Slovenia/Croatia/Bosnia Herzegovenia - itin help
 

Greetings! Need assistance and feedback in planning potential custom private tour of Adriatic. Only have 12 days to play with. Originally focused on Slovenia and Croatia, but read up a bit on Sarajevo, and it sounds fascinating and very cultural. In order to squeeze Sarajevo in (and would you recommend this?), would need to make cuts. Would like to hit these areas:

Slovenia - Llubljana, Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj/Triglav Nat'l Park/Portoroz/Plitvice Lakes/Rovinj
Croatia - Zadar/ Krka Nat'l Park/ Split/Ston/Dubrovnik (need help with Croatia)
B-H - add Sarajevo? Anywhere else nearby?

As background, we are a very well traveled family. Love Roman ruins and museums, but do not need to focus on these for this trip. Also really do not like crushing crowds of tourists (therefore, concerned about Dubrovnik, as we will be traveling in late July/early August). Is Dubrovnik still worth going to?

Family likes combining the outdoors (we are physically active) with culture/cities. Worried that Coast might start to look too similar, which is fine, except if we are trying to squeeze in Sarajevo (which sounds very unique), maybe we should make coastal cuts?

Advice welcome, including opinions on whether Sarajevo is safe, worth squeezing in, etc. We will only do this trip with a driver, so we won't have to worry about bus and train connections.
Thanks!

Do you have flights yet, or are they scoped out as to what is most likely?
Are you open to car rental, or do you prefer to stick to public transit?

The only way I can evaluate an itinerary is to write it out day-by-day. Try that with the places you most want to see and see how it works out. After a glance, I am thinking a good chunk of your list will need to be left off.
As for Dubrovnik, it really just depends on how much you wish to see it--crowds are definitely an issue, thanks to cruises.

Also, since you mentioned outdoors, July/August, crowds. Plitvice gets huge crowds too. The good news is that Croatia has a wealth of natural areas, it is just that most stick to the same places. I'd be looking at parks in the interior north for what could be an extraordinary trip. The coast in August is going to be very crowded, so I would pick any coastal spots early to secure accommodation.

We spent two days in Sarajevo and found it fascinating and very worth while to visit. On our trip we only did Plitvice Lakes, Split and Durbrovnik with a brief stop in Mostar so I'm afraid I can't help with the rest of the itinerary. Have a great trip!

With 12 days, I can't imagine visiting all the places you mention -- it took me nearly a month to cover a similar itinerary, and I travel solo and HARD (i.e., on the move every waking minute of every waking day). So even though it will be difficult -- and it will be difficult! -- I think you would do well to limit your aspirations.

Sarajevo is, IMO, a delightful and poignant destination; I wish I'd given it more than 2.5 days. Visiting as a solo female traveler, I found it perfectly safe in 2009. If you go to Sarajevo, consider going to Mostar as well.

"Worried that Coast might start to look too similar." I, for one, found the differences among the islands and coastal cities among the most fascinating aspects of my trip to the area. Multiple realms claimed various regions over the years, leaving distinct influences on the architecture and foods (among other things).

Sounds like a lot of places for 12 days. We had 7 nights in Croatia and 2 in Slovenia and it was very hectic. We still enjoyed the trip.
Take a look at our journey to see which places you like at https://www.diyfamilytravels.com/croatia-slovenia/

Just got back for 3 weeks in gorgeous Slovenia, staying in Kranjska Gora....would go back in the blink of an eye.

Love BiH too. Sarajevo is much bigger than Mostar, just about all of Mostar's 'attraction' are in the Old Town, whereas in Sarajevo there is evidence of the 1990s War everywhere you look. Fascination city, well worth setting up shop for a few days, and visiting at leisure.

The train ride between Mostar and Sarejevo takes about 2.5 hours and is well worth making the effort.