Croatia via Venice for two weeks - itinerary suggestions
 

Dear Fodor friends:

My husband and I are traveling to Croatia for 13 nights, arriving in Venice on May 21, 2015 and departing on June 3, 2015. We are using miles and Venice was our only reasonable choice so this cannot be altered. In any case, we have been to Italy but not Venice, so plan to spend a couple of nights there at the end of the trip (staying in the Jewish ghetto). We are an active couple in our mid 40s, who enjoys culture, architecture, food, wine, beaches, culture, art, hiking, walking. We like to spend hours walking around towns, sitting in cafes, enjoying the local culture.

I have been browsing travel books, this and Tripadvisor's forum, and various internet sites, and have found excellent information. However, I am still struggling with the itinerary and would love some ideas from experienced travelers or locals. Our preference is to limit travel (driving, trains) within a trip and stay in just a few locations to have more time to enjoy and absorb the culture. At the same time, we'd like to see several areas.

Here is our current plan...

Arrive Venice May 21 in the am (hopefully rested as we are flying business class!), rent a car, drive to Rovinj
Rovinj May 21-25 - explore area of Istria, including Hill towns
May 25 - Plitvice Lakes, overnight, hiking and enjoy the park
?
3-4 nights in Split (used as a base to explore area), then
?
return to Venice, drop off car, stay 3 nights (May 31-June 3)

My question is if we should just extend our time in one of our current locations, or if perhaps we should tack on another location. For example, we could ferry from Split to Korcula (leave car) for an overnight? However, given the time of year we'd most likely need to stay two nights, leaving 3 for Split. Is 3 nights sufficient to explore the area, or would we be better off with 5 and taking a day trip to Hvar? Note that we are less interested in staying in Hvar, as it does not sound our style in particular. Or we could stay four nights in Split and stop perhaps in Zadar on the way back to Venice? Is there anywhere else I'm not considering that would be an interesting overnight stopover and would cut the length of the drive?

I'm wondering if the time of year influences how we should plan. I think it will be too cold to swim (and we live in San Diego near the beach so not a critical priority) so perhaps the island overnights aren't necessary, though Korcula looks beautiful.

We'd love to see Dubrovnik, but this would mean too much driving. I've looked into one way flights and car rentals but the costs are high and timetables aren't ideal.

Any and all feedback is most welcome. Thank you!!

We did this with our daughters who were 16 and 19at the time.
We had huge trouble finding open-jaw flights from the U.K.-at that time-2003 they were coming in at 1300 pounds each.
We booked return flights to Venice spending the first and last nights there. This was the first bonus. I was the only one who had been there previously and I had no memory at all of how beautiful it was.
Coming in to land over the lagoon took my breath away.
The next day we caught a train to Monfalcone ?or somewhere with a similar name. Then we caught a bus to the local airport. We were now pretty close to the border with Croatia but it was the only place we were able to hire a car in Italy and take it into Croatia.
We drove to Rijeka put the car on the boat and sailed down to Dubrovnic which took about 20hours.
Sorry my battery is going more later!

It sounds like you really enjoy the outdoors, and that is one of the main treasures of Croatia. You could stay in the north and visit national parks if the more southern areas are not calling to you. (For example, with those 4 extra days you could see every village in Istria and explore the Kvarner region).
Late May can be really perfect weather (had rain on 1/4 visits at that time of year), but the sea is pretty chilly to me--though I have swam at that time of year. It is nice to overnight on an island, but I would not do it for one night (def. not Korcula as it is several hours from Split). Hvar is really nothing like its reputation in May--and there is Stari Grad if Hvar town itself is not appealing. There are other islands nearby, it just depends on if you want that experience or to be in Split, where you have so many options for sightseeing (Split itself, plus Trogir, Roman ruins, Sibenik, all in addition to island day trips). You may wish to read up on Vis.
Zadar would be a fine choice for breaking up your drive north, other option would be Opatija/Lovran--very different areas, but I found them lovely.
Feel free to ask more if your itinerary evolves.
Do not second guess not going to Dubrovnik, as Croatia is definitely a less-is-more kind of place!

