planning trip this late august/september for travel along the coastline..
any recommendations on small towns/hotels along the way appreciated..

should we skip Zagreb?
thanks - michael

I'm in the midst of planning the exact same thing for the same time of the year and I've decided to forego Zagreb as there seems to be so much to do and see in Southern Dalmatia for the 10 days I'm there - but to each his own.
I should also say that in addition to some active exploration of that area on bike and foot and sea, I'm also factoring in some days to chill and do nothing which figured in my decision. 10 days between Dubvronik, Split (least time), Hvar (most time, with Dubrovnik), exploration of some of the surrounding smaller islands and finally a day trip to Medugorje it seems will fill up my time.

I just got back a few weeks ago. I was not impressed with Zagreb. Big grey communistic buildings dominate the skyline. My opinion might be skewed by the fact that it rained almost the entire day we spent there and the hotel was a pit.

I loved Rab Town on Rab Island, Plitvice National Park, Trogir, Hvar and Dubrovnik.

We spent two weeks there but I would have been thrilled to spend another two weeks.

I am reposting the link to my photos in case you have not done a search on Croatia and seen my trip report and photos.

http://community.webshots.com/user/tkoedoot

My advice is stay along the coast (with the exception of Plitvice) and start with the Istrian Peninsula. Don't miss Rovinj and Pula.

Hi
Last sept. we visited Croatia. Flew into Ljubljana, Slovenia, picked up our rental car. went down the Adriatic coast to the Istrian Peninsula to Croatia. No problem in border crossing. Continued down to Porec and Rovenj in Croatia. After several days we decided to move on to Trogir and Split. It's about a 7 hr drive from Rovenj down the coast. very beautiful. They were building an expressway and part was completed, though most of the trip was 2 lane road. There are many restaurants for stretches of the road. Mostly seafood [fresh], pizza andand some spit cooked hog. You also go for a couple of hours with no restaurants, buildings, hotels etc. until you come to more. Look for restaurants that have fishing boats tied up to it. Fish is sold by weight. Great trip, though we enjoyed Istria most of all. Never made it to Split though, we turned back after Trogir to Rovenj, which we loved.
alan