Putting together itinerary - AMS, then France, Italy , Croatia

Do you have your transatlantic flights set? Are you flying in and out of AMS?

In any case, I wouldn't spread 15 days over three countries. France, Italy and Croatia each have enough to fill that entire time without burning time to move between them.

Where in Europe have you traveled previously?

When are you travelling?

Is that 15 days excluding Amsterdam and excluding transatlantic travel?

Are you flying open jaw?

What are your interests?

You could easily spend a week in Paris.

Check Skyscanner for flights for your dates, as some airports in Croatia don't have many/any connectivity to other parts of Europe. I think Croatia is a great country to visit and you could easily have a very varied holiday here for 2 weeks. I bit more info from you would help to give better advice.

I did a AMS, Prague, Dresden , Berlin trip last year over like 17 days - I liked that pace. Also have been on the RS GAS tour and visited London.

I want to fly into AMS but after that I can fly out of anywhere. The trip will be this May - haven't booked the flight yet. Let's just it's 15-16 nights on the trip.

I like being immersed in city life as much as I can - I like visiting all historic places, museums, seeing shows, restaurants, etc. Not that big on hiking/biking/ type activities on a vacation.

From your listed interests I think Italy would be a better fit than Croatia. Your limited time doesn't allow for both. This is an easy journey to make ....

Arrive Amsterdam (3N)
Train to Paris (4N)
Fly to Venice (3N)
Train to Florence (3N)
Train to Rome (3N)
Depart Rome

"I did a AMS, Prague, Dresden , Berlin trip last year over like 17 days - I liked that pace."

I do too. Very doable.

"AMS, then France, Italy , Croatia"

The logistics of this trip will surely be more challenging in 15 days! Did you fly between all your destinations last time? Very unlikely. This time you're looking at flights to Paris... and I suspect flights between ALL the other destinations as well. It would mean too much time wasted in (and getting to/from) airports for me. And then you want day trips too?

May is a nice month for all your destinations but a very good one for Croatia; summer temps there can be brutal. Ground travel there takes time though. Split and nearby Trogir would be a good base / day trip combo. The Split airport is in between; buses and ferries connect them. But Korcula and the other islands are nice too and I'd want some of that experience as well if I were flying all the way to Croatia.

In the time you have I could see A'dam, Paris and Split/Trogir or "Italy" - but not all 4. Try working out all your flights and see if you have adequate time left to see/do stuff.

Amsterdam to Paris is with the high-speed Thalys much quicker than flying.
With your preferences for city life, Rome looks more in your line than Venice. You could have Genua (Genova) as a destination between Paris and Rome. A quick search got me reasonably priced flights (GBP 90) from Paris at a random date in May. Genua to Rome is a train trip of around 5 hours.

Thanks for the replies.

Checking the calendar, I could incorporate Memorial day and have 17 nights total. So if I have an extra night and reduce the time in Italy, can Croatia be added? (I did look at temps for Croatia in May - 70 F as a high - that's fine for me.) IS it just that travel into and out of Croatia is limited? Having some Croatian heritage makes me want to have it on my itinerary. Also, it sounds like I might not want to depart Europe from Croatia as the flights could be limited - compared to say Rome.

Oh, and day trips are not requirements - I was just saying I would rather have a fixed base for 4 nights and day trip as opposed to packing up to stay in a new city. But spending all the time in each main city is fine too.

In 2015 I flew back to the US from Zagreb with a single stop in either Amsterdam or Frankfurt (I don't remember which). That part is doable, though I don't know about cost; I had no trouble using frequent-flier miles.

Rather than trying to squeeze Croatia into this trip, why not plan an all-Croatia vacation for 2018 or 2019? It's a lovely country, worth far more than 3-5 days. If you try to include it this year, the ratio of time in Croatia to time getting to and from Croatia is going to be rather low.

The easiest way between Italy and Croatia is a flight from Rome to Dubrovnik (www.skyscanner.com). Then, you could work your way up to Zagreb by bus and train over several days, and fly home from Zagreb. Direct flights from Dubrovnik to northern European hub airports may operate only a few days per week.

When are you planning on going? If dead of summer, I would skip Paris and go beaching in Croatia. We did something similar to your plan in 2015 -

Flew into Amsterdam, getting in in the morning, stayed 2 nights (so 1.5 days), then flew to Dubrovnik on Easyjet, took a bus to Montenegro, stayed 2 days in Montenegro, bused back to Dubrovnik, 2 days in Dubrovnik, overnight ferry to Bari to bus to Naples, 1 day Naples, 3 days Amalfi coast, 1 day countryside of Lazio, 1 day Rome, then home.

DON'T DO THIS. hahaha

Seriously, I needed a vacation after this vacation.

If I could reorganize this trip, I would have:

• Kept 1.5 days in Amsterdam (but all I really wanted to do was go to the Ann Frank house, van Gogh Museum, eat cheese, go to a coffeeshop and do a canal boat ride - very doable in 1.5 days)
• Kept our flight to Dubrovnik, but stayed in Dubrovnik or nearby for 3-4 days. The area is great for combo history/beaching, which are 2 of my 3 favorite things
• Kept our overnight ferry to Italy. This was a very efficient way to use an evening rather than paying for a hotel and flight the next day, but since there were 2 of us we got a private cabin. Not sure if it would be worth it otherwise.
• Stayed on the coast closer to Naples for a single Naples-Pompeii-Beach spot rather than scooting around several times. The Circumvesuviana makes getting around the area basically effortless so there's no reason to pick up and move. Pick a hotel near a beach and a Circumvesuviana station and you will be set.
• In August, everything is closed in Rome, so depending on the time of year I would either skip it or give it at least 3 solid days. A day there is kind of pointless, unless you've dreamed of going to the Colosseum or seeing the Sistine Chapel your whole life and you can pick your one or two things to go do.

On France, again, depends on what time of year. I personally like to save cities for colder weather touristing, because 1) It's nice to have indoor activities to look forward to when the weather isn't great, and 2) waiting in lines in the heat sucks. That said, there's a lot more to France than just Paris, so you could skip Italy or Croatia instead.

TL;DR: Too much. :-)