To continue.
Our trip was from the middle of June until the beginning of July.
The boat journey down to Dubrovnic was lovely and stopped at Hvar and Korcula. This was useful because it let us see whether we felt it was worthwhile making a stop at either of thodse islands ( answer -yes)
Dubrovnic was "wow!".
We stayed three nights I think and just parked up our car and walked (or caught a boat) everywhere.
We left there for Korcula where we spent one night.
From there we trvelled to Hvar where we spent two nights. Another "wow" experience.
Then we sailed to Split but didn't stop and drove on to Trogir where we spent the night.
The next day we visited Plitvice on our way to Rab. Another little gem of a town. We stayed here two nights.
We then drove to Rovinj- the only place where we had trouble getting accomodation- and it was big trouble. Apart from Venice and Dubrovnic we hadn't made any reservations and it was no problem. However in Rovinj it was packed and we ended up in a very strange place indeed.
Finally we returned to Venice for our last night.
Whilst I'm not suggesting that you must follow this your comment about Dubrovnic and one way flights rang a bell. This certainly worked for us

May into June can be delightful in Croatia!

I think your plan is quite doable; how to tweak it really depends on YOUR interests. The good news is that you don't have a bad choice here!

As usual, yorkshire has given great advice and I second just about every word. :-). One small quibble: I wouldn't stop iIn Lovran or Opatija as a way to break the drive, as the traffic in and around Rijeka can be horrendous. Zadar or Nin might make better sense.

Onel other thing: be sure you know whether you can take the rental car into Croatia. Alternatively, use public transportation to ge to somewhere in Istria (maybe Rovinj or Porec) and turn the car in again before leaving.

This is all incredibly helpful, thanks so much Yorkshire & France! I'm very glad to hear that less is more as that is our preferred travel style. Keeping this in mind, as well as our desire to see several areas while keeping driving to a reasonable number of hours...and after looking at some of these additional areas, here is what I'm thinking:

Depart May 20, arrive May 21 Venice, rent car, drive to Rovinj and stay for four nights
May 25 - Plitvice Lakes and stay overnight
May 26-30 (four nights) Split with day trips around area
May 30 - drive to Lovran (this area looks gorgeous Yorskhire, thanks for the suggestion!) and stay overnight
May 31 - return car to Venice airport (Frances, I'm excited to land there after your description!) and stay 3 nights
June 30 back to San Diego

Any additional thoughts?

Thanks for the assistance, I'm getting more and more excited, even though the trip isn't for months!!

Re: Lovran -- make sure you leave time to walk the gorgeous lungomare. I spent about 2.5 hours walking from Lovran to Opatija and then a bus back to Lovran. I took a LOT of pictures, the walk could probably have taken under 2 hours (although I can't say for sure). Make sure you know the location of the bus station in Opatija.

As I noted above, I still encourage you to make sure you can take your rental into Croatia.

As kja wisely suggested, I would use viamichelin to plan a route that skirts Rijeka. If you have time, just outside of Lovran is Ucka national park http://www.pp-ucka.hr/en/. With a car, you will have easy access to some trail heads with magnificent views over the sea and offshore islands.
The drive along the coast toward Pula was stunning. Enjoy--this makes me want to plant my fifth trip there!

Thank you, this all sounds fantastic. Kja, thank you for sharing your experience, we love long walks/hikes and will plan on this. I (tentatively) reserved a hotel at Opatija after looking at hotels in both places, so I guess we'll do this in reverse and I will check into the bus station locations. Ucka looks beautiful as well. I can see why people take multiple trips, there is so much to see! We will definitely contact the car rental agency, and will plan a route that skirts Rijeka. The advice is much appreciated!!

While I loved Lovran, my experience of Opatija was apparently quite different than yorkshire's. I was there for a couple of hours just before/during sunset on a Saturday evening in early June 2009. The bars and restaurants near the shore were competing with one another to see which could play their disco / party music the loudest and with the heaviest base. Street side shops were filled with junk, overpriced kitsch, and overly zealous sales staff. Sidewalks were filled with people who were already so drunk that trying to walk by or through them was a decidedly unpleasant experience. I did NOT like Opatija! Except for the Villa Angiolina -- that was worth seeing.

