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Croatia itinerary - family vacation, what's your feedback?!

So - we have 4 families (2 grandparents - ages 60's; 3 kids/2 spouses - ages 30's/40"s, 7 grandkids ages 2-teens). This is a rough itinerary for our trip. Do you recommend more/less time in cities? What sight-seeing/tours do you recommend? We will likely adjust the schedule a bit as it feels a bit crunched at the end...

We are planning on leaving the US on June 2, arriving in Dubrovnik on 6/3
Stay in Dubrovnik 6/3-6/6

Ferry to Hvar 6/6

Stay in Hvar 6/6-6/9 (during this time tour Hvar, spend time on the beach, boat to other islands/olive farms)

6/10 ferry to Split, spend the day in Split and stay overnight (Do we try to ferry or drive to Trogir? Spend more time in Split or go to Trogir?)

6/11 Rent cars/drive to Skradin. Bike tours in Skradin

6/12 Drive to Krka National Park/ spend the night

6/13 drive to Plitvice Lakes National Park - spend the day at the park. Or - spend the night then tour the park 6/14.

Afternoon of 6/14 or early 6/15 drive to Pula, stay in Pula through 6/18 (travel to Rovinj 6/16)

Depart from Pula 6/18 back to the US!

Posted by
27111 posts

Absolutely spend the night at or very near Plitvice before your park visit. The park gets blasted by day-trippers, at which point the walkways are crowded like you would not believe, really affecting ones enjoyment.

In addition to Rovinj, other attractive Istrian towns are Porec (on the coast), Motovun (inland) and Groznjan (inland).

Posted by
6113 posts

You have a large party to please and to move often. You will have to travel at the pace of the youngest in the group ie a 2 year old, unless you are going to split into smaller groups.

You need to consider how you are all going to move around a party of 14.

The catamaran to Hvar arrives late afternoon. The party season in Hvar town will not have fully got underway when you are there. I prefer staying in Stari Grad to Hvar town, particularly if you have children. I have never seen olive farm tours. You will be in time to see the lavender fields, which are cut at the end of June.

I would be tempted to take a night off Dubrovnik and add it to Split so that you can see Split and Trigir, which will also avoid another one night stop.

Skaradin and Krka are close together, so no need to move on. Stay at Plitvice the night before you enter the park.

Posted by
3 posts

Any specific recommendations regarding villas/homes to stay in for under a week in Istria? Also - we are now thinking of traveling south from Istria to Split and then ferrying to Hvar. Any specific recommendations on the best places to stay near Plitvice lakes? Do you think it's doable to travel from Split to Krka for a day trip? Thanks in advance for your feedback!