My husband and I will be completing the Best of Eastern Europe tour in Lake Bled in early September. We will have one week before we must be in Paris to fly back to the US. We'd like to go down the coast as far as Dubrovnik, but we will not have a car. We will have already visited Plitvice Natl. Park and the island of Rab on the tour. Recommendations so far have been Split, Hvar, Korcula by ferry or catamaran. Question: Should we go somewhere in Istria first? If so, where and how to get there easily from Lake Bled? I know that we can ferry to Dubrovnik from Split, but the flight from there to Paris is looking fairly expensive. Is Dubrovnik a must see or should we make it easy on ourselves and just ferry around the Dalmatian Coast Islands? I sure would appreciate your thoughts and advice.
Posted by
Washington DC Region, USA
7049 posts
Have you considered seeing more of Slovenia, since you're going to end up there anyway (alternatively you can pick a place that back tracks you closer to Paris)? Slovenia is a beautiful country - Lake Bled is just a sliver of it. If not Slovenia, maybe you can cover the northern part of Croatia - i.e. Istria - and maybe stop in Zagreb as well. That makes more sense than going all the way down the coastline. Dubrovnik is great, but frankly all of the Croatian coast is beautiful so you won't be disappointed. I too would recommend Split (also Trogir, right next door) and the islands you can access from Split via ferries. You should first price flights from various cities of Croatia back to Paris, if price is an issue - and then plan with that constraint in mind. By the way, there is excellent and frequent bus service from Split to Dubrovnik (with stops along the way, including the lovely Makarska coastline, should you need it (but it does take some time - I think it was about 4 hours or so) Dubrovnik would be more expensive to fly out of than anywhere else, and you'll end up going through Zagreb (although I think the same may be true for Split).
Posted by
Corvallis, OR, USA
11 posts
I, too, recommend Split. Also Krka National Park was FABULOUS! Give yourself a day to enjoy it if you go. I traveled by bus to Makarska, which was great, too. I agree with the post about the expense to get back to Paris. I made the mistake of doing a round trip with my last stop in Dubrovnik. VERY expensive to get back to Brussels, where I started. Nothing flies directly from Dubrovnik. You have to fly to Zagreb first. I liked Split better, anyway. Enjoy!
Posted by
OP
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
12 posts
Thank you, Agnes and Marfa, for your advice. I am definitely rethinking things and am now looking into using Split as the last city before we fly back to Paris. That way, I could do some stays out on Korcula and Hvar with maybe a bus ride down to Dubrovnik and a 1-night stay there, then back to Split. We may be able to visit Rovinj as soon as our RS Tour is over in Lake Bled so we're getting a bit of that Istrian flavor. I welcome your continued advice. Thanks very much. Linda
Posted by
Honolulu/Seattle, HI/WA, USA
2788 posts
I flew out of Dubrovnik on Saturday,2 days ago, along with several other members of our RS Adriatic tour. I flew to Frankfurt and others flew to other cities. Your should check out what destinations are available when flying from Dubrovnik if you choose to end your tour there.
Posted by
OP
Tallahassee, Florida, USA
12 posts
Thanks, Charlie. We have now decided that we will leave Lake Bled (where our RS tour ends) and ride the train to Zagreb where we will fly to Dubrovnik. We decided we had to experience Dubrovnik based on everyone's input plus what we read in the RS book. We'll spend time there, along with stays in Hvar, Korcula and that area. We'll end up in Split where we booked a much more reasonably priced flight to CDG and then back home. Our next trip may be Hawaii, by the way!