Croatia Itinerary - includes Montenegro, Austria and Slovenia. Advice Requested. Thank you

Where are you sleeping on the night of June 30? If it's at Plitvice (I don't think it needs to be), that's going to mean an over 4.5-hour drive to Graz the next day (with no stops), then you're going to turn around that same day and drive back to Zagreb (over 2 hours), then you have to go drop off the car. That's going to be exhausting. Even if the plan is to sleep in Zagreb on June 30, you'll be spending over four hours on the road for the trip to Graz.

I'm a big fan of Ljubljana, but I remember thinking Graz was a very attractive, non-touristy city (ages ago, I admit). Since Graz is presumably a must, I'd seriously consider skipping Ljubljana this time around and spending a night in Graz. It will make the latter part of the trip less hectic.

On the day trip to Montenegro, will one of you be driving? The poor driver isn't going to get a great view of the fabulous, fjord-like Bay of Kotor.

June 30 we had planned to spend a full day in the park exploring and then enjoy a nice relaxing dinner at a B&B (same as 6/29). Then the next day hit the road. You bring up a great point. Perhaps we stop in Zagreb on day 11 and on day 12 explore. On day 13 we could head up to Graz, and maybe day 14 to Lijubljana.

We still have an extra day we haven't accounted for, so that could work and then day 15 fly home. Is Split really worth it? My great grandfather was born there and my kids our excited to see the city.

For Montenegro we are planning on going with a private tour company, we figured less hassle, however, I am open to suggestions.

Thank you!

Day 4 6/24 - Day trip to Montenegro

I love Montenegro. I could (have) spend weeks there. But with just a day trip, I would avoid the town of Kotor. Its "nice" but its a small somewhat less impressive version of Dubrovnik. I would rather come up with a plan where I spent a night in Montenegro, got up early and made it back to Dubrovnik by 9:30 am.

But for a day trip, think about:

From Dubrovnik to Herceg Novi there are a number of wineries a good guide will know about. Then skip Herceg Novi and head on to Perast. Do the island tour and have lunch at the cafe that overlooks the bay. Stunning.

Then drive right past Kotor (sorry Kotor) and take the P1 Road up the mountain with all the switch backs and the stunning views down onto the bay.

Stop at Zora Restaurant and see the prosciutto hanging; eat prosciutto and cheese, drink a beer and return back down past Kotor and Tivat and on to the ferry that will take you back across to Herceg Novi; now tour Herceg Novi (beautiful town) and eat dinner. Then about 90 minutes to Dubrovnik.

She can take care of the trip for you (and probably has a better idea than mine). Used her, recommended her, everyone pleased:

Dijana Krkotic
Executive director
Doclea Travel
Address: Bulevar Sv. Petra
Cetinjskog br. 79
81 000 Podgorica
Phone: +382 20 675 197
Mob: +382 69 277 749
E-mail:dijana@docleatravel.com

Day 9-10 - Plitvice Lakes - vía rental car
Day 9 6/29 - Drive to bed and breakfast and explore park
Day 10 6/30 Explore park, hike

I may get slammed for this, but the lakes were beautiful for me for about half a day. Then I got tired of all the tourists clammering up and down the paths, screaming kids and we moved on.

Discuss your full itinerary with Dijana and see what she says. Maybe the same idea as you, maybe more creative use of time and rental car cost.

From ViaMichelin.com it appears you'd save a bit over an hour of driving if you traveled Zagreb-Graz-Ljubljana-Zagreb rather than doing two complete round trips. I haven't been to Maribor, but that might be a convenient overnight stop if you want to get started on the way from Graz to Ljubljana without having to drive all the way after what will have been quite a long day. Or perhaps one of the small towns between Graz and Maribor would make a nice change from the cities you will have been in. I don't recognize the names of any of them, so I have no suggestion there.