I am planning a similar trip next year. I called Hertz and verified that you can take a car rented in Venice and drive it in Croatia.

Comments on your latest itinerary.

If you don't spend two nights on Hvar I can only say:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQQK0VTTXvA

Another comment. I would recommend reducing your stay in Rovinj and adding it to either to Split or Plitvice. You need either a full day( 2 nights arriving late and leaving early) or 2 half days days(1 night arriving mid day and leaving mid day) in Plitvice. A 3rd night in Split (2 full days) would be good.

Also I kind of like flip flopping Split and Plitvice (reaches furthest destination sooner and gives more flexibility on travel days). Then you have:

Rovinj (3)
Split (2-3)
Hvar (2)(from/to Split, works with or without bringing car)
Plitvice (2-1)
Lovran (1)
Venice (3)

"Plitvice. You need either a full day( 2 nights arriving late and leaving early) or 2 half days days(1 night arriving mid day and leaving mid day) in Plitvice"

Part of what makes the Plitvice Lakes so spectacular is the differences between the lakes, produced not only by lighting and size, etc., but also by microclimates that produce different colored micro organisms. To really appreciate the differences, it is best, IMO, to make a single loop through the park of at least 6 hours. Trying to see it in two half days doesn't let you do that.

Thank you Dugi, we will consider flipping the itinerary. Hvar really does look spectacular, but we do spend a lot of time on the beach between our home in San Diego and a beach house on the Sea of Cortez in Baja California, MX (we are extremely fortunate, and love it out here!). Plus, our latest trip to Europe was to the Greek islands. Keeping this in mind in addition to our desire to limit travel across the 2 weeks, I think we will need to pass on the islands for this trip, other than a potential day excursion.

We will also consider spending two nights in Plitvice. My husband loves the B&B I chose for us to stay there (at least by their website) so he would be happy with this. My plan was to arrive in the pm, and spend most of the next day there. Also we like to get up and out early when it comes to places that a lot of people might visit later, so we will likely start our day early in Pltvice, i.e., as early as possible depending on when the park opens.

At this point we have four nights in Split and Rovinj (each) which seems good, though if it were up to me we'd have a week everywhere!

As for Opatija, I'm not sure how much we will actually spend in the town, since we will be arriving and departing the next day. I think the walk to Lovran looks beautiful, and beyond that, we likely won't have much time beyond dinner. We will be there in May so somewhat off season, but we definitely do not like the type of scene that you describe Kja, so I'll take a closer look.

All of this is great information, so thanks again to everyone!

For a glimpse of your vacation, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Plitvice, and Rovinj(minute 21) are all shown on this video.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-rea...iatic-delights

I see you went the Baja route. Being from Los Angeles I chose Palm Springs and golf as my escape. I am 1st generation, my Dad was from Croatia. Many of my uncles migrated in the 1920s and became part of the Croatian fishing community in San Pedro, CA. Some remained in Croatia. Some cousins chose to be longshoremen.I chose brain over brawn, UCLA and USC (I came out of the closet on the USC part, Go Bruins!!!). Many of us still like to return to our roots on Dugi Otok (Long Island),ferry ride from Zadar, in Croatia. We still own family property there.

Here is a great day trip for you on a Tues or Thurs from Split. Sailing the beautiful Adriatic with a 4 hour stop in Dubrovnik (also views of Hvar and Korcula) or sailing the beautiful Adriatic with a 10 hour stop in Hvar.

