15 day trip through Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia - needing some advice

Well, one thing you do not need to worry about is driving on the left, all the countries you mentioned are right hand drive just like USA and Canada. There could be some other things to consider like an international driving permit, really just a translation of your license.

The places you want to go do seem like they are a little spread out for the time frame you have. I would pick a tighter geographical area. In some places you reference cities and others countries. It might be easier to see if you listed the cities in order and number of nights.

I believe you're going to find you need to cut back your destinations for this trip or risk leaving every area at least one day too soon. Transportation is going to be thornier than you expect. I think the trip would be too rushed even for folks who were not serious photographers. I would, indeed, hold Slovenia and Croatia (or at least Croatia) for your next trip. There are many more gorgeous places to see in that area. To fly out of Zagreb or Split and not have any time to see the city would be a shame. And no Ljubljana?

If you decide you can't get by totally with public transportation, you'll probably need to rent and return the car in the same country to avoid a very high drop charge. I, personally, have never rented a car in Europe so can't provide any tips there. I believe you need to advise the rental company of all the countries you plan to drive through.

There are several different Swiss transit passes and cards that you should consider. The final decision will depend on which trips you plan to take and their cost. Use the SBB webpage to check the regular fares for your itinerary so you can calculate savings with the various pass options. Note: The SBB prices assume you hold a half-fare card, so you need to double them to determine the basic fare. The half-fare card may or may not turn out to be a good option for you.

Trains are a bit thin on the ground in Slovenia and Croatia. You'll need to use buses sometimes unless you decide to depend on a rental car in those countries. I found the buses reliable and comfortable, but in Slovenia I did not go beyond Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj. I'm not sure how accessible the Soca Valley is without a car.

It is trickier than you might imagine to go from Italy to Slovenia and from Slovenia to Croatia by public transportation. Border-crossing bus and train frequencies are limited.

There is no train service to Plitvice Lakes National Park. There are public buses making the run from Zagreb; probably also from Split. The main thing about Plitvice is this: It is fabulous and everyone knows it. The place is absolutely overrun. It is critical that you spend the night before your visit very near the park and get an early start the next day. You need to get a headstart on all the day-trippers. If you have the chance also to visit the park late on your first afternoon, others here have said that is also helpful. But you definitely need that early-morning time. Otherwise, you will not have a good experience at all. I think it might also help a bit to plan your visit for Monday-Thursday if you can. But there is just no substitute for spending the previous night near the park.

You can start your exploration of your transportation options at Rome2Rio.com. It's not necessarily precise on transit time and fare, but it may highlight parts of your itinerary that will be difficult to accomplish expeditiously. For buses you can usually drill down to a link to the appropriate bus-company website. BusCroatia can also be good for identifying bus companies and linking to their schedules. Especially for buses, day of the week and holidays can matter a lot.

Although you'll need to go elsewhere to buy tickets, the Deutsche Bahn website is good for checking train schedules (or telling you that there isn't a train).

People ask about Slovenia and Croatia pretty often. If you look at old threads you may find some useful information.

If you are a serious photographer, you need to curtail the number of countries that you're proposing to visit. With 2 weeks, opt for Italy as you are flying in there plus one other. Personally, I would prefer Slovenia and Croatia to Switzerland and Austria, but each to their own, particularly in August/September.

The trouble with visiting Croatia for the autumn leaf colours is that by the time the leaves are turning, many of the coastal resorts will have closed for the winter.

You will have to pay more to take a hire car into other countries, but this won't be too much compared to the price of your holiday. You will also need vignettes to drive on motorways in Switzerland, Slovenia and Austria. There will be toll roads to factor into your journey.

We lived in Germany for four years and drove all over the countries that you mentioned. However, we did not specifically go to see some of the lakes you mentioned.

Not sure why you picked visiting so many lakes? Nothing wrong with that, the scenery is great, especially in Switzerland. When I first traveled in Europe, i wanted to see more historical or culturally interesting places, that included major cities like Rome, Paris, Munich, as well as Florence, Venice, etc.

My favorite area in Switzerland is around Interlakken. Beautiful lakes and mountains. Lucerne is great for history and natural beauty.

As for going back to where you went before, save it for later, you much more to see that you haven't seen.

Driving in all these countries is not a problem, but I suggest that you trace out your route ahead of time and determine where you plan to stay. Check for tolls, they can be high and add up, especially in Italy. Plan for where you will park your car, as in large cities parking can cost a lot. Also, gas runs about $8 a gallon, so open up your wallet.

The other big question is that I tend to try to cram too much into a trip...

You didn't really have to spell that out - that seemed pretty evident just by reading your post's subject line.

Honestly, I think you have to cut your trip waaaaaay down. Not just a little.

How exactly are you counting days? Are you leaving home on August 27th? Where are you coming from? You know, it takes about a day to get to Europe, then another day to deal with "displacement trauma", and another day to get home. First, start by being honest with yourself about how many full days you have in Europe. If coming from North America, your flight is probably overnight. That day you arrive, you are probably going to be wiped out. Your trip to Europe actually starts on the day after you arrive (and even on that day you're not going to be 100%). Likewise, the day you leave is consumed by, well, leaving. So don't count any of those days. How many days does that leave you?

You are proposing to visit a lot of places, spread out across 5 countries, some of which are not efficiently connected. That's crazy. Remember that every time you pick up and move to another base, you lose most of a day, sometimes the whole day. One-night-stands are going to kill you - if you want time to stop and take any photos, you need at least 2 days in any location.

Really, your plan seems wildly unrealistic to me. With maybe 12 days (that's what I suspect you really have), I'd pick 3 locations maximum. Unfortunately, you've booked flights in and out of the same place (Turin?), so that means you will lose time as you will be forced to double-back to your arrival point (open jaws, into Turin and then out of, maybe Dubrovnik or Ljubljana would have been more efficient).

Time to get out a map, a clean sheet of paper, a calendar and take a sober look at what's realistic for the time you have.

Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear, but I think it's realistic.

Way to ambitious. When you go to a restaurant, do your order everything you see on the menu that looks appealing? That is what you have done here with your plan.

Your places are far apart And you obviously did not research travel time and methods. The fact that you thought they drive on the left is a giveaway on that. Also renting a car in Austria to drive to Slovenia and Croatia may not work. Some rental companies do not allow their cars in Eastern Europe ( although whether they count Slovenia Indon't know).

You are going to have to make some choices. It sounds like Switzerland is a must, as you have a free hotel stay there. So decide between Switzerland plus Slovenia and Croatia, or Switzerland plus Cinque Terre and Dolomites.

If you choose the first one, you can get to Croatia or Slovenia by ferry from Venice, or by train from Switzerland via Munich and Austria ( bahn.de will show the route). Or fly. You will want a car in these countries but don't worry,they do not drive on the left.

While I would not want to deny your wife her one top choice for this trip plan, I would save Slovenia and Croatia for another trip. Plitvice is beautiful but it's not going to top the mountains and waterfalls you'll find in Switzerland. You'll appreciate it better if you don't have to make such a long detour to see it. Slovenia and Croatia would make a great focus for a different trip, allowing for more time, variety, and context in that region.