Prague to Dubrovnik Itinerary Feedback

Consider taking the train from Prague through to Zagreb and rent the car there. Otherwise, you may be looking at a steep one-way drop fee to drop a Czech rental car in Dubrovnik.

Thanks Andrew. My wife and I were just discussing that as an options.

I spot-checked a few of your estimated driving times, and some were quite a bit shorter than ViaMichelin's estimates. Others here have commented that VM is optimistic. I'm sure you realize that the driving time isn't the complete transition time when you change lodgings. You also have to pack up, get your luggage to the car (which may not be parked terribly close to your hotel), find your parking spot (one hopes pre-arranged) at the destination, get your luggage to your lodgings, check in and settle in. Your itinerary involves a lot of border-crossings, some of which may have delays, especially if you're traveling during high season.

It's difficult to comment on the length of your stays when we don't know what you plan to do while in each city. However:

• Vienna and Budapest are major capitals. Two nights is severely inadequate for places of that size; you'll be lucky to have as much as 1-1/2 days in those cities.

• Ljubljana is charming. It has a lot more going for it than Bled. Yes, Lake Bled is beautiful, but it is very small. I walked all the way around it in 2 to 3 hours. Do you have plans for other activities while staying in Bled? If not, you don't need that much time there and could treat Bled as a day-trip from Ljubljana. In that case you'd need at least 2 nights in Ljubljana. You won't regret it.

• Rovinj is in Croatia. Pula is less than 25 miles from Rovinj, so if you choose those two, you needn't switch lodgings. I haven't been to Pula. Some folks like the Roman ruins; others have been underwhelmed.

• Plitvice is magnificent. The trick there is to arrive around mid-afternoon as the day-trippers are leaving, see part of the park late that afternoon, then finish up early the next morning. You won't need two nights there. You don't want to spend time inside the park during day-tripping hours if you can possibly avoid it.

• I'm highly doubtful you can drive from one of the islands (Brac or Korcula) to Mostar in a little over 1-1/2 hours.

• Dubrovnik is very picturesque, but it's also quite small and touristy. You will already have been to the Bay of Kotor and Mostar by the time you end up in Dubrovnik. By comparison to some other places on your itinerary, 3 nights in Dubrovnik seems rather long.

Thanks acraven! Good information here.