p.s
You may wish to look at doing it the other way. Fly to Split via Paris, London or Germany ( lots of Croatian airlines flights from cities there),
Spend 4 -5 day on the coast, cross to Italy and fly home from Rome.
It will be more expensive buut it is doable .

tcreath

I have been to both countries and personnaly, given the amount of time you have, would spend all your time in one country or the other.

I love both countries but Croatia captured my heart. Flights into Croatia are expensive, but as mentioned above you could probably fly into another city (London, Vienna, etc.) and take a cheaper flight to Dubrovnik. I believe that Aer Lingus has flights to Dubrovnik during the summer season.

You can check on flights from Rome to Dubrovnik or Split. I would use www.whichbudget.com to find out which airlines fly between the two. I know that Croatia Airlines does, but the prices on Croatia Airlines seem to be really high unless you are flying within Croatia only.

If you do want to spend time in Italy and Croatia, I would suggest spending a few nights in Rome and then taking a train to Bari, where you would catch an overnight ferry to Split. This would be too much of a hassle for my tastes, but it could be done.

I personally did not find Croatia to be that much less expensive than Italy (or other parts of Europe) and we were there during off season (November). True, Croatia is not on the euro but the kuna is tied to the euro so you are not going to get the deals that you would have gotten 3 or 4 years ago. Food is fairly inexpensive, but hotel prices are surprisingly high. Looking into b&b's, zimmers or apartments would be adviseable if you are looking to cut costs.

I imagine Croatia would be crowded in July, particularly in smaller towns like Dubrovnik, but if you really want to get a taste of Croatia then I'm sure you will find it worth it.

Good luck and best wishes,
Tracy

danon

I think the ferry goes from Barri to Dubrovnik not Split (about 8 hours).

danon

http://www.directferries.co.uk/bari_dubrovnik_ferry.htm


http://www.viamare.com/snav-ancona-split.html

http://uk.geocities.com/my_ferries/croatia.html
you may wish to take a look at those

GeoffHamer

You will save time by booking a cabin on an overnight ferry, from Ancona or Bari. There are some direct sailings to Stari Grad (Hvar island) as well as Split and Dubrovnik.
www.blueline-ferries.com
www.jadrolinija.hr
www.azzurraline.com

honeyluna

Wow! Thanks so much for all the help. We are leaning towards doing Italy and then just doing a few days on one of the croatian islands (hvar, brac or korcula) to get a feel for it. I definitely want to do both one day.

EmilyMB

We did a very similar trip but even shorter- 3 nights in Rome, 3 in Croatia. Yes, it was brief, but we enjoyed it immensely and are very glad we combined the two. Rome and Dubrovnik are incredibly different cities, both with tons of culture, but a nice contrast. We took the ferry from Bari to Dubrovnik, and that was one of our favorite parts of the trip. SUch a neat way to travel and the ferry ride into the port of Dubrovnik is gorgeous. I posted two trip reports, if you want to check them out under my name. If we could have changed anything, looking back, I wish we wouldn't have gone to Split at the end, because it made the travel and moving around a bit too much. Still a wonderful experience. Have a wonderful time!!