Croatia summer itinerary suggestions

Since you mentioned wanting lower crowds and more outdoor activities, I’d consider staying longer with fewer location changes in a more confined area. All that travel in the heat just sounds like a bit much to me. June is not too bad though. I’ve had great experiences on Vis (a bit more popular now), Lastovo (convenient to Korcula), and the northern island of Losinj.
If you still want to include the most popular places on your list, then I’d just stay longer and maybe contrast with some stays near them.
Be sure to check whether the drop off fee for the car will not be onerous—sometimes they can be cost prohibitive.

I’m someone who is crowd avoidant. What I found surprising about Croatia is how well it seems to scale up to the crowds. For example: Yes, Dubrovnik gets super crowded. You don’t want to be walking around the old town in the middle of the day. That’s when you go to Cavtat, Lokrum or go on an excursion. In other words, it is manageable. It’s just summer in Croatia. Though Cavtat has some excellent swimming areas, it’s a small town. Dubrovnik may be a little like going to Disneyworld, but the vibes are worth the investment imo.

I don’t generally have a problem with your itinerary, it all lines up. I do think there’s too many 2-nighters, especially with places that kinda overlap. You may find a lot of places won’t even do 2-night stays (or 3 for that matter.) I would drop Sibenik for an extra night in Ljubljana and maybe an extra night in Piran. Aside from Cavtat, Piran was the least crowded place I went to. Rovinj has probably the best swimming on your list, but it’s fairly mobbed at times. There’s big resorts nearby, and everyone comes to the old town for dinner. In the end, Rovinj won me over but I was not ready for the crowds.

Must see? I think Plitvice is absolutely must see. Since you’ll have a car, you’re primed to make it happen. Always suggest a night here to take full advantage and avoid the day trip crowds. From Piran, I highly recommend stopping at Skocjan Caves en route to Ljubljana.

Because you like attractions, I would add Plitvice Lakes National Park. They're UNESCO listed and quite beautiful: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/98/. The park has something like 1,000 water falls and is great for hiking. I stayed within the park at the Hotel Plitvice: https://www.booking.com/hotel/hr/plitvice.en-us.html?aid=801452. Though it attracts a fair number of people, I wouldn't call it overwhelming. Imagine Marshall Tito there with all his underlings during the days Yugoslavia.

Rovinj is an excellent choice. My dentist in Chicago is from Pula, another charming town only about 15 miles from Rovinj.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I had been debating Plitvice Lakes but had ultimately decided to take a miss due to the crowds. However, based on your advice, I will add an overnight there so we can get up early and see the sights. I will also decrease the times we move bt dropping one of the Island visits and Sibenik. If we were to stay on one Island for 4 nights, which one would you recommend. I know the kids would love Hvar but I am worried about the crowds. Do you think Vis? Other? Thank you.

That seems like a decent enough itinerary to me.

Biggest flag is rental car one way drop off fee. These sometimes are not too bad if you just drop off within Croatia, so you could look at going to Zagreb for your last night. Also better flight options to Zagreb than Ljubljana in general.

If you do not have a car I prefer to be closer to old town Dubrovnik than Cavtat. Also have a look at Lapad and Mlini.

Why have you picked Šibenik? Not a bad choice, just curious. You will be close to NP Krka. I would not drop it for Ljubljana, I would even consider not staying in Ljubljana and instead stay in Bled unless there is something you want to do there specifically. Ljubljana is beautiful but rather small while Bled is better developed for tourism.

Piran and Rovinj are very similar. You could definitely do one instead of the other and free up a couple nights somewhere else like Split. When you are in the area make sure to drive around Istra, there are many hill towns which are worth exploring. Pula has old Roman ampitheatre and a fortress in the middle of the town with good views.

I have never had a problem booking a 1 or 2 night stay in Croatia.

I was going to congratulate you on a very good plan till you thru Plitvice in. 10% of you holiday time and $250 to $400 for a 3 star captive audience tourist hotel (the one referenced above). Unless you are an absolute nature junkie then maybe so. I burned out in 3 hours. By the way, it was second week in July at 11am after being driven down from Zagreb and it didn't get bad till the very end as we were leaving.

Otherwise, great. See Split for an afternoon then run. Do Dubrovnik as a day trip, but start early before the heat kicks in. Its a tourist trap, but one I do enjoy ... been back 3 times.

Car rental? I dont drive on holidays. I hire transfers. For me time is too precious to spend it bargaining for a parking space at 30 or 40 euro a night. And im a lousy driver. I did a forum search "traffic ticket" and "rental rip off" and "theft from car" combined i got 10000 + hits full of stuff i dont want to deal with on holday.

I know, im not typical.

There are other places to stay near Plitvice that are cheaper and better than the hotel. You're not in Plitvice for the room, you're there so you wake up, see waterfalls, and then drive to next place. If you were there at 11am you were already there too late for crowds, I generally enter first thing and by the time we are done the crowds are very large.

Croatia is easy country to drive in, parking can be difficult though. I have never once paid 30-40€ a night for parking.

If you were there at 11am you were already there too late for crowds

People keep telling me that. I am guessing they are people who never went at 11 am because the internet says its too crowded. Or I was having an out of body experience; or I just plain got lucky and everyone stayed home that day. But alas, I was there at 11 am, on a week day in July, because I forgot to read the forum posts that told me not to, and I never saw the crowds except 3 hours later at the entry when I was at the exit waiting for my ride to Split.

