Ravinj,Split,Dubrovnik

Are you interested in the stunning Plitvice Lakes National Park or purposely skipping it?

And are you wanting the car for something specific between Split & Dubrovnik? That’s the segment of your trip where I would be taking the ferries. I stayed on both Hvar & Korcula Islands in June. My favorite was Hvar.

Hi Jean,
I would love to go to Plitvice Lakes. Is that close to Rovinj? I wasnt aware you can take a ferry from Split to Dubrovnik?Thank youfor your help. Doreen

It’s an intentional drive to go from Rovinj to Plitvice Lakes. Probably about three hours driving. And, it’s best to go into the park as soon as it opens in the morning because it will be crowded later on.

There is no ferry from Rovinj to Split--you could cobble together a combo of bus rides and ferries/catamarans (would need several days) or drive.
Split to Dubrovnik is easy by bus or catamaran. If you want to visit any islands, catamaran is the way to go.

What month?

Right - no ferry from Rovinj to Split. There is a catamaran from Pula (just south of Rovinj) down to Zadar a few days a week. You could take a bus from there to Split. (It's a very long bus ride from Rovinj to Split).. There is also cheap plane service between Pula and Zadar.

But if you are going to add Plitvice, then you'll want to rent the car in Rovinj and start driving there. Driving in Croatia is pretty easy.

Since the catamaran from Venice to Rovinj does not run daily, sometimes it's more practical to take the bus down from Venice to Rovinj or a train to Trieste and bus from there to Rovinj.

If you have the time, yes, add some island time between Split and Dubrovnik. You can take the catamaran between the cities with stops in Hvar and/or Korcula. You could drop the car in Split then since you won't need it for Dubrovnik or for the islands (unless you want to explore away from the towns). It's also easy to "island hop" by ferry from Split to other islands like Brac and Vis. (I spent a few days on Vis last fall - lovely island, my favorite.)

Thank you so much for the information. Also curious about the length of time to spend to see the places I have mentioned. Im thinking 10 days??

If the places you want to see are Rovinj, Plitvice, Split, and Dubrovnik, then ten days (nine nights) is an absolute minimum.

Rovinj is a lovely little town, but it's not very big and doesn't take much time to see. It's a great base for exploring Istrian hill towns, a great place to come back to at night. As a destination it doesn't take much time, but I think you'll need to have at least two nights there.

It's POSSIBLE to drive to Plitvice, spend a few hours, and wind up in Split that evening, but that would be a really long day and I don't recommend it. You would be in the park during the most crowded part of the day when all the tour groups are also there. A night at Plitvice is best if you can, so you can see the park late in the day and early in the morning when it's less crowded...

But, that's three nights. You could spend three nights in Split and three more in Dubrovnik or spend two nights in each and stop at an island for two nights e.g. Hvar or Korcula. (Probably drop the car in Split, but you could keep the car if you stop in Korcula and return it in Dubrovnik.

Thank you for that information. It is very helpful. I am having trouble finding a schedule for a ferry from Venice to Rovinj. Do you have the website?

Googling for "venice rovinj ferry" will get you there pretty quickly. But there's one of the sites:

https://www.croatiaferries.com/venice-rovinj-ferry.htm

Don't know when your trip is, but we did a similar route last summer. Train from Venice to Trieste, Flixbus to Rovinj (2 nights), picked up a rental car at Sixt (nice folks there), drove to Plitvice (1 night), then to Sibenik (1 night, loved it), then to Split and dropped the car there. One night in Split was plenty for us (we prefer smaller cities). Walked on the ferry next morning to Korcula (2 nights), then ferry to Dubrovnik (3 nights), and flew to Geneva. Only things we might have done different are one more night in laid back Korcula town, just 2 nights in touristy Dubrovnik, and maybe squeeze a second night in Sibenik. T'was a great first visit to Croatia.

The ship between Venice and Rovinj is operated by Venezialines.
https://www.venezialines.com/

It’s a service for tourists and will operate in summer season only. They will publish the schedule for 2024 somewhen early next year. Train and bus might be the better (and cheaper) option.

The service between Pula and Zadar is operated by Kapetan Luka – Krilo. It runs all year round at least twice a week up to 5 times a week in high season. It’s a necessary service for locals and reasonably priced.
https://krilo.hr/en/sailing-schedule/pula-unije-susak-mali_losinj-ilovik-silba-zadar/
It departs early morning, thus a night in Pula would become necessary. As long as the sea is calm it would be a beautiful journey.

Zadar is worth to spend a day but you also could continue on the same day per bus to Split.
Busses from Zadar to Split take about 2:30 to 3 hours. There are several operators.
https://www.buscroatia.com/ helps to find a connection. They do not include Flixbus, thus check them separately.

Alternatively, you might rent a car in Zadar for a few days and visit Plitvice, Krka, Sibenic and Primosten and return the car in Split.

From Split to Hvar, Korcula and Dubrovnik you could take a ship again.
You may choose between krilo.hr or Jadrolinija. https://www.jadrolinija.hr/en/sailing-schedule/local-lines-2023

In case you decide for the catamaran between Pula and Zadar and you have some spare days I would strongly recommend to spend 2 nights in Mali Losinj on Losinj island. https://www.visitlosinj.hr/
For me it’s one of the most beautiful places in coastal Croatia.