UTO Kapetan Luka

Split to Dubrovnik to Split

Outbound
Split 7:15
Milna 7:45-7:50
Hvar 8:25-8:55
Korcula 9:55-10:10
Dubrovnik 12:00

Inbound
Dubrovnik 16:00
Korcula 17:55-18:05
Hvar 19:25-19:35
Milna 20:10-20:15
Split 20:45


Split to Hvar to Split

Outbound
Split 7:15
Milna 7:45-7:50
Hvar 8:25-8:55

Inbound
Hvar 19:25-19:35
Milna 20:10-20:15
Split 20:45

http://www.krilo.hr/images/Sailing_s..._DUBROVNIK.pdf
http://www.krilo.hr/en/sailing_schedule.html
http://www.croatiaferries.com/
http://www.dubrovnik-travel.net/dubr...erry-terminal/

Your trip could look like this

Wed May 20 Flying
Thu May 21 to Sun May 24 Rovinj
Mon May 25 to Thu May 28 Split
Fri May 29 Plitvice
Sat May 30 Ljubljana instead of Opatija.
Sun May 31 to Tue Jun 2 Venice
Wed Jun 3 Fly Home

Stay at B&B Slamic. Great location, secure free parking, 5 min walk to old town and many restaurants. 3-1/2 hr drive from Plitvice, 3-1/2 hr drive to Venice

http://www.slamic.si/en/home
http://www.booking.com/hotel/si/bbsl...-30;interval=1

Ljubljana is absolutely delightful, but IMO, deserves more than a single overnight stay. Better to wait until you can give it, and other parts of Slovenia, at least a few days. JMO.

kja
I offered up Ljubljana as an alternative to Opatija based on your comments << The bars and restaurants near the shore were competing with one another to see which could play their disco / party music the loudest and with the heaviest base. Street side shops were filled with junk, overpriced kitsch, and overly zealous sales staff. Sidewalks were filled with people who were already so drunk that trying to walk by or through them was a decidedly unpleasant experience.>> Also you stated <<I wouldn't stop iIn Lovran or Opatija as a way to break the drive, as the traffic in and around Rijeka can be horrendous. >>

vanessa stated that they planned to arrive in Plitvice late afternoon Fri May 29. She found a B&B her husband liked based on Internet pictures. She planned to get to the park when it opened Sat morning May 30 and spend most of the day there. My information is that the park opens at 7AM. They should be finished with the park and after a bite to eat and be able to leave by 2PM. One choice then would be to stay another night in their Plitvice B&B then leave for Venice Sun morning May31, a 6-7 hour drive.

The other alternative is to leave Plitvice on Sat May 30 at 2PM and drive half way to Venice stopping for the night. If she eliminates Opajia as a good stop over I think Ljubljana would be near perfect.You stated that <<Ljubljana is absolutely delightful, but IMO, deserves more than a single overnight stay>>. While this is true I do not see that this disqualifies Ljubljana as a one night stop over when driving from Plitvice to Venice.

@ dugi_otok -- Of course, my comment does not "disqualify" Ljubljana -- it just provides information about my opinion, as I clearly stated. I think Lovran would be a lovely place to stop, assuming a route around Rijeka can be found and/or if they are willing to face the traffic, particularly because the timing would be perfect for Lovran (enough time to walk the lungomare and roam the old town and have dinner). It's all just information to help vanessa make a decision that best suits them. :-)

Dear Fodorites:

I'm writing with a belated thank you for all the excellent advice I received regarding our Croatia trip planning. I will try to find time for a full trip report, but briefly, we started in Istria (Rovinj) for four nights, spent one night in Plitvice (and two days hiking), 3 in Split, 1 in Opatija, and 3 in Venice. We had a lot of rain (a novelty after so many dry months in San Diego), but still had a fantastic trip. Istria was definitely our favorite area, though we had amazing experiences at every stop. We really loved the smaller towns of Istria, the excellent (mainly Italian for us) food and wine, friendly people, and beautiful scenery. Opatija was a good final overnight for us, as we really enjoyed hiking along the seaside path, which was truly breathtaking. We hope for a return trip where we can fit in Slovenia.

Overall, we loved Croatia and we've been recommending it as an ideal European destination to friends and acquaintances ever since we returned! In addition to all the country offers in the way of sites, scenery, food, and friendly people, the costs are extremely reasonable, as I'm sure the experts on this site know very well. (Though I did hear that they will be adopting the Euro soon.)

