Dubrovnik & Munich w/ a dash of Porsche Museum - itinerary/logistics help

Save Plitvice, northern Croatia, and Slovenia for another trip. All very worth seeing, but I don't see any point in trying to spend half of your time just getting there instead of enjoying other things at a more relaxed pace.

In Croatia, you could do Dubrovnik, Korcula, and Split. You could do that in a rushed four nights (do you have six nights or only five?). Dubrovnik is lovely but doesn't need more than two nights (it's small and very touristy during the day) or maybe even one night and two long days. If I could predict the weather, I'd say spend two nights on Korcula and take the 6am catamaran to Split and spend all day there and take an evening flight out of Split...but occasionally bad weather means the catamarans don't go so you wouldn't be able to make it to Split that day. It's hard to do only one night on Korcula even though it's smaller than the other places and doesn't need that much time. I took a bus from Dubrovnik to Korcula and didn't arrive til early evening and left after two nights on that 6am catamaran - so "two nights" really meant only one day on Korcula.

If you can't fit in Korcula, skip it and do two nights in Dubrovnik and one in Split, assuming you can fly out of Split. Day trip to Trogir if you really have time.

Some of this is subjective - but I didn't find Munich all that amazing. (But I loved Salzburg.) So my personal bias would say only one night in Munich if you can get to the museum that same day. And September is an excellent time to be on the Dalmatian coast - still pretty busy but past high season, should be great weather.

I have 6 nights. I was thinking I needed 2 nights Munich, one for Porsche day trip and one for the castles or Salzburg, but maybe it would be better to do Korcula instead of the castles or Salzburg and save those for a Germany trip. The Porsche Museum has to happen this time, though. I like the idea of one full day in Dubrovnik if you think I can see the whole of Old town. Thank you for giving me a little clarity. Travel time is always tough for me to gauge.

Dubrovnik's old town isn't very big, really, and you can get the gist of it on a day...except for the fact that during the daytime it usually gets VERY crowded with tour groups (fellow cruise ship folks like yourself!). But it's much nicer in the morning and after late afternoon when everyone has headed back to their ships. Dubrovnik is really special when lit up at night.

The one activity you probably want to do is "walking the walls" of Dubrovnik - something that costs a tiny bit to enter but well worth it. You get a variety of views of the town from the walls, looking in and looking out. Try to do this early or late, not mid-day when all the tour group people do it.

Try to visit the Buza Bar (in the wall toward the ocean) at sunset - great place to view it! Look for signs or ask someone - it's very well known.

Don't twist yourself into a pretzel to visit Korcula. Another approach might be to do two nights in Split and day trip to Hvar by catamaran (not sure if you can make it to Korcula as a day trip or not - I haven't been to Hvar). Being able to fly out of Split (some flights don't go every day so check carefully) the day required would be key, though. If you really need to fly out of Zagreb, you'd have to factor that in. In that case, you could rent a car leaving Dubrovnik, skip Split, and drive north to Plitvice (mostly fast expressway, a big toll road) and spend a night, see the park in the morning before it gets crowded, and head on to Zagreb., which is about two hours north. Plitvice really isn't great as a day stop (without spending a night) mid-day because, like Dubrovnik, it can get mobbed, but it's great at 7am before many people have arrived. Mid-day it can feel like Disneyland - it's a developed, popular park.

If you find flying out of Dubrovnik easier, you could rent a car and head out somewhere immediately upon arrival there (maybe Split, maybe even Korcula for two nights) then drive back to Dubrovnik for the last two nights and fly out.

Thank you, Andrew. I can fly from Dubrovnik, Split, or Zegreb. Seems like the best use of time would be to stay on the coast and fly out of Dubrovnik or Split. I will research your suggestions and pick one! Maybe 2 days Dubrovnik and one day Split or Trogir or Korcula. Now I just need to concentrate on the Munich portion and work out the train/times for the Stuttgart portion.

Hi Linda.
You didn't mention exact dates for your Germany trip portion, but the Canstatter Volksfest starts September 22. It is much smaller and nicer than the Oktoberfest in Munich.

Having been to both the Porsche and Mercedes Benz museum, if you have time, visit the MBZ museum in Bad Canstatt, not too far from Zuffenhausen (Porsche Museum). The MBZ museum is HUGE -seven stories -with more info on engines, history, etc. and you can also go into their their three story showroom and ogle the Maybach models. Afterwards, if it's already in progress, swing by the Volksfest! Have a wonderful trip. We'll be in Croatia and Germany (Stuttgart) in September, too. :)

Thank you! We will be there a few days after the festival. If we have time we will definitely see the MBZ museum. Do you know about ease of transportation to/from the museum? It’s a 1 1/2 hr nonstop flight from Split or Dubrovnik to Munich, where I can stay 2-3 nights total as a launching point and train to/from Zuffenhausen in a long day, or I can fly the 5 hour trip from Dubrovnik or Split to Stuttgart, stay overnight Zuffenhausen/Stuttgart, visit the museum in the morning and then train on to Munich late afternoon. I’m just not sure what gives me the most time in Munich and Stuttgart overall since there are connection issues with both options.

