Hi all, this is our itinerary for our family of 4 in Sept. This will be our annual family trip with our 2 adult twenty-something or rather, almost 30 kids! We are all thrilled by natural beauty, love amazing views especially of blue/green water and enjoy beaches though I know the ones in Croatia are not great!
It sounds hectic but I really want to visit all the places we are going to and more, would love to go to Vis! But will hopefully do a day trip there and to the Green/Blue caves from Hvar. We don't mind moving around though one night stays are a bit of a pain!


Sept 14th Barcelona - Dubrovnik 1.30pm flight, arrive Dubrovnik at 4pm

Sept 14-17 Dubrovnik - 3 nights Sept 15th - Day trip to Montenegro by bus - Bay of Kotor
Ferry from Dubrovnik to Hvar at 5pm Trying to find a reasonably priced pvt boat transfer from Dubrovnik to Korcula, where we could spend a few hours, then take the 6pm Krilo ferry to Hvar.

Sept 17-19 Hvar 2 nights - Boat tour from Hvar on Sept 18th.

Sept 19-21 Split 2 nights Ferry from Hvar to Split at 2.45pm or Catamaran at 7pm
Rent a car . Sept 21st - Spend the day at KRK Nat Park on the way

Sept 21st Zadar (No availability in Hotel Jezero).

Sept 22nd Plitvice Nat Park - Hotel Jezero in the park.

Sept 23-26 Ljubljana, Slovenia.- 3 nights Should one be in Lake Bled?
Sept 24 - Day trip to Lake Bled
Sept 25th - Kids fly back to Boston/Chicago

Sept 26th - Pula via Rovinj (Or we could leave Ljubljana on the 25th)

Sept 27th or 28th - Return rental car. Flight back home (Return ticket not booked yet, will likely be a mileage ticket, we can return anytime upto the 29th).

Sooo, opinions, suggestions? Open to all

Given that the kids have to leave on the 25th, I tried to squeeze in as much as I could before then! But don't want it to be so crazy that no one has a chance to enjoy it.

Thanks again, don't know how I would ever plan my trips without all the help on this forum!

IMO, this plan is decidedly hectic, but if that’s OK with you, well, its your trip! It just seems to me that you are spending an inordinate amount of time going from place to place, and comparatively little time actually seeing any of the magnificent places you will be visiting.

I assume you mean the Krka National Park? I only ask because Krk is a different place, and you’ll want to be sure to spell the places you mean to visit correctly when checking on options.

And the only reason you are staying in Zadar is because you can’t spend that night at Hotel Jezero in the Plitvice Lakes? Why? It doesn’t sound like you will have time to see Zadar. There are, of course, other places to stay at the Plitvice Lakes, and you could always visit the Krka National park from Sibenik or Skradin (either of which would be much more convenient) or even from Split (which would cut down on a change of hotels).

Whether you should spend 1 night in Bled depends on your interests. I couldn’t have done / seen everything I wanted to do / see in Bled on a day trip; YMMV. But I’m confused – if arriving in Ljubljana on the 23rd, and the “kids” depart on the 25th, then it seems that your family would do well to decide whether they want to go straight to Bled and spend the 24th and 25ththere (the airport is halfway between Ljubljana and Bled) or whether to stay in Ljubljana. But maybe I’m not following….

I don’t see how you could fit Vis into this plan unless you cut 2 days somewhere.

Hope that helps!

If you really want to go to Korcula and can't find an affordable private boat, you could take the early Jadrolinija catamaran and have the whole day in Korcula.

kja is right, there are a lot of other places to stay close to Plitvice, I know those park run hotels have their fans, but they are full of bus tours. You can stay outside the park in a smaller place, with better food.

You might have a hard time finding an award ticket out of Pula. It may be better to go to Zagreb to drop the car where there is more award ticket availability.

Hi, we could stay the night elsewhere in Plitvice but Zadar is not too much out of the way so I figured we could have the evening in Zadar instead of Plitvice where we will have the next evening anyway. And it will shorten the drive from KRK National Park, right?
Thanks!

For me, the highlight of driving to Kotor was the drive itself (I spent a night there). I drove, and the scenery around the Bay of Kotor was amazing. I stopped numerous times for photos. If you take the bus, you will only get to see the scenery out the window. Kotor itself was OK as a city, pretty nice but not amazing to me - but the bay was. So taking a bus there would have been a bit of a disappointment, passing all the places I would have wanted to stop. Driving was so much better. I'd consider renting a car for the day or taking a one-day excursion, not just a bus from Dubrovnik to Kotor.

