Thoughts on this Itinerary for Croatia & Slovenia
 

We're planning a trip in May to Croatia and Slovenia ending in Sarajevo. The number of days is flexible but would like to keep it to about 4-5 weeks. I've been playing around with various itineraries some of it based on reasonable airfare and transit times. We're 2 retirees who travel a lot, are active and enjoy the outdoors, scenic drives, museums and just hanging around and enjoying towns. Love to sample the local wine & food. Our preference is not to move around a lot, but that doesn't seem to be working out with this trip. We like driving ourselves, taking trains and buses. We typically do a mix when we travel. Our preference is not to move around a lot, but that doesn't seem to be working out with this trip. I don't mind short day trips, but am not interested in spending 5 hours in a car to come & go to a destination. Your thoughts on what I have figured out on this first attempt at an itin so far are wanted.
Fly into Zagreb - spend 4 nights
Pick up a Car in Zagreb
Drive inland Croatia - 3 nights
Drive to Ljublijana - 3 nights
Lake/Bled/Lake Bohinj - Julian Alps - 3 nights
Piran & Istria Peninsula - 4 nights
Plitvice Natl Park - 1 night
Zadar - 2 nights
Return car in Split
Split - 3 nights
Ferry to Korcula - 3 nights
Ferry to Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik with day trips to Mostar and Kotor, Montenegro - 4 nights. I know this is supposed to be very crowded but given we are going to do day trips we figured we needed the 4 nights.
Train to Sarajevo - 3-4 nights
Fly home from Sarajevo

Really appreciate your comments and recommendations.

As much as you hate moving around, I think I'd spend a few nights in Montenegro instead of day tripping there. I think you will be glad you spent more time there. Dubrovnik is wonderful, but it does get very crowded during the daytime and is pretty small.

My suggestion would be instead: pick up another car as you leave Dubrovnik, drive to Montenegro (I stayed in Kotor but might recommend smaller Perast instead). Then drive to Sarajevo via Mostar. If you could violate your "not move around much" rule, spend a night in Mostar - it is much less crowded at night but very busy now, as I understand it, during the day (I visited Mostar for a night in 2009). You might stop in Trebinje on the way from Montenegro and perhaps also at the monastery at Blagaj (near Mostar). Mostar is probably not worth two nights.

Then spend your nights in Sarajevo and drive back to Zagreb and fly out from there. I think you'll will probably find better flight connections out of Zagreb than Sarajevo, anyway. On the way to Zagreb, you can stop in some neat little Bosnian towns like Jajce and Travnik.

You would miss the lovely train ride from Mostar to Sarajevo, but you drive on the other side of the river from the train tracks most of the way, so you get to see the same scenery. (If you follow your original idea, you'll have to get a bus to Mostar if you want to take the train on to Sarajevo...or just take a direct bus from Dubrovnik to Sarajevo, which may take you through Mostar anyway.)

Some personal preferences: not a big fan of Zagreb, so I wouldn't spend four nights there myself. Some people do like it - maybe you will. But your time there is disproportionate to your time everywhere else. Are you just trying to adjust to jet lag, or do you have some special interest in Zagerb?

I also wasn't a big fan of Zadar (again - some people are, maybe you will be too). It was one of those towns that sounded a lot more interesting and charming than it turned out to be. I spent one night there and then stopped in Sibenik for a few hours on the way south and preferred it to Zadar. You might also sneak in a visit to Krka National park near Sibenik. No, Krka isn't redundant to Plitvice in my view, but perhaps your interest in national parks is limited vs. towns. You can see just the big Skradinski Buk waterfall at Krka if you want - much bigger than any individual waterfall at Plitvice (which I nonetheless preferred overall to Krka).

You could probably add another night to Slovenia, depending on your interests. There are neat little towns, caves, scenic drives, etc. and one more night might let you slow it down - especially if you have the time.

I know it is all a matter of personal preference but we liked Hvar more than Korcula and I might add a day to Plitvice. We just spent one night there and felt sort of rushed through the park. Do visit the Buza Bar in Dubrovnik!

Should be a great trip! Some specific comments:

I would strongly encourage you to spend a night in Mostar – it is much more delightful after day-trippers leave!

You might consider reversing the order of your trip, which I think would minimize the chance of outrageous heat in Mostar and maximize the chance of lovely evenings in the northern portions of your journey.

