Slovenia Croatia Sept-Oct help!
 

I am planning my trip to Slovenia and Croatia. We have tickets to Munich and back from Dubrovnik. Total 17 nights/18 days.
I thought originaly we can use car when leave munich and arrive Dubrovnik but drop off fee is too steep. So I broke it into 3 rentals.

Can you advice on itinerary. I've read here enthusiastic reports and many people stay 12 week at Croatia alone. I am reading Rick Steves and Fodors books and now I am thinking how to split my stays.

We also want to spend at least 2 nights in Munich and 2 in Salzburg on the way to Slovenia.

The itin is:
Day 1-3 Munich
Day 3 - pickup car and drive toSalburg.
Day 3-5 Salzburg.
Day 5 - drop off the car. Either transfer with private driver to Bled or Ljublana.

Scenario 1 - tranfer to Bled, rent a car, drive in Slovenia, go to Otocek (spa), and drop off car in Ljublana, few days in Lujblana. Train to Rijeka , rent a car there until Dubrovnik. But from Rijeka is detour to Istria...

Scenario 2. Salzburg to Ljublana train, stay in Ljublana 2 nights, then pickup car, drive to Bled, Otocec, and finish in Portoroz, drop off the car and take a driver to Rovinj. Rent a car there for Croatian part until Dubrovnik.


Day 11 -15 - 4 inghts in Croatia.
Robinj or Opatija ?
Split 1 night?
Korcula or Hvar?1 night
Day 15 arrie Dubrovnik, drop off car. 3 days in Dubrovnik, with 1 day trip with private driver to Montenegro.

We love seaside drives, food (seafood as well), nature, but we cannot hike much beacue husband has some diffuculties going uphill .. So we mostly drive ot use private drivers. Great view, some museums , churches (not too many)would be great. Loved Vienna, Czech countryisde and Prague.

Should we take some days off Munich? I need at least 1-2 nights to recuperate...
thanks!

Hi emtravel,

I think your trip sounds good. We did a Slovenia/Croatia trip last year and loved it. Here are some of my thoughts:

I really enjoyed Slovenia; it is a lovely county, but we thought Croatia was spectacular. It looks like you have 5 nights set aside for Slovenia. Is this correct? If so, I would cut a day or two off and add them to Croatia. Ljubljana is a charming city, one of my favorites in Europe, but its small and can easily be seen in a day or less. Bled is beautiful but after being in the Salzkammergut and Berchtesgaden the year before I must admit I was the tiniest bit dissapointed. We spent a few hours in Bled and it was plenty for us. Granted we did not take the little boat to the island (it was November and not too warm) but we did spend some time drinking delicious hot chocolate in a small cafe. We went to Otocec and its a neat area. Otocec castle is set in a very pretty park and makes for a gorgeous picture.

I haven't been to Korcula or Hvar but I'm assuming that one night, especially in Hvar, where you have to ferry to, would not be enough. I would take a day off Slovenia and add it here.

I personally did not like Split at all, but to each their own. Trogir is a very charming small town about half an hour or so from Split and I'm glad we decided to base ourselves there instead of Split.

If you like gorgeous scenery you should consider Plitvice in Croatia. We couldn't go because unfortunately the one day it rained on our trip was the day we were to spend in Plitvice, but it looks incredible and gets raves here all the time.

You are going to some of my favorite areas on your trip and I'm sure you will have a fantastic trip however you decide to do it.

happy planning!
Tracy

Thanks Tracy!
We have planned:
17 nights
3 nights in Munich
2 nights in Salzburg
which leaves 12 nights in Croatia and Slovenia 6+6? One day from DBV will be spent like you did - a day trip to Montenegro..

Should we take off one night from Munich?
Generally we do not like to move every night, but few times I understand will have to do so...
Plitvice looked nice. Is it for hikers only or are there easy strolls?
As I said my husband has some limitations.

So I need to see in Slovenia Ljublana, Ostosec and Bled in Slovenia.

