rialtogrl

I think this sounds FABULOUS!

theatrelover

Thanks so much rialtogrl. And thank you for the information which made me feel ok about visiting an island from Split.

kja

I agree -- should be a great trip!

"1 night in the area around Zagreb"

If you haven't already decided, you might take a look at Varazdin and Cakovec.

rialtogrl

I will admit, that now that you have two nights on Hvar it could be cool to have the car there. Before, you said an overnight. But either way, its gonna be great.

kja

I'll do something I rarely do -- disagree with rialtogrl! Well, sort of / maybe / kinda disagree.... If two nights mean 1 or even 1.5 days in Hvar Town, no problem (other than I thought Hvar Town WAY too upscale and "happening" for my tastes -- but that's a separate issue entirely). If two nights mean a day in Hvar Town itself and a day trip to Stari Grad, no problem. If two days means two full days in Hvar Town itself -- well, whether that would be a good solution really depends on a traveler's interests....

rialtogrl

that's why I suggested the car for a two day visit kja.. you can explore the whole island more freely!

(But, I could spend a week in Hvar Town with no car, no problem, as well.)

theatrelover

Thanks so much for the ideas. I can still look into those options and figure out what will work best. You have been so so helpful. I really appreciate it.

yorkshire

You might even decide once you are there about taking the car on the ferry (as long as your rental allows it--and I assume many do). You can scope it out and decide.
I know I would be nervous about driving a rental car onto a ferry, but tons of people do it with no problem--it is basically just driving onto a parking lot. In June, you should not have massive crowds to contend with.
I visited the country four times and never rented a car, but we don't mind bus rides and were either just moving from town to town or doing a lot of hiking and chilling. When I return, I will be renting one because I will be moving beyond all the places that are so easy to get between.
Since you will have a car, do extra research on where you might like to make good use of it in Montenegro and Bosnia (lots of neat little places I've read about in the latter).
As far as Hvar, if the lavender is blooming you might want to have a car. Otherwise, Stari Grad, Hvar, and the Pakleni islands (tiny islands with small day boats) should fill two days easily.
Should be a great trip!

rialtogrl

Here's an option to take the car to Hvar. Instead of going to Split after Mostar, drive to Drvenik and take the ferry from there to Sucuraj on the eastern tip of Hvar Island. That ferry is smaller, cheaper, runs more often, and is a shorter trip. From Sucuraj you can then drive the length of the island to Hvar Town or wherever you end up staying.

Note that this will not exactly save you time - it takes a couple of hours to drive across the island, and it is a windy narrow road. But a very pretty drive, if you can take your time.

Then at the end of your stay board the ferry to Split, drive off and you are.. in Split! That crossing takes a couple of hours.

In Hvar Town I always stay (every year since 2012) at Komazin apartments which are on the other side of town from the resort hotels. You can park there, and Andro is SO helpful with ferries (and everything else too.) You can walk into Hvar Town in 15 minutes, but these apartments are more in the residential neighborhood.
http://croatia-hvar-apartments.com/

Anyway it is just another option to ponder as you are in these planning stages.

theatrelover

Thank you so much yorkshire and rialtogrl. Now I'm thinking we should take the car to Hvar. Luckily we have taken cars onto ferries (Washington state, Ireland) and have had no problems with that. These are great ideas and thanks for taking the time to help me.

theatrelover

Rialtogrl thank you so much. I like your idea of going to Hvar after Mostar and taking the car with us. It will allow us to see more of the country than doing the trip to and from Split. I will definitely contact the Komazin apartments. Sounds wonderful. Thank you so very much for all your help.

rialtogrl

No problem. I love Hvar Island and with a car you can see so many nooks and crannies..

Take the old road between Hvar Town and Stari Grad... visit the beautiful valley village of Svirce... go through the crazy tunnel to Ivan Dolac.

And if you have a car you can go to eat dinner at the amazing Konoba Lambik in Milna (15 minutes from Hvar Town.) If you like fish. Don't go if you don't like fish

Do you like wine? Hvar has a wine tradition going back to the Greeks...

January is often when the locals take some time to themselves. If Andro does not respond right away give him a few days. Same with everyone you might be contacting right now.. if you don't hear back, try again in a few weeks. Some places are just flat out closed down for the season.

theatrelover

Thank you so much for all this wonderful info. We love fish. My husband loves wine. Thanks for warning me about the fact that we might not hear back from people just yet. That would have worried me. I usually have trips planned and set more in advance than this one but this trip got put on the back burner because my mom needed surgery. But all is well now and we can look forward to Croatia. Thank you again for all your help.

Everyone has been so helpful and I know this trip will be wonderful thanks to you all.

theatrelover

May I use your name with Andro or would you prefer not?

rialtogrl

Of course. My name is Shannon. It doesn't matter though he is lovely and helpful to everyone

I stay in a family-run apartment in Dubrovnik too if you want that link. Another family that makes me feel home.. and in Plitvice consider the family-run Plitvice-Miric Inn.
http://www.plitvice-croatia.com/
(I guess I kind of like family run places!)

theatrelover

I agree with you. In fact, the Plitvice-Miric Inn is my first choice there. I would love the link to the place in Dubrovnik you stayed. I find family run places to be so much more interesting and pleasant than chain hotels. When we travel, we love B&Bs and small family hotels.

rialtogrl

Hi theaterlover,

Here is the link to the Dubrovnik apartments I mentioned.
http://www.dubrovnikapartment-center.com/

Another poster here, just posted a report and that poster stayed at two of the apartments. My favorite is Lavanda (you can see the sea from it...)

Here's the report.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...a-179523-2.cfm

Note that their apartments get booked up very fast. But you can drop my name if you want, and if Stijepo does not have anything he will recommend some apartments of his friends. (I have stayed in one and it was beautiful - the apartment of Maja and Vlaho.) But try to get the Lavanda apartment.
They usually answer emails all year round

As for Andro, he is on vacation until Feb. 10, no harm in sending an email now but it may take some days for him to get back to you.

theatrelover

Thank you so much! You have been fabulously helpful!

Millstrip

This is a great read for me, as my husband, SIL and BIL are making a 3 week trip to Croatia end of May. I am more of a last minute person, so I am not as far along as theatrelover in our trip planning . So far, we are planning to fly in to Zagreb (we do have our flights) will spend 3 nights in town, drive down to Plitvice with some time near Karlovac during the day if my BIL can find some of his relatives. Two nights near Plitvice. Then we are not so sure, thinking we will do the following:

4 nights around Zadar to visit the city, Paklenica NP, maybe even one of the island NP's - Kornati or Telascica?

4 nights around Split - day trips to Sibenik, trogir
3 nights on an island -- have heard good things about Korcula and Vis
2 - 3 nights around Dubrovnik and area -- Cavtat, Lopud, Mljet and of course the town of Dubrovnik

we have 2 - 3 more days to fit in or expand the areas above.
we have to spend the 21st night near the Dubrovnik airport as we leave next morning at 6:30am

We like to stay in more "local" apts/homes (looking on VRBO and AirBNB) etc vs. hotels and are thinking we would stay out of town as a base and then make day trips and the 4 of us may split up as to what we want to do each day.

we are foregoing the Istria area as we want a more relaxed trip.

this is a lot of information -ha! but if you have any comments on 4 days around Zadar, Split and Dubrovnik- each, with a 3 night stay on an island I would appreciate it!

kja

@ Millstrip -- your plan sounds good to me! Since you have the time, you might consider visiting Vis AND Korcula.