Tour or plan yourself?

It’s a country that’s easy to organise a trip yourselves, assuming you are happy to drive. It can be done by public transport, but there aren’t any trains around Dubrovnik, so you would need to use a combination of bus and boat there.

You need 3 weeks minimum to cover Dubrovnik up to Istria and Zagreb at a sensible pace, if you want to see the highlights. You will need longer for “it all”. Presumably you are travelling between mid May and mid September? The islands are dead outside of this timeframe.

We just returned from a 2-week trip to Croatia, Slovenia, and a day in Montenegro. I am 69 and my husband is 72. We rented a car for a week, and then rented another car for a day for a scenic drive to Lake Bled in Slovenia. There aren’t any trains south of Split. There are some trains from Split to Zagreb, and then from Zagreb to Ljubljana in Slovenia. Not sure where else. So to travel in southern Croatia, you need to do this by car, bus, or boat. Driving is very easy in Croatia.

These are the places we visited: Dubrovnik; day trip to Bay of Kotor in Montenegro with a private driver; Split, with a day trip to Hvar Island; Plitvice Lakes National Park; Zagreb; and Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia (including day trip to Lake Bled by rental car).

Hope this helps.

If you enjoy organizing a trip and scheduling places to stay and transportation then go for it! I've done both tours and my own planning and I've grown to like having a tour where all I have to do is show up and enjoy the experience but others may like being completely independent to do as they wish when they wish to. One of the main reasons I enjoy the Rick Steves tours is I have found that if you share the experience with a group of really great folks then the experience can become multiplied several times more. I guess it's like sharing a meal with someone versus eating alone, I enjoy shared experiences.

Croatia is a breeze--the public transport is excellent--ferries, catamarans, and I found the buses plenty comfortable, so I really think a car is purely a matter of where you go. You would need one for interior off the beaten path travel to be sure, and inland Istria is far better with a car, but for getting from town to town, island to island, it can be easier without a car (not having to deal with queues for car ferries or parking in old towns is nice). If you have an abundance of time, the ideal plan would be to move along the coast with public transport and then rent a car for Istria. It can be nice to occasionally do a day rental on some of the larger islands.
I suggest avoiding July and August due to heat and coastal crowds.
You will find English much more widely spoken than Italy and Spain for example.
Apartment rental is quite the norm (far before AirBnB they were doing it this way). Homes may have apartments attached. I found that a much better deal than hotels as I like the privacy and making my own breakfast.

Definitely get your own plan going. Flights are the starting point, so let us know your situation. Some detail of your interests will help for suggestions.

I think Croatia is very easy to organize on your own. While there is not much in the way of trains, buses are excellent (not at all like in the US) and ferries also. We've done two trips on our own - first was 8 days Dubrovnik - Korcula - Split - Trogir. Ferries between. We did do two 'day tours' to Bosnia and Montenegro which would have been more difficult (or at least require more time) using public transportation. But even that can be done. The second trip - just this summer - was two weeks and we only rented a car for the hill towns of the Istrian peninsula and to get to the Plitvice Lakes. The coastal towns on the Istrian peninsula we did by bus, and Zadar to Sibenik to Split also by bus. To Hvar and Brac by ferry. All really easy and none of that local transportation booked in advance.

Booked all our accommodations on booking.com Croatia has more small 'apartment' type rentals than larger hotels but even those are available on booking.com, and you can arrange payment via them as well so don't need to worry about paying small hosts in cash (as was the case in the past).

Both our trips were in July and other than Dubrovnik nothing was very crowded. Dubrovnik is crowded whenever there are cruise ships in port which is daily from early May through October.

I also suggest booking a tour to see and remember most of it. Renting a car is easy yes, but you will have to find your own places to visit and that can be sometimes challenging.

A knowledgeable tour guide is well worth the money. To my opinion, it would be the best if you found a reputable tour agency and experience the most of Croatia!

Have fun :)

If you choose not to rent a car, you will find that there are many organized day trips available, especially from Dubrovnik and Split. While in southern Croatia, you could base yourself in each city for several days and do day trips from each. It would be easy, for example to spend a day visiting Korcula with a small group day trip from Dubrovnik. There are also companies that do day trips to Montenegro, and to Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). I spent two weeks in Croatia, BiH, and Slovenia, last year, traveling on my own, and using bus transportation and a couple of small group day trips. It was a lovely, easy, beautiful two weeks!

Everyone here has given you great recommendations. Regardless of your ages, Croatia and the Balkans in general are easy. We’re in our late 80’s, drove and took public transportation, spent a month doing it, but we couldn’t do it all. I’ll say a few things. If you’re at all squeamish about driving, outside the cities it’s fine, but definitely ditch the car for the cities. It’s a major headache. We used private transfers a few times, and if it’s in your budget, it can be totally worth it. Nice to not have to worry about driving, parking or planning. And, get a good driver and you get an additional 4 hour free history and culture tour. Second, figure out what’s most important to you. Nature, scenery, history, or culture, for example. I found that it made planning easier. Finally, do all you can to avoid Dubrovnik and Split when ships are in town. These cities simply cannot absorb an additional 3,000 - 5,000 people. Crowds make the Old Town/downtown sections of these cities miserable. There are several websites that tell you which ships are in which port and when. Have a great time!

Thank you everyone for all the advice. I am still on the fence about which way to go. We like to explore on our own, so I think I might try planning it myself. If it gets overwhelming I’ll take a tour. Thanks again for all your advice.