globaltravel

Hello fellow travelers,

We are senior physically fit couple seeking advice for alternative ways to see Croatia, where to go and how much time to spend in each place. Total trip time is flexible including flights 10-16+ days.

We would like to start in Venice for a few days. Afterwards, do you recommend travel by a) cruise (don't like small ships), b) drive car rental on our own, c) hire car/driver to take us on private tour, or d) take public transportation (bus/ferry)? We have experience with all of these travel modes visiting other countries.

We recognize that the itinerary, logistics and cost will differ depending on the travel mode but it seems popular places to see include:
Plitvice Lakes
Rovinj
Pula
Zadar
Split
Hvar
Korčula
Dubrovnik

Would there be enough time to also include parts of Solvenia?

kja

Your main transportation options include bus (very convenient and comfortable, IME), ferries for some islands and coastal cities, and car. In many of these locations, a car will be a disadvantage because of the difficulties with parking, but it can be a decided advantage for the Plitvice Lakes and for touring the hilltop towns of Istria. I would NOT recommend hiring a car and driver unless that is your preference -- it is very easy to explore Croatia on your own.

It really depends on YOUR interests, but I think you would be hard pressed to see the places you list with just 16 days, especially if you want some time in Venice, too. And if you want to see any of Slovenia, you'll probably want a bare minimum of 4 more days.

I recommend that you get a few good guidebooks (always a good investment, IMO) or consult some at your local library, identify what YOU most want to see and experience, check opening hours, and mark up a calendar. Add in your transportation time, time for checking into / out of hotels (etc.), and see how things fit together. FWIW, I found the Rough Guide BY FAR the most helpful of the half-dozen or so guidebooks I used when planning my time in the area.

Croatia is beautiful - enjoy!

Andrew

One possible itinerary:

Fly into Venice
Sleep in Venice
Shuttle to Ljubljana, Slovenia (GoOpti shuttle probably best)
Sleep in Ljubljana 3 nights
Day trip to Lake Bled by bus
Bus to Rovinj or train to Rijeka, Croatia
Pick up car, drive to Rovinj
(You can rent a car in Rovinj if you don't mind a 4+ hour bus ride, in the morning. There's also a 2.5 hour morning or afternoon train from Ljubljana to Rijeka, then about 1.5 hour drive to Rovinj.)
Sleep in Rovinj 3 nights
Day trip to Pula, Day trips to hill towns.
Drive to Plitvice Lakes National Park
Sleep in Plitvice 1 night
Drive to Zadar
Sleep in Zadar 1 night
Drive to Split - optional stops in Sibenik and/or Krka National Park
Sleep in Split 2 nights
Car ferry to Hvar or Korcula
Sleep in Hvar or Korcula 2 nights
Car ferry to mainland
Drive to Dubrovnik
Return the car (or keep it for excursions, but more expensive/logistically challenging to park car in Dubrovnik)
Sleep in Dubrovnik 3 nights
Fly Home from Dubrovnik

That's 15 nights plus Venice.

It's better to pick up/drop the car within Croatia, otherwise you have a steep one-way drop charge in a different country.

With a car, visiting both Hvar and Korcula can be a challenge, because as I understand it there is no longer a car ferry running up and down the coast connecting these places - you now have to ferry between the islands and the mainland. Alternately, you could drop the car in Split and take passenger-only catamarans between Split, Hvar and Korcula (there is catamaran service directly between the islands too) and then take a bus from Korcula to Dubrovnik. (In high season, July-September there may be ferry service between Korcula and Dubrovnik, not sure.)

If you want to skip Slovenia, you can take a ferry from Venice to Rovinj seasonally (limited in September, then nothing after early October I think) - or take a direct bus from Venice to Rovinj...or take a train from Venice to Trieste, then a bus on to Rovinj from there.

I recommend picking up a Rick Steves Croatia/Slovenia book - all of these destinations (except Zadar) are well covered there.

kja

I think that Andrew has provided an interesting option. It would be too fast-paced for me, because I would want more time in several locations than this itinerary would allow, but again, what might work for YOU depends on YOUR interests.

As Andrew knows, I found the coverage of each of these areas in the Rick Steves guidebook extraordinarily thin and unsatisfactory -- many of the things that I most enjoyed in Croatia (and in these specific locations) were not mentioned in the RS book, but were covered in the Rough Guide and other guidebooks. I would encourage you to consult a few different guidebooks to see which one(s) provide the information that meets your needs.

yorkshire

transport:
If you don't like small boats, then I would avoid a cruise, because I would only dare set foot on a small (quality) cruise and not a behemoth that ruins the world (sorry for the hyperbole; I just detest what cruises do to a place).
You can get between all of the places you mentioned quite easily with public transport (buses, catamarans, and ferries), so it is really up to you. However, with 10 to 16 days, I would cut the list in half with the exception of places you might just basically pass through (Pula to see the arena, for example).
Finally, ditto kja--there are thousands of places to visit in Croatia--choose the ones that speak to you and you cannot go wrong. Your itinerary might only include a third of the places you mentioned, but if you go off the beaten path then you would want to rent a car.

globaltravel

Thank you all. It sounds like public transport is the way to go with perhaps some car rental. I will do some more research.