Montenegro and Croatia visit
 

Hello, my adult daughter and myself are planning a trip to Montenegro this July and also would like to visit Slovenia or Croatia, maybe even Portugal. We have to save the last week for Montenegro because of a family visit. Thinking of sights in Slovenia or Croatia and searching out ideas. We love to walk and hike and visit towns but not fans of night life beyond dinners out. Any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks in advance!

How much time do you have? Portugal is pretty far from Slovenia and Croatia.

During our trip to the area in September 2023 here are my takes on it.

Slovenia was the best part of the trip. The scenery in the Julian Alps fantastic. We also enjoyed the boat ride and Bled Island.
The Bled Rose Hotel was our favorite of the trip. Ljubljana our bigger favorite town.

As we drove south the south the scenery along the coast was beautiful, but the crowds became unmanageable. With the huge cruise ships in town the crowds in Split and Dubrovnik were like Disney on steroids.

The only Montenegro site we saw was Perast. Nice boat ride out but the church was wall to wall yelling people, just sayin’.

As you have relatives in Montenegro I am sure they can take you to the less tourist areas.

We loved our visit to Croatia and Slovenia in 2019. Dubrovnik was busy but not so crowded that it spoiled our trip. You can check on the internet for cruise schedules. Just google cruise stops in Dubrovnik, something like that. And if you can, choose dates when there aren't that many cruise ships in town. I think Dubrovnik is beautiful with its location on the Adriatic and its red-tiled roofs. Walk the walls, visit the War Photo Limited museum for a somber but educational learning experience about the wars in the 1990's. There are some other smaller museums and churches and monasteries.

Split is beautiful with its location on the water, gorgeous architecture, and so unique because its built around the ruins of Diocletian's Palace. From Split, you can visit Hvar Island for a day. Or spend several days on Hvar or Korcula.

Visit Plitvice Lakes NP with its many lakes and unique waterfalls. Plan your visit to avoid the worst of the crowds. Spend one night here. Visit the Upper lakes in the later afternoon, and visit the lower lakes the next morning. Or vice versa.

Here is the link to my TR if you are interested in reading it. Contains some photos.
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...laces-1671951/

I recommend reading some guidebooks, such as Lonely Planet, Fodors, Rough Guides and Michelin Green Guides to help you plan.

Sorry, not trying to highjack this thread but just a quick question, please. How is the drive through the Julian Alps to Trieste or Croatia? I have an issue with heights and don’t want to be freaked out! Thanks!

We have 3 weeks and really having trouble finding flights that are reasonable. Yikes!

Thanks so much for this reply, your TP is great! Good advice too about Dubrovnik,

Slovenia is sounding fascinating. I just watched a Rick Steves show on that spot, too.

Loved your trip report! This is very helpful indeed.

We are off to Slovenia and Croatia in September and had a tough time finding inexpensive flights. I don't believe they exist at the moment. Ended up spending about $2,900 round trip, into Zagreb and out of Split. Good luck!

We found our flights but changed our itinerary to go from Vancouver to Toronto and then Lisbon and then we'll take trains to Croatia not sure when yet where we will stay and visit.

The Julian Alps are against the Austria border. Unless you are coming from the north, you should be able to avoid small mountain roads. From Villach in Austria you can take the Autobahn and get to Trieste via Italy, and even if taking the route through Slovenia, I suspect that the road is a large highway with no real steep drops.

Google Villach to Trieste. My recollection is that Bled is in the foothills of the Alps.

Thanks very much, Michael!

Ljubliana is one of my favorite (small) cities in Europe. Granted, I went about ten years ago, but we stayed in this funky hostel that used to be a prison, and were invited to a bonfire next door with a bunch of artists and singers and met such cool people! The whole city had a fun hipster vibe. For more traditional sightseeing, the hike up to/time exploring the castle is really fun.

I loved Split and doing a day trip to HVAR - just gorgeous. Zagreb was also a really neat city. We also did a day trip to Mostar in Bosnia, which was very interesting - really beautiful, but also had lots of history and was still rebuilding from the war.

I haven't been, but if you like nature and hiking I've heard the Plitvices lakes in Croatia and Lake Bled in Slovenia are breathtaking.

Thank you very much for the information!

Wheels up tomorrow night to Varazdin, Ptuj, Maribor, Graz, Ljubljana and Zagreb. Been to Bled. Tourists galore. Going to Lake Bohinj this trip. Seems to be even better, albeit quieter than Bled? Skofja Loka and Kamnik as day trips, plus the Predjama Castle.