For driving, don't forget to buy a vignette driving pass for Slovenian highways when you get to the Slovenian border (buy at a gas station on either side of the border). Otherwise, you risk a steep fine for driving without one. Croatia uses a toll system on their highways; Slovenia uses a vignette driving pass. You'll also want an International Driving Permit (available at AAA in the US) as well as your US driver's license.

You might enjoy a night at Bled, but personally, I didn't find the town of Bled itself very exciting or interesting, whereas I loved Ljubljana especially at night. You might consider a small town with more charm like Radovljica near Bled instead. There's nothing wrong with Bled itself, but it's obviously a tourist resort, not a charming old town.

Driving between Ljubljana and Bled, consider the scenic detour via Skofja Loka (a lovely town, worth a stop). The drive from Skofja Loka through the mountains, via Jamnik and Kropa (not via Kranj and the fast highway), is very lovely and scenic.

We enjoyed Lake Bohinj and found the area less touristy than lake bled. The Vogel cable car from Bohinj was also quite nice with great views. Ljubljana is quite charming so having that as a base makes sense.

Thanks all, yes Andrew, we will either rent a car (cheaper option) or use a private car and driver for our day in Montenegro. With 4 people, the tour costs almost as much! DH is a little apprehensive about renting a car and crossing the border etc but we shall see if we can change his mind. Was it relatively painless? Do we definitely require an International driving permit? I thought a US license would suffice as it has done in the other European countries we have visited.

Would anyone who has visited Dubrovnik have any idea if we would be able to find someone to take us to Korcula by private boat after we get there? Boat tour companies seem really expensive! And the morning ferry is too early!

Mnag, thanks for the tip about Lake Bohinj, will definitely look into it.

Does spending the night in Zadar so we have the evening in there not make sense?

More importantly, any other opinions on the itinerary? If too much time is being wasted taking ferries etc, would love to hear ideas on how we could streamline the trip and maybe cut down one stop, if that is the advisable thing to do. But which stop to eliminate and where to add the days?

Thanks again!

Like Andrew, I drove from Dubrovnik to Kotor; unlike Andrew, I wish I hadn’t! The traffic was incredibly heavy and was moving well above the speed limit and without leaving ANY space between vehicles, so I was absolutely white-knuckled through the southern part of Croatia and well into Montenegro. I was aware that the scenery was among the most jaw-droppingly beautiful of any I’ve ever seen – and I could not allow myself to look, as I felt I needed to devote my undivided attention to the roads and the traffic. There were some pull-offs, and I managed the first – but (despite appropriate use of signals), it involved such screeching of horns and veering of traffic from behind into the single oncoming lane and emergency maneuvers by those oncoming drivers that I could barely stop shaking until well after I was finally able to stop safely. Then, trying to get back onto the road was another nightmare. I wasn't willing to try any of the other pull-offs. I sincerely wish that I had been in a bus, so I could have actually enjoyed that stunning scenery. BTW, my trip was in mid-May in 2009. Maybe things have changed.

Andrew and mnag make good points about the charm of Ljubljana in the evenings, so staying there could make most sense. Again, I think you need to decide on your priorities.

We rented a car* for a day drive from Dubrovnik to Kotor in June 2017. We got an early start to the day; DH was the designated driver and I, the designated photographer. There are several pull-offs at which one can stop to admire the view and to take photos. Even if I had been a solo traveler I would have rented a car and stopped along the way; the views were too spectacular to snap from a moving bus. From my travel notes:

"OH. MY. GOODNESS. The road from Dubrovnik to Kotor is paved with scenic overlooks, and we stopped and snapped at each and every one. From the clifftop views of Dubrovnik, its chalky walls and red-tiled roofs a more than perfect contrast to the sea blue; to the grey-blue peaks of the Montenegran rias (don’t call them fjords!), the 90 minute drive took almost twice the time. After nearly 25 years of married bliss, DH knows to be ready to brake at little notice because I am hopping out of the vehicle to snap something. It is what keeps our marriage fresh.

Eventually we arrived in Kotor. Horror stories of crossing the border were not quite realized, but this was not High Season, either. We almost caused an international incident when we abided by the STOP sign after passport control, however, when two agents ran over to us and asked what we were declaring. It turns out the STOP sign was only meant for those having something to declare. Live and learn."

*Because we live in Austria we have translated our U.S. license so it functions like having an EU license, which means we can drive in the EU without the need for an IDP.

Indeed! But I'd rather have had actual memories of the views, rather than memories of terror without the benefit of the views.

I'm glad your experience was unlike mine.

