Croatia/Slovenia Itinerary Help (1st time there)

Way too much stuff for me. Plus you are going in 2 months, and don't have hotels, which may be a problem this year of big crowds.

1) Pick Hvar or Korcula, use ferry to get there. Don't do both.
2) Drop Trogir, stay in Split. Split has a great sandy beach. Sandy beaches are not common in Europe, so spend the afternoon on the beach
3) If you can get Hostel Celica in Ljub, get it - the kids will love it - it's a former jail.

How many in this party? If parents come, is it 6, 7, 8? Cars in Europe are either small and cheap, or big and expensive. Having driven in Croatia, driving is easy, parking is a difficulty. You do not want to drive in Split. Ljub is OK. You may need 2 cars. I'd rent a car, but it will be expensive. I'm trying see how many days you need need the car - just Split-Plitvice and Plitvice-Rovinj and Rovinj-Zagreb.

Driving inside towns in Europe is not a good idea. Split is terrible for driving. Mostly walk inside towns, which are walkable, even for kids.

We've been to Croatia 6 times. Very safe.

That fast, with a group. Good luck. All your times listed for getting between your many places you may want to expand.
You ask what else is there to do in Dubrovnik and also you ask about Ljubljana. Best to get a guidebook as some sort of reference.
Take that itinerary and lay it out on a calendar. Then figure on herding all your group through it all. Elementary age kids and older folks. What do they think? Are they up for getting up and going as you describe and will they actually do so. Or are there late sleepers, etc.
Parking will be bad. All sights and beaches will be full. There will be crowds in all places. Restaurants will be full.
You will have your hands full with all those things, once you get to all those destinations.
Nothing will go as planned.

That is a lot! We took a wonderful trip to Slovenia and Croatia last summer. Here's basically what we did. Maybe this will be helpful for you.

Flew into Ljubljana, rented car and drove to Lake Bohinj. We stayed there for four days. It was gorgeous and a great base for exploring Lake Bled and the Vrisic Pass. There is nice hiking and a wonderful cable car ride up to Vogel area. If some of your party aren't up for a vigorous hike, they can enjoy strolling around the Lake Bohinj area and grabbing a gelato or crepes.

From there we drove to lake Plitvice, stayed over night and visited the park first thing in the morning.

We then drove to Rovinj. I would recommend 3 or 4 nights there as well. It's fun to walk around the old town and our B&B had bikes and we rode to the beach a couple of times and took a dip in the sea. Some of our party went to Pula for the day, did a little sightseeing and went snorkeling and one person went scuba diving. We enjoyed pasta and pizza and a morning cup of coffee overlooking the harbor.

We drove from there to Ljubljana, stopping at Motovun, a quaint little hill town. We poked around the shops, had a glass of wine in a charming restaurant with a gorgeous view, had a picnic lunch and then headed to Ljubljana. I would recommend 3 or 4 nights in Ljubljana as well. We took a day trip a few hours south to the Skocjan cave. The people who went on the tour loved it. It was a pretty long, challenging tour. Those who didn't go found a little cafe and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a sweet treat. We loved strolling around Ljubljana, discovering little restaurants and shops. The market was great.

A few thoughts. We were grateful that we had a car, but finding parking was challenging. We required lodging with free parking. We found our B&Bs through Air B&B and were really pleased with where we stayed. We really enjoy grocery shopping and having a leisurely breakfast at our B&Bs and then packing a picnic lunch. We went in June and were glad we had lodging with AC in Rovinj and Ljubljana.

With only the kids, this is a fast, busy trip but doable. With people who are less able to walk, it becomes more difficult.

• While something can happen anywhere, Croatia is safe.
• You don’t want to try parking in Dubrovnik and probably not Split unless you stay further out.
• Try to stay in or near the old towns.
• You might enjoy the ferry to Lokrum Island in Dubrovnik. Walking the walls is interesting (but not for those who can’t walk far - it has a lot of steps).
• Stay in Split, not Trogir, if you plan to see things in Split.
• Don’t try Hvar and Korcula - choose one. There are boats and boat trips available you can book when you get to either. Where you choose to stay may depend on how you get there.
• Others may know more but I didn’t really see museums I would search out - although there are several recommended in Zagreb and I didn’t make it there.
• People with difficulty walking will need a place to wait while the rest of you tour Plitvice.
• I personally would steal a day from Ljubljana and give it to Rovinj, especially with a day trip to Pula.
• Pay parking site for Croatia - it’s great! https://paydo.hr/
• There really is a lot of walking in Croatia and lots of stairs. So you will just have to have agreements about the parents not trying to overdo and helping with finding places to stay and wait or do easier things while you do more active things with kids. It can work.
• I found a lot of nice apartments for my month. They might be better for you than hotels.
• Everyone used WhatsApp.

