MichGuy

My wife and I (63 and 69) traveled to Croatia in September 2017. Yes, I think your proposed trip is very expensive but you're paying extra for 1) 4* hotels, 2) single supplement cost, 3) private car and driver, 4) trip planning, guides and hand holding. Is it worth it? Your call. Our trip cost US$242 per day for two people, including everything except air fares.

We did a "circle": Munich (2 nights) - Prague (3) - Vienna (2) - Ljubljana (3) - Rovinj (1) - Plitvice Park (2) - Dubrovnik (4) - Split (1) - Zagreb (1) - Salzburg (2) - Munich (1). Add 2 days for air travel. We rented a car in Munich and used it throughout. All of our hotels were 2* and some 3*. I booked all of them on Booking.com, which I highly recommend. We also used the RS guidebook for Croatia and Slovenia (plus other reading) and found it spot on. We usually use his books specifically because of his subjectivity - if he doesn't like a place it's probably not worth a visit for the typical tourist. (We've noticed a few minor errors but also a couple of practical jokes. For example, he notes that Valerian root is gathered by locals in the Cinque Terre and it doesn't happen.)

Other comments were correct. You don't need a guided tour in any of these places. Zagreb has a wonderful free guided tour that meets "under the horse". We do a lot of walking and this itinerary was great for that. You should pick your activities according to your own tastes but I would strongly recommend including Plitvice National Park. (PNP is tough. It's off the main route, takes time to get to, hotels are not necessarily close, and needs at least half a day inside to appreciate. But it's worth it.) And I would say Rovinj is optional, RS notwithstanding.

Traveling solo, you might want to contact a travel agent in the USA and investigate a bus tour. There are pros and cons but you could compare cost and social opportunities.

PolSmit

As a Croatian, I can assure those who doubt my post on R S guide that there are inaccuracies, that are result of lazy research. No guide book is perfect but some are far better than others.

kja

@ PolSmit -- I think you are saying that your comments about the Rick Steves guidebook were (and are) specific to the guidebook for Croatia? I ask because I think some readers think you were commenting on ALL of his books, for ALL countries -- and therefore questioned your credibility. ... And to be clear, I ask even though I've been as clear as I know how to be in saying that I think the RS guidebook for Croatia is so poor as to be unworthy of it's costs...

Andrew

Those of you who claim Rick Steves's Croatia/Slovenia book is full of "inaccuracies" - can you give me some specific examples?

Were museums open on different days than he claimed? Did he say there was a train between Split and Dubrovnik when there isn't? What?

Every travel guide has inaccuracies - things change, books aren't updated every month. (He does have an errata page on his website for all his books.)

I suspect some of you are confusing "inaccuracies" with "opinions." Rick Steves offers openly subjective travel advice as well as logistical advice. It's not "inaccurate" to express an opinion you disagree with in a travel guide. I know he's not crazy about Porec for example - so what? I don't always agree with him either. He likes Split a lot more than I do. That doesn't mean he's inaccurate in raving about it.

And I would be curious how some how you would know he's "lazy" in his research? Please be specific.

kja

Speaking of accuracy, note that only one person on this thread has questioned the accuracy of the RS guidebook. I’m not defending its accuracy – I haven’t studied it enough to render a judgment on its accuracy.

My objection has to do with the scope and depth of coverage, which I found abysmal. One of the main purposes to which I put guidebooks is to plan an itinerary. The RS guidebook for Croatia skips so much of that country that it was useless to me for deciding which places to visit and which to skip. That, by itself, is not a fatal flaw IMO – some guidebooks (including Fodor’s, which I found very helpful) skip a lot, but if they do cover something, they provide sufficient coverage to allow me to judge my interest in spending time in those places and if so, what, exactly, I will make my priorities when visiting them. The RS guidebook for Croatia skips so much of even those places that it does mention that I found it utterly useless as a planning tool.

Andrew

Great - so RS isn't for you. But his books work great for many of us, thousands of repeat travelers, who may not want details about every possible place to visit in the country. Otherwise, his book would be 5X as long and harder to digest and probably much less useful to me. I have never found a RS book lacking, but I understand that he intentionally doesn't cover every destination in a country. That's how he chooses to design his guidebooks. But I find he provides more than enough detail for the destinations he does cover, for me, anyway, and surely for many other travelers.

