Planning for July 2019, my husband and self, second trip to Croatia. First trip we did Dubrovnik, Korcula, Split, and Trogir. This trip we want to do the northern half. We are starting with about a week in Italy, and after Croatia we will do about a week in France. First draft of itinerary is:

Day 1 – ferry from Venice to Rovinj, arrives 9 pm
Day 2 – Rovinj
Day 3 – day trip to Pula by bus (1Ľ hr each way) / sleep in Rovinj
Day 4 – day trip to Porec by bus or ferry (less than 1 hour each way) / sleep in Rovinj
Day 5 – pick up rental car, drive to Motovun and Groznian / ? sleep in Rovinj or Motovun
Day 6 – drive to Labin (is it worth it?)
Day 7 – drive to Plitvice (3 ˝ hr from Labin, ˝ further from other towns) / sleep in Plitvice
Day 8 – morning in Plitvice, drive to Zadar (less than 2 hours) drop car / sleep in Zadar
Day 9 – mid day bus to Sibenik (1˝ hour ride) / sleep in Sibenik
Day 10 – mid day bus to Split (1˝ hour ride) / sleep in Split
Day 11 – ferry to Hvar / base in Stari Grad
Day 12 – day trip to Hvar town / sleep in Stari Grad
Day 13 – ferry back to Split / sleep in Split
Day 14 – day trip to Brac / sleep in Split
Day 15 – fly from Split to France (flight at 11:20 am)

Questions
Is it better to spend night in Motovun or Groznian or go back to Rovinj? It would mean one less hotel (and we have a lot of one nighters) but we’d need to find parking in Rovinj.

Is Labin worth it? Anyone been there, can’t find a lot of info on it. Better to put that night elsewhere and if so where?

Most of what I’ve read says to arrive at Plitvice Lakes mid to late afternoon, overnight and go back into the park in the morning till it gets really crowded and then leave. And that about 24 hours is enough? Agree?

Zadar and Sibenik both look interesting but not really ‘worth’ much more than 24 hours. Is an afternoon, evening and morning enough in each?

Originally wanted to go directly from Hvar to Brac and spend the night but looks much easier to just to back to Split and then do Brac as a day trip? On Hvar I want to see Stari Grad and Hvar town itself (but don’t feel the need to spend the night in Hvar town). On Brac I’m most interested in the town of Pucisca but Supetar looks interesting as well, I know that’s where the ferries land.

Thoughts and suggestions? It’s possible for us to add two more nights if we need to.

Should be nice!

I didn’t visit Labin, although I had originally planned to do so because I had wanted to visit a particular museum there. The town sounded intriguing to me. I don’t remember seeing anyone else mention it in the many years I’ve been monitoring planning threads on Croatia here on Fodor’s -- but that doesn't mean it hasn't been mentioned.

I was very glad that I visited the Plitvice Lakes as a single loop of about 7 hours. From my perspective, it made it clearer that the differences in the colors of the water had nothing to do with the lighting or depth or shadows, but were instead because of microbiota – but maybe that isn’t important to you. I waited until a bit after 10 a.m. to enter the park, so a bit later than the last of the big tour groups had started into the park, and that worked exceedingly well for me. The main reason that I would have considered splitting my time in the park across days would be if the timing didn’t work out for a full day visit or to make sure I had a back up plan if the weather on the first day wasn’t conducive to a visit. That said, I believe the park has become substantially more crowded since I went, and so splitting your visit across two days might now make much more sense than it did at the time I visited.

I was hard pressed to see what I wanted to see in Zadar and in Sibenik in just a day; many people spend less time – sometimes much less time -- in each. It really depends on what you want to see and experience. If you want to visit Krka National Park, I would think that you would definitely need another day for one or the other or in between.

I think I’ve already mentioned that on Hvar, I spent 2 nights in Stari Grad (the town, not one of the resorts outside of town) and visited Hvar Town for part of one day. That worked well for me.

BTW, for clarity, it seems that you are planning to visit NW Croatia -- the north includes a huge area to the east of anything you mention.

Hope that helps!

You can park in Rovinj You just have to pay or be prepared to walk to some free parking. They charge 24 hours a day but to me it seems like it would be worth it to pay for parking, than to move everything to a hotel in Motovun for one night. When you choose lodgings, ask what the parking options are and what the cost is in July (not sure if it changes in high season or not..

Maybe someone else here can comment on catamarans from Hvar to Brac (or ferries if you bring a car.) In July there will be a lot more boats than other times of the year. Since you have already been to Split might be nice to have some evening time in Brac, if it can work.

Sorry, I missed your question about parking in Rovinj. While in Rovinj, I stayed at the Baladur-Pavan, associated with the Casa Garzotto, which I believe still offers free parking
http://casa-garzotto.com/index.php

IIRC, walking from the parking area near Motovun to the town itself is not something I would want to attempt with even an overnight bag. But maybe it wouldn’t bother you, or maybe things have changed.

Thanks for the replies. Looks like it makes more sense to base in Rovinj for our whole time in Istria, even though we won't get the car till the last day or so. I'll look into that hotel kja mentions. I hadn't thought about the fact that parking in a hilltown can be problematic also.


For Hvar I'm planning what you suggest kja, 2 nights in Stari Grad itself. I guess I can wait till closer to the trip to see if getting from Hvar to Brac is doable. First pass through the ferry sites it looked like the islands are connected, but not the towns I want to be in on either island, thus a couple extra buses. Still might make more sense than going back to Split. Thanks

I suppose you didn't forget the Krka Falls Park close to Sibenik.
Is there a reason for the car drop off at Zadar instead of Split?

