Northern Croatia, Slovenia, Budapest

Posted by Bookaholic (Small Island in the Caribbean) on 08/13/19 09:46 AM

WHO WE ARE:
A family of five (my husband and I, two young adult children, and my father-in-law).

WHERE TO:
Northern Croatia, Slovenia, and Budapest

WHEN AND FOR HOW LONG:
Late May/early June for about 17 nights

TRAVELING INTERESTS:
We love combining cities with quieter countryside places and nature. For example, we have loved our trips to Tuscany and Rome; Provence and Paris; the Cotswolds and London; Barcelona and the Andalusian countryside. We rent a car for the countryside parts, and those parts of our trips usually end up being our favorite.

WHAT DOES NOT INTEREST US:
Since we live in a tropical climate and near the beach, beaches and the southern Croatian coast are not our priority.
Museums are no longer our priority. However, we will go if it truly interests us.

FITNESS LEVEL:
We can handle easy to moderate walks and hikes.

TRAVEL STYLE:
Between fast-paced and slow – sort of in-between
We prefer to avoid one-night stays. Two nights are much easier! Three are our favorite.

CAR RENTAL
The reason we thought of travelling by car is because flights are not direct from any of these places and trains take too long (or are not available) to get to the next destination.
We are aware of the high rental fees when dropping off in a country different from the one you started in. Any insight on how to avoid or minimize these costs would be greatly appreciated.

DEPARTING FROM:
Miami to Paris to Zagreb

RETURNING FROM:
Budapest to Paris to New York

Based on that long and lengthy start, and hopefully you’re still with me, here’s our possibly crazy plan so far. We would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Day 1 – Arrive to Zagreb in the late afternoon – sleep in Zagreb (1 night)
Day 2 – Rent a car and drive to Plitvice Lakes National Park – sleep in Plitivce (2 nights)
Day 3 – Sleep in Plitivice – We know that most people spend one night or not even that at Plitvice, but we figure that two nights will allow us more time.
Day 4 – Drive to Ljubljana – Sleep in Ljubljana (3 nights)
Day 5 – Ljubljana
Day 6 – Ljubljana
Day 7 – Drive to Lake Bled (2 nights) – we are not sure if we should sleep in Lake Bled or in Radovljica – we would love to hear your thoughts on this
Day 8 – Lake Bled or Radovljica
Day 9 – Drive to Logarska Dolina – we are not sure if we should spend one or two nights here. It looks gorgeous. (1 or 2 nights?)
Day 10 – Either one more night in Logarska Dolina OR drive to Zagreb
Day 11 – Zagreb
Day 12 – Zagreb
Day 13 – Drive to Budapest and return to car – Sleep in Budapest (5 nights)
Day 17 – Leave Budapest

Thank you all so much.

Posted by isabel

Massachusetts

08/13/19 11:32 AM

847 posts

You say you are 'between slow and fast' travel style. That's what I consider myself and I think your itinerary is actually 'slow'. I think you can do considerably more in the time you have, and there is quite a lot in the area you are skipping.

For example, you acknowledge that two nights in Plitvice is more than most people have. There's a reason. Once you've spent a few hours, it does really get redundant. I got there for a 4:00pm entrance and spent about 3 hours, went back in the next morning for another 3 (used both entrances) but by then we really had felt like we'd seen it. Now looking at my photos I'm seeing how similar they are. I would certainly do a night there (I guess it's very crowded mid day, not bad when we were there, and it was a weekend in July) and see the park in both morning and late afternoon - different light. But re-think the two nights. Also, the hotels are not very interesting and food selection around there not great. Although 20 minute drive in the direction of Split there is more food.

You also have 3-4 nights in Zagreb. I didn't even go there (on two trips to Croatia), just didn't look that interesting, but even people who do visit it usually only give it 1-2 nights. And your itinerary splits the time there so you have an extra hotel switch. And why are you going back down to Zagreb when you are already up in Slovenia and heading north to Budapest. Maybe two nights on arrival to see the city and get over jet lag before you start driving.

I had three nights in Ljubljana which I though perfect but I did a day trip to Lake Bled one day. You have five or six nights between the two. Unless you love 'slow' travel (which you say you don't) I think that's too much. On a day trip to Lake Bled I was able to walk (slowly) all the way around the lake and climb up to the castle. And have a picnic and then a dessert and coffee up at the castle. It was a great day but not sure what else there would be to do there.

You are going right by but skipping the Istrian peninsula. I just got back from a trip where I spent 6 days there and could have used more. Based in Rovinj and visited Pula and Porec each on day trips and two other days visited an assortment of hill towns. Also over the border in Slovenia, Piran is a great little town worth a couple days. You say beach is not a priority. We never went to the beach (I also live on a coast) but the coastal villages of Piran and Rovinj are delightful, they have beaches nearby but that's not the main reason I visit them.

I think 5 nights in Budapest sounds good, I think I had 7 (different trip from either the Slovenia or Croatian ones) but did a day trip one day and could have seen everything at a relaxed pace in 5.