Piran and Istria

When you say 10 days, that includes the entire trip including Slovenia and Croatia? If so, you need to make some tough choices, because you can't do everything you're describing.

Ljubljana, Lake Bled, and the Julian Alps deserve minimum four days, better 5. Istria deserves 3 days. Plitvice is best if you arrive the night before and visit the park in the morning before the crowds arrive. Then by early afternoon you can depart. But that's now nine days already, and you haven't gotten to any islands or Dubrovnik or Kotor.

Do you have flights already booked, and if so, where do you fly into and out of. And count nights, not days. How many nights will you be sleeping there? With that information, I'd be happy to give you some more suggestions on how to make the most of the time you have.

We have made 4 separate trips to Istria, each for a week. We still haven't seen everything and will be going back for more.

It really depends what type of trip you want to have - crazy busy blur, or a relaxed trip with memories of good food and warm sun on your skin.

10 days to do all that you describe is impossible.

Yes, I figured I was being too ambitious. Should I leave out Slovenia? Southern Croatia? We love nature and history. I prefer small towns to large cities, but it would feel strange not to visit Dubrovnik. We will be coming from Prague--id love to cut that short, but our daughter is joining us for that part of the trip. We have no flights in or out as of yet. Your thoughts are welcome!

For what it is worth, I am have been to Croatia 6 times and haven't been to Dubrovnik.

You have three trips here, in my opinion, all of which could easily fill 10 days. Slovenia and Istria; Zagreb, Plitvice, Zadar, Sibenik, Trogir, Split; Southern Dalmatia and Montenegro. Take your pick.

Emily, I appreciate your advice, but we don't have the luxury of visiting Croatia so often. We live in the United States and the cost of getting there prohibits that. I'm going to have to make some choices and I won't be able to see an area so thoroughly. Rick's tour does all this in 14 days and goes to some places that we could leave out so I think it's possible. But I'm definitely open to suggestions on what areas to omit so we won't be so rushed. Decisions are hard!

We all have different travel preferences and tastes. I love towns and cities, and I adored Ljubljana, so that to me out of Slovenia was probably the highlight. I loved Piran too. But there is great natural scenery in Triglav, at Lake Bohinj and Lake Bled, driving over the Julian Alps, and elsewhere.

In Croatian Istria, I loved little Rovinj, but the hill towns seemed a bit overrated for me, given the effort to reach them. The whole "hill town experience" sounded a lot more fun than it turned out to be. I liked Motovun but Grožnjan was my favorite - though it was small. Still, I think I would have been OK missing these places. (I also daytripped to Pula and was underwhelmed.) Rovinj especially is a gem, but it is small. It alone doesn't seem worth going hours out of the way to see, on a quick trip. FYI, Rovinj and Piran are not exactly the same, but they have a similar feel (I loved both towns - saw them on separate trips).

For a first trip with only ten days, I'd probably concentrate on the Plitvice - Split - Dubrovnik axis as a starting point and see what else you have time for. I'd at least try to include Ljubljana for a night or two. If you do two nights there, you can day trip to Lake Bled. You would at least get to see a few "highlights" of Slovenia. The nice thing about Slovenia is that it is close enough to Venice (easy for Americans to fly to, usually, even directly from the US), so you could always include it on some future trip more easily than say the Dalmatian coast, which isn't so easily connected and takes more time to get to/from.

So you might try this:

Fly to Venice or Zagreb (unless flying directly to Ljubljana is practical for you)
Get to Ljubljana (Train from Zagreb, shuttle from Ljubljana)
Ljubljana (2 nights) (Day trip to Bled by bus - no car needed)
Train to Zagreb.
Rent car, drive to Plitvice
Plitvice (1 night)
Split (2 or 3 nights)
Kotor (1 night)
Drop the car in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (2 or 3 nights)
Fly home

That's still a very fast trip, with 9 nights/10 days. Take the extra night in either Split or Dubrovnik - or I guess you could you could stop in Mostar for a night or a detour/day stop on the way south to Dubrovnik.

Thanks for all your answers. We've decided to skip Istria and Split. We just read about Krka National Park which may deserve a half day. Then the rest of the time will be in Dubrovnik with day trips to Bay of Kotor and maybe Mostar. My next question is about the trip between Split and Dubrovnik--we think we will turn our car in at Split and take either a bus or a catamaran to Dubrovnik. Thoughts? Which trip will be more scenic? I know this is not the way many of you would do this, but I may not get to return. There are so many other places to see in the world!

Yes, Krka is a nice park too. It's less of a cohesive experience than Plitvice. There are sites separated by longer distances. The highlight is probably the big cascading waterfall called Skradinski Buk (near the town of Skradin). You can take a boat from Skradin up the river to the falls, hike around the falls for an hour or so, then go back. There are more sites in the park such as another tall waterfall and some Roman ruins, but I didn't see them. You can see just the Skradinski Buk in a few hours.

Even though Split wasn't my favorite city, I recommend spending at least a few hours exploring the Diocletian's Palace area and the Riva, especially if you are passing through. It would be a shame to drop the car and then get right on a bus or catamaran.

I took a catamaran from Korcula Town to Split. It's an efficient way to travel, but I didn't find it easy to enjoy the scenery (which is lovely), just because you are stuck inside the boat. I've been on real ferries where you can go outside up on the deck and enjoy the scenery, and that is a more pleasant experience. Because I'm not crazy about buses myself, I'd lean toward a catamaran anyway, but keep our expectations lower for enjoying the scenery through the catamaran windows.

