We are flying into and out of Zagreb. We are looking at day trip ideas. We are looking at following: 4/8 half day in Zagreb, 4/9 tour to lake bled/Liublijana, 4/10 Lake Plitvice, 4/11 Istria, 4/12 Krka national park/split, 4/13 free day in Zagreb. We were going to pay for tours to pick us up from hotel for all the above to save time and see as much as we could. Any additional suggestions, would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Posted by
Washington DC
29448 posts
It is not a good idea to make Plitvice a day trip from Zagreb. The park gets blasted during day-tripping hours to the point that the experience is seriously degraded. It is far better to time your arrival for about mid-afternoon, see part of the park in the late afternoon, spend the night there, and finish up in the park early the next morning.
I wouldn't really want to squeeze Ljubljana and Lake Bled into a single day trip from Zagreb, but I suppose one can. It depends on how much you want to do in the city, which is very attractive. Lake Bled is picturesque but quite small. With more time you could go to the Skocjan or Postojna Caves.
I'd recommend using ViaMichelin.com to check on estimated driving times from Zagreb to your various target destinations so you have a good idea of how many hours you'll be sitting in a car or on a bus. I fear you may not have as much time as you're anticipating at your destinations--and you'll presumably be spending a good bit of that time eating lunch.
Posted by
OP
11 posts
I am thinking of changing my itinerary to the one in this link below. I have never drove in another country. I have read it is cheap to rent a car from Zagreb airport. Any tips with who to go with for rentals or tips with driving in these areas (see link below).
https://karlatypes.com/2024/08/17/istria-road-trip-the-ultimate-5-day-istria-itinerary/
Posted by
140 posts
We spent a month driving around Croatia and Slovenia. The driving was easy, except in cities, especially to find parking. You will probably have a manual transmission and shouldn't plan a long drive if you're flying in from far away. You have less than a week and really need to focus on your priorities. I would spend the whole time in Slovenia. We were not impressed by Lake Bled but there are many other beautiful areas. If you choose to go to Plitvice, you should spend the night nearby (I recommend Rastaoke area) and get there when it opens. You can be finished by 1 pm and drive somewhere else. We didn't think that Krka NP was as pretty as Plitvice, but we spent 3 nights in Skradin and loved being there.