Please sign in to post.

travel to croatia, slovenia and hungary

My husband and I are planning a trip to Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary in Oct. My tentative plan is to fly into Dubrovnik 10/1, leave on 10/4. overnight in Mostar on 10/4 then to Split on 10/5, leave on 10/7 to Zagreb. Day trip from Zagreb to Plitvice. Leave Zagreb for Lublijana on 10/10 and stay until 10/13 with day trip to Lake Bled. Leave for Budapest on 10/13 and fly home on 10/20 with day trips from Budapest. I planned to use public transportation for the whole time but am now wondering if it makes more sense to rent a car in Split and keep it until we get to Zagreb. Any suggestions?

Posted by
5687 posts

If you're going to rent a car in Croatia, you might as well rent it the day you leave Dubrovnik, to make it easier to get to Mostar, allow you to stop as you drive, etc. I've had no trouble driving over there, including to Mostar. There are other things to stop and see on the drive north if you desire - e.g. the beautiful town of Sibenik north of Split south of Zadar.

If you rent a car in Split and drop it in Zagreb, you will probably find it expensive for the one-way rental because you will have it such a short time. That's another reason to rent it for a few extra days. I suppose you might have issues parking in Split, depending on where you stay; parking in Trogir might be easier (I parked a car in Trogir but not in Split.)

You might even consider driving the car to Slovenia and ending/dropping it in Zagreb before taking the train from there to Budapest. I thought it was much more direct by train from Zagreb to Budapest than from Ljubljana to Budapest, anyway.

Posted by
9 posts

I also wondered if it's necessary to make hotel reservations for the whole trip ahead of time or if I can just call ahead a day or so. Are rooms tight in Oct?

Posted by
5687 posts

I'd say you should have little worry about booking in advance. In May, I booked as I went along in Croatia about a day in advance, sometimes less. Perhaps in some towns there is an event or convention going on on a certain date, so I'd probably do a general check for hotel prices on the dates you'd probably be in each town, just to make sure all the hotels aren't booked that night or are super expensive.

Posted by
17651 posts

I'm not a big long range train fan. Especially trains that run past 4 hours. If you were to decide to reverse your route i have done some research on Dubrovnik to Kotor to Budva to Podgorica to Belgrade to Budapest for a trip i am taking in September.

Posted by
9 posts

Originally I planned to fly into Budapest and out of Dubrovnik but thought it would be better to do the Croatian coast earlier in the trip. I thought we might run into decreased open times for sites and fewer buses,trains the later it gets in Oct.

Posted by
5687 posts

You've got it right, Karen: the earlier in the fall the better on the Dalmatian coast. October is already past the shoulder season - I visited in October my first visit, too. Many excursion options end in September. I was lucky that weather was pretty warm in Dubrovnik but by the time I got to Korcula and Split was rainy and colder. Of course, the weather varies every year and you may be fine, but I'd certainly rather be in Dubrovnik October 1 instead of closer to October 20!

Posted by
9 posts

Does anyone know if the Independence day holiday on Oct 8th causes any closings?

Posted by
1163 posts

Also, consider stopping in Plitvice on the WAY up to Zagreb instead of backtracking.

Spend the night, get up early, do the falls from 8-2 and you can head on out.

Posted by
1163 posts

Also, consider stopping in Plitvice on the WAY up to Zagreb instead of backtracking.

Spend the night, get up early, do the falls from 8-2 and you can head on out.