Itinerary help: 15 days in Croatia/Slovenia

Posted by vdugan on 07/26/24 05:22 PM

I LOVE planning these trips, but for some reason, I am stuck. My problem is that I want to see and do it all and know that isn't possible. We are in our 60s, love to walk, hike, meet people, try new foods and generally just take in the scenery of where we are. Here is the shell of a plan-does it sound reasonable?
9/23 arrive in Zagreb and stay overnight
9/24-27 Bus to Slovenia; base ourselves in Ljubljhana and enjoy the town; visit Lake Bled and hike Vintgar Gorge; possibly see Lake Bohinj
9/27 bus to Zagreb and rent car;
9/27-9/28 Lake Plitvice
9/28 Travel to Split (visit Zadar?)
9/28-10/2 Split (day trips)
10/2-10/6 Dubrovnik (visit islands and Dubrovnik) Return car and use public transpo
10/6 Bus or fly back to Zagreb
10/8 Sadly head home
Any advice is appreciated.

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Posted by shoeflyer

Chicago

07/26/24 07:46 PM

551 posts

You can do a day trip to either/both of Skocjan or Postojna Caves, which are imo worth
a trip.

Day trips to Trogir and Sibenik from Split are the obvious candidates.

Neither Split or Dubrovnik is worth 4 full days in my opinion so you will definitely want
to have side/day trips in mind.

It's a non-trivial bus ride from Dubrovnik back to Zagreb, if you haven't purchased plane
tickets yet and can find a way to head home directly from Dubrovnik you can add a little
time to other parts of the itinerary. But Zagreb itself is charming and worth a day.

Posted by awrzesinski

07/28/24 04:25 PM

1006 posts

I think it’s generally solid all around. If you haven’t booked airfare yet, I would see if you can fly into or out of Dubrovnik and then end in either Ljubljana/Zagreb. It’d be worth some extra expense to not backtrack. If you’re locked in, I would recommend flying from Dubrovnik vs the very long bus.

It’s my understanding things shut down a bit on the coast as you get into October. I have no idea if or how this would impact your particular trip, but I’m mostly thinking of ferry schedules and reduced excursion availability. With this in mind, I think it’s worth taking a night or two between Split/Dubrovnik and make a stop on either Hvar or Korcula for two nights. I think that would be more rewarding than a series of day trip excursions, some of which could be affected by some poorer weather. I wouldn’t take days from Ljubljana or Zagreb in this scenario right now.

Posted by vdugan OP

07/29/24 07:01 PM

6 posts

Thanks for the replies. They were both very helpful. I am going to remove 1 night from Split and one night from Dubrovnik and spend two nights on Korcula or another island!