Traveling Croatia September 2019 need advise

Not much time unless you plan to see ONLY those places + limited time in Montenegro.

Many people would stop in Plitvice Lakes National Park and Split on the way down.

How many NIGHTS do you have on the ground?

1 night zagreb, 1 night plitvice, 1 night zadar, 2 nights split, 3 nights dubrovnik.
i was thinking of driving down after zadar along the cost upto split.
take ferry to dubrovnik from split. day trips to mostar and montenegro from dubrovnik.
island hoping from split.
I am not sure about zadar though. but stopping on the way down at kirka would be desirable. If possible Trogir too. what do u say

Two nights somewhere is only one day, so you aren’t going to have much opportunity for island hopping from Split. Drop Zadar and add a night to Split or see an island and drop Montenegro and Mostar. Trogir is worth half a day from Split.

There isn’t a car ferry from Split to Dubrovnik - foot passengers only on the catamaran. Check you can take the hire car out of Croatia.

I suggest u at least skip Montenegro and Mostar this trip.
The roads especially coastal rd can be quite slow.
Concentrate on Zagreb and Dubrovnik there is plenty to see with 8 days.
I was on a 2 wk tour it was lovely.

I am planing to turn my rent a car in split and do island hoping plus trip to trogir and take pedestrian feery to dubrovnik. But we will have luggage.?
Any idea how long ferty take!?
I heard dtive is 3 hour?
I wish there would be island trip to disembark in dubrovnik ?

I was planing taking day trip from Dubrovinik to montenegro and mostar. I have an early morning flight out of Dubrovinik so wont take chance of sleeping away lik

I can for sure drop Zadar but then will have to tdrive to split long ways from plitvice?
I would love to spend a night on hcar too

You are covering a lot of territory in a short time. I was in Croatia for 3 weeks. We covered a little bit more than you but we had much more time. My favorite spots were Opatija, Korcula, Rovinj, Trogir, Plitvice Lakes National Park and Dubrovnik. Since you are heading from Zagreb to Dubrovnik with so little time I would probably limit your time in Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. All are great cities to visit but you would need more time to experience them thoroughly. Dubrovnik is beautiful but very crowded and touristy. I would do 1 night Zagreb (visit the old town), 1 night Plitvice (one day is enough to experience the natural beauty of the waterfalls), 1 night Zadar (its not so touristy and beautiful), 1 night split (its main draw is Diocletion's Palace so see that and if you are driving that way I would would stop at Trogir (pronounced Tro-gee) and spend a few hours), I would spend a night or two at Korcula or Hvar (you can take a ferry from Split) and I wouldn't spend more than 1 or 2 nights in Dubrovnik (go early and late when the cruise ships aren't around, walk the wall first thing in the morning before it gets crowded and its cooler). I would leave Mostar and Montenegro for another time. Enjoy its an incredibly beautiful country and other than Dubrovnik, very affordable with very good food. We were there before the peak frenzy over the Game of Thrones put it on everyone's bucket list. We didn't see many Americans (most of the tourists were German, French, Russian and Polish) except in Dubrovnik so we felt like we discovered an exotic destination. It has changed in the last five or so years. I had a friend go there last May and he said there are American tourists everywhere now and Dubrovnik was especially crowded. I think going to Zadar is a good move. Enjoy. I look forward to going back. Next time I go I will probably spend most of my time on the various islands.

Hi Jim, thanks for your insightful response.
I agree that my plan is quite ambitious for the time.
I am traveling with my son who has only limited time on his hand.
And due to airline issues we had to cut down another day so unfortunately Zadar got cut out:( We are arriving Zagreb night of Sep 2nd , and fly our Zagreb on the 10th early morning so literally leaving only 8 nights :( But after due deliberation I had to very carefully revise it. For me going back might not be a liveable option unfortunately. So these are the limiting factors! We are driving down from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. I am not with frenzy of GOT lol, neither my son I think.
As you suggested:
Zagrib one night,
Plitvice one Night.
Via Trogir to Split.
2 nights in Split. One day tour of 5 islands including Hvar and Split sightseeing incl palace etc( Time and logistics were not favorable for Hvar or Krocula over night.
Dubrovnik 4 nights by exclusion as I definately want to do day tours into Montenegro and Mostar. I do have one open day in Dubrovnik for the city etc or if I could visit Krocula etc. As early morning flight on the 10th would bar me from keeping 9th hectic. Any useful advise shall be appreciated. thanks