My wife and I are traveling to Croatia from Venice. are plans so far are: 2 nights in each place
Venice → Rovinj
Rovinj → Pula
Pula - Zadar
Zadar → Split
Split -Vis
Vis - Hvar
Hvar - Korcula
Korcula - Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik - Kotor

Is this a good itinerary, should we be considering any other places as alternatives on this journey. We love the being by water and hiking. We love great food and unique experiences. We are very fit and love a bit of adventure. Any suggestions for some experiences or out of the way places to definitely try and visit or see or do, we be so appreciated. We generally travel 4-5star, but don't mind roughing it either. Our plans so far are mostly to travel by ferry and a bit of coach or car hire. Looking forward to your suggestions.

It really depends on what you want to see and do, but keep in mind that 2 nights really gives you only 1 full day and maybe part of the days to either side. That might work for you in some of these locations, but most of us would want more time in places like Split and Dubrovnik.

From your stated interests, I'm surprised you haven't planned to stop at the Plitvice Lakes.

And I'm a bit confused -- with two nights in each destination, your plan involves at least 18 nights, but you say you have 16 days -- which is really 15 nights.

If you haven't seen it, I'd urge you to consult the Rough Guide -- it provides excellent coverage of these destinations.

Sorry it might be 18 days in total my bad maths. We were in split and dubrovnik 8 years ago so are ok with the that time frame. We know we're pushing it, and so we are wondering if we should skip Pula or Zadar?

I skipped Pula and so can't comment, except to say that if you are a fan of Roman colosseums, you would probably want to make it a priority. Zadar has some interesting installations -- the Sea Organ and Greeting to the Sun -- along with an ancient and unusual pre-Romanesque church (Saint Donatus), some great museums, etc.

I don’t see any time for hiking or much of anything else as you will be packing up to go to the next destination every other day.
When I make an itinerary, I write down what I want to do in each place, even if it’s just “chill.” Without some detail, I don’t know how to evaluate an itinerary, but this looks very rushed and not fun.
I would not go to Vis for anything less than three full days—make the boat trip worthwhile.

kja seems spot on

Thanks so much for your feedback. I agree it's a bits rushed, which is why we're looking for suggestions before we finalise our plans. We've been to Split and Dubrovnik already and done the lakes and as much we we'd love to go back we just don't have the time. We have an extension of time into Montenegro which I haven't included in this part of the planning discussion as I want to focus on Croatia, but I possible can steel a couple of extra days from there as well. My wife and I are not really chill by the beach for a day travelers (definitely a few hours) but then we're up and go. On a bike, on a hike or in a bar by the water. We've also done Vis, so don't need to do the blue lagoon again, but do want to chill on the beaches for a day there, so might add a day to that stop. We are thinking of hiring a boat for a day from Hvar, which we did last time as well and loved it - and yes we would love 3 days on Vis again, but we really want to do Korcula. I think maybe I need to reduce our time in Montenegro

If you include Korcula, try to visit on a night when the moresca is performed. Great fun!

awesomw advice

Please see my trip report that I just put up. You can go to Pula as a day trip from Rovinj, which was what we did. There is alot to see there besides just the ampitheater in terms of history, so I think it was worth it.

Kotor can be done as a day trip from Dubrovnik, which was what we did also. It's nice, but a a couple of hours there is enough.

I think you should cut your hotel stays down to six, or seven at the most. Plan strategically to take day trips. You will be alot happier.

This was our trip last May:
Ljubljana for 4 nights
Private car to Zagreb (less costly than renting a car one way)
Zagreb for 3 nights (2 would have been plenty)
Drive Zagreb to Zadar with stop at Plitvice National park (not to be missed)
Zadar for 2 nights
Drive to Split/Drop Rental Car
Split for 2 nights
Hvar for 2 nights
Dubrovnik for 3 nights (spend at least one day in the countryside and one day on Lokrum Island)
Kotor for 2 nights - wish we'd had a third night

Zadar was added at the last minute and we really like it. Small enough to walk around, great people watching and excellent waterside restaurants. We got there around 5pm so it was really just 1.5 days.
Hvar was our favorite - nice in the shoulder season before it gets too crowded. The food was good (skip Gariful), beautiful flowers, visited an authentic silk weaver - the lavender is in bloom July/August but then you deal with crowds; one winery tour which was fine until they tried to ship us a different vintage than we had ordered and paid for!
Montenegro was fascinating to us; we had just 1.5 days so the first day was a trip to the Blue Cave - don't go if the water is rough!!! Second day was a full day private driver who took us to the hidden gems as well as the well known landmarks. That did not leave enough time to climb the hills or go to the other bayside towns.
Dubrovnik was just too crowded, even in off season, for me. We had a great guide who found the hidden gems for us, took us to the top spots and worked around the cruise ship masses who descended by 9am and left at 4pm. Sea Kayaks to Lokrum were great!
Favorite Hotels were Heritage Hotel in Zadar and Palace Elisabeth in Hvar and Hotel Cattaro in Kotor.

Love these suggestions with Zadar and totally get Dubrovnik. Appreciate the feedback on Montenegro and not moving as much, but my wife and I travel quite well this way. We’re pretty pace driven travelers, taking things in and then moving on - chilling in the evenings with a great meal and either a great view or people watching. We travel light so it makes it easy moving around a bit than most. We have got three days in Bali to unwind in one spot on the way home.

The problems with going to Montenegro for a short period of time in June and July - 1) long lines at the border and 2) everything will be crazy busy.

If you do not have three or so days to spend there - save it for another trip. Seriously, you will spend too much time in the car, otherwise.

Yes I agree and we will have 9 days in Montenegro so should be fine. We are going on the ferry from Dubrovnik to kotor which should avoid the queues.

Awesome! I hope you will come back with a report on the Dubrovnik to Kotor catamaran - I have never taken it.

Im localm boat skipper in Pula. Maybe I can give you some information

That’s a very ambitious itinerary 😊

Spending just one night in each place is really quite short and requires very good organization. You’ll spend a lot of time packing, moving, and checking in/out instead of actually enjoying each destination.



If you can, I’d suggest slowing it down a bit and staying at least 2–3 nights in key places like Pula, Split, or Hvar. Especially in Istria, there’s a lot to see around Pula (beaches, islands, small towns), so it’s worth having more time there



enjoy your trip — Croatia is amazing!