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Croatia Itinerary

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I am planning a graduation trip in August (I know this is high season but it's the only time I have).

  • Day 0, fly into Dubrovnik late and stay the night in Cavtat.
  • Day 1, rent a car and drive to Kotor, stopping in Herceg Novi and Perast on the way, sleep in Kotor.
  • Day 2, explore Kotor and possible day trip to Budva/Sveti Stefan (would it be crazy to go as far as Stari Bar?!).
  • Day 3, drive from Kotor to Mostar, with a possible detour to Ostrog Monastery (is that worth it?), sleep in Mostar.
  • Day 4, explore Mostar and Blagaj, sleep in Mostar.
  • Day 5, drive from Mostar to Split, drop off our car, explore old town, sleep in Split.
  • Day 6, explore Split (Diocletian's palace, Marjan hill), take the 6pm ferry to Vis Island, sleep in Vis.
  • Day 7, explore Vis (specifically here because I love the Mamma Mia 2 movie) , cave tour to blue cave, sleep on Vis.
  • Day 8, take the morning ferry to Hvar, explore Stari Grad and Hvar town via bus, take ferry back to Vis, sleep in Vis.
  • Day 9, take early ferry from Vis to Split, rent another car and drive to Rastoke and stay the night.
  • Day 10, explore Plitvice and then drive to Zagreb, dropping off the car and sleeping in Zagreb.
  • Day 11, explore Zagreb, stay the night.
  • Day 12, fly from Zagreb back to Dubrovnik, explore old town and stay the night.
  • Day 13, walk the walls and then head to Lokrum Island for the day, sleep in Dubrovnik.
  • Day 14, last chance to see Dubrovnik and then fly out in the afternoon.

Thoughts? Is this too much? Is there a more efficient way to get this trip in or places I've overlooked? I am not super set on Zagreb it just has lots of cheap, easy flights back to Dubrovnik. I am trying to have short driving times because we will have a 10 month old baby at the time. Not interested in partying or wineries, and I don't need very much time on a beach. Love history, nature, walking pretty city streets, and good food.

Posted by
22213 posts

Sticking to your itinerary I think the only change I would think about (really just think) is
Day 1 skip Herceg Novi and after Perast and Kotor continue to Budva for the night. Arrive in Budva maybe 5pm. You ae going to be in Dubrovnik so even 3 hours is enough in Kotor.
Day 2 Now you can see a bit of Budva and Stari Bar easily.

But, if it were me, the car and the route. I wouldn’t do it.

I presume you have the cost of renting a car and have confirmed that cost including the drop off fees, gas, and 25 to 50 euro a night to park it, and tolls, and the extra rental costs for crossing two borders. Add to that the flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik and the value of day lost to travel. Now make some calls and compare that cost with other forms of transportation (mostly private transfers). If you need help with that, I know someone. Gives you more time for both to help with the 10-month-old as well.

For the route, I would do a straight line. Start (or End) in Zagreb and End (or Start) at the airport in Podgorica. No back tracking. Starting or ending in Zagreb means you don’t hae a day sacrificed like by fly to Dubrovnik and spending the night in Cavtat being DAY ZERO. It could easily be part of a day to enjoy Zagreb. I would do Mostar between Split and Dubrovnik. Well touristed routes, both of them, transportation will be easy. I would plan on several days in Budva to provide day trips to Stari Bar and Ostrog and maybe Ulcinj. I bet doing this you pick up at least a day of tourism, you can deal with the baby better, look out the window instead of stare at the road and it might not cost significantly more (if any). But it did cost more and that were a problem, I would take a day off the trip to save money before doing it your way.

Nothing wrong with you way. Its just “if it were me” we are all often very different in style and enjoyment.

Posted by
2 posts

Thank you for the advice, especially the tip to head straight to Budva! Unfortunately the cheap tickets to get to Croatia required a roundtrip itinerary in and out of Dubrovnik so we are stuck with the back-tracking.

Posted by
1 posts

It’s cheaper to add a flight back in to Dubrovnik? That’s a lot of rental car time and driving. I’d start one end, end in the other.

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