We got back from a 10 day trip to Croatia about two weeks ago and had a wonderful time. We got many useful tips from the message board and I want to thank everyone. I thought I'd pass on a brief report and some tips.
Economy rentals had a good price and they brought the car to our hotel and picked it up from our hotel for a small fee!
We started out in Zagreb and stayed at Hotel Central which was very basic but not expensive. We did a brief tour of the area, got the car and drove to Rovinj. We loved Rovinj--it reminded us of some of the Italian towns we visited. They had a lot of truffle dishes which is one of our European passions. We stayed at the Adriatic Hotel which was nice but noisy. We had a view of the water from our room. We had dinner at two great restaurants: Montes and La Puntuluna. We visited a number of hill towns including Motovun and Hum. I was surprised to find so many churches locked. In Hum, they gave us a key to see the old frescoes in the church!
We were then off to Opatija for a night. We stayed at the Hotel Opatija which was kind of run down but probably nice in its day. We had dinner at the Mandrac which definitely made Opatija worth going to.
Our next stop was Split. We stayed at a place called Hotel Diana which was hard to find but nice as long as you don't mind carrying your luggage upstairs. It was about a 5 minute walk to the old town, had parking across the street. Dinners were at the Sperun which was good and then also the Konoba Marjan. We were actually looking for a different restaurant that began with Konoba but we were glad we went to this one. The waiter was a nice older man who said "the grilled fish, it's good". We love grilled fish (having been to Sicily and other places in Italy)
Our next stop was taking the car ferry to Hvar. We had really great weather so far, sunny, warm hotter than usual. When we got to Hvar we ran into some rain and thunder but also nice weather in between the rain. We stayed at the Peristil hotel which was a 20 minute walk to the town. The hotel was on the water and had a pool, chairs to sit out. We had dinner at Yatsi (very good) and then Palazzo Paladini--we were supposed to have an outdoor table but it poured and we had to make do with something inside. We visited Trojir for an afternoon. We also wanted to visit the museum where nuns make lace but it has odd hours and they don't always answer the bell, so we never got to see it. I wonder what it was like--did anyone go in there??
We did the drive across Hvar to the ferry at Sucaraj. It was definitely not for the faint of heart and we had some really hairy turns and once there was someone coming from the other way, riding in the middle! However, we made it and saw the ferry we wanted (9:45 AM) pulling out just as we got there. We got the 11 AM ferry and got to the mainland.
We took a detour to Bosnia to see Mostar which was interesting--to see the bridge they rebuilt, damaged buildings. Then we got to Dubrovnik where we stayed for three nights. We were at the Stari Grad--the location was great but I think it's a bit overpriced. We loved walking on the ramparts, walking around the town. We had some nice dinners--Rosarijv was a casual, homey place with great grilled fish. We got to the beach, had some nice little lunches and thoroughly enjoyed our trip.
Feel free to comment or ask questions.

Hi,

I leave for Croatia in 2 days. I was curiuos about the nuns that make the lace - was this in Trogir? We are staying 2 nights in Rovinj and 2 nights in Trogir before we settled into our house for a week in Cavtat(near Dubrovnik). Any thing "not to be missed"?

Thank you. Excited for my visit/adventure.

The lace museum was on the island of Hvar. We did a day trip to Trojir and stayed in Split. We had a nice time staying in Rovinj. If you like truffles, this is the area. I can also recommend taking a day trip to the hilltop towns around the area and strolling through them. There were no "must see" sites--it was more the ambience, walking through the towns, having nice meals and being away on vacation! I hope that you enjoy your trip.

Thanks for the information. I caught the tail end of a PBS travel show last night about the Dalmatian Coast..and am even more excited about my trip! I love truffles and enjoy strolling and just enjoying the sights. Will post upon my return.

The very best truffle restaurant for us was Zigante in Livade and best overall was Le Mandrac in Opatija

Thanks for the excellent trip report. We are taking the same trip last week in Sept. How long was the drive from Zagreb to Rovinj as we land at noon and was planning to go directly to Rovinj. Good or bad idea?

Hi

It took us an easy 4 hours to drive to Rovinj but it depends on traffic. We also went at a busy time of year, so no problem for you.

Thanks Little Vicky. Guess we should plan on spending the night in Zagreb