I enjoyed Zadar and Zagreb (and think your time there quite reasonable), but also enjoyed Sibenik and the Krka National Park (which is, indeed, quite different from the Plitvice Lakes). I’m glad I saw Hvar, but a few hours in Hvar Town were more than enough for me.

As you are learning, there simply is no way to fit all of the delights of this area into even one long trip, and it is not a part of the world that readily lends itself to base locations.

Hope that helps!

You know, reversing the order makes sense. We flew into Zagreb, spent the night at nondescript B&B outside of the airport and flew to Dubrovnik to get over jet lag. A day or two in Zagreb going in the other direction is plenty in my opinion.

Thanks, all! I have been mulling over reversing the order mainly to avoid the crowds in Dubrovnik & possibly to have cooler weather in the south. We could even leave last week of April. The problem reversing it is the flight connection from IAD to Sarajevo is not as good as the return flight, but it still may be worth it.

Judy - wasn't sure about spending 2 nights in the park. I am glad to hear your opinion. I hate feeling rushed!

kja, Will not miss the Buza Bar. I have read so many good things about it.;) How long did you stay at Plitvice Lakes? Isn't everywhere much nicer after the day trippers leave? That's another reason I prefer not to do day trips.

Andrew, we do like to spend longer on our first stop after an overnight flight. You've given me some good ideas to explore. Fortunately, we do have as much time as we want. Although we are finding that in general 4-5 weeks is a nice amount of time for us.

I welcome more comments.

I found I could get the gist of Plitvice in 6-7 hours. (You can't see every inch of every trail in that time, but at some point you've seen the highlights and seeing more just feels redundant.) A good strategy might be to arrive mid-afternoon the first day, see some of the park, stay overnight, and see more in the morning. It's really best to get into the park at 7am when it opens to avoid the big crowds later (by mid-morning, maybe not quite as bad in May). FYI, if you stay in one of the overpriced park hotels, you do get one benefit (besides being able to walk right into the park) of getting your park ticket stamped from the day before so you can enter the park a second day without paying again. Only the few park hotels can do that.

The problem with two nights in Plitvice is, there isn't really much of a town there, so there's not much to do at night. I'd rather have the second night in any other town on the Dalmatian coast myself instead of another night in quick a quiet place.

IMO, not so much -- once the park closes, around sunset, there isn't much to do -- except enjoy a long, leisurely delicious meal of fresh fish wherever you're staying. (I enjoyed the Villa Mukinja, which still gets good reviews; I think rialtogrl has recommended another place that would, IMO, be worth investigating.) I only spent one night at the Plitvice Lakes -- but I don't mind one-night stays and I was happy with a very full, busy-every-waking-moment kind of trip.

What’s inland Croatia for 3 nights at beginning?
i believe Mostar is a VERY long day trip from Dubrovnik. If you go to Hvar instead of Korcula - as someone else suggested - you could drive from Split to Dubrovnik with a stop in Mostar.
We did enjoy Krka and it’s only just over an hour from Split or stop on your way from Zadar to Split.

I like your itinerary - very cool that you have so much time.

The day tours from Dubrovnik to Mostar and Kotor leave early in the morning - are you cool with that? If you start in Dubrovnik, you might want to sleep in. If you arrive in Dubrovnik in late April/early May one of the Buza bars might not be open yet (the one Maitaitom always posts pictures of.) But the Buza kja went to (the one that has a sign "cold drinks") should be open. Starting south and heading north is a good idea.

Whether you decide on Korcula or Hvar, with this much time would be nice to rent a car so you can explore.

Regarding Plitvice, there are a lot of hiking and walking trails not in the main part of the park. That time of year, it could be cloudy and in my opinion it is better to have more time (especially because you can spare it) to make sure you can get to the waterfall and pool part of the park on a sunny day. I always stay at Plitvice Miric Inn -
Plitvice Miri? Inn
If you stay there, they have a bocce court and serve excellent meals. The family can advise you on other hiking trails and things to do in the area.

