Hello,
We are in the very early planning of a trip landing in Dubrovnik on June 7 and departing from Budapest on June 25.

I'm definitely going to book a room for those 2 cities. How important is it to book all the rooms in between? It would be nice to go along and able to change the plan, but I don't want a room search to be time consuming either if it's super busy season. Some cities that we are thinking about are

Kotor
Mostar
Split
Ljubljana
other areas along those routes

Also, the car rental seems complicated. We do prefer to go at our own pace and the trains seem slow. Does anyone know if we can take the same car to all of these countries? How are the border crossings? Is there a train or bus that we should use to cross borders and change cars?

Thanks for your advice.
Ray

But those are not all cities, some are quite small. I would want to book for Kotor and Mostar, despite many visitors being day trippers. It just depends on how particular you are about your lodging.
You could pick up a rental car in Dubrovnik and use it to visit Montenegro and Bosnia, later dropping it in Zagreb to avoid fees. Then take a train to Ljubljana and Budapest. Of course contact specific agencies to inquire about their individual policies on crossing borders.

You can cross borders with rental cars, but returning the car you rented in Croatia in another country is usually going to be expensive. So if you can, plan to rent a car in Croatia and return it there then move on.

Croatia doesn't have much of a train system, but it has a good bus system. I'm not a fan of long bus rides myself (and love trains), but the buses work well for many tourists. Still, I prefer to rent a car in Croatia given the things you have mentioned, and it will certainly save you time with the limited number of days you have to spend there.

One typical rental scenario for Croatia is to rent the car in Dubrovnik and return it in the north, say in Zagreb or Rijeka, then train on from there (you can get to Ljubljana by train from either city; you could also get to Budapest by train from either Ljubljana or Zagreb.). Meantime, you can drive to Montenegro and Bosnia before or as you head north. Practically speaking, if you had plenty of extra time, I would drive from Dubrovnik to Ljubljana and return the car in Dubrovnik and take a train to Budapest from there.

But you really don't have that much time in this itinerary - 2.5 weeks is very little time for Croatia etc. and ending in Budapest. I would start by making a real plan for how much time you want in each place. I think you might need to cut a few places off your list, unless you want to see them all at lightning speed. (E.g., you might not have time for Slovenia - even though I love Ljubljana especially and would hate for you to miss it.) Not sure you will have time for Serbia, either, unless you don't mind the expense of driving a one-way car rental all the way to Hungary and paying the big fee there to drop it. Check on car websites to see how much that would really be - could be worth doing in your case, but I kind of doubt it.

I agree with most of the comments offered so far, and in particular, the observation that you are trying to see quite a lot in the time you have. While I can certainly understand your desire to see all these places, I wonder if you will actually have time to see and experience what you want. If it helps put the issue in perspective, I can imagine ways to spend a delightful 2.5 weeks in the area of Croatia+ from Split southward, to include Kotor and Mostar. I can imagine ways to spend a delightful 2.5 weeks in the areas of Croatia north of Split, to include Slovenia. Adding Budapest in to either means that you probably won't be able to see everything you might want in whichever half of Croatia you choose to see.

Here's what I recommend: Get some good guidebooks (or spend some time with a few in your local library), identify the things you most want to see in each location, check their opening/closing times on the internet, and mark them on a calendar. Pencil in your transportation, add some time on either side (for getting to/from your lodging, checking in/out, packing/unpacking, getting oriented, etc.). Then see how things fit together.

In addition to the observations already offered about lodging, I would add that part of it depends on your budget. IME, there are surprisingly few well-reviewed lower-end lodgings in Ljubljana, and in Split, the lodgings at any price point that are in or near Diocletian's Palace often book out early.

Hope that helps!

Your responses have been very enlightening. This is definitely helping us make a decision as to go North or South and what the options are. I'll be reading some guide books to see what interests us most, but the transportation issue is also a factor in making that decision.

Do y'all think the google maps driving times are pretty accurate?

Thanks again.

I thought Google Maps driving times were reasonably accurate, yes, from when I drove across Croatia and Bosnia in 2015. If you are looking for directions to Plitvice Lakes National Park, though, note that for some reason it will only guide you to the edge of the park, not to the actual entrance where you will drive to. You might add 10-20 minutes to its estimate for anything to/from the park.

Hello,

Why don't you visit this site called gogoplaces.co
They got all these sorts of apartments ranging from big to small ones for a good price.

I don't want to lengthen your trip, but Plitvice National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a must-see if you can work it in. Best accessed with a car and you probably want to stay a night.

Other omissions or deletions from your itinerary: Istria, the islands of Croatia, the cute small town of Trogir near Split, the coastal towns of Zadar, Sibenik and Krka National Park, Lake Bled in SLovenia.

Some much to see and do in a relatively small area. Before you commit to an itinerary, just know what you're missing.

For driving in both Croatia and Slovenia, you need an IDP, an International Driver's Permit, a translation of your license -- along with your license itself. The IDP is inexpensive and easy to get at your local AAA/CAA office, even if you're not a member. They'll take your passport-style photo also.

Plus to drive in Slovenia, you need a vignette, a temporary road license, which you can buy at the border. If you do plan to drive in both Croatia and Slovenia, note the big drop-off charge if you pick up the car in one country and drop it in the other.