We hope to spend 10-12 days traveling to Croatia, etc. in summer 2011. Want to visit Dubrovnik, Korcula and Mostar. Have a flight to Rome. What is the best way to get from Rome to our desired destinations?

You can fly from Rome to Split or Dubrovnik on Croatia Airlines although the per-person price will likely be a bit high. Check www.kayak.com for prices. You could also train from Rome to Bari and then catch the overnight ferry to Dubrovnik. http://www.jadrolinija.hr/default.aspx?dpid=1394.

I just flew on Croati Airlines from Zurich. I had booked through Swiss. First the flight was delayed 2 hours, then it got cancelled. It was total confusion for the desk clerks. They told everyone to cancel our hotel reservations. Then they decided to fly us to Zagreb then bus us 6 hours on bad roads to Dubrovnik. Finally they decided to fly us to Zabreb, then they chartered a flight for us on to Dubrovnik. It was a nightmare. Everyone had cancelled their hotel reservaions. Many could not get their room back. We finally got into Dubrovnik after midnight. We were supposed to have arrived at 5:15 PM. My flight from ZRH-DUB then from Sarajevo to Nice was $492.00

A year ago we flew Pula to Split and Split to Rome on Croatia Airlines. The planes were very clean and up-to-date, the flights very professional and on time. All the contacts I had with Croatia Air were very pleasant and efficient.

Now the Italian flights....

During the summer you can fly on Croatia airlines to Dubrovnik and I think Easy Jet also operates flights on that route in the summer. That is certainly the easiest and quickest way to go. But, the flight schedules might not be released for a few months yet.

We flew Easyjet from Rome to Dubrovnik this past July for 14€. And from Split back to Rome for 36€. Booked the tickets about 4 months in advance. I don't think you can book them more than 6 months ahead so if you go to their website at this time of year you may not see the flights even listed. They only fly that route in summer months. I think there is only one flight every other day. Only drawback was the flight to Dubrovnik was very early (7 am). But for 14€ it was worth getting up early.

Dubrovnik is one of the most challenging airports in the world, and flight delays owing to weather are not infrequent. It is not really unusual to have to be bused from Zagreb or Split. I would fly to Split, which is not challenging.