We are planning a 2026 trip to Croatia for 5 people - 2 couples and a single adult. We want to visit Dubrovnik, Korcula, Hvar, Trogir, Plitvice Lages, Split, and Zagreb. We don't want to drive ourselves. Would we have enough time to explore places on a small boat cruise (40-50 people) and perhaps land tours, or would it be best to hire a private driver and make our our arrangements?
If you have recommendations for either, please share. Thank you.
Posted by
6134 posts
It is not clear how much time you have available. I don't know anything about cruises (I think that most are at minimum a week), but you can easily travel between all of the coastal places by catamaran/ferry. You can also base in Split to see Trogir, Hvar. I'd stop in Korcula en route to Dubrovnik. See the Krilo and Jadrolinija websites for schedules. Where do you fly in/out? Public transport is Croatia is SO easy, no need to splash out unless you just want to.
Posted by
Seattle
26 posts
We're doing pretty much this itinerary at the end of May 2025, but we are doing some driving. We fly into Zagreb, drive to Plitvice then onto Krka NP and end in Split/Trogir where we're getting on a 40 person cruise for a week (goes to all the places you listed plus others) which ends in Dubrovnik where we fly home. We have the car for the first 4 days as we make our way from Zagreb to Split visiting the 2 parks. In total, it's 16 days. Looking forward to all of it. Sorry I can't tell you how it went yet!
Posted by
1 posts
DianeM
Could you please give us a review of your 2025 visit to Croatia? It sounds like a great itinerary.
Thanks
Posted by
Oregon 🌲
444 posts
Road Scholar offers a 12 day "Island Hopping in Magical Croatia". Probably longer and more expensive than you were thinking. https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/22150/Island-Hopping-in-Magical-Croatia/ Looks like this uses ferries and you spend your nights in a land-based hotel.
Posted by
19 posts
Hiring a private driver and using ferries is the best option IMO. Using someone that can take care of the ferries as well as the private transfers can make your trip as easy as it goes. I recommend contacting Ivan Ćosić (MC-Travel Croatia) on facebook. He is a local private driver that does trip planning, booking activities and private transfers in a spacius van. Very knowledgeable and communicative.