Are you okay with all of those one-night stays in a row?
Options:

• One base for Istria (unless you want to break up the drive to Plitvice).
• See Zadar and Sibenik en route, but then it would be nice if you could get to Split in time to get a boat to Hvar or Brac and avoid having to do two stays in Split.

We're fine with one nighters if they make sense, and as long as you don't have a whole trip of them. I agree to skip the one nighters in Istria - we'll stay in Rovinj and whole time and do day trips. But for Zadar - Sibenik - Split it looks like we'd be backtracking and also I do sometimes like to see places in the evenings and early mornings which you don't get to do when you day trip.



The reason for the car drop off in Zadar instead of Split is just to eliminate driving and parking any more than we need to. It looks like a pretty convenient bus schedule between them. But if anyone knows that not to be true, or if parking and driving there is a snap then I'd certainly consider it.


For the islands I think we could go to Stari Grad when we first arrive in Split and thus eliminate that one nighter. We were already planning on two nights there. It still looks difficult to go from Stari Grad to Supetar - I think you have to take a bus to Bol and then once on Hvar island another bus from Hvar town to Stari Grad if that's where we decide to stay. So might need to go back to Split. But at least going there first eliminates one of the one nighters.


I'll have to re look at Krka Falls Park. My first impression was that after almost two days at Plitvice we'd rather spend time other places.

I found buses in Croatia to be comfortable and convenient.

Drop Labin and visit Grosnjan and Motovun on your way to Plitvice

I'm thinking now of taking one night from Istria (so I'd do Grosnjan and Motovun on one day trip, next day just drive straight to Plitvice). That would give me one extra day somewhere else. Brac or Zadar or Krka. Any opinions which "deserves" the extra night? Or leave it in Istria and do Labin (or somewhere else up there?)


The other thing I'm finding is that both AutoEurope and Kemwell say they can't do a car drop off at Split port or rail, only airport. That's gonna add at least an hour or more. In which case I guess we'd stay with dropping off the car in Zadar (also airport but looks quicker and less complicated) even though it's more expensive. "Economy car rentals.com" does seem to have a Split ferry drop off, but no Rovinj pick up, would have to pick up in Pula. Plus I don' know that company so not sure it's as reliable as AutoEurope/Kemwell. Thoughts?

Check out Uni Rent car rental.
http://www.uni-rent.net

They have an office close to the port in Split. They use to have an office close to the harbor in Rovinj, near the Park hotel but it looks like their office is a bit further out now. They may still have that other office, it is worth checking. Most visitors who want a car for the day need to pick it up in the center.

Thanks for posting Isabel, as I am thinking of something very similar for September and am in very early stages of planning. I'll be doing public transportation. I'll probably steal elements of your itinerary . Best of luck with your planning!

Regards … Ger

I didn't visit Brac, found 1 busy day in Zadar sufficient (and would not have wanted another night there), and thought the Krka National Park sufficiently different from the Plitvice Lakes National Park to warrant a day. YMMV, And whatever choice you make, there's no reason to keep the car past Zadar unless you want to do so.

I just realized that the town I was thinking of visiting wasn't Labin at all -- it was Pazin! I'm so sorry! I had done just enough checking to confirm that it had a museum that might have been the one I was considering and that it "looked" a bit like the town I had in mind. My sincere apologies for the misinformation.

kja - no problem. I'm actually in the process now of deciding on which hilltowns. At the moment I have two days allotted to hill towns in Istra. I know Motovun and Groznian for sure. Wondering if there's another that can fit in that day - Oprtalj looks close. And is it worth it to do another day of driving to hilltowns - there seem to be plenty of them, but will they get redundant? Would it be better to move that day somewhere else (like the islands off Split).

I just booked the air line tickets so I'm definitely going. Have 14 nights. Plus the previous 6 in Italy and I could add/subtract from that without affecting flights.

One day of hill towns was more than enough for me, but others enjoy spending days and days roaming around them.

I'm sure you know that Opatija is not a hill town. And it will be quite different than anything you see in Istria. Unlike most of the Istrian peninsula, which was part of Italy until sometime around WWII and which shows that heritage, Opatija was an Austro-Hungarian resort town. The Lungomare there is lovely, IMO, particularly the stretch near Lovran.

And if you're looking for alternatives to hill towns, Poreč is worth considering. I thought it's Euphrasian Basilica quite lovely.

Opatija is not a hilltown, but Oprtalj is. Talk about confusing!

Porec is on my list. I'm planning one day trip (from Rovinj) with a possible stop also is Vrsar. Another day we'll go to Pula.



Trying to decide if we need one or two more days of visiting hilltowns. The ones that look interesting are Motovun, Grožnjan, Draguc, Oprtalj, Hum, Bale, Buje, Labin, and Prazin. Seems like we do Hum on our way out of Istria (we'd have at least an extra couple hours since we will be heading to Plitvice and don't want to get there till 3 or 4). Also trying to decide if we need an entire day in Rovinj itself or if since we are staying several nights the 'after day trip' time would be enough. We'll be there in early July, so long days.

Oh gosh! Sorry I missed that.

Things could have changed, but in 2009, I found Bale in the process of converting to an artists' community catering to tourists. I thought a few corners of this tiny town still had some charm and don't regret the half hour or so I spent there.

Gračišće is not on your list?

Our inland villages are quite similar and you may want to move on after visiting two or three.