Hello everyone!
I am looking at a 3 day trip to Croatia. Since it is such a short trip, and the cities in Croatia are so spread out, we can only realistically get to one city and are trying to decide which would be best. The Plitvice Lakes look amazing, but we feel (from the internet) that Dubrovnik has more to offer than Zagreb in terms of scenery. We are looking for some variety in activities and scenery, and do love anything picturesque whether it be city or nature focused. Would Dubrovnik be the best option? Maybe Split? We are just trying to capture the best glimpse of Croatia that we can in such a short period.
I was in Croatia this spring on a tour. For sure Dubrovnik was the highlight.
Stay in the old town if poss. It is gorgeous. 3 days is good , 1 day you can take a tour by boat to one of the islands. Enjoy it is a beautiful city.
Split has great accessibility to the islands, plus it's a very interesting place in its own right (and probably cheaper to fly into than Dubrovnik). Also, it's very close to lovely Trogir. There's probably too much to do there in just 3 days...the key will be to pick one island as a day trip.
Dubrovnik would be a solid choice as well, although it's much smaller than Split. The walled city is quite compact so you can cover it very leisurely in 1.5 days (you really don't need more time than that)...I would recommend taking in the museums there (I bought a pass that covered the museums and public transport). You can likely use one full day for a day trip to Montanegro, also very close by.
What month the trip will occur would be a deciding factor for me. There could be an event like a festival or some other reason to choose a certain place in a certain month.
Dubrovnik and Split are your best bets. For variety of activities and scenery, I would opt for Dubrovnik. Spend a couple days in the city and nearby area and use one day for a day trip to Montenegro or to a nearby island. Split is a better option for those who are more interested in ancient history and culture. Split puts you closer to Plitvice, but that is a still a long day trip (~2.5 hour one way drive from Split). It's a difficult choice for me because Plitvice was the highlight of Croatia, but Dubrovnik is where I'd want to be based for several days.