Split - Plitvice

You could stop in Sibenik but that's only about an hour north of Split as I recall. But it's right off the main highway, and it's quite a nice town to boot. (When I stopped I had what turned out to be one of the best meals of my trip, at some little whole-in-the wall Italian restaurant.) Zadar on the other hand is a bit off the main road so in my mind too much of a detour for a quick stop.

If you wanted to add a few extra hours to see Krka National Park - or at least, the highlight, the big cascading waterfall Skradinski Buk - you might stop in Skradin instead, leave the car there, grab some take-away food, and eat it on the boat up the river to the falls and back. (There's also a snack bar of some sort at the falls, nothing fancy though.) It doesn't take all day just to do that, and you could probably get away with just an hour at the falls (walk up and around it), as long as you pay attention to the boat schedule going back to Skradin. It's a nice experience, though.

There aren't many proper restaurants near Plitvice. There's a pizza joint in the place that rents ski equipment just south of the park. (I ate there - decent enough pizza for what it was.)

Hi Andrew :-)
Thanks for the reply! We’re staying at Plitvice tomorrow night... sounds like not many food options? We’ll have a think about Sibenik... it was on a list of poss places but thought it might be quite close to the start of the trip, as you said.

When we were at Plitvice, there were a lot of small restaurants in the area. It's not a place in the woods. It's like an American national park - lots of businesses in the area. You will have no trouble getting a nice restaurant for dinner. I would get to the park first thing on Wed.

I second the suggestion of Sibenik. There is the world's most wierd fountain in Sibenik - turtles who live on a moss island. There are a lot of small restaurants which face the Adriatic. A nice town. Plus there is the Franciscan Garden which has a very nice restaurant. Very peaceful and pretty.