The Porsche museum/factory are about 10 minutes by S-Bahn train from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in Stuttgart, and the Mercedes Museum is 10 minutes in the other direction, so both are very easily accessible. Of the two museums, everyone I know thinks that the Mercedes museum is far better and I don't disagree (although I'm not a car person). My husband, who is a car person, thinks the Mercedes museum is the best car museum in Germany.

Stuttgart is doable as a day trip from Munich, especially if you're only going for the Porsche factory tour/museum, but if you want to do both auto museums you're probably better spending one night here. There's a reasonably priced Hotel One at the Hauptbahnhof. I wouldn't stay in Zuffenhausen proper, it's awfully dreary. You might consider a hotel on the main square in Feuerbach if you want to be closer to Zuffenhausen, at least you can walk to a few good restaurants.

I agree with the others that Dubrovnik does not require more than a day. We really enjoyed staying across the the bay in the little seaside village of Cavat, taking the boat over to Dubrovnik, and returning via bus. Split is also very unique and beautiful and worth visiting if you can squeeze it in.

Thank you! I’ve decided on 1 night Dubrovnik, 2 nights Split [day trip to somewhere], 2 nights Stuttgart [due to ticket availability of the factory tour], and one night Munich to catch the flight home. This gives us an opportunity for a day trip from Stuttgart, which is great, but I really lose Munich on this trip, which I hate. Just means I’m already planning another trip!

Hi Linda,

Sounds like a good itinerary. If you have time, consider visiting Esslingen if you're visiting the Mercedes Museum. It's just 10 minutes past the Neckarpark stop on the S-Bahn line 1 and is a beautiful former Imperial Free City with over 900 registered historic buildings, most of them half-timbered built between 1200-1550. I think it's the best day trip (realistically half-day trip) from Stuttgart.

Thank you! I hope we will be able to visit Esslingen. It looks beautiful. I would also like to go to Tubingen, but my travel plans have changed due to a flight conflict. I now have 3 nights in Munich so we are going to Stuttgart as a very long day trip. We will try to go to Esslingen or Tubingen on the way back from the Porsche factory if that works with the timing and train schedule. If it doesn't, maybe there is another beautiful, but more accessible town between Munich and Stuttgart. I really wish I had more time, but isn't that always the case?!

LindaB - Unfortunately Esslingen and especially Tubingen are in the wrong direction if the Porsche museum is the focal point. For a long day trip from Munich including the Porsche Museum, I'd try to combine it with Ludwigsburg, a baroque city centered around the "Swabian Versailles" and the most magnificent formal gardens in Southwestern Germany. They're on the same S-Bahn line so in a busy but well-planned day you could visit both. Please be aware that you can only tour the palace as part of a group, and there are usually 2 English-language tours in September per day (check the website for details, though, and to note times).

If you're still craving medieval charm, the small but beautiful town of Marbach Am Neckar is accessible if you backtrack from the Porsche Museum one stop to Zuffenhausen and change to the S5. Weil der Stadt is another option full of half-timbered houses. Both places are quaint with their own local history, although neither is quite as much a destination as Tubingen or Esslingen. Esslingen may still be doable if you have a very long day, check train times on vvs.de to get a sense of how long it takes to get around on the S-Bahn system and return to the Stuttgart HBF. Tubingen is definitely out, though, it's just too much of a journey from Stuttgart, i think, to be feasible for this trip.

Thank you for your reply - I had an emergency come up; so sorry for the late response. I plan to arrive Stuttgart by 9:00 am, which might give us a little time to walk around Stuttgart or to visit one of the areas you suggested before our museum and factory tours begin at noon. We should finish the factory tour by 16:00 and we will take a later train back to Munich. I wish we had time after the tour to visit Esslingen, but that may be too tight for us to get back HBf for the return train. If we time it right, maybe we can see Esslingen first thing in the morning, but that is also dependent on making the train connections. Just once I would love to be traveling and have some down time. I always try to do too much, lol. Thanks again for the tips!

If there is still time, I would recommend that you rent a Porsche for a half day. You'll have your choice of a few models (we rented the 911 4S) and they will even provide a suggested route. The Porsche museum is nice, but the Mercedes Museum is far superior. And if you want to hit the trifecta of car museums, go see BMW while you're in Munich!