My reference is the US embassy pages about driving in Croatia and Slovenia. Here's the Slovenia page:

https://si.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen...uto-accidents/

U.S. citizens need both a valid U.S. driver�s license and an International Driver�s License to drive in Slovenia. If you have both items, you can drive for up to one year in Slovenia. If you already have a driver�s license from another European Union member state, then the International Driver�s License requirement is waived.

The Croatia embassy page used to say something similar - could be Croatian law changed or the US embassy page just doesn't include the language anymore. In any case, given the great expense of the trip, it's not really worth trying to save $20 to avoid getting an IDP.

You've probably needed an IDP in other countries you've driven in. But the rental car companies usually don't ask for it. It's the cops you need to worry about - if you get stopped. You could get stopped even if doing nothing wrong, FYI. I was stopped driving in Czech Republic just as a random stop. Not sure why - as I drove by the cops were standing by their car on the side of the road and one of them was holding a "Stop" sign. They just wanted to see my documents, then they let me go. I gave them my passport and my IDP.

As for driving from Dubrovnik to Kotor: I used the alternate border crossing near Konfin - a little bit of a detour, but buses can't use it, so it doesn't get backed up. (There was one car in front of me, but I had to wait five minutes anyway because the guard was on the phone with someone.) I understand that this border crossing may be closed for construction or something, though, so I would check into it.

I had no trouble driving in Montenegro at all. I didn't find driving around the bay scary - just incredibly scenic.

Sure - it's not a bad place to spend a night. I spent one there too on my last trip. It wasn't my favorite town, but some people love it, maybe you will too. I preferred Sibenik, where I spent only a few hours, but staying in Zadar wouldn't be a mistake.

It's hard to optimize a trip to Croatia/Slovenia completely and it can be frustrating due to ferry schedules, crowded parks, etc. I think your plan sounds fine.

We are headed to Croatia in September, and I have been doing quite a bit of research ever since we bought our plane tickets many months ago. The consensus seems to be that you should spend the night at Plitvice the night before you plan to visit the park. By doing that, you are able to be at the park as soon as it opens so that you can be ahead of the crowds. From your itinerary, it appears that you may be staying at Plitvice the night after you visit the park, so you would not get this advantage.

We stayed at Lake Bled several years ago and really enjoyed it. The town itself is nothing to speak of, but we very much enjoyed the views walking around the lake. It is fairly touristy, so it was nice to be there in the evening and early morning before hordes of tourists arrived. Lake Bohinj was pretty, and the cable car was nice, but I didn't think it was as memorable as many other mountain/lake areas we have visited.

Have a great trip!

I agree that Digbydog has summarized the consensus well. But with all due respect, I'm not sure that it is necessarily the best possible advice for everyone. Although I did spend the night in the area before visiting the park, I'm not a morning person -- and so I waited to visit the park until a little after 10 a.m., after the tour groups got their start. That worked extremely well for me. But things could easily be different now than they were when I was there (in 2009).

That is certainly my recommendation - I managed to get into the park early on both of my visits to Plitvice. By mid-morning it was pretty busy on the trails, but it would be a little better in shoulder season. Probably awful in the summer by mid-morning.

Here is the alert on the Plitvice website:

Alert!
Dear all,
Starting with the tourist season, an increased number of guests is visiting Plitvice Lakes resulting in crowding and waiting.
During the period from 10:00 to 14:00, occasional closure of the park is possible, so we recommend that you avoid this time and move your visit either earlier or after 16:00 when ticket prices are lower.
What to do while waiting for 16:00? We have some recommendations. Check them on link.
Your Plitvice Lakes National Park

I imagine September will be less busy than the summer months, but from what I have read, it is still quite busy. I would much prefer to get up early than to be pushed along the boardwalks by everyone jostling for a photo, but to each his own.

@ Digbydog: Thank you for posting this information. I'm glad I visited it before it became so very crowded!

Hi, thanks, we plan to spend time there the first afternoon and then the next morning. maybe see the upper falls in the pm and the lower falls in the am?
We can head out the next afternoon. We are not morning people anyway but maybe if it is very crowded the first day it will be incentive for us to wake up early the next morning!

Are you planning on writing a trip report when you return? I would love to read it because I am starting to plan a trip to Croatia for late April/early May in 2019.

I, too, would appreciate a TR as we will be there in May, 2019. KAREN how long will you be there?

Our trip will only be for about 14 nights. Not long enough! I have been researching and reading guidebooks, and it is so difficult to decide what to see and what to eliminate. I plan on posting soon about our tentative itinerary and asking for advice; I just need to do a little bit more reading and fine-tuning of our tentative itinerary.