Munich & Balkans in late December to January

Have you checked in Rovinj if places are open? In Piran? Split and Dubrovnik are popular enough places will be open.
I would call the hotels you have booked and ask. I know last time we were in Zadar the hotel we were staying at was closing the next day, October 1, for the season. Many of the hotels, restaurants, stores, are owned by people we do not live on the coast year round. They return to their smaller cities for the holidays and winter.
renting a car in Slovenia and returning in Croatia could be expensive. I know when renting in Croatia it is a nominal extra fee to drive to Italy and/or Slovenia. But we always rent and return in the same country.
Also, for your one night stands - drive times, looking for parking, packing up, checking in and out of hotels eats up most of your day. Maybe fewer places with longer stays with day trips. Such as a day trip to Piran or Postonja caves/Predjama Castle from Ljubljana or Rovinj.
Also, you’re doing so much driving, why not just drive to Zagreb? You could stop in Plitvice for the one night to break up this drive.

Mr. E, the direct flights to Dubrovnik from NY are seasonal. I believe they end late September.

Re: Plitvice — Hotel Jezero. Great hotel in park! Grand! Empty! Voluminous! Cavernous! Like an insane Asylum! Communist chic! Picture a cozy, warm and inviting modern hotel. Then do the opposite! I loved it personally. While not “brutal” architecture with exposed concrete, it’s kinda of in the same family. Feels like an institution. Sort of function over function over a little bit of more function sprinkled with a bit of drab. Everybody should stay there once. Very convenient to the park. Rick Steves used this hotel for our tour group. Our guide Peter did a great job describing the property. Happy travels. Oh, the park is nice. (There are two ways to walk the park. Up or down. If you’re young, go down to up. If you’re like me, up to down. )

Barbara i have a bad habit of reading too fast and I missed the non-stop to NY return desire. Good catch.

Fot me it would come down to value. Some balance between the most time of enjoyment vs cost. Always tough to calculate

I’ll be blunt. This itinerary is kind of tough in general with a lot of 1-2 night stays. But, mainly I have to seriously question the time of year. Setting aside the normal challenges of winter sightseeing (shorter days, visiting hours, weather impacts) you’re visiting places that are almost purely geared towards summer sightseeing. Ljubljana and Zagreb are at least cities that will have sights, restaurants and activities, but the coastal destinations will be largely shut down. These places expand and contract to accommodate tourists. If there’s no tourists, then most places are simply closed.

Places like Rovijn and Piran are very small. You can see the towns in a matter of minutes. What then? Split, maybe slightly better. Mostar? Even Dubrovnik will be pretty light. And while Plitvice is open that time of year, idk how enjoyable or manageable it will be, especially with young children it tow. I’m imagining those wooden walkways without railings in the wet and cold. And to do all this you’re expending a ton of time, energy and money for minimal rewards.

I’m saying this because I love the Balkans. It’s my favorite region right now. But it’s not the easiest place to sightsee, and your plan right now basically takes all the negatives about travel here and includes very few of the positives. If you really want to experience these destinations at their best, then this needs to be a different trip in at least shoulder season.

There’s no shortage of fine cities and towns throughout Europe that support good off-season sightseeing and will make it easy on you, with activities and easy transportation. I would reconsider this plan.

awrzesinski, I deleted my responce because the sarcasim was so mild that I suspect it was being taken seriously.

Again, we are all wired differently so I am not going to say its a bad idea for all, but I find much of Croatia to be a letdown in good weather. In December and January just how much do you suppose is open in Dubrovnik to provide services to the 600 residents and 10,000 tourists that arrive. For context, August gets 200,000 tourists. Thats the busiest city. Everything else in Croatia is going to be even less active (closed). Ask the people that love Croatia for the 3 things they love the most and know you will experience none of that. Temps? 40F to 50F give or take 5F. Rain? Count on it.

I am a bit less negative once you get over the mountains and enter the continental weather region. So Mostar and North or the mountains of Montenegro. Still not great, but realistic. Great would be Central Europe.

I agree with everything awrzesinski says. I'll also add, I've looked before at visiting Plitvice Lakes in the offseason, and decided against it- part of the park is closed and it sounds like it gets very cold. On the other hand, this means it's a lot less crowded, but you should think about whether that's how you want to see the park if you're going to fly all that way.

Thanks for all the response. We are coming from Australia, hence, flights from Dubrovnik is limited. We are flying into Munich and out from Zagreb, although only the Munich leg is booked (I know, we love taking multi-city flights lol). Zagreb offers the best flight option back for us if we were to explore the Balkans. We haven't book any accommodation so far either.

awrzesinski, thanks for the honest feedback. We quite like travelling during quieter times but note that places like Piran & Rovinj could be very quiet. As for Plitvice Lakes, we are not planning long walks but there's a deer park nearby that may be interesting for the kids, hence, the stop.

We have thought of skipping Trieste, Piran, Rovinj and spend a couple of days in Legoland Gunzburg (we've been there before years ago but not with the youngest kid).

If we do skip Trieste, Piran & Rovinj out of the trip out, what would the suggested overnight stop be from Ljubljana to Split (as we make our way down to Dubrovnik)?

Also, is it worth going to Varazdin for an overnight from Zagreb to see the Advent market or it's similar to those in Zagreb?