For Ljubljana try to stay on a Friday night so you can go to Open Kitchen.
Odprta kuhna

Thanks again! Everyone's comments are so helpful. I'm thinking of doing Zadar as a day trip from Split which would cut down on the moving around.

kja, you do move faster than we do these days. :)

alison, Inland Croatia is described as "enticing, no tourists, Baroque villages, funky art galleries and outstanding wineries." One village, Hiebine , is the birthplace of the naive art movement. It looked like a little different area to visit. Yes, its 2.5 hours to Mostar from Dub. Further, then we generally like to go for a day trip. Good idea to think about going from Split. Although that would involve changing our island trip. Will look to add in the second park as a day trip from Split.

rialtogrl - yes, it wonderful to have so much time. But as I have found out it doesn't matter how much time you have, there never seems to be enough. Yes, we would likely rent a car on whichever island we choose. Good point on the sun in Plitvice. We have had that happen with clouds or fog and it does make a difference. I'm thinking of the Buza Bar Maiton loves so much. The views look fabulous. Didn't know there was more than one. Thanks for the recs.

Now I looked at google flights and the flight I saw going from IAD to Sarajevo that wasnt so bad is not showing up!

Zadar is full 2 hours from Split and you want to be there in the evening. It is I think right on the way from Plitvice to Split.
I would double check with someone about those inland villages!

:ok: I'm working on it.:cool:

How funny about the Buza Bars – I saw both (but only stopped at one); and would have sworn that I got the directions from maitaitom! But I just checked, and (of course) rialtogrl nailed it. :) Yes, I went to the original one, the one reached by followiong a “cold drinks” sign through a hole in the wall. And I’m very glad that’s the one I chose for my wine break! Of course, trying them both would be far better -- perhaps multiple times, just to be sure. ;)

I think it’s wonderful that you’re planning some time in inland Croatia! I didn’t make it to Hlebine, but I thoroughly enjoyed Varazdin (which I think is seriously underrated) and was glad to have stopped for a few hours in Cakovec, which has an ethnography museum that I thought quite good, not to mention a very interesting Art Nouveau building called the Casino or Dom Sindikata. The region has quite a few interesting castles, too. FWIW, the cities I visited showed a decided Austro-Hungarian influence, and the churches – particularly the interiors – tended to be Baroque, but Baroque is not the word that would have come to my mind when thinking of the architecture of the region, which I thought quite varied, but if anything, tilted toward the medieval. But I’m no architect!

As for routing – another option would be to fly into Sarajevo, train to Mostar, bus to Dubrovnik, and then – after some time in Kotor – work your way back north. That worked really well for me!

You probably already know that Zadar is not on the way from Split to the Plitvice Lakes. Some people go that route, specifically so they can see Sibenik or the Krka National Park or Zadar.

Unfortunately the Buza Bar (not the "cold drinks" Buza) is not the same fabulous place it used to be. Hopefully things will have gone back to normal this year. Last August they were just selling beer to people swimming and laying on the rocks or willing to sit with no table. They used to have Spritz, no more. One of the guys told me the owner of the rock area wants the area back to put a restaurant there and they were fighting him. (Not sure how a restaurant could work there, but whatever.)

I still drank something, sitting on the rocks, in solidarity. Went back in October and still found it a shell of itself but it was the end of the season by then.

Anyway early May they might not be open for the season yet but the other one should be. It is always packed.

I'll be back in mid May and hope to find the old Buza I know and love to be around.

I have always wanted to go to the inland part of Croatia east of Zagreb to explore the pinot noir scene there but have not yet got around to it. One of these days.

This happens to me if I change one of the dates. Some of the routes only have 4 flights a week. Use the arrow and try shifting the dates. TAP, Newark to Porto direct is like that.

Thanks to all replies, my wife and I plan a 14 day trip in late Sept 2019, so am bookmarking. Probably just hitting the Northern half of this route. For this route, Airtransit from Toronto direct to Sagreb is a 2 day a week option for us right now.

Enjoy your trip.

rialtogirl & kja -- who knew the Buza Bar could have so much conversation? -- We need Maitaitom! Maybe we'll run into you rialtogirl there.
kja - glad to hear you enjoyed inland Croatia. It sounds interesting, but I've just started researching it. The naive art scene is fascinating so that makes Hlebine worth a visit for us. Which of the towns did you stay overnight? Did you drive? thanks! The routing you did starting in Sarajevo would work if I can get airfare that is satisfactory flying into Sarajevo. I have a tracker on it, so we'll see.

bdokeefe - yes, that can happen with flights only going on certain days. I was able to find the flight, but it has gone up substantially since I first saw it which, of course, happens regularly with flights.