Should we see Istria or central coast and Hvar or Korcula will afford same scenery? Why you did not like Split?

I looked actually at your pictures from your trip report and they are gorgeous!

Once I will work out itinerary then I will have some questions on accommodations...
thanks,.
Sophia

Dubrovnik was our favorite but we liked Split fine but wouldn't want to spend a lot of time there. You can see the main things in a day in Split.

If you only stay 2 nights in Munich, you won't have time to see all + Nymphenburg Palace, which is very nice.

emtravel,

Unfortunately I haven't been to all of the places in Croatia that you want to visit so I can't really give you any comments on Istria and the northern coast. We went from Split to Slovenia and through the northern countryside of Croatia before ending in Zagreb and flying back to Dubrovnik.

I loved loved loved Dubrovnik. I honestly thought 3 days would be too many (one of our days was also taken up by a daytrip to Montenegro) but its such a great place that I could have easily added a few days onto that and we are generally faster travelers than probably most on this board. It just has such great ambience and its setting is just amazing. So basically if you do take a day off anywhere you could easily add it to Dubrovnik and I don't think you would be dissapointed.

I liked Munich but admittingly its not my favorite European city so I personally wouldn't spend 3 nights there. I love the Bavaria/Austrian countryside around Munich/Salzburg and would spend my three days there but I love the montains so this is just my preference. Many on here rave about Munich though, so maybe I should give it another shot!

For some reason Split rubbed us the wrong way from the minute we arrived. The coastline is gorgeous so it was somewhat of a shock to finally arrive in Split, which is definitely a city (Croatia's 2nd largest). I just felt like it lacked the charm that other areas in Croatia had. I know its a city but I found Zagreb to have much more charm than Split. Again, this is just my opinion. Diocletian's Palace is certainly worth exploring and that in itself would probably have me returning someday.

Slovenia is a small country. I still think 6 nights is a little much, especially when Croatia has so much to offer, but it would allow you to slow down and if that's what you prefer than you should have a great time. The countryside is very pretty and the people were very friendly. And the food was delicious!

Hopefully others who have been to these areas will chime in and give you their thoughts.

Thank you for looking at our pictures....I'm glad you enjoyed them!!

Best wishes,
Tracy

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Let me say that I'm quite envious of all the time you've allowed for your upcoming trip to Croatia/Slovenia. We, too, experienced Dubrovnik, along with Montenegro and Mostar, last year, and loved it. We recently returned from 10 days split between Opatija, Ljubljana and Zagreb and found these northern areas to be just as fabulous (in fact, we enjoyed them more) than the southern cities. Spent 4 nights in Opatija, which we thoroughly enjoyed. It was lovely to stroll the promonade at a leisurly pace, and enjoyed the little communities of both Lovran and Volosko, neither of which was overtouristed. If you do stop in Opatija, would recommend Istraka restaurant for a delightful meal (it's up the hill from Hotel Bristol). From Opatija, you can make day trips to outlying areas (we did both Pula and Trieste Italy), but these are only a couple of options. With all due respect to Traci (a regular poster for Croatia), my husband and I are not fast travelers and prefer to 'experience' the cities we're visiting by staying longer than a day or less to 'see' them, so from that viewpoint, take a few days to see and experience Ljubljana. It's small, but offers a lot. The Central Market is a fantastic place to get some fresh food and shop for crafts being sold in the stalls alongside the river. There are numerous restaurants where you can enjoy excellent meals. Bled was a wonderful day trip and I would recommend the gondola ride to the island (of course the time of year you travel also impacts what you choose to do in any city). Perhaps my liking Bled so much had something to do with never having been to the Alps before in my European travels, so there weren't any comparisons to be made. We traveled by train from Opatija-Ljubljana-Zagreb and enjoyed every minute of it. It forces you to relax and have some down time while traveling. Zagreb is usually considered an in-transit, rather than a destination city. We'd flown from Zagreb previously, but wanted to spend some time there instead of just passing thru on this trip. Our time was short, be what a great city this is! One of the absolute best meals I've ever eaten was at Vinodol, and would highly recommend if time permits. It all boils down to what your interests are and if you prefer to travel at a leisurely or more advanced pace. We are all in agreement that you will love both Croatia and Slovenia as both are charming and offer a lot of diversity, especially the coast of the beautiful Adriatic. Please post a trip report once you're returned! ENJOY!