Thank you everyone for all your feedback and suggestion! Looks like we'll only have 4 people. (Parents decided not to come.) I didn't know that I don't need a car from Dubrovnik until Split. And looks like there are shuttle that I can book to go from Rovinj to Ljubljana, then I don't need to go to Zagreb to catch a train to Ljubljana. I'll definitely adjust the itinerary to make it less crazy.
I'm looking at AirBnB for lodging as well.

Is there any sightseeing spots that I should buy tickets way ahead of time before we depart the US?

Thank you!

As you are configuring your itinerary, I would like to make a few suggestions. I would note that I have two kids and have traveled to these areas multiple times on very kid-focused itineraries.

Things my kids liked:

1. Plitvice Lakes
2. Kamenjak Peninsula (Premantura) south of Pula, the Safari Bar in particular (so absolutely fun for kids - believe me).
3. Brijuni Islands
4. Postojna Cave
5. Lake Bohinj and the hike to the Mostnice waterfall

Other general comments:

1. Pula is not a pretty town.
2. Rovinj will be boring for kids but charming for the adults.
3. Croatia will be packed to the gills when you are there.
4. We always rent a house with a pool.
5. Stay in Split as Trogir is cute but small and boring for kids.

Thank you Emily for the tips.

love to travel Check out booking.com, they are known to be great for Croatia and Slovenia as I learned on these forums. I've booked all my stays for my upcoming Slovenia/Croatia trip though them, most of which happen to be RS recommended places (but I booked earlier on so had more options). Many have free cancellation, which could be useful for you right now as you tweak your itinerary.  August is already heavily booked up at this point, so I would recommend getting on it. And if something better comes up, you can change it.  Have you narrowed down your itinerary? Do you have your plane tickets already? I wanted to mention that I found Zagreb to be much cheaper to fly out of than Ljubljana, plus you can save about $400 on the car rental by not having to pay the drop off fee for another country.

Thank you for all the great advice.

I changed my itinerary to stay in Dubrovnik for 3 nt, Spit for 3 nt, Plitvice Lakes NP for 1 nt, Rovinj for 4 nt, and Ljubljana for 4 nt.

Looks like shuttle from Rovinj to Ljubljana is about $300, so it'll still be cheaper than that $400 drop off fee at a different country.
And we can shorten the car rental period for another day or two, since we don't need it when we are touring Ljubljana (not until we do the day trips).

I booked my airline tickets and all lodging now. I find that Airbnb is usually cheaper than booking.com and have more selection, if the listing is on both sites. Occasionally, I find the opposite to be true, but not often.

Need to find car rental and perhaps book the shuttle from Rovinj to Ljubljana now.

While in Istria check out Aquapark Istrialand. It is a water park and looks like fun. We’ll be talking our grandsons to Croatia next summer and plan to go.
Also in Dubrovnik take the short ferry ride to Lokrum island. If you get the first ferry and follow the older folks, they will take you to the best beach. There is a park and peacocks that just walk around. They have a lovely cafe for lunch.

Need to find car rental and perhaps book the shuttle from Rovinj to
Ljubljana now.

As cheaper option, Rovinj to Ljubljana is served by Flixbus several times a day.

Pula - underground tunnel worth seeing?

Well, the underground tunnels as such are nothing special. But using the tunnels (more than one, crossing each other in the middle, underneath the Kaštel) is the shortest way to walk from the Arena to the Forum and will be a nice cool down on a hot day.
We have been there end of May. The tunnels and the Kaštel (star-shaped castle with four bastions) were on a combine entrance ticket. There is an elevator up to the castle from the tunnels. Quite sure the kids will like it.

Thank you so much for all the cool suggestions!