In late August and early September, we spent sixteen fascinating albeit busy nights in the Balkans. I just completed planning for our April trip (Istanbul, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan), so I finally have the energy to post this. First, I want to thank everyone who participated in my two planning threads. In the end, we did end up renting a car for part of the trip. It did prove to give us some independence. Planning this trip was one of the most difficult for me, as the area does not have must-see sites such as the Louvre. It's difficult to find undiscovered areas, because there were tourists everywhere! I present our itinerary below, and some random thoughts at the end.

Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia, August and September, 2025

Wednesday, August 27
Arrive in Helsinki, then Dubrovnik, arriving at 6:55 PM O/N Cavtat.

Thursday, August 28
6:45 AM pickup with private driver for Montenegro day trip, Perast and Kotor O/N Cavtat

Friday, August 29
8:45 AM Lacroma ferry departure - Lokrum and Trestno Islands for Historical Gardens, see Dubrovnik sephardic temple after O/N Cavtat

Saturday, August 30
5 AM Flix bus from Dubrovnik to Trogir, arrives at 10:35 AM, self-guided walking tour of Trogir O/N Trogir

Sunday, August 31
Day trip via Uber to Klis Fortress and Solin Ruins O/N Trogir

Monday, September 1
Day trip via Uber to Split: Synagogue, Diocletian Palace Substructure, Jewish Cemetery O/N Trogir

Tuesday, September 2
10 AM rental car pick up at Split Airport - Breakfast in Sibenik, visit Krka National Park, drive to Plitvice O/N Plitvice

Wednesday, September 3
Walk the H Program at Plitvice National Park, 4 to 5 hours O/N Plitvice

Thursday, September 4
Drive to Rovinj, stopping in Opatija en route to walk the Lungomare O/N Rovinj

Friday, September 5
Driving day trip to Pula (Roman Amphitheater) and Vodnjan (mummies) O/N Rovinj

Saturday, September 6
Driving day trip to Motovun and Grozanjan O/N Rovinj

Sunday, September 7
Drive to Lake Bohinj (Slovenia) with stop en route at Skocjan Caves O/N Lake Bohinj

Monday, September 8
12 km morning walk around the lake, then drive to Vintgar Gorge in the afternoon O/N Lake Bohinj

Tuesday, September 9
Walk around the lake in the opposite direction, then drive to Radovljica and Kropa O/N Lake Bohinj

Wednesday, September 10
9 AM departure for Zagreb, stopping en route in Skofja Loka to see the castle and old city, return rental car by 4 PM O/N Zagreb.

Thursday, September 11
Zabreb: Synagogue and Jewish museum, other museums, self-guidedwalking tour O/N Zagreb.

Friday, September 12
Depart at 1:40 PM for London

Montenegro:
Day trips are always difficult, because you miss out on the evening experiences. We hired a driver to take us for the day to Perast and Kotor. Both cities were teeming with other tourists, but we tried to make the best of it. I'm not sure it was worth it, but the scenery was beautiful.

Lacroma Ferry:
The Croatian government just launched (no pun intended) a new boat service: In one day, you can visit both the Lokrum and Tresteno Gardens. The boat holds 48 passengers, but we were the only passengers that day. Since it is a new boat, they didn't want to cancel. The boat ride was beautiful and relaxing. We enjoyed Tresteno the most because there were very few tourists there. Lokrum was another story...

Tortuous Bus Ride:
We took a 5 AM bus from Dubrovnik to Trogir. Remind me not to do that again. The bus was full of "Euro youth". The bus driver was blasting music and had the AC on freezing. My husband wanted to know why I didn't book a private driver...

Opitjika:
We stopped here en route to Rovinj, and we didn’t want to leave. The town is in a 19th century time warp. We walked up and down the Longemere, and then we found a bench in some gardens where we watched the ocean. There doesn’t seem much to do there except relax. I looked up the historic hotels there, and they are very reasonably priced. Oh well, maybe next time?

Rovinj and the Istrian Peninsula:
We both agreed that this was our favorite part of the trip. The area has a fascinating history—it was once under Venetian rule, and there are towns where Italian is the predominant language. Rovinj turned out to be a great base for exploring the area. We enjoyed our 1/2 day trip to Pula. Pula has many interesting sites that are ideal for a walking tour, including an intact Roman amphitheater. An added bonus in Rovinj was a free music festival two of our three nights there. The bands played such oldie faves, such as "Proud Mary" and "Rock Around The Clock."

Trogir:
I am glad we based ourselves in cute Trogir, rather than Split. Because we took the 5 AM bus from Dubrovnik, we arrived early enough in the day to complete the requisite 1/2 day sightseeing. The city museum was nice, as was the fortress with amazing views.

