Itinerary Help
 

Hello, me and my two older kids are flying in and out of Milan. This is our draft itinerary for a road trip. We are a go go go family and dont mind driving.
**Day 1 lake garda, walk
**Day 2 Lake Garda, am boat pm park
**Day 3 Lake Garda to dolomite, drive through, lake
**Day 4 dolomite, sunrise, paraglide
**Day 5 dolomite to split, all day drive
**Day 6 split
**Day 7 Split, krka park
**Day 8 Split to Ferry to Hvar**
**Day 9 Hvar
**Day 10 Hvar to Split to Dubrovnik
**Day 11 Dubrovnik
**Day 12 dubronvik to trieste, stop in zadar?
**Day 13 triesta to milan
**Day 14 Leave Milan to USA

Do you already have your flights? If not, I strongly encourage you to consider flying out of Dubrovnik instead of backtracking to Milan. If you are committed to flying out of Milan, I'd want to be in or at least very near Milan the night before my flight. Spending that last night in Trieste leaves WAY more room for something to go wrong that I, personally, would want to risk.

If you are flying into Milan from the U.S., please don't try to drive for at least 36 hours after reaching Milan. You won't be safe, to drive -- safe for yourselves or anyone else on the roads -- for at least that amount of time.

I would not want to drive from the Dolomites to Split in a single day. It's your trip, your call, but that's a lot of time and you'll be skipping a lot of places that many of us consider worth visiting. And IME, if you're using google maps to estimate driving times in Croatia, you should add about 25 percent to the google map estimate. That might be more time than it takes, but is more realistic, IME, than the google maps estimate -- even if your correctly specify the starting time and date.

Zadar has some interesting elements. You won't have much time to explore it, but I see no reason to skip it if the timing works for you.

Thanks for tour insight. I do have flights already. I will be in Milan the night before flight to USA I am very used to the jetlag because i travel a lot but also which is why I built in 4 night before the long drive. I just rather get somewhere and stay there longer then one night stops. Still thinking how I can change it up

When is this trip?

I am going to have to echo kja on suggestions to fly home from Dubrovnik rather than RT from Milan. One thing, though with that plan is to also price out the one-way surcharge of a rental car (or rent in Italy and again in Croatia). You will also have to get approval to take a car across borders, even if you intend to drop it off in the originating country and you may have to contend with additional insurance costs for that. You may also have to advise of any car ferries for Hvar as well - so be prepared to get their approval for that as well.

Have you done any sort of research of how long your distance from Dubrovnik to Trieste will be? Google maps is generous in distances and times, and, sometimes is underestimated. Viamichelin.com may be more accurate. You are potentially looking at a 9-hour trip in one day, more so if you stop in Zadar (which is off the main roadway from what I can determine) and you'd not have much time to actually see much of it. Your trip, but that is beyond "go go go" imho for one day.

Personally, and I know it is not my trip, but this would not be enjoyable. In many cases you are spending more time in the car than actually seeing anything. And there is so much to see between each of your points that you may end up missing more than you actually see.

For my impressions from my last trip (month-long) to this region from Venice to Sarajevo, which included Zadar and Dubrovnik, see here:

Zadar: https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...nd-days-12-14/
Dubrovnik: https://jenntravelnerd.wordpress.com...ik-days-20-22/

Ditto-ing all of the above. Is this a road trip to spend a LOT of time in the car - great. But if it’s a holiday to sight see and enjoy the different locations - not so much. BTW. Past experience with jet lag has nothing to do with what you’ll experience this time

that car journey, my BIL did that once and I've done bits of it but on a holiday....

rome2rio is well designed for this sort of problem

Hi,
Last Monday I found myself in Verona, Italy where I had attended the Arena opera. I had a scheduled departure from Venice airport ( Verona is a 1.2 hour drive from Venice Marco Polo Airport) at 7:20 PM. I was dining at a delightful Verona restaurant at 2:30 PM.
Upon entering the restaurant the weather was perfect-85 degrees, sunny, with no clouds in the sky. All weather apps predicted no rain, no storms.

Suddenly I received a phone call from the car service I had booked. Instead of leaving the hotel at 3:30 PM, they urgently advised us to depart immediately. Without hesitation we exited the restaurant which was just a 5 minute walk from the hotel, into a massive storm. Sheets of rain poured down relentlessly, the streets flooded with gushing water in seconds. The water level rose so high that it was impossible to leave the doorway. The water flooding the streets topped the curbs.

At 2:45 the car service called again and insisted we leave right away. The rain had slacked off a little and there was no choice but to run for the hotel where the luggage was stored. After loading the car and exiting Verona, the traffic was heavy in the downpour. Cars were pulled over to the side as the rain made visibility poor.

We arrived at the airport around 5:20 PM . The scene at the airport was chaotic, with crowds darting around all wet. Things became worse when we had to board a bus to travel to the plane. This appears to be happening more and more. Either the plane parks far from the terminal and they bus arriving passengers to the terminal or from the terminal passengers are bused to the plane.
Imagine dozens of people exiting a bus, only to stand in line on the aircraft steps to enter the plane as the rain continued to fall. This resulted in a plane full of wet passengers.

Of course, we all want to make the most of our vacation time. However, Mother Nature and unexpected circumstances can arise to disrupt our best-laid plans.

Wishing you the best of luck with your agenda.

Yes, this past weekend in northern Italy was a very strange one weather wise. Sunday was quite sunny and warm, with temps around 30, at least in Como and Brunate where we went to have lunch with friends we hadn’t seen since last year and spend the afternoon with them. By the time we returned to Torre de’ Busi, massive dark clouds had formed and it looked quite threatening. During dinner, around 8, we could clearly hear rolling and rumbling thunder close by, probably coming from the Vercurago area and it drizzled a little. We were planning on staying till 11 or so but since we had a flight in the morning and still had to pack we decided to drive down the mountain to our father-in-law’s city house and also to not leave the car outside because storms like this in summer in Lombardia invariably produce giant hail. We’ve experienced that before and seen the damage.
To the OP, I agree with others that you should fly into Milan and out of Dubrovnik. You’re cutting it way to close especially if you’re planning on driving everywhere because Malpensa, or even Linate, aren’t that close to Milan center to drive in the morning. It’s close to a 1.5 drive on a regular day. If your flight is in the morning, add at least a half hour extra to that drive. Personally if i was leaving from Malpensa I’d use the train from Milan. It takes around 45 minutes and saves A LOT of time and anxiety.

Now I am looking to book a rt flight from Milan to Zadar. Won't help cost wise but time.

I'm sure the air fare (and perhaps directness) to/from Milan was the attraction. Otherwise, Malpensa makes little sense in this itinerary.

What time of year is this trip?

The detour to the Dolomites is long for just a single full day. Where would you be staying?

Please note that Croatia, like Italy, has toll motorways. Travelling on them will be faster, but more boring. Considering that you are planning long journeys, pay attention to how your navigation system plots routes — via motorways or free roads. This will determine how much time you spend on the road.

You have one free day between Split and Dubrovnik. That's not enough time to visit islands such as Brač or Hvar. What's more, in the middle of the tourist season, it's unlikely you'll be able to find accommodation for just one night. Unless you book in advance, if you can find someone who rents for one night (the entire Croatian coast prefers to rent for four nights or more during the season). I would not go to the island for one night; it is better to stay in Omis, as suggested above.