What I don't understand is this almost complete disregard for other people's travel styles when critiquing these books. I can well understand expressing that a RS book didn't work for you and didn't fit your travel style - but why pretend they don't work and haven't worked well for many others? Do you think you are helping someone who might be a Rick Steves-style traveler by trashing his book definitively and trying to dissuade them from buying it? Are you more interested in helping travelers enjoy their vacations, or are you simply more interested in imposing your own personal travel style on them? You would have been giving me awful advice had you advised me in that way before my first trip to Croatia - is that your goal?

Clearly someone who wants to spend a week in Zagreb isn't going to find a RS book adequate, but someone zipping through Zagreb, Plitvice, Split, Korcula, and Dubrovnik in two weeks would do just fine with a RS book. They don't need all the details of all of the other far-flung places in between, and they likely won't even have time to do half of the things he mentions his his book for those places they are visiting. Why can't you recognize that and try to help them? Or just not say anything if you yourself have a completely different style of traveling?

kja

I encourage people to get a comprehensive guidebook so they can decide what they want to see and experience for themselves. I believe that shows respect for the fact the people have different styles and preferences. Encouraging a guidebook that suits only SOME travelers would seem to me to be the position that does not allow the possibility that others might travel differently.

Andrew

Would you encourage me to get the Rough Guide to Croatia? I do not consider it to be a suitable guidebook for my travel style, and I'm sure some others would agree they prefer the Rick Steves book. But you seem to recommend it anyway - why recommend a book that suits only SOME travelers?

kja

Yes.

xcountry

(Tiptoeing in) Here’s a guide to guides, though it’s written by that guy:

https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-ti...idebook-series

Frommers has saved our bacon with affordable accommodation a few times.

scrb11

I haven't bought a guide book in about 10 years now.

Are the hotel and restaurant recommendations better than you'd get from TA and forums like this one?

I would think guide book sales are down with more and more travel resources on the web.

kja

Interesting article, xcountry – thanks!

BTW, my answer above was “yes” because I don’t think information is irrelevant to any traveler, whatever his / her style of travel.

isabel

That was a good article, most of which I agree with. I like his take on Fodor's guide books (more encyclopedic than inspiring) - while I (mostly) love this forum, Fodor's guidebooks don't do much for me (and I own a LOT of them). But I disagree with Rick's opening premise that you need an up to date guide book, that a three year old one is no good. No guidebook is really up to date with things like prices , that's where the internet come in. I always check current prices, opening times, etc. on line. I buy almost all my guidebooks second hand now, the description of the Roman Forum isn't going to change all that much in five years. I also never use guide books anymore for accommodations. booking.com, trip advisor etc are so much better. But a guidebook gives you an overview of what there is. If I've already been to a region (say southern Europe) and now I'm going to some new part of that region, or new towns, I could probably research that just on the internet - although I personally still use guidebooks too. But for some of the new posters here, who clearly are clueless - the advise to get a guide book or two and then come back with better questions is good advise. "You don't know what you don't know".

TerryThor

Didn't we get a little off topic. lol

TerryThor

I want to thank everyone one last time. I booked all my hotels on my own. I like hotels so my biggest splurge was $235. But most were between $100-$150. I guess because its the off season. I am assuming if I'm not doing a private tour, I'll have enough now to do a lot of trips and hire drivers, etc. I'll sign off this thread and do some research and may come back to all you
;;

kja

Congratulations, TerryThor! I'm glad you've found hotels that suit you.

You shouldn't need to hire drivers unless that's your preference -- and FWIW, one of the things I like most about public transportation (which is easy and convenient in Croatia) is the chance to see Croatians going about their daily lives.

I do hope the, uh, passion? that some of us have for our guidebooks didn't turn you away. A new thread is probably a good idea, and I (for one) will look forward to seeing what other questions you have that we might be able to answer.

Best wishes! I'm sure it will be a wonderful trip.