We loved Groznjan on the Istrian peninsula for art galleries. We used the car GPS to access and went up a gravel, one lane, switchback road which was horrible. Arrived at the top to find paved streets and a parking lot!

Judy -- don't you just love that with GPS? That has happened to us several times. Where were you staying when you visited Groznjan?

Yestravel, no more "shortest route" for us! We were staying in Rovinj when we visited Groznjan.

Judy -- yes, learned that the hard way! That's one reason I think it's always good to have a paper map to actually look at a route and see the type of roads it takes.

Thanks for all the suggestion. I have a revision -- what do you think?
Fly into Sarajevo - spend 4 nights
Train to Mostar (~2hour) spend 1 night.

Bus to Dub leaves at 12:30 (3:15)


Dubrovnik 3 nights


Pick up car and drive to Montenegro
Montenegro 2/3 nights

drive to Car ferry to Korcula - 3/4 nights

Ferry to Split - 3 nights including day trip to Zadar

Plitvice Natl Park - 2 nights

Piran & Istria Peninsula - 5 nights

Lake/Bled/Lake Bohinj - Julian Alps - 3 nights

Drive to Ljubljana - 3 nights

Drive inland Croatia - 3 nights

Drive to Zagreb & return car
Zagreb - 3 nights
Fly home from Zagreb

That itinerary looks fine, even though you will be driving more than the original plan.

Thanks, Andrew. We like driving. I was trying to avoid turning in cars and getting other ones.

I got a suggestion on TA to spend the night in Zadar on the way to Plitvice and may do than. I’m coming to crept that this trip will have lots of short stays. We used to travel that way.

Regarding Zadar, know that it is not especially car friendly (if you stay in the old town). When I stayed one night there in 2015, I happened to pick the night before some sort of big "walk event" so the town was mobbed. Somehow I lucked into a cheap B&B at the last minute on Booking.com in a perfect spot not far from the Sea Organ and Sun Salutation in the old town. The B&B manager managed to snag me a great free parking spot near the place - there were only like FOUR spots! Free parking in the Zadar old town is not easy to come by, apparently. I guess there are paid lots.

I do think I would have preferred to overnight in Sibinek instead of in Zadar if I could choose again, though. Just liked the town better.

For my time in inland Croatia, I stayed in Varaždinand had a car; that worked well for me! (I also stayed a night in Čigoč, but I think that’s too far afield from the area you are discussing, and doesn’t sound like it would be of particular interest to you.)

I think your new itinerary looks very nice, and am glad you identified a way to reroute as I had suggested. :)

One possible tweak: Split is my favorite city in Croatia, and it’s one of the few places that really does work as a base (for Trogir, Sibenik, the Krka National Park, Zadar, Hvar, Vis, Brac, etc.), so you might want to add some time there. If you want to trim your time elsewhere to have more time there, you might consider (a) shortening your time in Istria (5 nights would drive me bats there, but many people would love it) or (b) combine Ljubljana, Bled, and Bohinj for a total of 5 nights (Ljubljana is incredibly charming, but very small), and they are close enough to use one Ljubljana as a base.

If you want to stay in Zadar, visiting it and then going to the Plitvice Lakes from there could work. My point was not that you can’t route that way, just that it is not actually on the way between Split and the Plitvice Lakes. I’m sorry if I added confusion rather than clarification!

Andrew is right – Zadar is not car friendly. Nor is Split. Nor Rovinj. Or any number of other places you are considering – make sure you have a plan before you set out!

IMO, Šibenik and Zadar are so different that I wouldn’t venture to compare them. Each has some wonderful features.

We stayed in both Sibenik and Zadar in late May. I personally would not do a day trip from Split to Zadar. Zadar is a nice town and we enjoyed our short time there but I didn't think it was extraordinary enough to warrant a four hour drive. Stopping enroute to Plitvice might work though (sleeping in Plitvice that evening if you want to avoid a one night stop). The museum of ancient glass was a highlight for me (but not my friend, which goes to show that not everyone shares the same interests).

We travelled to all the places you mention except Sarajevo, Mostar and Montenegro but we did it by public transport, which was very easy. I mention this in case you don't want a car for all of it. We had six weeks in Croatia and Slovenia (three in each country) and enjoyed everywhere we visited. We certainly had to be selective about where we stopped as there is so much to see and do. Plenty more places for many more holidays - if we're lucky enough to be able to do that.