Venice was wonderful to see, and certainly beautiful with many sites not to be missed in one's lifetime. But it seemed extremely crowded (and expensive) - especially after the beautiful open country of Croatia!

Thanks again to all. Now we are on to planning a 2016 trip to the Andalusian region of Spain!

Best Wishes,

Vanessa

Vanessa - I will be very interested in your trip report. Did you like the B&B you stayed at in Plitvice? Now that you've been, would you have changed your days spent in any way? We are planning to be in Croatia for a month next May and I'm having a hard time deciding which towns to stay in. Ideally we'd stay in 3 different places for a week each, taking day trips, and use another week to do travels to places like Plitvice where we would only stay a night or two. Istria is especially difficult as all the little towns sound so pleasant!Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.

Thanks for reporting back, Vanessa -- I'm glad you enjoyed your trip! :-)

AtlTravelr, we absolutely loved our B&B in Plitvice - Plitvice Maric Inn. The rooms were large, spotless, and well appointed and the food (both dinner and breakfast) was very fresh and delicious. Very conveniently located too. Also, the hosts were also extremely gracious and helpful. I highly recommend this place! In Rovinj, we rented an apartment which was well located and nice enough, not great. In Split we stayed at Luxury Suites Lucija and Luka. Very beautiful room and accommodating hosts, but we saw a lot of excellent choices in Split. And the only downside was the relatively small room and lots of smoke from nearby restaurants (actually that's an issue in Croatia in general, but it didn't detract from our enjoyment). I would stay in a larger place next time (more than two rooms).

In Istria, I think it makes sense to stay in one place and spend time touring around. I highly recommend Rovinj, which was our favorite of all the places we visited in Istria (actually, all of Croatia). Opatija was beautiful, but less quaint. Pula was a little too busy for our taste. We did not make it to Porec so I can't comment on that. Towns we visited included Buje, Motovun, Labin, Grozjan, and Momjan. They were all amazing and each had it's own charms. We visited Momjan specifically to dine at Stari Podrum, which you may have seen discussed elsewhere. It was truly magnificent and worth the trip! Be sure to make a reservation. We really loved Istria, and if we were to return I think we'd spend more time there and we'd definitely stay in Rovinj again. The towns are so beautiful, and the food and wines were amazing - especially as a vegetarian, I enjoyed the simple Italian influenced cuisine. I wish we could get some of the wines here in CA, I was very impressed! What was also amazing was that we'd walk out of a restaurant where we enjoyed appetizers, wine, entries, coffee, etc., and generally pay about $40-50 with tip. Oh and the truffles - yum!

We hesitated about Plitvice since it's out of the way, but it was well worth the drive - absolutely spectacular. I recommend getting there early if you can as it's much less crowded. There are other national parks you could visit around the Dalmatian Coast, such as Kkra (we didn't see this but the area was beautiful).

We loved Split, but having first been to Istria we found it a little crowded. Still the old town is very beautiful, and we had a great time there and driving to the surrounding areas, such as Trogir and Sibenik. The coastal area was breathtaking. We did not make it to Dubrovnik, and we really deliberated about this, but we did not want to spend too much time driving. Since you have more time, you could definitely spend one of your weeks in the Dalmatian Coast and maybe visit one of the islands. We decided against this since we have a lot of beach time here in San Diego, and in Mexico.

I wish we would have had a chance to see some of the other nearby towns (countries), such as Montenegro, and Lake Bled or Ljubljana. If we return, we'll spend our time in Istria and Slovenia, but since it was our first trip, I'm glad we also visited the Dalmatian Coast. Also note that we traveled in May and Slovenia was still quite chilly - as was Istria for part of our trip. We would have planned differently if we were there later in the summer. The Dalmatian Coast is quite nice in May, warmer than the Northern areas if that matters to you.

Overall Croatia is a fantastic destination - we truly loved our time there! I'm envious that you are heading out for a month. I hope you have a fabulous trip!

Vanessa - thank you so much for your reply, really appreciate the additional information!