8 day Croatia Itinerary

Worth it is such a nigh unto impossible question to answer. Plitvice is definitely beautiful but without knowing if you can walk miles at a time, love nature more than cities, etc., it’s hard to prioritize time. What it WILL do is give you a look at Croatia’s nature since you won’t be seeing much of the coast and islands.

2.5 days in Dubrovnik, with your limited time would be enough for me. In Split, you might wander to the harbor area and see about the availability of a short boat ride of some kind. Of course in addition to seeing Diocletian’s Palace.

You might make a stop at Vrelo Bune on your way to Mostar.

Croatia is tough that way, everything is a few hours travel. It makes a tight schedule feel even tighter. I think it’s a lot, but there’s no accounting for the weather and I think committing more time to the coast could backfire. The only thing I’d cut would be the cooking class. Opinions on Split vary, but I thought it was really underrated and enjoyed exploring it. I would not trade that time for a half day indoor commitment. The Mestrovic museum and chapel are also well worth the visit.

I’m not sure I understand your last question. Do you mean to skip Zagreb and fly out of Split after Plitvice? If that’s the question I’d say forge ahead to Zagreb. It’s about equal distance, so you’re not saving/losing any time. Zagreb was cool, also underrated imo. If you’re thinking of skipping Plitvice, I simply would not. Plitvice’s hype is totally deserved.

Plitvice is amazing - I've been there twice. But I'm not sure I'd go in the pouring rain, trying to walk over boards to navigate puddles. Early October can be beautiful - my first visit to Plitvice was in early October. A week after I was there, it poured rain. So who knows?

If you choose to fly out of Split instead of Zagreb, then at worst you can still do Plitvice as planned and just drive back to Split and skip Zagreb - the drive back to Split isn't that much longer than driving to Zagreb. And if the weather is bad, you can skip Plitvice and just stay in Split I guess or explore somewhere else down there that wouldn't be so bad in the rain, another town or something.

Zagreb is definitely worth seeing, but it wasn't my favorite place. (Been there twice too.)

The only thing I can add is that we took the cooking class at this school but we did the 5:00 evening class. It was so much fun. Chef Zjelko has the best sense of humor and really made the class come alive. The food was delicious and abundant. You could sightsee then do the class at night.
We’ve been to Split numerous times, going again next week, and we still talk about our cooking class. It might be something different then visiting churches and museums.
PS, is your Split hotel within the Palace or outside.

How was staying at Muslibegovic House in Mostar? (I am trying to book directly with them now so I can request a certain category of room but I'm not sure their site is actually working; may need to book through Booking.com, TripAdvisor, etc. I emailed them two days ago but had no response.)