Hello all you experts on Croatia. We are travelling there in late September and would love to have your thoughts on the following itinerary. Your comments would be welcome and also your advice as to whether the driving distances are possible.
First Day arrive Opatija. Second Day drive to Trogir. Third Day drive Dubrovnik and stay 3 nights. Sixth Day drive to Hvar and stay 2 nights. Eighth Day drive to Sibenik. Ninth Day drive to Rovinj and stay 2 nights. Then we leave Croatia and drive to Padua.

We would really appreciate any comments you might care to make as we have not previously travelled to Croatia and we are unsure as to whether we are spending the time in the best places.

Our interests are driving in scenic places (obviously), exploring interesting towns and sampling local wine and food.

Hope you can help 2 not so young any more Aussies.

just bumping this up to the top

not sure how much time you have but driving along the coast takes a lot of time (it's the Opatija to Dubrovnik in 2 days that seems a bit daunting) - what about flying into Dubrovnik and working your way up the coast. As for accomdations - you should have no problem "winging it" after Dubrovnik in late September.

Hello Carta, thanks a lot for your comments. Unfortunately our flight itinerary is set in stone and we have a leased Peugeot which can only be returned in Milan so we are a bit stuck there. We could add an extra day for the trip down to Dubrovnik. Or we could leave out Dubrovnik and just concentrate on Istria and maybe Rab Island. Would you care to comment on this idea. Also we have left out Pltvice as we are not coming in via Zagreb. We are driving in from Italy so thought it was too much of a detour.
Love to hear your thoughts.

I've only done southern Croatia and the central islands - I haven't made it north yet. Maybe Slovenia might warrent some time being that you'll be passing through. Late September should still be truffle season in Istria. Also, besides Rab there's Pag and Krk(?). I guess it depnds if you're into doing mad dash or a more leisurely trip. Being that you'll be in a car and accomodations should be fairly easy to come by - why not wing it day to day - drive as far as you want then stop for the night. I was in Zadar last September - which was great - you may want to consider that destination also.

How about taking the ferry at least one way? You could load the car on at Rijeka (next to Opatija), leave at 6 pm and arrive in Dubrovnik at 4 pm the next day. Stay 3 nights and then drive to Hvar and Sibenik and Rovinj.

Hi
We went to Croatia 2 yrs. ago. Loved it. We stayed mostly in Istria in Porec and Rovenj. Both excellent especially Rovenj waterfront towns.. We drove from there to Trogir via Opatija. The drive took about 7 hours of driving. While we were traveling we saw much road building of freeways. This, if complete will shorten the trip. we stayed in Trogir overnight and there were so many tourists we decided to drive back to Istria. Istria has less tourists and many of them are Italian. signs are in Italian and Croatian and the sea food and pizza are great. It is worth visiting.

I am absolutely thrilled to have all your comments.
Grasshopper - I like your suggestion about the ferry. I had thought perhaps catching it from Split where it leaves in the morning and arrives in Dubrovnik 1t 16.15.

I will have to search the net to see if I can find anything about whether the motorway is completed or at least partially completed.

We were going to book accommodation but now based on your comments we are considering just taking pot luck and 'winging it'.

There is a poster on Virtual Tourist who lives in Split and is VERY helpful with information to anyone interested. He would be a great person to email (you can email people within VT if you sign up). His member name is diocletianvs. I would encourage you not only to check out his tips and pages but to email him with specific route questions. I'm sure he'll be most helpful.

Thanks very much Grasshopper.