Two weeks trip planning

What airports? Depends what your final agenda is - and what the flight connections might be from your US city to the region. I live in Portland, Oregon. I have direct flights to Amsterdam, London, and Frankfurt. So if I can get one of those direct flights and a connection from there to Ljubljana, Zagreb, Split, or Dubrovnik, maybe that's how I'd go. But for me, I've had better luck getting to Ljubljana from Venice, because there are lot of direct flights from say Amsterdam (where I've flown into the last few trips). Flying directly to Ljubljana would mean another connection - or going from Amsterdam a day later or something.

But for you - ? No idea where you are starting out in the US. Use the Google Flights website to check flight connections. You can't do it for Sep-Oct 2018 yet but you can look for this fall and see what your connections are likely to be next year.

Try with Google Flights and see what kind of flight connections you get into Zagreb, Ljubljana, and Venice. It's easy to get to Ljubljana from Venice FYI, by a direct shuttle service like GoOpti or DRD. But, your idea to fly into Zagreb, rent the car, and drive into Slovenia then return the car in say Dubrovnik (returning car in same country) isn't a bad idea. You could start in Ljubljana and rent a car for just a day or two there, though, and take the train to Zagreb anyway and rent another one for Croatia. You don't need a car in Ljubljana at all, and getting to say Lake Bled by bus (or even train) is easy, but having the car gives you more options for some great scenic drives in Slovenia. Sometimes there's a delay driving the car through a border crossing; no issue with that on the train (there's a passport check but you don't get off the train).

Still...I'd probably START in Dubrovnik at that time of the year and end in the north. The season on the Dalmatian Coast goes generally through the end of September; then you find fewer excursion options, reduced hours, etc. And the weather will turn rainy at some point n October - early or late? October can still be a decent time to go (that's when I first visited Croatia). You're always playing the odds with the weather of course, but more likely to be rainy later than earlier in the fall. I'd prefer to be on the Dalmatian Coast in sunny, warmer weather and have rain (if I have to have any) in Ljubljana and Zagreb at the end.

I'd make a list of the places you want to visit and then see how much time you have for them in two weeks. Sounds like: Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Dubrovnik I'd recommend Plitvice Lakes and probably Split. What about Mostar? Istria? And is your travel style brisk (see as much as you can in the time that you have) or slower (do a home base in just a few places, don't rush around so much)?

Obviously, I recommend picking up a copy of the Rick Steves Croatia/Slovenia book as well!

Thanks, Andrew. We live in NJ. You know, i want to visit Ljubljana/Bled only because we will be so close to it ( in Croatia ). Zagreb, Plitvice, Rovinj, Pula, Trogir, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik and Kotor. That's what I want to visit. Only two weeks. Possible?

You could tinker with something like this ...

Day
1. Arrive Ljubljana (3)
2. Ljubljana
3. Day to Lake Bled
4. To Zagreb (2)
5. Zagreb
6. To Plitivice (2)
7. Plitivice Lakes
8. To Zadar (1)
9. To Split (2)
10. Day to Hvar
11. To Korcula (1)
12. To Dubrovnik (3)
13. Dubrovnik
14. Day to Kotor
15. Depart

I like it, djp_syd. Thank you

I confess I haven't been to either Croatia or Slovenia, but have done a little reading for my 'fantasy' trip, some time in the future.

You don't want to be hitting the islands in October - things close down and ferries are less regular. If I were to follow David's plan, I would drop Korcula and add a day to Split so that Trogir could be visited, as it is a quite rushed itinerary.

Travel in early September is likely to be far better weather wise than late September/early October. There will be more flight options in September. So, either start north and head south because of weather factors or the other way round due to things remaining open - it depends on your interests and priorities, which you haven't disclosed.

You will have to be selective within your timescale, as two weeks isn't long to see Croatia alone, without factoring in Slovenia. Ljubljana is worth visiting, but Lake Bled is disappointing IMO.

Try this:

Dubrovnik (3 nights + day trip to Kotor)
Bus to Split
Split (2 nights) + day trip to Trogir (or swap Trogir and Split)
Rent a car
Zadar (1 night) (Consider stopping in Sibenik or Krka National Park on the way north)
Plitvice (1 night) (Explore the park in the morning if possible, gets crowded by mid-morning, less so off season)
Rovinj (2 or 3 nights)
Ljubljana (3 nights) + day trip to Bled
Zagreb (1 or 2 nights), drop car in Zagreb
Fly home

As I said above, I recommend starting in Dubrovnik if you can and go north - but you could do it backwards if flights work out a lot better or something. Dropping the car in Zagreb means you avoid a big drop fee for returning the car in a different country.

If you wanted to drop Zagreb and fly out of Ljubljana (or Venice) to slow your trip down a little, you could drop the car down by Rovinj and take a bus up to Ljubljana or a train from nearby Rijeka. Having a car in Ljubljana itself isn't necessary, but as I said above, you might want one for the opportunity to do scenic drives. Some people wouldn't suggest dropping Zagreb, but personally I wasn't a big fan; I think it's worth visiting for sure but I might do only one night - and add another night to Rovinj.

There's no need for a car in Slovenia if you only have a couple of nights there; that timeframe just screams "Ljubljana and Lake Bled", which are easily accomplished by public transportation. Or even a taxi in a pinch. Van-taxis often hang out by the Bled bus station, looking for people wanting to return to Ljubljana; they try to fill the van and were charging about 7€ a head in 2015.

I agree with the others about the weather. Fall can move into that area very suddenly at any time between mid- to late-September and early October. It won't get terribly cold, but it may get quite wet. I had one really grim day in Zagreb (which I like a lot) and significant rain on at least two other days after about September 20. There were other days with light sprinkles, as I recall. Plitvice would be no fun in heavy rain.

There's a holiday in Croatia in the first half of October. I'm not immediately finding the exact date for 2018, but I'm sure the information is online. The year I visited (2015), many small businesses in Zagreb turned it into a 4-day weekend and the city was very not-lively (which is not typical).

I'd move heaven and earth to spend the night before my Plitvice visit very near the park. That will get you onto the walkways before the day-trippers arrive. It makes a huge difference. It it's Monday-Thursday, that may further reduce the crowds, some of whom are locals.

Edited to add: Advise your car-rental company that you want to take the car into Bosnia-Hercegovina and Montenegro.

Much of Croatia can be visited relatively conveniently by bus or (occasionally) train, but a car is really helpful in Istria. I'm not sure having your own wheels is terribly helpful for the trip to Kotor. A driver has to keep his eyes on the road rather than concentrating on the fabulous scenery.

There's no need for a car in Slovenia if you only have a couple of nights there; that timeframe just screams "Ljubljana and Lake Bled", which are easily accomplished by public transportation.

This is true: just to get to Lake Bled itself, it's easy to get there by bus or even train for a day trip.

But, if you rent a car for even just a day - very easy and probably not expensive in Slovenia - you can do the scenic drive I've mentioned here many times via Skofja Loka and (where the scenic part begins) from Skofja Loka up through the mountains via Jamnik and Kropa and down into Bled. It's a beautiful drive. Skofja Loka itself is lovely and worth a stop to explore; you can get there by bus too, but I'm not sure you can get easily and directly to Bled from there, and I doubt the bus would take the scenic route.

Thanks to all of you. All suggestions are very useful and interesting. Need some time to build a perfect itinerary after all of your opinions. If we gonna start in Dubrovnik, we are not gonna cover Slovenia. If start in Zagreb, maybe we will go to Ljubljana. Or we can start from Ljubljana, then Zagreb and go on. Got to think.