Croatia 2020 - ITINERARY ADVICE

Not sure you need three nights in Dubrovnik. It's a lovely town but very touristy and not very big. I'd stay three nights only if you arrive very late the the first day and leave early the final morning to fly home - that would give you two full days in Dubrovnik.

I stayed over in Zadar and didn't like it as much as some do. I did not stop in Primosten, but I stopped in Sibenik for a few hours and loved the town. Consider a stop at nearby Krka National Park.

Many people would do one island or the other, not both Korcula and Hvar. But if you love islands...

Hey Andrew, thanks for the quick reply!

I thought 3 nights in Dubrovnik might be too much for us, so we'll drop it down to 2 nights there.

We are, in fact, "island people" lol, so we'll probably keep both Hvar and Korcula in the itinerary.

We'll wait to hear from some other folks on Zadar vs. Primosten or other suggestions. We can add the night taken for Dubrovnik to this segment and have 2 nights somewhere between Plitvice Lakes and Split.

Cheers!

We are currently traveling in Croatia, and we love it! We are in Zagreb. Just arrived late afternoon yesterday so haven’t seen much yet. It reminds me a bit of Prague especially with its trams. Very different from Split and Dubrovnik.We spent 3 nights in Dubrovnik and it was perfect for us because we included a day trip to the Bay of Kotor. We arrived late our first day; had a whole day of sightseeing on our second day; spent the 3rd day driving around the Bay of Kotor; and checked out of our apartment around 9:30am the next day.

We stayed overnight at Plitvice Lakes at Plitvice Miric Inn. We loved it. Awesome breakfast buffet. We had dinner on our night of arrival at their restaurant. One of our best meals of our trip, if not the best so far. Had fresh whole trout.

Didn’t go to Primosten. Or Zadar.

Did a day trip from Split to Hvar Town by catamaran. It is so beautiful!!! One of the highlights of our trip. And September is a nice time to be on the islands. Not overly crowded. Hvar Town has reputation of being a party place during July and August, but not September. Crowds are manageable and no partying going on.

Hope this helps.

When you say you will wake up very early and drive to Plitvice, how early???

This is what we did: purchased 2-day ticket for Plitvice,, and had entry time of 4PM on the 11th. YOu can pick up tickets 30. Minutes in advance. We hiked the Upper Lakes on the 11th, and took the boat from P2 to P1 to get back to the parking lot around 6:30PM. Then. Hiked the lower lakes the morning of the 12th. Were on the trail by 9:15am. Earlier would have been better. Bumped into 2 big tour groups. Managed to stay ahead of them, and it wasn’t too bad. As we were driving out of the parking lot around noon, I counted 20 huge tour buses in the parking lot! I kid you not.!

I realize I mis-read your post. I thought you were going to wake up early in Zagreb and drive to Plitvice the day you start hiking. Just keep in mind, though, that late morning and up to round 3pm can be very, very crowded.

You can also pick up rental car in downtown Zagreb to avoid having to backtrack to the airport. We used Oryx.

I'd go with Primosten for the reasons you stated--I like to choose somewhere smaller, quieter to balance out a trip.
You might be able to squeeze in an evening peek at Plitvice on that first evening.