Final Trip Plan
 

Our trip is finally planned for the Balkans this April/May. Flights are already purchased. I like the plan and it incorporates what we want to experience (this after editing down considerably) but it does seem like a lot of moves in the time we are there. I just can't seem to figure out how to consolidate so as to not be moving every few days. We doubt we will be back so hoped to put a dent in the bucket list for that area of the world. We really have never been bored in a place by spending 3 to 4 nights or more so not worried about too much time in one place. Slow, slow travelers, I guess. If anyone has any suggestions for simplifying I would appreciate it. Thank you.

London - 8 nights
Dubrovnik - 4 nights over Easter weekend with possibility of days trips to Kotor, Lokrum, or Korcula. We will most likely pick up our rental car on the Saturday before Easter Sunday as we will be leaving on Monday for Mostar.
Mostar - 1 night
Sarajevo - 3 nights
Plitvice - 1 night
Ljublyana - 4 nights with day trips
Kobarid - Farm stay 2 nights
Zagreb - 3 nights
Budapest - 5 nights by train from Zagreb
London - 1 night at the airport before our flight to Iceland
Iceland - 5 nights

Can't comment on Balkans plan as I have not been there for centuries but Budapest for 5 nights seems a few too many to me - if never been to Vienna I'd do a few days there - just a few hours by train or you can take a hydrofoil. Be sure to do some day trips from London - Oxford, Cambridge, Salisbury and Stonehenge, Windsor, Hampton Court and more all short easy train rides. For lots on trains check www.seat61.com - great info on booking own trains online - BETS-European Rail Experts and www.ricksteves.com. Think there is an overnight train from Zagreb to Budapest.

I think your plan, from start to finish, sounds great! The one little quibble would be that 4 nights seems a lot for Ljubljana, particularly if you are also spending 2 nights in Kobarid, but I’m sure you’ve identified day trips that work for your time.

BTW, Lokrum is really just a half-day stop for most people. Kotor will likely take the better part of a day. Personally, I wouldn’t want to day-trip from Dubrovnik to Korcula – much as I loved Korcula, it’s just too far for a decent day trip IMO, and would give you too little time once there before turning around and heading back. If you REALLY want to see Korcula, consider an overnight going from Dubrovnik to Split, from which you can head to Mostar. Note, however, that you would miss the glorious scenery from the road between Dubrovnik and Split…. Too many difficult choices in that part of the world!

You don’t need a car for Mostar or Sarajevo – and you have wonderful public transportation options for them. If you re-arrange your trip a bit, you could avoid having a rental car for those areas and still rent within Croatia: Take a bus from Sarajevo to Split (the trip will overlap with the route to Sarajevo, but the scenery is stunning and so potentially very worthwhile), visit Split for a night (or 2 or 3), and then pick up your rental car when leaving for the Plitvice Lakes. I’m a great fan of Zagreb – more than many – but I enjoyed Split even more. YMMV.

Should be a great trip no matter what you decide!

The early morning train in either direction between Mostar and Sarajevo is a magical journey. Takes about 2.5 hours.

A must place to visit in Sarajevo is....

https://sarajevo.travel/en/things-to...ood-museum/964

Sarajevo is a lovely town with a very sad recent history. Evidence of the way people had to live and the atrocities they endured during the cities 4 years of siege in the 1990s are everywhere. The longer you loiter the more you'll scrape below the surface, and the more you'll learn.

Most visitors to Mostar are only interested in the very very touristy Old Town. Again, loiter and be richly rewarded.

Looks good to me -- of course, it's pretty similar to our trip, so I do hope it works out. We'll also be there in April May. Like you, we always find something to occupy us everywhere we have been. Never bored & much prefer slower travel these days. Perhaps our paths will cross.

I would take time from Dubrovnik, now totally overrun with tourists, and add it to Sarajevo. I also disagree completely with PQ about Budapest, which I have visited four times and would be happy to visit again.

If Kotor is a opinion for one day visit I would really recomend you to do that. Kotor is very beautiful old city. You won't regret fof visit it. And one more thing in Montenegro I like it a lot when we made Bosnia and Montenegro road trip last year is Durmitur national park. Probably it is not on your way, but for me it was really beautiful. The road that cross that high plateau is really beautiful and sourrended with a great views to a mountains around.

Greatings Mirko.

From Zagreb I recommend a stop in Pecs on the way to Budapest. The town is interesting architecturally and has the Zsolnay ceramic center with an impressive ceramics museum: