Source
r/travel•
blockberner

Please critique my Croatia trip

Itinerary

Hi we are looking to go in September and reaching what others have done and seems to be doable. Early 30’s couple and active/both vaccinated coming from US.

Day 1 – Fly into Dubrovnik in afternoon and get rental car.

Day 2 – Explore Dubrovnik

Day 3 - Explore Dubrovnik

Day 4 – Drive from Dubrovnik to Split (3 hours)

Day 5 – Explore Split

Day 6 – Explore Split (maybe island day – Hvar)

Day 7 – Drive from Split in AM to Krka national park (find somewhere to stay)

Day 8 – Somewhere between Krka to Plitvice Lakes and explore Plitvice Lakes. Drive to Zagreb

Day 9 - Explore Zagreb

Day 10 – Fly out of Zagreb

Questions that we have:

    1. Thoughts or feedback on the itinerary? I realize day 7 is heavy travel and may throw in an extra day if needed
    1. Is the itinerary done better in reverse (flight prices are the basically the same)? Ex: Start in Zagreb and end in Dubrovnik? Seems more relaxing towards the end.
    1. Is it easy to get one way rental cars in Dubrovnik? We were thinking of not getting until maybe early day 4.
    1. Will we have any issues driving through Bosnia to get to the other part of Croatia in terms of Covid-19 requirements? Alternatively if we did reverse order would just do rental car from Zagreb to Split journey and then bus to Dubrovnik.
    1. Is a day trip from Dubrovnik to Kotor worth it if we extend our trip by a day?

Thank you

Posted Jun 15, 2021, 5:28 AM UTC

314
canucker78Canada•

  1. I would personally cut out Zagreb and use those extra two days to explore some islands like Hvar or Korcula. Maybe fly home from Split and rent the car for the Plitvice Lakes portion.

  2. It would be the same, but Dubrovnik would be the least relaxing part.

  3. When I was doing my trip research I found Sixt had the lowest one fee for €90 but the reviews weren't great, some car rentals charge a lot of money.

  4. I'm fairly certain you can cross by car with little issue but alternatively you could just take a catamaran and do some island hopping.

6
sealander_air•

I had to chuckle at "least relaxing part..". My old arthritic butt walked the wall, and said butt got spectacularly kicked. Such a beautiful city and I am glad I did it because I am fairly certain I would not be able to ever do it again. Damn my old bones.

3
blockbernerOP•

Appreciate your reply. That's a good alternative to skip Zagreb completely and use Split as the "home base" to do the trips. Will look into Zagreb and see if its something we should fully eliminate or at least save for half day.

1
zoki_balboa•

I don’t agree with other commenters saying to drop Zagreb; it isn’t the most entertaining city in the world or even a popular destination but it’s something very different from the coast and good insight in everyday Croatian life, there are also a lot of exploring opportunities (Maksimir park, Medvednica mountain cable car (that will soon open), Museum of Broken Relationships, Museum of Contemporary Art, there will be some outdoor festival for sure etc.)

Regarding the rest of itinerary it’s not bad at all, day 7 isn’t even that bad, it’s easy to drive from Split to Krka and as you said maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to start with Zagreb but in the end it’s all the same.

You won’t have any problems passing B&H 🇧🇦 as that is special corridor and you don’t stop at all.

3
blockbernerOP•

Great news about the B&H corridor. Thank you!

1
IWantAnAffliction•

There have been at least 6 posts about Croatia itineraries in the past 2 weeks. Try searching the subreddit.

2
blockbernerOP•

Thank you for the suggestion. This is not my first post in travel and always search through various threads (dating years) before coming in and posting. The intent was to take my consolidated findings and ask for feedback.

3
mn127•

I like your itinerary but I agree to drop Zagreb and use those days in Split and Dubrovnik (with a day trip to Kotor- definitely worth it, I recommend driving one way via Perast as the the bay is stunning and get the ferry on the way back to save time). Also do the cable car in Dubrovnik (it’s just out of the city centre so many people miss it), the views are beautiful and also take the ferry to Lokrum island which is worth a half day.

Dubrovnik isn’t as busy in mid- late September as summer is over for most European schools so crowding won’t be as bad as July and August. When I went (peak Game of Thrones, it still wasn’t that bad).

2
blockbernerOP•

Awesome - we love anything with views. Are public transport easy to get around in Dubrovnik?

1
somersettler•

I don't know why you'd get the car on day 1 instead of day 4, I can't imagine it being useful to get around such a small and ancient city

2
blockbernerOP•

That's what we were thinking also as it will also save costs on parking and may be more convenient without until we need to get out.

1
AGoBear•

Just landed Dubrovnik. Totally agree. Skip the car the first few days.

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[deleted]•

[removed]

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blockbernerOP•

Sorry I thought of another question but any recommendations on what city to aim for in day 7? I have seen some itinerary do Krka to Zadar but feels like I would be backtracking.

1