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.