Split and environs:
It’s easy to get an Uber from Trogir. On the first day, we visited the charming town of Solin, and saw the Solana ruins there. We completed the day by visiting Klis Fortress.,The next day, we visited Split, which is full of Roman ruins galore. We walked up countless stairs to get to the Jewish cemetery, and what an amazing view! My husband likes to pretend he’s European and sit out and have coffee, ice cream, or an adult beverage, depending on the time of day. We sat out at the restaurant there for amazing views and overpriced drinks. Husband had a beer and I had an Aperol Spritz. I’m not much of a drinker, so serve me a drink with low alcohol content and lots of sugar.

Rental Car:
We used MACK, thanks to a contact provided by Rialtogirl via private message. They were not the cheapest, but I liked the way I was able to communicate with her contact, Roberto. We rented a Passat because of the roomy trunk. We did have two snafus. The night before we were headed into Slovenia, I emailed our contact Roberto about vignettes. Was it included? No, he said, you must get it at the first gas station you see. So after we passed the border, we missed the first gas station, and managed to avoid the toll highway. We found a little restaurant, and the kind owner used my phone GPS to load in the closest gas station. Also, we also had a problem in Zagreb. Roberto said that the city rental office closed at 4. My nervous self got us there at 2:30 only to find that it was only a “meet and greet” location. I managed to text someone at the airport location, who took an hour to meet us. After some whining on my part, they did pay the 10 euros for our Uber to our hotel, but there was no way to make up the lost time we sat waiting.

Hotels and Restaurants:
Hotels, in general, tend to be super expensive, even by European standards. The cute little inns that seem to be most prevalent have small rooms. My husband likes to keep our suitcases open during our stay, and it was difficult in most of the rooms. Many of you have recommended Plitvice Miric Inn, and it was nice. The owners were very warm and friendly. We had brought a picnic dinner to eat in the lobby area the first night, and the owners brought us a plate of cookies to go with it. I believe Karen Woo had mentioned the breakfast, which was quite nice. Again, the owner baked all kinds of delicious pastries. The only other hotel worth mentioning was the Manda Hotel in Zagreb. It's one of those places with a tiny elevator, and only one person at the desk, but we got a huge, fully updated room for a low price. The hotel is in a great location. The owner was there one day, and he gave us a suggestion for a stick to your ribs, mom's home cooking for dinner kind of restaurant. We left for the restaurant, but he neglected to tell us that we needed a "booking." Did he assume we knew that? Oh, one other restaurant worth mentioning is the Bistro Istra in Rovinj. We had breakfast and dinner there every day, and it was an underpriced gem. Lots of fresh fish, great service.

Zagreb:
I believe kja had mentioned that she liked Zagreb, and boy, was she correct! Zagreb is like the boring aunt that you get seated next to at a dinner party, but by the end of the evening, you have found her fascinating. The city is unpretentious, with a mix of old and new architecture. A little grungy, but charming nonetheless. I wish we had spent three nights there instead of two.

Happy to answer any questions.
I

What a perfect description! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you, kja, yes, we did enjoy Zagreb. You actually gave me the idea to include the Lungomare in our itinerary. We liked the quiet spots the best on this trip. You would have been suprised at how busy the Balkans have become since you had travelled there.

I'm also glad you enjoyed the Lungomare! I thought it delightful. And some of the other quiet places -- Trsteno, Lokrum, Lake Bohinj, the Skocjan Caves, the Vintgar Gorge.... I was fortunate to visit when I did. Sounds like you managed to see some wonderful things, despite today's crowds.

Yes, kja, it was a good trip. We have learned that we like to stay in quiet places, and go to the more crowded sites as a day trip. Plitvice was super crowded. We got stuck behind a huge, slow tour group. How do you pass a group on those narrow planks? They finally stopped for pictures, and we bee lined ahead of them. We had some relatives that just visited Croatia later in September, but is was getting cold and rainy, but they said it was not crowded.

Again, I was fortunate! I was there on a stunningly beautiful day, and there were crowds at first, but after about 10:30 or so (once the early-arriving tour bus passengers had entered the park), it was blissfully quiet. There were stretches when I was alone! I don't imagine that happens very often these days. I hope you enjoyed it despite the crowds.

I found it interesting to visit both the Plitvice Lakes and the Krka falls. Obvious similarities, but also so many differences! Was that your experience?

Wonderful trip, thanks for reporting back.

I am so happy to hear that you liked Plitvice Miric Inn and their delicious breakfast. Their breakfast buffet with the homemade pastries is one of the best we've had anywhere.

