rialtogrl

Ryanair has a nonstop from Zagreb to Malaga. Probably the flight the OP mentions.

rialtogrl

dmarquez I think your new plan sounds a lot better.. and you can drop your cars off in Zagreb. You might want to consider getting apartments along the way so you can do some laundry.. in Split stay outside the old town so you can park, in Rovinj they have public lots but they will be slammed in August so might be good to find a place with parking there too.

progol

My apologies. I missed that in the post.

bilboburgler

sassafrass, you were spot on

Spain at the same time is going to be hot. I stayed in Madrid in mid August and had to run from shade to shade and fountain to fountain. But, if you take a sleep during the day (1-4) in a hotel you can extend your day. I've been out to the theatre (outdoors) starting at 11:30 pm and dancing at 3am, it takes a couple of days to get used to it but that is what locals will be doing.

dmarquez

Thanks for all the suggestions, things came up and planning got put on hold, now trying to finish planning. 2 things have changed, I can't get that direct flight over to Malaga from Zagreb, and the date my son has to get to Madrid has been pushed back so we have some more time. I have booked a place in Rovinji from August 18-22. I am thinking of 2 options
1. Fly from Zagreb to Barcelona ( direct flight) August 24th. Cut out Seville and visit Barcelona, take the Train to Madrid and day trip to Tolendo
2. Get a driver to take us to Italy, Venice or Padua, or some where else? We would have more time, could stay August 24-29th. I realise there would still be the crowds and heat to deal with. Would It make sense trying to fit Venice as we have more time? If so what area would be best to stay?
If we go to Italy we would fly straight to Madrid from there.
Thanks for all the feedback, it's very helpful

Mark604

With all the changes it's a bit confusing, but one suggestion is to fly from London direct to Split at the start - Croatia/TUI/Wizz/Easyjet/BA/Jet2
Rent a car but check if you can enter Bosnia with it and if you can, go Split, Medjugorje, Mostar, Sarajevo, Travnik (maybe stop off in Jajce on way to..), Bihac, Rovinj, drop car off at Split, then no one way fees. The point is you are wanting to travel around the central/southern part of Bosnia and starting in Zagreb puts you somewhat in the wrong place. Driving in Bosnia takes a lot longer than Google Maps and other mapping programmes tell you.

Then look at Vueling and Iberia to get you direct to Barcelona or Madrid. Rent a car, take trains, whatever.
For me I'd concentrate on Bosnia and Croatia - then Spain. Miss out Venice etc.
The reason is the obvious one of it being August, overland crossing of borders, heat and crowds - plus a number of hungry/wanting toilet/getting split up/fed up travelling kids.
Just a thought.

rialtogrl

With more time, if you want to go to Venice, go to Venice. Five nights is good. But Barcelona is also wonderful. If you are leaving Rovinj on the 22nd, you could stop in Solovrnis for a couple of days before you get to Venice.

Where to stay? There are dozens of threads on that.. do a search. I personally like Cannaregio around Campo SS Giovanni & Paolo or Campo SS Apostoli.