Debs, you are absolutely correct in your assumption. As I mentioned somewhere above, we do tend to travel faster. This is not because we don't like to take the time to see places. Its mostly because we don't spend a lot of time in museums and thus spend much of our time simply wandering around admiring architecture, taking pictures, ducking into churches here and there. So while we travel faster than some I think that our travel style is fairly leisurely once we get to a destination. Maybe this has something to do with our age, as we are in our 20's and are up early and ready to start the day.

We spent the better part of a day in Ljubljana and loved it but felt that we saw most of the city in this time frame. I could absolutely spend more time there but it would probably be for more leisurely strolls or to spend more time at the outdoor market. And as I mentioned above my comments are strictly my opinion. Each person knows how they travel and should do what they feel is best.

I will say that I loved the northern part of Croatia. We spent time in a wonderful town near the Hungary border named Verazdin and this was one of my favorite towns in Croatia. Was there a ton to do there? No, not really. But its a beautiful town full of interesting baroque architecture that is different from other parts of Croatia, and Slovenia for that matter. And we really enjoyed Zagreb. We spent just an afternoon there before catching our flight back to Dubrovnik and were both pleasantly surprised by how nice the city center is.

Tracy

Thank you everyone for your input. I think I should re-read my guides (Fodors and Rick Steves) and give it anothe thought to Zagreb. We prefer smaller cities and countryside. But I might look at Zagreb again.
We've been in Swiss Alps and loved it. So I am looking forward toAustrian alps and Slovenian JUlian Alps.

Another question - to go to Croatian islands (Korcula or Hvar)- do people travel on ferries with car?
Is car needed on the islands?

Also, why in Croatia most people stay in Sobe? Is it beacuse hotel industry is not that developed?

Sophia

Glad to read that you're reconsidering Zagreb.

Unfortunately neither of our visits included stops in Hvar/Korcula so I can't comment about those places.

IMHO, a sobe offers a more personal environment than staying in a hotel, plus the cost factor would be more favorable than staying in a hotel.

Croatia ferries are difficult with cards. Definitely ditch the car for that stretch of your trip. If you find that you need a car on one of the island, then rent for just a day. I'd suggest splitting your time 3 or 4 days in Slovenia (at least 1 night being in Bled) and 8 or 9 in Croatia. I don't know if you should make hte long trek to Zagreb. If it were me, I'd just go to the Plitivice Lakes and spend the night; Rovinj will (I think) make a better base than Opatija if you want to do some exploring in Istria, but you could certainly stay there.

I'm very envious ... this sounds like a good trip.

Like Deb we find sobes to be much more personal, charming and can be located in places inaccessible by tourist buses. My kind of place!

We too prefer sobes and smaller places. The only hotel we stayed at was in Dubrovnik on the last night and that was only because our flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik landed at 10:00 pm and we didn't want to keep anyone awake to let us into our room.

Sobes are cheaper and much more personal and cozy in my opinion. And Croatia still doesn't have the hotel infrastructure that many other countries have.

Tracy

Thank you very much. I am still in need to read my guidebooks (Steves and Fodors ) to make a decision how to split time.

Re: cars. So in Slovenia I will have a car in Bled and make a loop, end in Ljublana, return a car. Few days in Lublana w/o car and then take a train somewhere to Croatia.

Then I need to think about Istria/Mid coast (Split/Islands) and Dubrovnik.

Can you recommend a websie for sobe's ?
Is it only in Croatia or Slovenia has them as well?
thank you. Sophia