We loved Zagreb, too! I think it's an underrated city. It's very different from Dubrovnik and Split, which makes the itinerary more interesting and diversified. Zagreb reminds me a little bit of a smaller Prague, but much less crowded, of course.

You covered quite a bit of ground in the time you had. We've only visited the coast between Split and Kotor, but enjoyed it very much. You remind me that we should go back to Croatia sooner and later, and perhaps consider Istria.

kja - We enjoyed both Krka Falls and Plitvice Lake. The problem was that we picked up our car at Split airport one morning, and I had us stop in Sibenik for a walk. Then we went to Plitvice for a bit, and travelled onto Plitvice just before dark. I didn't want my husband driving on those mountain roads in the dark, so we only had time for a short trail in Krka. I thought Krka was exremely beautiful, with some cool birds. I don't remember any majestic waterfalls. Looking back, I would have cut out Sibenik, and spent more time in Krka. Plitvice was super nice with the waterfalls, but way too crowded. I would advise anyone going to Croatia to hit BOTH, because they are different and are "signature" sites in Croatia. I put both on the itinerary because you advise people to do both, and I find you to be right most of the time, lol. Interesting question, thank you.

ANUJ - Thank you for the complement about my trip report. Actually, it's more like trip notes. It's kind of fun now getting some feedback and reminiscing.

Karen Woo - It's great to hear from you, thank you. I always enjoy your posts and trip reports. The Plitvice Miric Inn is indeed a gem. I have an addiction to sugar, and when I saw those breakfast pastries, I had to control myself. It's nice the way they label the plates so you know what each of them are. The owners were sooo kind. The husband insisted on driving us back and forth to the falls, so we wouldn't have to worry about parking. We chatted with them quite a bit. Apparently, they built the entire hotel from scratch on their property. They also have two grown children with families living in other countries. I think one was in Australia, and I can't remember what the other country was. I have never been to Prague, only Bratislava, but Zagreb does have an uprententious Eastern European vibe. We typically try to minimize our time in big cities, but Zabreb was a refreshing exception. I wanted to visit some of the museums on our last afternoon, but my husband said he ran out of steam. so we just relaxed in our lovely room.

tripplanner001 - Great to hear from you. Yes, we covered quite a bit of space geographically. I really wanted to see the southern part of Croatia, the Istrian penninsula, and Slovenia, all in one trip. I know your entourage likes hiking, so I would definitely recommend Slovenia for you. There were some Americans staying at our hotel in Bohinj that were doing quite a bit of hiking. Thank you for all your help with our Central Asia itinerary, it's all planned, using your trip for inspiration.

I forgot to mention, for those of you who travelled to the region awhile back, that we are SO glad that we stayed in Bohinj, and not Bled. Bled has become so kitschy and touristy, and it was nice to be away from it. We stayed at the Art Hotel Kristal. It was fairly nice, kind of rustic.

I fear that many people have found me to be wrong most of the time ... but I'm very glad that you have found value in my remarks!

Too bad about the Krka Falls (shown below), but you were wise to avoid those roads around the Plitvice Lakes at night. Driving without GPS, I didn't realize I'd made a wrong turn and had ended up on unlit one-way roads through the park, in the dark, for a terrifying hour or so before I managed to find my way out. Yikes! At least I hope you enjoyed a bit of Sibenik.

Thanks, kja. I believe I mispoke about Krka. We were there for about two hours. I wanted to take one of their various boat rides, but they typically leave at 10 AM. We probably would have had to spend at least one night in the area, the night before, to make it there on time. I actually liked Krka better than Plitvice, because I felt more like I was in the the middle of a forest. I think it was the way the trails are cut in both parks. When I said that the water falls at Plitvice were more majestic, I meant that they seemed to be higher, whereas the Kraka waterfalls were more flat, such as shown in your lovely picture. Again, I would advise anyone reading this to go to both parks, as they are both unique, even at the expense of skipping a town or two.

We did indeed enjoy Sibenik. I created a walking tour for us, and the architecture was really nice. We went to a nice archeological museum there also. We sat out and had coffee for husband, and hot chocolate for me. The town was nice because there were not as many tourists as other towns.

Getting back to Pula, we spent several hours there on my self-devised walking tours. The highlight there is the Zerostrasse, or underground tunnels built during WWI. There are fascinating artifacts and other museum information within the tunnels.

I also want to mention that the most fascinating town on the trip was Radovljica, Slovenia, which is an easy day trip from Bohinj or Bled. The town was super-cutesy, and contained both a history and bee museum. The bee museum was super-fascinating. There was also a church with a monument to Edith Stein, a Jewish lady who later became a nun. She was murdered at Auschwitz, but was later sanctified by John Paul II.