phillyboy

Andrew - Zagreb holds no special appeal - but because there are really no major international airports in the country, we figured on having to either arrive or depart from there. We would be open to a recommendation of a nice smaller town not too far away, from where we could possibly day-trip to both Zagreb and Plitvice.

Yorkshire - No flights have been booked yet. The only two airports that appear to have decent international connections are Zagreb and Split. Can you give me an alternative recommendation?

yorkshire

I think Dubrovnik (DBV) is just as easy to fly to as Split (SPU), and I prioritize one-transfer flights.
I would still stay in Zagreb (though nearby Samobar sounds cute), just not so long.

Andrew

From Istria, there's always the option to fly home from Venice. But that probably means spending a night in/near Venice...violating your "no fewer than 3 nights in one place" rule. You could violate the rule for Zagreb, though too. At least, I'd recommend at most three nights there.

There's a direct flight from Venice to PHL on AA, for what it's worth. Not trying to advocate that you avoid Zagreb altogether, though.

I'd probably not do Plitvice as a day trip from Zagreb, either, unless you don't mind an extra 3-4 hours of backtracking to drive to it after you basically pass it by on the way to Zagreb. At worst, I'd try to make a long day and stop in Plitvice for a few hours on the way to Zagreb instead of going back as a day trip (or spend one night in Plitvice, but I understand you probably don't want just one night anywhere).

Andrew

yorkshire, Samobor is indeed a nice little town. I stayed there on my last trip the night before flying out of Zagreb. But I think I'd recommend a first-timer at least visit Zagreb and spend some time there if passing through. Samobor is really small.

phillyboy

I have considered flying out of Venice. We have done one night stays near our departure airport in the past - I'm not that inflexible. We will see.

Will also take a look at landing in Dubrovnik - we still have some time for booking flights.

Any opinions on the 4 stop itinerary that I out lined above? Maybe a few nights in Rovinj?

Andrew

It's a simple itinerary and it looks fine to me. The logistics are simple with a car. You can adjust the number of days in each place here and there. Look at what you want to do in each place to decide how many days to spend.

Hard to argue with a few nights in Rovinj - I loved it. I think Rialtogrl can tell you a lot about Rovinj. The old town is car-free, but you can park nearby in a lot. I stayed at a soba (B&B) about a 15 min walk from town, with free street parking, but in October, you can probably park in the closest parking lot - not a far walk. I probably would stay right in the old town. Most options there will be apartments or soba though. There are hotels around.

It makes more sense to fly into Split vs. Dubrovnik only if you get better flight connections or a much cheaper fare, obviously. I wouldn't fly into Dubrovnik if it requires an extra connection or a much longer layover vs. Split. It sounds like you have booked a few flights in your time, so this is probably common sense to you.

One possible option to consider is flying to Zagreb to start and immediately flying on your own to Dubrovnik, via Croatia Airlines, who offer fairly cheap one-way flights within the country. You can check the same option for flying into Paris, Amsterdam, or Frankfurt for example if you can get a good direct flight and find another one to Dubrovnik a few hours later, on your own. For example, if I could fly direct to say Amsterdam and then book my own flight to Dubrovnik four hours later, I'd prefer that to flying to Split with a connection then having to backtrack all the way to Dubrovnik and back.

rialtogrl

I would want to get an island in for a couple of days. Maybe you could shave one day of Zagreb and one off Split to get out to Hvar or one of the others.

I love Rovinj, it is truly one of the most beautiful places you will ever land. From there, with a car, you can visit Pula and Porec, go to some wineries, visit some hill towns, etc. Again you will be hitting it at the end of the season so the locals will be very tired. Just don't take it personally.

I will be in Croatia the first two weeks in October. Maybe our paths will cross and we can have a vino crna.

Happy planning...

rialtogrl

PS if you need any more info about Rovinj just ask.

phillyboy

Andrew, rialtogrl and yorkshire - thanks so much for your insights. I now need to share this information with our friends, and get their take on how to piece together our itinerary. I'm sure I will come back with more questions.

Andrew - Yes, I have a lot of experience booking flights. I currently fly about 20 weeks per year, mostly in the US, and a couple of international trips. In the past, I flew as often as 40 - 45 weeks out of the year - don't miss that! Need to figure out the best options for this trip.

rialtogrl - I will come back to you for more information on Rovinj. And it would be great if we could meet up for a drink, will keep in touch as our plans develop.

Andrew

With all of the places and options you've mentioned, there's probably no wrong choice you can make here!

kja

Personally, I would not try to add Istria – as I noted in my original response, I think you were wise to limit your trip, given your time frame and travel prferences. I think that adding it would add substantially to your travel time and limit your ability to take advantage of the opportunities you have in the places you do visit. JMO.

FWIW, I greatly enjoyed my time in Zagreb and consider it a charming, underrated destination. I spent 2.5 very busy days there – up early, on the move until there was literally nothing else I could do that day except have dinner and take a bit of an evening stroll, and in that time, I did NOT see everything I would have liked to see there. I wish I had given it more time.

I agree with yorkshire that flying into Dubrovnik would make much more sense than flying into Split and then traveling to and from Dubrovnik.

I think it really depends on your preferences and what you and your friends want to do. As already stated, I thought you plan made sense EXCEPT that I would shift more time to Split, since there is so much to do there and from there. JMO.

Personally, I would wait for Istria, but again, it really depends on what you want to see and do.

If you really want to try to add something, you could (as rialtogrl suggested) also add a couple of nights on Hvar, which should be calmer than during the height of the season (when it can be party-hearty central). Or as already noted you can visit Hvar from Split.

As you can see, lots of options, lots of different opinions!

Andrew

I'd probably do:

Dubrovnik - 3 nights
Island - 3 nights
Split - 3 nights
Istria - 3 nights
Zagreb or Venice - 1 night before flying home

Add the final night (you have 14?) in one of the cities, or in Plitvice...or add it to the city before or after Plitvice and do a long day stop at Plitvice enroute. There would be a couple of long drives: Split to Rovinj and Rovinj to Zagreb. You could stop at Plitvice for half the day to break it up, if that wouldn't be too long of a day for you.