Trip to Croatia in April-May

This depends on your budget, it is not clear to me if you are doing a budget trip or are just looking for the cheapest flights.

Your basic itinerary would be Zagreb to Dubrovnik by bus via Zadar and Split and maybe Plitvice. There are buses from the north coast to the south but they are fewer in number and if you went to Pula you might need to back track all the way to Zagreb or at least Karlovac to get further south so Pula may not work on your trip. Also the entire Croatian coast is full of tourists, Istria (county of Pula) is actually the most touristed county.

If this is a budget trip I would suggest working backwards as the south, especially Dubrovnik, is much more expensive than the north. You can get away with a minimum of two nights there if your full day you get the Dubrovnik pass and see as much as you can on the pass. You may also be able to find accommodation within the walls in May and have that be your expense. Food in Dubrovnik is also very expensive. If you want to go to Kotor you could add a third day but I would price that out. I think most Mostar trips would leave from Split, it is closer. I would definitely only try a day trip to Mostar from Split but that is with a car.

You could do 2 nights Dubrovnik, 3 nights Split, 3 nights Zadar, 1 night Plitvice, and 3 nights Zagreb with a night to play with somewhere. Zagreb would be a good option for additional days on a budget as it is usually a bit cheaper especially outside the city centre and you could do day trips to Slovenia or Varaždin or just explore the city. Šibenik would also be an option, or another day in Split with a day trip to an island. This assumes you are taking the bus, a car would give you more flexibility to stay in smaller places. You could lose Plitvice but I would not, only problem is at that time of year it is not impossible the upper lakes will be closed.

Personally I prefer Zadar to Split but Split has better options for day trips as the hub for Dalmatia.

Early May will probably be too early for beaches so I would not plan around that but you never know.

Look for apartments, you can find good reasonably priced apartments probably 15-20 minutes walk from city centres in any of these cities. For Zagreb I would just try to stay north of the railroad tracks and not too far east or west of the centre. Zadar and Split I would see what is available, if you can get a good deal close to the centre that would be worth it, but again 15-20 minute walk is fine to save some money, it will be nice to walk that time of year. For Dubrovnik it may be worth spending a little bit extra for an apartment within the city walls or at least in Ploče, but Ploče has lots of stairs. I would not stay in hotels, apartment stays are regulated by Croatian government and are usually a better deal and you should be able to cook in almost all of them. While this does not mean you are free from scams as long as you book with apartments which have lots of reviews you will be fine. I have even booked places with no reviews and been fine but I would not recommend that for you. Hostels are also an option on a budget but I do not know anything about it.

Just a heads up because I dont know what you are expecting in Croatia but if you average the temperatures in April and May then the average high is 68F. The water temp is about the same. April isnt the wettest month of the year, but its a far cry from the driest.

I would skip the Mostar and Kotor ideas and stick to getting down the coast from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. Lots to see if you dont rush it.

Agree with previous posters about the beach. Many visitors don't realize just how cold the Mediterranean Sea gets in winter and how long it takes to warm up in spring (although like everywhere else, the climate is warming). Average sea temperature for Split is 58 F. in April, 64 F. in May. That's really frigid even to dip a toe into.

Too early for swimming. Towns will be fine.

Good advice above. Pula is one to cut, it’s well out of the way and Roman sights aside feelings on it are mixed at best.

There’s nothing wrong with touristy towns in Croatia. Even in summer they mostly adapt to the crowds, but in April it’ll be pretty quiet. 2-3 nights in Zagreb is great, Plitvice 1 haven’t been to Zadar but 2 should do, 2-3 for Split (I feel like college age you’ll enjoy it more than some), and 3 nights in Dubrovnik. That’s decent and generous time for each, and you could add a day here or there. Split and Dubrovnik have a little more going on, day trip options and such.

If you had a couple extra nights, Ljubljana is an easy bus from Zagreb and worth a couple nights. It would require a little backtracking, but not much.

I was in Croatia the end of April through early May this year, and for what it is worth, the weather was perfect. While it was sunny and had warm air temperatures, the water was much too cold for me. I did see a handful of hearty people swimming in the sea. Overall I thought it was a great time to visit.

Our time in Croatia was part of a longer itinerary: Sarajevo, Mostar, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Korcula, Hvar, Split, Plitvice, Rovinj, Ljubljana, Lake Bled/Julian Alps, Zagreb.

Some opinions:

Dubrovnik is an absolute gem of small city. However, someone gave us advice to only spend 2 nights there, usually we have a 3 night minimum stay rule, and 2 nights worked out well for us. We had some interesting meals, walked the walls, saw the town, and hit a few museums. We stayed at a relatively inexpensive apartment just outside the Pile gate that worked really well. I got up early to get in line for the city walls walk, since I heard it can be crowded, but there were only about 10 of us in line when it opened on Sunday morning.

We spent a night in Mostar and enjoyed it, however it was on our way from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik and it broke up a long bus trip. I am not sure if I would recommend spending the travel time there and back for you if your time is tight. But it is a chance to see another country, and you get a small feel of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Obviously you would see the bridge and the old town, but try to walk through the areas on both sides of the river north of the old bridge to get a feel for modern life there.

We did a lot of bus travel, and I would say in general, especially for those with a border crossing, the bus trips took much longer than the scheduled time. Kotor is another gem of a walled city, but think about whether the transit times make sense for you. The cable car was closed when we were there, one of the only "off season" closures we ran into.

We loved Rovinj, a coastal city near Pula on the Istria peninsula. This area was part of Italy, and has an Italian feel -- hill towns, truffles, people speaking Italian, etc.. However it is a bit remote from the rest of the spots and you could save some travel time and expense by excluding this area. We did a day trip to Pula, enjoyed the coliseum and other Roman sights.

Plitvice was very scenic and very unique. You could potentially fit this in on the way to Zadar or Split from Zagreb. We spent the night and visited the park in the afternoon of our arrival. There were some tour groups in the lower lakes, but the upper lakes were very quiet after the day trippers left.

Maybe consider a couple of nights on one of the islands? Korcula was very quiet, beautiful, and easy to get into restaurants and stroll around. Hvar was much more bustling and lively. We found the catamarans to be very handy for traveling around.

Zagreb was nice, but I found most of the other places in Croatia to be more interesting. We stayed 3 nights, but I think we could have shaved a night here and been fine.

Anyway, a lot of good choices to make. I hope that you have a wonderful trip.

My husband and I travelled to Croatia in early May, 2022, and we loved it. We flew into Dubrovnik and out of Zagreb, and that worked very well. I'm sure the reverse would work well, also.

We stayed in Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split, Zadar, Plitvice, and Zagreb. We had 12 days (including our (morning) arrival day and not including departure day), and we didn't feel rushed. YMMV

We are much older than you and may have different interests and travel styles, but here is my trip report, in case you might find it helpful.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/croatia-and-ireland-may-2022-castles-and-forts-and-water-oh-my