Would you modify this itinerary at all? We are a family of five with three daughters (ages 16, 14, and 11). We'll be coming from Nashville, Tennessee, but will spend June 25-29 in Ireland before heading to Croatia. We think we want a relaxing beach-y vacation, but I also know we can get bored of the same old thing and like to explore as well. Montenegro sounds like a good idea, but also sounds like it may be too pricey to take the ferry to/from Kotor. Can we rent a car? Should we nix it and do something else? Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks! Oh and we plan on taking my daughter's high school senior photos while here so do y'all have any suggestions on a great location and/or photographer for these? Mt. Srđ perhaps?

June 29
Fly into Dubrovnik (arrive 10:30pm)

June 30
Full day in Dubrovnik

July 1
Lokrum Island/Beach Day

July 2
Kotor Bay, Montenegro
* How should we get there? Rent a car? If we get rid of this activity would you suggest another day somewhere else?

July 3
Mljet National Park
* Ferry to Split in the evening

July 4
Omis/Beach Day
Maybe horseback riding?

Juy 5
Island Tour or pick one island and go ourselves (Brac? Hvar?)

July 6
Split

July 7
Zadar/Plitvice
* Rent a car

July 8
Plitvice

July 9
Drive to Zagreb to catch our afternoon flight.
* Drop off rental car at airport

This would give us 4 nights in Dubrovnik, 4 nights in Split, and 2 nights in Plitvice. I'v heard Split may not be the best place to stay for 4 nights because of the crowds. Should we stay on an island instead? I think Omis looks beautiful and it's close to Split, thus my reasoning for sleeping in Split instead of an island.

Do you plan to take the bus from Dubrovnik to Omis? I think it’s more than 3 hours each way – more than I’d want for a day trip; YMMV. If you plan to rent a car, consider visiting it en route from Dubrovnik to Split. And in that case, you could rent the car a day beforehand to use to visit Kotor, as long as you have a way to park it that night.

I loved Split and would want more time there than you are giving it, but I visited before it became so popular. You might see if your time there is on days when there are no cruises in port.

Which island to visit depends on what, exactly, you want to do. No tour would be necessary – you can visit them on your onw.

Hope that helps!

Are you planning to take a catamaran to Mljet from Split, put your stuff in storage then explore the park before you continue on to Split? That will be a long day to walk around an extremely hot National park.

I would not go to Kotor in July. The wait times at the border will be long. There are day tours you can take, sold by a gazillion outfits in Dubrovnik, and those drivers know the best places to try to cross. That would be preferable to waiting on your own.

You could always stay in Omiš and day trip to Split. You could also skip Mljet and take the catamaran to Hvar from Dubrovnik, spend a couple of nights, then continue to Split for two nights.

in July, everything will be crowded.

rialtogrl knows this area well. If in doubt, listen to her!

Thanks for your input! The plan was to ferry from Dubrovnik to Mljet for the day (put our luggage in storage) and then ferry from Mljet to Split later that evening. Yes, it would be a very long day. Perhaps too long. I'll look into either staying on Mljet that night or staying on another island a bit closer than Split.

Omis was going to be a day trip from Split.

I checked cruise ship numbers and I think Split will be crowded pretty much every day we could visit. I chose July 6 because it was the less crowded day.

Sounds like Kotor may need to be ditched.

What if I do this instead?

June 29 -
Fly into Dubrovnik (arrive 10:30pm)

June 30
Full day in Dubrovnik (no ships!)

July 1
Lokrum Island/Beach Day

July 2
Mljet National Park
* Option 1 - ferry from Dubrovnik in the morning, ferry to Hvar in the evening
* Option 2 - stay in Mljet for the night

July 3
Hvar

July 4
Hvar

July 5
Omis (via Split, stay the night in Split tonight)
*Is this too out of the way? Should I ditch this too?

July 6
Split (less ships!)

July 7
Zadar/Plitvice
* Rent a car in the morning to drive to Zadar for the day. Drive to Plitvice in the evening.

July 8
Plitvice hiking

July 9
Drive to Zagreb to catch our afternoon flight.
* Drop off rental car at airport

Congratulations for an itinerary that avoids cruise ships in Dubrovnik!
I think this revised itinerary represents an improvement, but hope rialtogrl chimes in -- she knows far more about the area than I!

This plan sounds much better..

If Mljet is a must, it would be great to spend the night there.

Even if there are no cruise ships according to whatever online source you are looking at, please be aware that there are bus tours, and small gullet cruisers, and camper vans.. it’s going to be busy. It’s high season, just be prepared for that. Buy all your catamaran tickets in advance.

There is no catamaran to Omiš, you would need to take a catamaran to Split then bus or car transfer to Omiš. It’s not that far, but assuming you need to get checked in wherever you are staying in Split, could be a bit of a pain. You might be able to hire a driver to take you there for a couple of hours. That could be nice; driver picks you up at the catamaran, stows your stuff in the trunk, takes you to Omiš, then you come back and check in at the usual check in time.

Mljet is not a must. I've just seen photos of it online and it looks stunning so I thought I'd try to make it happen. Any insight on it would be helpful. If you had to pick between Mljet and Omis which would you prefer? Maybe instead of Mljet we'll take bus to Omis from Dubrovnik, then do Split. Then Hvar.

Hmm. I'm only seeing a late afternoon ferry from Pomena on Mljet to Hvar for July 3. I don't think we'd want to stay on Mljet all day July 2nd and then most of the day on the 3rd. I was liking the idea of spending the night here, but it seems like maybe we'll just ask a hotel to hold our bags for the day and take the late afternoon ferry to Hvar on the 2nd. Am I missing any other ferry or boat services from Mljet to Hvar?

OR skip Mlijet, and adjust your plan to add night to Zadar or Sibenik (so you can visit the Krka National Park). Just a thought.....

or add the day to the area around Omiš which you said you really wanted to visit.

@ rialtogrl: Omiš seems to come up a lot these days. Has it become a tourist mecca?

I don’t think so. Of course it’s very busy in the season, It is striking, but it’s not that big. It is lovely there, I’ve never been there in summer so can’t comment, maybe it’s overrun…

The festival of Klapa is there in July, and they show that on national TV so it’s well known throughout the Balkans… https://visitomis.croatia.hr/en-gb/events/klapa-singing

@ rialtogrl: Thanks! I'd love to see it someday when it's not too crowded.