JSherSanFran

Hi all,

I am planning a (last minute!) trip to Europe (June 3-June 19) and am looking for folks to contribute itineraries to help me decide where to go. Original thoughts were Italy / Croatia, but I am unsure which cities to visit, and am having trouble commiting 100% to Italy as I have already been multiple times (my boyfriend who is coming with me has not). Would love to get thoughts on:

1) Itinerary including Italy (Rome, Sicily, Amalfi Coast) and Croatia
2) Itinerary including Vienna / Croatia

With the first, would the Amalfi Coast and Dalmatian Coast in Croatia be too similar?
With the second, will it be too hard to travel between Vienna and Dubrovnik?

I have not yet booked airfare (will be travelling from San Francisco) so am flexible, although prices are starting to skyrocket. Other info: love doing things in nature (hiking, kayaking, etc.), enjoy quaint towns/architecture, adore food and wine, not into the nightlife scene.

Thank you!

bvlenci

I think your itinerary 1 has too many destinations in Italy. These three places are not near each other, and you'd spend the better part of a day getting from one to the other, taking three days out of the sixteen you have available. Besides, Sicily is an entire region, not a city. My husband, who has been there, says you need a minimum of two weeks to see much of Sicily. I haven't been there yet, but knowing that he's not a linger-to-smell-the-roses kind of traveler, I would consider that a minimum, too.

Croatia is also a country, and I think 16 days there wouldn't be too much. However, if you want to visit one other place, I think you need to choose one destination in Italy, not three.

It would be rather tedious and expensive to get from Sicily to Croatia, so I would choose either Rome or the Amalfi Coast. Rome has direct flights to Dubrovnik; if you stay on the Amalfi Coast, you would probably have to spend at least one night in Rome, so maybe it would be worthwhile to make it two nights to allow your boyfriend to see a bit of Rome.

However, if you've been there before, you might want to spend four or five nights in Rome and the rest of the time in Croatia. That way you could see some of the little-known gems of Rome instead of just hitting the overcrowded "must-see" sites that you've probably already seen but that your boyfriend would want to see.

Itinerary number 2 sounds appealing also, and might be the best choice.

isabel

Unless you have tons of money I would start the planning with looking at airfare both to/from SF to Europe and within Europe. One year we combined a trip to Rome, Amalfi Coast and Croatia flying in and out of Rome to the US and then flying easyjet from Rome to Dubrovnik and back from Split. The easyjet flights were under 20 euro - BUT you need to check when and if this is possible. Easyjet doesn't fly the Croatia routes year round, I don't think the Dubrovnik/Rome route starts till June 28, too late for you. The Split/Rome route starts earlier. There are other airlines, but many require multiple changes and take many hours and cost hundreds. Try skyscanner and easyjet websites and first see IF and WHEN you can do your intra Eruopean flights. You might find pairing Croatia with another country easier.

Anyway, FIRST I'd spend some research figuring out the logistics, then plug in what you'll do when you get there.

The Croatia Italy trip we did we spend just a little longer than you have (8 days AC, 8 days Croatia, couple in Rome coming and going to make the flights work) so you could cut each to 6 days and fit it in your time frame.

bobthenavigator

Pick 3---those are all major destinations and need time:

A. Rome, AC, Sicily
b. Rome, AC, Croatia [ fly there]