croatia

Rick Steves' Croatia and Slovenia Guidebook would be perfect to help you in your planning and it's on sale right now on this site! We really enjoyed our visit to Dubrovnik, Split, Korcula, and Trogir. Rick's book will help you work out places to stay and transportation connections. If you can work it into your itinerary, Ljubljana, Slovenia is a great destination as well!

Thanks for the info on Croatia. It was very helpfull. Jeanne
PS did anyone have any problems outside the tourist areas?????

I think with two weeks, you first need to decide whether you will try to see all parts of Croatia, or just focus on the southern coast. If the Istrian Penisula is not of interest, focus on the area from Split on South, maybe Split, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik with side trips to areas in between, possibly even into Montenegro and Bosnia. Either plan to keep things loose (reservations as you go) or really work to understand transportation schedules. Timing of ferries or buses may dictate how many nights you stay someplace, and the pace of your trip. We pretty much went with no reservations, finding Sobe as we arrived in a town, saving over half of what the Rick Steves picks listed for a room.

Forgot to add that at no time did we feel unsafe or have issues outside of the tourist centers. Of course, nearly all of the southern coast is a tourist zone, so finding "non-tourist" areas might be difficult.

I did 2 weeks on my own in Croatia last fall. My itinerary, which I really enjoyed and thought worked well, was: 1) 4 nights in Dubrovnik with day trip to Montenegro, 2) bus to Mostar for 1 night, 3) bus to Split for 2 nights, 4) catamaran to Hvar to 2 nights, 5) catamaran back to Split to pick up rental car and drive to Rovinj for 3 nights (side trips in Istria with rental car). I started and ended in Italy, but would suggest a Dubrovnik to Zagreb (or vice versa) route if only doing Croatia. I would recommend that you also include 1 night in Plitvice National Park during the drive to/from Split. Buses and boats will get you around south of Split (boat schedules reduced outside of high season: June 1 to Sept 30), but a car is invaluable in the north. Uniline, a Croatian car rental company, picks you up (like Enterprise) and charges no drop off fee for rentals of 3 days or more. Rates were lower than the big-name companies and their locations were more convenient. Feel free to send me a personal message if you have specific questions. You'll love Croatia. I've been there 3 times and can't wait to go back again.