Dear fellows Fodorites,
Four of us, active travelers in our mid-30s, are planning a second half of May journey to Croatia. We'll arrive/depart to/from Split.
Considering that we want to see Split, Trogir, Hvar, Dubrovnik and possibly Plitvice Lakes, is it better to
a) rent a place in Split and make day trips from there
or
b) divide our trip between Split and Dubrovnik and rent two or more places?
Any other options, places?
Do we need a car or public transportation will be just fine?
Is it better to reserve subas ahead of time or it'll be no problem to rent them on the spot?
I would appreciate any insight or recommendations.
Thanks.

Hi, PerfectStranger,
I don't know anything about Croatia's public transpotation. We rented a car for our trip and enjoyed having that freedom. However, you need to know that you will be lucky to average 35-40 mph on the road -- maybe a little more on the few-and-far-between motorways. It's a good 4-1/2 hour drive from Split to Dubrovnik, so a day trip from Split won't work. Same for Plitvice lakes and besides, you might want to spend at least one night at the lakes. We found a wonderful B&B (sobe) near the park -- there are lots of them on the highway, many of them new and attractive. There are agencies online where you can reserve a sobe ahead. We didn't reserve and had no trouble but that was in September. We didn't make it to Hvar so I don't know how it would fit in to your plans. How much time exactly do you have? Two weeks? I would divide the time between Dubrovnik and Split/Trogir (we prefer Trogir because it's more serene than the bustling Split). I'd work in at least an overnight at the lakes. We rented an apartment in Dubrovnik at www.dubrovnikonline.com and it was clean, handy and a real money-saver. I'm sure you will enjoy Croatia as much as we did.

Thanks a lot for your info!
I forgot to mention that we only have a week for our travel in Croatia.

If you have only one week, I'd (reluctantly) skip the lakes in favor of Dubrovnik, Split/Trogir and perhaps Hvar. We thought one full day in Split was adequate. Dubrovnik deserves at least 2 days and from there you could take a day trip to Cavtat by boat, go to Montenegro (with a tour) and you could drive to Korcula. There are lots of Croatia threads on this forum that will give you more information.

With only a week, I also agree that you should save Plitvice for another time.

I'd stick with Split/Trogir for 2 days, Hvar for 2 days, and Dubrovnik for 3.

The airport is very close to Trogir, so you may just want to stay there your first night. The next day you could go to Split, spend the day, and then work your way to either Hvar or Dubrovnik from there.

Public transport would be fine. You can take the high speed ferry from Split to Hvar.

Have fun! You'll love Croatia.

That sounds like a plan especially since we modified our original itinerary. We will be flying to Split and departing from Dubrovnik.
Thanks a lot for your help!