Croatia Itinerary help
 

Hi there,

Just finished reading the Croatia guidebook and am overwhelmed by the options...trying to narrow down our destinations as we'll only have 9 days. A bit about us - we are in our early 30s. We would like to have a mix of culture and beach time. We generally like to explore towns by foot and are more interested in walking around and experiencing a place rather than seeing churches or museums. Great food is a priority. We tend to enjoy places with a bit of a buzz rather than sleepy towns, but are not looking to party. With those priorities in mind, I would appreciate your comments on the below suggested itinerary (including if there are different places we should go instead). The trip is in June. Thanks!

We are flying in and out of Dubrovnik.

Day 1 - depart Dubrovnik for Vis or Hvar

Day 2 - Vis or Hvar

Day 3 - Vis or Hvar

Day 4 - travel to Split, afternoon/evening in Split

Day 5 - rent car and drive to Plitvice, spend day and night in Plitvice

Day 6 - drive to Zadar, spend day and night in Zadar (or afternoon at kraljicina plaza?)

Day 7 - drive to Split, ferry to Bol for the day?

Day 8 - travel to Dubrovnik (best way?), afternoon/evening in Dubrovnik

Day 9 - day and evening in Dubrovnik

Day 10 - fly home

https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...Tr3IKLHA#Other than sharing these pix(in itinerary-help, a pic is worth a 1000 words, in my opinion). Hopefully these will help. The pix have been taken on several independent ventures into the Old Yugoslavia (1980's) and more recent since the 90's war and eventual split. We even visited Kosovo and B-H before it became war-torn. We were in "peaceful" Sarajevo three months before the 1984 Winter Olympics.

KFS5...Croatia is very enjoyable, friendly and scenic throughout. Enjoy!

This might be a better address for the pix, KFS https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...Tr3IKLHA#Seems to be affected by switch of Picasa to Chrome.

Because of the travel time involved in getting to Vis, I would structure the trip in a different way.
Day 1 arrive Dubrovnik (Are the flights booked? I always found I could fly open-jaw for about the same price as round-trip. If not booked, check into Zagreb or Split and out of Dubrovnik.)
Day 1 arrival Dubrovnik
boat to Hvar
http://www.krilo.hr/images/Sailing_s..._DUBROVNIK.pdf
Day 2 Hvar
Day 3 Hvar
Day 4 boat to Split (Krilo or Jadrolinija: http://www.jadrolinija.hr/)
* I would do your two nights in Split here to avoid so many one-nighters
Day 5 Split with day trip to Bol or Trogir
Day 6 Plitvice
Day 7 Zadar/beach
Day 8 drive to Dubrovnik (drop off car)
Day 9 Dubrovnik
Day 10 depart
I think 2 nights is plenty in Dubrovnik, but you do have a lot of moving around and may want to drop something or rearrange. Here is one alternative:

Day 1 arrival Dubrovnik
bus to Split (4 h)
Day 2 pick up car and drive to Plitvice (walk park this afternoon/evening and following morning)
Day 3 Zadar
Day 4 Hvar or Vis
Day 5 Hvar or Vis
Day 6 Hvar or Vis
Day 7 boat to Dubrovnik (there is one direct from Hvar, otherwise from Vis you must return to Split)
Day 8 bus to Dubrovnik
Day 9 Dubrovnik
Day 10 depart

KFS..third time might not fail after making some adjustments
https://picasaweb.google.com/stuartt...Kq1odTr3IKLHA#
Have a great time.

Very helpful, @yorkshire, thanks. Is it possible to rent a car in Split and return it in Dubrovnik? In North America there are hefty surcharges for doing that. Thanks.

Within the country there should not be. Keep playing around with it though--there may not be a need for a car, as the bus is great in Croatia, but you have time constraints I was trying to work with. good luck!

I've done one-way rentals in Croatia twice. There should be no one-way drop fee as long as you keep the car more than (I think) four days. For car rentals, try websites like EconomyCarRentals, Kemwel, and Auto Europe.

You could also fly into / out of Zagreb instead of Split if that makes your flight arrangements even easier or cheaper. Zagreb is only about two hours from Plitvice, slightly closer than Split to Zagreb as I recall.

I agree with yorkshire: If you can switch to open-jaw flights, it would be well worth considering! And I think she has given you some interesting options for your itinerary. A few comments:

I haven’t been to Vis, but have been told it is very quiet. I have been to Hvar Town, and found it both too upscale and too much of a party scene for me. It is beautiful, though, and many people love it. FWIW, another island option that would suit your itinerary quite well is Korcula, which I loved. Just something to consider….

Split is one of my favorite places in all of Croatia. Again, not everyone agrees. And tiny, lovely Trogir is just a half-hour or so away....

As for the Plitvice Lakes, my strong recommendation is to NOT split your walk across two different days unless absolutely necessary. My reason: Not only are the lakes connected by travertine waterfall formations, each lake has unique microbiota, and as a result, the lakes are different colors. The best way to see that is, IMO, to make a single, long loop through the park -- something on the order of 6 hours or more (including time for the boat that connects the lower and upper lakes), and by all means, start at the lowest part of the park so you are facing the falls as you proceed.

If you do have to return to Dubrovnik, I would drop the car off as soon as you can -- basically, pick it up when leaving Split, drop it off upon returning there. (I think you would end passing through Split under any of three itineraries that have been mentioned.) The road from Split to Dubrovnik is absolutely stunning, and it would, IMO, be a shame for the driver to be unable to really savor those views. I found the buses to be easy and convenient and comfortable.

With this wishlist, I would not fly into Zagreb unless you stay there for at least a day or so to get over jet lag. (Although it is not well known, driving with jet lag is just as dangerous – to yourselves and others – as driving drunk.)

Hope that helps!