The park has something like 1,000 water falls and is great for hiking.

The biggest number I can find in print is 90; and I wonder how many are 3 foot high? The park has done some exceptional marketing. And I imagine it is great for hiking. The other claim is its UNESCO. You gotta do better than that, forgetting my kitchen sink for a moment, do you know how much other boring stuff is on UNESCO? Not that it shouldnt be on UNESCO, but the UNESCO list isnt a tourist list, its a cultural importance list. There is a cow field in Hungary on the list for goodness sakes.

I enjoy nature. How much do i like nature? I spend two weeks each year in the high country of Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina; just me and fly rod. One of my favorite places on earth is the Valbona river valley in Albania. They are heaven. I liked what I saw at Plitvice too. I actually I liked it quite a bit. Most all that I saw was very pleasing.

But Plitvice was interesting for me for about 2.5 hours, but the trail was three hours. So, I am not so head over heals in love with the idea that I would spend 10% of my already too short holiday there or spend a few hundred dollars for an isolated 3-star hotel when I could be in, well even Split, having a nice dinner that night and enjoying the coast and the lights and the culture and the city. But like I said, I am unique. Doesnt make anyone wrong for disagreeing with me (as long as they went and looked at 11am first).

There are other places to stay near Plitvice that are cheaper and
better than the hotel.

That was a very, very nice 3-star hotel by what I saw in the link. Not sure what "better" would be. Where do you recommend?

You could finish your trip in Zagreb to avoid the large car drop off fee. Consider staying in Skradin instead of Sibenik. I would add Plitvice. Consider skipping Istria and adding the time to Slovenia, which is very beautiful if you enjoy hiking. We rented e-bikes in Maribor and rode around Austria vineyards for a few hours.

We are also very crowd-averse and think Vis and Cavtat are great choices. On Vis, we loved the picturesque fishing village of Komiza. It might be a good place to stay, although very small. From there, on a sunny day, take a boat trip to the spectacular blue cave on Bisevo.

Thank you once again for the great suggestions and idea. I do like the idea of staying a little longer in less places so I am going to try and work on a few small changes. I think I would regret not going to Pitvace Lakes so we are going to make an overnight stop there and get up early (to avoid crowds and heat) to see the park. We are staying in Sibenik for the Krka Park so will be a similar experience - but we do love outdoor adventure so I think it is worth seeing both. I had looked at Skradin instead of Sibenik previously but maybe I will take you advice and change that location. Finally, I will consider skipping Rovinj and just going straight to Piran. Do you think Slovenia will be less busy/touristy? There are several cool things I want to see there and a day or 2 of biking there might be nice.

There is not much in Skradin. It mostly exists as tourist site to visit NP Krka. If you're doing more than NP Krka I'd stay in Šibenik.

You may have gotten lucky with the crowds. If I am in Plitvice in summer I always make sure to enter right when the park opens. I have gone in the afternoon in October once, that was just fine.

Plitvice is full of hosts with apartments in wooden buildings. I do not know why you would stay at the hotel, or complain about that, when you can stay at very nice guest house nearby for 50€, there are several with many good reviews that are that cheap. That is the price for guest houses next week near the park too. Now I would not mind staying at the hotel in December on one of their winter packages, that actually seems quite nice. But there is really no point in spending hundreds on hotels, since I never stay too long - get there around dark, sleep, wake up, see the park, leave. I've even stayed up to 30 minute drive away to save money, only important thing is to be close enough to the park when it opens, rather spend the money than wake up at 5:00 in Zagreb to drive there.

Plitvice is also not hiking. It is mostly boats and boardwalks and shuttle trains. There are hikes nearby, on other side of road from the lakes, but the park itself I would not call hiking. It is a very nice place though and even though you did not like it, Plitvice is still one of Croatia's highlights.

If you are coming for the first time, I would not skip Istra and add it to Slovenia, again unless you had something specific you wanted to do there. There is lots to do in Istra including touring hill towns, visiting different coastal towns, or spending time on beaches.

Vis is less crowded because it is hard to get to. You would have to go from Split and there are only 2-3 boats a day in the high season on Jadrolinija at least. I would save it for next time.

I’m glad you’re adding Plitvice. If you do the overnight you can avoid the crowds. At the same time of year, I was one of the first people in the park and was literally the only person on the entire trail.

Simplifying your island stays is a solid move too. I can only speak for Korcula, which started off pretty empty but gradually got busier towards the end of the week. By the time I left, the luxury yachts were docked several deep. The locals told me that the “season” kicks off July 1st and there’s a bit of a do to celebrate. You’ll be there at just the right time I think.

I just got back from Rovinj and Piran, and can give some additional context. While Rovinj had a lot of people, the swimming areas on the Golden Cape and especially Red Island were full of beautiful, natural spots you could call your own. In retrospect, that’s what I remember over the rows of busy restaurants. Still, if you’re intent on avoiding crowds then this is one to miss. Piran, on the other hand, was just about as uncrowded as I could imagine. The nearby resort town of Portoroz gets all the crowds. And Piran remains inconvenient enough that the crowds stay in Portoroz. The swimming areas are concrete breakwaters with plenty of folks on them, but it was still enjoyable. The town itself is cool, very Venetian in style. The tourists there seemed exclusively Slovenian and Italian.