I’ll visit Croatia and Slovenia with a side trip to Montenegro for 20 days in October. Will do the customary drive per many of the Fodorites’ itineraries starting from Zagreb. My Delta ticket (free) won’t allow me to fly back from Dubrovnik. I have to leave from Zagreb very early morning for the return trip. I plan to spend the last 2-3 days in Zagreb.

My question is should I leave the rental car at Dubrovnik airport and fly to Zagreb or should I visit Montenegro last, then drive back and return the rental car in Zagreb? If I drive back through the inland, how long will that take? Any interesting stops along the way? I don't mind driving if there are other things to do or even stop for an over night inland. I haven’t contact the car rental service yet.

Thank you for your recommendations and suggestions.

Drive in the Adriatic Sea coast. It's beautiful. http://utazas.bacskaisport.hu

If you want see "more" of Croatia - drive. Distance from Dubrovnik to Zagreb is 572 km. (I don’t know how much time that is.)
From Dubrovnik to Split you will drive on "tiny" road near coast (there is a number of small beautiful towns on the way), from Split there is a new highway to Zagreb.

You can stop in Split or even better to visit Trogir, if you have time to make a break.
But definitely you should stop on Plitvice Lake. There is hotel and other private accommodations near lakes, here is one interesting:

http://www.slunj-rastoke.com

Plitvice Lakes: http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/cp...&pageID=87

Btw. on the way from Dubrovnik to the Split you will go true the Bosnia (Neum town), after 20 minutes driving you are back in Croatia, there is also border control.

Hope it helps.

Thank you very much to csabax and Mario06. I will give it my best short and ask more questions later as I do my trip planing.

Southern and Central Dalmatia (Dubrovnik to Split) it's my amazing land. Mljet, Korcula, Hvar and the Adriatic Sea: wonderful, simply the best!
http://www.bajastory.info

teatravel: Where are you renting your car and how much are you paying?

We're doing the Dubrovnik to Zagreb for the month of May 2008. We rented from Auto-Europe last year in Nice, FR and dropped the car in Rome for $1600 for a month. This year they wanted more than $2000 but we were able to find a better deal from Economy Car Hire. They've offered a Skoda Octavia Estate wagon, manual with A/C for 927 euros for 30 days. This includes all insurances and permits driving into Slovenia, Croatia, B-H and Montenegro. This can be picked up in Zagreb and dropped off in Dubrovnik, or vice-versa. Is that as good as your deal?

And, in response to your post, I'd definitely drive. There's a ton of worthwhile stuff to see.

http://www.economycarhire.com/car-hire-croatia/

Hi tenderfoot: After reading from several posts, we decided to drive back from Dubrovnik to Zagreb. Thank you for suggesting ‘Economy Car Hire” which I assumed it is the same as above web site. We will contact them soon to secure a car. Normally we would use USAA (we are members) as our agent to rent cars from the US. I haven’t done much of the works yet. But I know USAA is not cheap! I am sure yours is a better deal.

I hope you enjoy your trip