Planning a 2026 summer trip to Slovenia and Croatia

With Dubrovnik as a base you could ferry to Korcula or Cavtat. You could have a private driver to Kotor.

From Split you have more options. Ferry to Hvar. Ferry to Korcula. Ferry or bus to Trogir. Bus to Šibenik. Bus to Krka National Park, private driver to Mostar.

Dubrovnik to Split is too long, either by bus, 3+ hours, or ferry which is longer.

Since you are asking for suggestions, I would take a few days from Ljubljana and add them to Croatia. I would then split my time as between Dubrovnik and Split.

It would be a shame to travel all the way to Croatia and miss either Dubrovnik or Split. Both are amazing cities and not at all similar. When transferring between the cities you could take the ferry (5.5 hours but a nice ride) or a bus.

The geographic issue is that Croatia is a long, somewhat narrow country as you
go south. Thus trying to "see it all" while having a single base is difficult, not to mention
there are other worthy sights in the more northern part of the country.

In addition, I think Slovenia has a more diverse landscape and is less touristy. Getting
around Slovenia with public transport is difficult. You can get to some places that way,
but it is more like day trips from Ljubljana (e.g., Bled, the caves, etc). I enjoyed Slovenia
more than Croatia in some ways.

Train infrastructure exists but is limited (there are no trains in Dubrovnik), and buses are
the main way of getting from point to point (think Flixbus and other private bus companies,
not necessarily public transport).

The roads are pretty good, so I would not rule out a combination of car and bus/train for
your trip.

Finally, flights in/out of Split & Dubrovnik are limited, although UA now has a non-stop to
EWR from DBV & SPU, so I would make sure flights can line up with any itinerary you put
together. If you are more into cities, Zagreb offers more flight options and is good for a
day or two.

I agree to some level with Barbara, but I would still allow 5 or 6 days for Slovenia.

I just was just in Slovenia and Croatia during September for two weeks with the bulk of the time spent in Croatia. Since you wrote “we’re not into nature or hiking” I’m curious as to what attracts you to Slovenia? Slovenia is predominantly an alpine country with the Julian Alps and the Soca Valley offering hiking and outdoor recreation. Its main city is Ljubljana, which is a small, beautiful city— but one with few indoor attractions. An earthquake devastated Ljubljana in 1895 and it was rebuilt, so there’s not a lot pre-20th-century architecture. Most visitors find Ljubljana worth a couple days and then are ready for a new destination.

To get from Ljubljana to Dubrovnik takes a three-hour train/bus ride to Zagreb and then another 9-hour bus ride to Dubrovnik.

Given your interest in cities, history and food, you might want to visit Ljubljana for a few days and allocate three days to Zagreb’s Upper Town ( lots of historic architecture ) then three days in amazing Dubrovnik and then take the catamaran/ferry to Korcula Town, a historic, walled city that looks like a movie set. You also could visit the walled city of Ston from Dubrovnik by bus.

You then could continue up the coast from Korcula by catamaran to Hvar Town and then to Split, where some of the best Roman ruins in Europe can be found within the walls of Diocletian’s Palace.

Traveling from Dubrovnik to Split by catamaran is one of the most relaxing vacations I’ve ever had.

You also might consider spending the entire two weeks focusing solely on Croatia.

Have a great trip!

Barbara always has good advice in this part of Europe.

Since its about cities and not nature I would think twice about Slovenia. I think a nice city tour, with some small things inbetween, would be:

1. Depart US
2. Arrive Sarajevo
3. Sarajevo
4. Sarajevo
5. Blagaj Tekija/Mostar
6. Split
7. Split
8. Split
9. Ston
10. Dubrovnik
11. Dubrovnik
12. Dubrovnik
13. Perast/Kotor/Budva
14. Budva
15. Stari Bar/Budva
16. Podgorica to home.

A great multicultural city/town experience. Mostly 3 night stays with layovers between the cities to break up the trip and provide a more varied experience. All rosd travel, whike ferries are "fun" you spend a lot of time in transit and you have 2 weeks. But you could do island day trips out of Split snd/or Dubrovnik.

Two weeks with all the weekends is 16 days.

Mr E’s is a good itinerary also, but since you wrote you didn’t want to move around too much I did not include other cities, but

Zagreb is one of my favorite cities……because it is never overrun with tourists, nice, small museums that never have any lines, great shopping (I always get some new clothing), great restaurants, most people speak English, it’s very walkable with limited hills, outdoor concerts in the summer and a nice Christmas market in the winter. I could go on and on. We stay here for a few nights almost every year.

It would be a good stopover on your way to the coast.

Slovenia is a lovely country but as others have stated it is more for the outdoor traveler. Ljubljana warrants no more than 2 days and that includes a trip to Lake Bled.

I was in both countries last month and agree with others that it is curious that you would want to go to Croatia and especially Slovenia if you are not nature lovers. Wanting to “see as much as we can” means seeing the amazing natural wonders that abound - again, especially in Slovenia. Also, as others have pointed out, you really need to rent a car.

I havent been to Ljubljana but its been on my radar; river, beautiful Hapsburg architecture. A lot of character apparently. I have been to Zagreb and it was very okay for a few nights, but I suspect I would enjoy Ljubljana more. The problem with Ljubljana and Zagreb is that its so far from Split and Dubrovnik. Both are equally as doable from Austria and Switzerland.

Barbara the reason I did what I did was I cant imagine any one place to spend a week in Croatia ..... or Slovenia .... you could eliminate my stops inbetween and do 4 nights in each city, but you miss a lot.

Oh, for my plan I would hire transfers and as you know, I have contacts for that.