Still, I'm not sure why you'd drop the car in Split and then take a bus to Dubrovnik. Why not drive to Dubrovnik and drop the car? That would certainly save you a few hours and may not cost much more. Part of the drive down is on the fast A1 highway which is not directly along the water, so the scenery is OK but not breathtaking. The drive along the slower coastal highway is prettier - I did some parts of it. Close to Dubrovnik, the highway ends and you wind up on the slower coastal road, and that is very scenic.

One benefit of the catamaran: no border crossing into and out of Bosnia (a quick drive through a tiny slice of Bosnia), which you must do if you drive directly from Split to Dubrovnik (in a car on in a bus). Not sure how backed up the border would be in early June, maybe not that bad.

I really appreciated having a car to drive to Kotor. The scenery along the bay is amazing, and I stopped many times for pictures. For me, the highlight of the drive to Montenegro was this scenery and not as much Kotor itself, which is nice but didn't blow me away. On the other hand, the walk up above Kotor up the "walls" - a steep climb up many steps - gives you an amazing view down on the bay. But a bus to Kotor would have killed half the experience for me, because I wanted to get out and stop at places like Perast and take pictures too. I guess the fact that no one has to drive and everyone can enjoy the scenery out the bus window is a a plus, though. An excursion that lets you stop for pictures a few times as you drive along the bay would be a bigger plus.

Andrew, what you say makes a lot of sense. I guess I was just thinking it would be a hassle to have a car in Dubrovnik. Where do you stay and is parking a problem? At this late date, we may not have a lot of choices to stay. Do you recommend staying in the city vs a town outside of it?

You're right about having a car in Dubrovnik: it can be a pain. I've stayed there twice: once with a car, once without. The first trip without a car I dropped the car as I arrived so didn't have to worry about parking it. I stayed just outside the Pile Gate of the old town, a great place to stay I thought (staying inside would be nice too just more expensive). It's easy to walk into town (which isn't very big), and local buses stop right outside Pile Gate.

On my second trip, I had a car and was headed to Kotor and didn't want to deal with parking near the Dubrovnik old town, so I stayed in Lapad, kind of a suburb of Dubrovnik. I found a cheap hotel (slightly off season) with cheap car parking and took a local bus into the old town. I was only there one night so that worked great for me. Lapad is a pleasant resort-y area with beaches but kind of dull. Some people prefer to stay in the town of Cavtat and take the bus in to Dubrovnik's old town, but I haven't done that (or visited Cavtat). Whatever you do, I really recommend spending at least some time in the old town at dusk and night, when it's much less crowded with cruise ship tour groups and everything is beautiful when all lit up. At dusk, the swallows (birds) swarm above, chasing bugs above you at high speeds, something I found really cool for some reason. And whatever you do, have a drink at the Buza Bar! Or just step down there for a few minutes. I don't drink myself and didn't even sit down but took some pictures from up there - they apparently don't care. It's a great place to view the sunset.

(If you love cats, be prepared for strays. They do seem well fed, but it can be sad. A stray calico kitten I fed back in 2009 was all grown up and still there in 2015!)

If you are driving from Split, you could drive past Dubrovnik to Kotor then drive back and return the car in Dubrovnik. I guess that might be a long driving day from Split. Otherwise, drive to Dubrovnik and drop the car like I did and take an excursion into Kotor. I would recommend staying near or in the old town for a first visit, unless you like the idea of the beach scene in Lapad (didn't appeal to me) or Catvat. As long as you plan some time in Dubrovnik after dark! Buses run late.

Try the website Booking.com to look for places to stay. Many/most have free cancellation up until a few days before check-in (read each property's cancellation policy carefully!), so if I were you, I'd book something right now for Dubrovnik that you can cancel, then go back as you have time and try to find something better. Sometimes places do open up. Early June isn't quite high season, so it may not be impossible to find something decent at this point.

For reference: the Hilton Imperial (expensive hotel) is by the Pile Gate I mentioned above. I stayed in a little neighborhood just across the street.

I like Andrew's idea of driving from Plitvice to Kotor. If you check Rome2Rio, it's about a 6.5 hour drive. I'm not sure if there's somewhere good to stop overnight along the way or if you would just want to take a long lunch break somewhere & just push on til you get there.

In Montenegro, I would stay overnight at Perast rather than Kotor. Perast is right along the Bay of Kotor and incredibly beautiful. You'll want to visit Kotor, and the little Lady of the Rocks island in the bay. You may even want 2 nights in Perast. Then drive up to Cavtat or Dubrovnik, turn in your car & do your remaining exploration via boat or bus.

I just realized a fatal flaw to my plan: you can't see Plitvice, then drive 6 hours, on the same day! So you will need to stay overnight somewhere. Maybe someone can suggest a good small town?

We think we are going to spend the night at a small town north of Split to visit Krka National Park. So that would work. We may just do a day trip to Kotor. I think we might be ready to stay put in one hotel for a few days by then. I hope to get this all figured out today.

Sibenik is a lovely town near Krka - I spent only a few hours in Sibenik but could easily have spent a night. I've heard a few people say they really loved Skradin, which is a town at the park entrance (I parked my car at Skradin but didn't explore the town), and that would be convenient, at least, for visiting Krka.

I loved Perast too over Kotor. But I can understand not wanting to keep changing hotels by that point.