Our RS Adriatic tour includes 2 nights in Split and ends with 2 nights in Dubrovnik at the end of October. We want to stay in Croatia an extra 5 nights. We can easily fly home out of Dubrovnik or Split. How would you spend those 5 days and which city would you fly out of? We will not have a car.
Posted by
Novato, CA, United States
172 posts
We stayed an extra two days in Dubrovnik, enough time to see and experience the sights. Split is also incredible. As I recall, there is no train service, a bus would be required. Dubrovnik's airport allowed us to fly somewhere other than Zagreb to make our connection home. We were able to fly Norwegian air, transfer in Barcelona, and non stop to Oakland Cal. Many other homeward flights required a stop in Zagreb, and another in a European hub before flying home. All that being said, I suggest you pick your homeward flight, then consider a ferry to one of the incredible islands and hanging a few days there, either close to Split or Dubrovnik. On your tour, you will see Hvar and Korcula or similar islands. We loved the pace and would have stayed more days in Korcula if we had a choice. Difficult to leave this open at the end, but worth the effort. This RS tour, like all of them is fantastic. Hank, novato, CA.
Posted by
Washington DC
28069 posts
For others who might respond, it appears the tour's Croatian overnight stops are:
Istria (2 nights)
Plitvice Lakes (1 night)
Split (2 nights)
Mostar (1 night; Bosnia-Hercegovina)
Korcula (2 nights)
Dubrovnik (2 nights)
Although the tour moves rapidly (don't they all), it hits a lot of Croatia's highlights. Aside from revisiting old territory (which I probably wouldn't do in this case), I'd consider these possibilities for more time in Croatia: Zagreb (quite different from the coastal towns, with useful outbound flights), Sibenik and Zadar (coastal), and more island time. I haven't been to the islands recently, so I'll leave it to others to suggest options.
But you may not return soon to this part of Europe (which is not always convenient to get to), so my preference would be to go a bit farther afield. The two major possibilities are
Montenegro: Beautiful and very close to Dubrovnik. Without a car you probably wouldn't be able to get into the national parks, but you could see places like Herceg-Novi, Perast, Kotor (Bay of Kotor is gorgeous), Budva, Ulcinj (Turkish vibe) and the old inland capital of Cetinje. The current capital, Podgorica, is definitely a place I'd skip, but it has the airport. The amount of time you have would allow you to see quite a bit of this small country. It's quite possible that using a private driver would be affordable, but the buses are comfortable and distances within Montenegro are relatively short.
Bosnia-Hercegovina: You will have seen Mostar, but Sarajevo is larger and worth more time. I don't think that would fill 5 nights, though, and I'm not familiar enough with the country to suggest other top destinations.
Posted by
4961 posts
What month?
It is a bit of a conundrum because five days would be too long in Dubrovnik for me, especially after already seeing highlights. If you go to an island, you will have to backtrack, but look at Mljet to see if that interests you.
Another "get away from it all" island is Lastovo, which you could reach from Korcula and then continue on to Split.
You could spend an extra night in Dubrovnik, then go to Split where there are more day trip options.
Kotor area in Montenegro is a possibility, but day trips are limited without a car.
Posted by
OP
Florida
80 posts
We will be there the end of October. If we leave Dubrovnik after the tour and head towards Split, will there be transportation available to do day trips to different islands?
Posted by
Massachusetts, USA
1700 posts
You should check the ferry schedules. We will be in Croatia the last week of April and first week of May, and I know from my research there are very few ferries at this time of year. I suspect the same will be true at the end of October. The catamaran and ferry companies are Krilo and Jadrolinija.
Posted by
4961 posts
Month matters a lot!
In late October, the season will be winding down. You can still of course get to the islands--people live there after all, but the schedule will be more to suit their convenience. Krilo and Jadrolinija are the ones to check.
I'd fly to Istria and taste truffles--are you totally averse to driving? You could stay on the coast and make use of buses along the coast, but to get to the interior towns, a car is best. I am sure you could book drivers and tours locally though.