I think your plan sounds great - enjoy!

So you are thinking of keeping the car in Korcula and then taking it to Split? I don't know of any car ferry from Korcula to Split, only catamarans. But you can take the ferry from Korcula island to Orebic and then drive to Split.

There are some hotels outside the city walls in Split with parking. I don't find Rovinj that hard to get around, but parking is expensive. Where are you thinking of making your base in Istria? I would visit Piran when you are already in Slovenia and not go back and forth, just to avoid extra border crossings. Don't forget you will need to get a vignette for your car when you get to Slovenia. Probably you knew/someone already mentioned it.

If we are in the same neighborhood at some point it would be fun to get together. I'll be in Slovenia the last part of May so that seems more likely schedule wise.

A big thanks to everyone--I so appreciate everyone's comments. I always wonder how did I ever plan trips before travel boards? So helpful.

On the car, as I have said we do enjoy driving, but we do not enjoy navigating cities and the parking issues. That said, we often prefer it to dropping and picking up a car as we find that to be a rather large hassle & time suck. For now, I am going to plan to have the car and will be on the lookout for parking and what places we stay offer. We do this often and have driven in many cities around the world. By "we" I mean my husband -- no way I could do it! I am the navigator which I contend is a thankless job not getting the kudos it deserves!

kja & dreamon - will look into Šibenik (not that I need more places!:smirk:)

dreamon - given you have a similar time frame, are there places you wish you had stayed longer or conversely spent less time in?

rialtogirl - haven't gotten that far to figure out a base in Istria. Rovinj seems to be a popular choice. What would you recommend? Yes, we woul d keep the car in Korcula and take a ferry to Split. I did find on TA links to a ferry schedule from Korcula to Split. The ferries are not easy to figure out though. And from looking at several sites, the schedule has changed over the years. If we have to we can drop the car if the ferries don't work out. I would love to meet up. Right now we're planning the month of May into the 1st week June for our trip. We'd be in Slovenia mid-late May. Do you use the PM function on Fodor's? Let's keep in touch once we have our plans more fleshed out.

For the Korcula island to Split ferry portion, you will drive across the island (about 30 minutes) to Vela Luka and take the car ferry from there. It wil be nice ot have the car on Korcula to explore there as well as on the mainland.
When looking at ferry schedules on the Jadrolinija website, always make sure you are looking at car ferries and not catamarans.
Your trip sounds amazing! It's been too long since I was there, and I always used public transport, now ready to go back and wander.

yestravel, I found croatiaferries.com a useful site but we did find that ferry times changed a bit between our initial planning and actually travelling. This actually worked in our favour because frequency increased a bit to some places. There is nowhere that I wished we hadn't visited and could have stayed longer in most of the places we stopped. I regret missing Vis but my friend wasn't keen and compromises were made. Croatia is such a long country that with a limited time we found we had to keep going to travel from Dubrovnik to Zagreb. My normal plan is to spend at least 3-4 nights in each place but we had a few 2 night stops on this holiday and only one night in Zadar. The place it would have been easiest to spend longer was Split, partly because we really enjoyed the city itself but also because it has good transport links to other places for out of town trips. We were in Croatia mid-May to early June this year, same time of year as you. I'm sure you'll enjoy it - a great place to visit.

I was also in the area from mid-May to mid-June – it’s a wonderful time to be there, with lots of blooming wildflowers, generally manageable temperatures during the day, and very pleasant evenings. :) At least when I was there, ferry schedules changed sometime around the beginning of June, so when you check ferry schedules, be sure to check the dates carefully.

I believe Rovinj is the usual base for Istria (with good reason!), but would note that Poreč might also be worth considering, depending on your interests.

I think I mentioned Vis as an option for a day-trip from Split in a previous post – my bad; it’s not really well suited for a day trip. Sorry!

I adore Rovinj and it makes a great base for Istria except for the tricky parking. It is a very beautiful town and that time of year is pretty laid back.The season is just starting so everyone is fresh. Poreč is very pretty too, but different. Either way of course you have to visit both.

I'll send you a PM about meeting up.

