Is April too cloudy and rainy?

We can all tell you our personal experiences but there are some excellent websites with statistical data.

Compare against your home town for some sort of probability that you can relate to maybe ....

I did one of my Croatia trips at the end of April/early May. I had some sun almost every day but also a lot of rain. A lot of days had some of both, not just one or the other. Rain came and went.

On that trip I did a lot of driving - from Rovinj all the way down the coast to Dubrovnik and Montenegro and it was pretty much the same all the way down.

Of course every year will be different, but I had much better weather on my other two Croatia trips in September/October. I'm not sure what the purpose of your trip is, but I wouldn't go to Croatia to the coast for "sun and fun" in April. or early May. September would be a better weather month on average. October starts to get iffy too, but had some great warm sunny October days on two trips. (Also a few stormy days.)

I spent 2 weeks in March in Ireland and had not a single day of rain. Not what one would expect! So you just never know what you’re going to get.

If the weather really makes or breaks your trip, how about keeping your plans very flexible and following the weather? Pick you cities to fly into/out of, but be willing to get on a plane/train and relocate if the weather doesn’t cooperate. You can be in a very different climate in a matter of hours.

Wikipedia on specific cities/countries has average high and low temperatures, average days of precipitation and average rainfall month by month.

The end of April and May should be great weather to go--rain or shine. We used to go the last day of March to get the cheaper winter airfares.

We were in Croatia and Montenegro last June 10-17, and my wife is ready to return.

The time you are proposing to go is borderline - it maybe lovely, sunny and dry or it could be lots of rain and cool. The weather is getting less predictable these days.

Personally, I wouldn’t go to Croatia in April as the season hasn’t started in many places and restaurants etc could still be closed or only open at weekends in coastal towns.

I noticed the small ship cruise industry is striving to expand the tourist season by offering April bookings for Croatia. However the water temps are far too chilly to enjoy and the island based tourist industry is not fully open. For me Croatia is best experienced in a warmer climate. For Spain April can still be a bit chilled, but Spring is being sprung and a number of festivities are available. Madrid's higher elevation keeps Spring a bit at bay, but so many world class museums to enjoy indoors. Have not been to Toledo in April. We have enjoyed Barcelona and Andalusia in April and October with a mix of weather.

Of course weather varies from year to year. But this was our experience. We visited Croatia in September 2019 and we had perfect, warm, and sunny weather. It was a bit overcast at Plitvice but no rain. We saw lots of people swimming in Dubrovnik and on Hvar Island. Temps were in the 80's. It was very summer like.

That same year friends of ours visited Croatia in late April and early May. They had a mixed bag of weather. I believe southern Croatia was nicer but northern Croatia and Ljubljana in Slovenia had a lot of rain and some chilly temps.

I also struggle with inadequate sunshine. It makes me want to stay in my hotel room.

The climate charts included in Wikipedia entries for most cities of tourist interest (as mentioned by David above) sometimes include average monthly hours of sunshine. I recommend making a chart that includes your home city (as already suggested) if that data is available. I find that a helpful approach.

I don't think April would be a reliable time for you to go to Croatia, though the stats are not dreadful (207 hours of sunshine in Dubrovnik, on average). I was there in early October 2015, and fall was moving in.

These look like better possibilities, and all have more indoor activities than the Croatian islands:

Seville (238 hours)
Cordoba (235 hours)
Granada (234 hours; but cooler because of altitude)
Madrid (230 hours; cooler)

I think just about everywhere, late April is likely to offer considerably more sun than early April. The days are getting longer, after all.

Thanks I should have specified I don’t plan on swimming I just want sunny days to enjoy the views. It sounds like you guys are saying Croatia is better in September. Maybe I’ll just stick to Portugal Spain Greece and Turkey.