Thanks to all! I feel very accomplished that I have a good starting outline for this trip. Filling it in and making some minor adjustments will be easy I hope. If anyone has places they would recommend we stay, that would be great. Typically we like smaller type places and apts.

yorkshire -- yes, we thought having a car on Korcula will be nice. Now if the car ferry schedules can even somewhat resemble what they are this year, we'll be fine.

dreamon - my preference is also at least 3-4 nights, but like you, that will not be the case for this trip. Maybe we'll add a day or so to Split and do more day trips and at least have one stay a bit longer. We do travel pretty slowly these days so don't mind just hanging around a town without doing activities or seeing something special. Thanks for the website.

kja - Rovinj does seem to be "the" base for Istria. That may be a reason to look elsewhere;). We'll see. Lots of time to make these decisions.

rialtogrl - answered your PM. Hopefully our paths will cross in May.

In Dubrovnik, you might consider the quirky Villa Adriatica -- the views are outstanding!
Villa Adriatica - private accommodation, apartments and rooms in Dubrovnik, Croatia

In Korcula, give some thought to the Royal Apartments:
http://www.korcularoyalapartments.com

If you stay in Rovinj, you might consider the Casa Garzotta:
Home

If you stay in Bled, you might consider the Pension Mayer, and whether you stay there or not, a dinner is worth considering:
Penzion Mayer, Bled - Slovenia Rooms, Restaurant, Zimmer, Camere

I think rialtogrl and I both gave you recommendations for the Plitvice Lakes.

In Korcula, we really enjoyed the Plaza apartment. Close to the waterfront, looking over to the mountains across the water from the patio. A 5min walk to the old town. Walking distance to a big and small supermarket. Friendly host. Not sure about parking as we didn't have a car so didn't pay attention.

kja & dreamon -- thanks for the suggestions of places to stay. I will check them out.

yestravel, it's been a few years, but we stayed with Casa Garzotto (Rovinj) in the apartment, which is a block away from the B&B. It was fairly spacious, with rooms on several levels. Parking was included. I don't recall the exact details of how it worked, but they had a driver who parked the car for us and then fetched it each day when we were ready to head out for a day trip. We really enjoyed staying in Rovinj as a base for Istria. It did get pretty crowded during the day but was lovely in the morning and evening (we were there in late August/early September). We took day trips to Pula, Porec, Motovun, Groznjan, Cres Island, etc.

Look forward to seeing how your trip shapes up. We haven't been to the southern part of Croatia yet, and that is high on our list.

I've been watching the airfares go up & up. In the last week the flights IAD to Zagreb have dropped back down, but not the IAD to SJJ fares. So I have decided to reverse the trip and start in the north at Zagreb. I would appreciate comments on the itin esp in terms of how much time to spend in the various places. In general we prefer to avoid 1/2 night stays, but that was what I could work out in some cases. The # of nights keeps creeping up so anyplace that you think can be eliminated would be useful to hear opinions on. wondering about whether inland Croatia is worth it?

Fly into Zagreb -- 4 nights recovering from jet lag
Pick up car
Inland Croatia - 3 nights

Drive to Ljubljana - 3 nights
Logarska Dolina - 2 nights
Lake/Bled/Lake Bohinj - Julian Alps - 3 nights
Piran & Istria Peninsula - 5 nights

Plitvice Lakes National Park - 2 night
Split - 3 nights including day trip to Zadar
Car ferry to Korcula - 3 nights

Ferry back to mainland and drive to Montenegro - 4 nights

Drive to Dubrovnik & return car 3 nights

Bus/train to Mostar (~2hour) spend 1 night.

Bus/Train to SJJ - 4 nights.

Fly home from SJJ















Montenegro 2/3 nights

I think my feedback is about the same as my original post. I wouldn't spend four nights in Zagreb, and I'd probably ditch the car in Split and take the ferry to Korcula and Dubrovnik, pick up another car there as you leave and drive to Montenegro, Mostar, Sarajevo, and Zagreb and fly out of there. (Is flying out of Sarajevo really as convenient as flying out of Zagreb?)

I'd cut a night from Plitvice and borrow one from Istria - that is, leave early from Istria to get to Plitvice early and depart Plitvice late the second afternoon.

If you want to cut more days, I'd narrow down what "Inland Croatia - 3 nights" and "Montenegro - 4 nights" means. I wouldn't just leave those as placeholders unless you have specific things to do/see that are worth while to you.

But - these are personal preferences.