Help with details of Croatia Itinerary?

[wildrice]

I have had locations mapped out for a while, but I'm now working on details and want to make sure I'm not missing anything! I also particularly want advice about side trips from Dubrovnik and whether spending a night in Mostar would be worth the logistics around it. Other than when noted, we don't plan to have a car since we'll mostly be in cities. We are traveling the week of Memorial day so we are just slightly off-season.

Friday:
Arrive in Zagreb at 1:10. 
Visit a museum (Broken Relationships?) and explore the city

Saturday:
There is a market I'd like to check out, and maybe do something else. 
Fly to Dubrovnik at 2:10, arriving at 3:15
Check into our airBNB and then take a stroll around orienting to Dubrovnik following Rick Steves' guidebook. 

Sunday:
Get up early and walk the walls of the Old City.
Beach and/or maybe a smaller museum that afternoon
Dinner with Locals at 7pm - this one I'm really excited about! We will have a traditional Croatian meal in their garden with a local couple and probably some other tourists.

Monday:
Something water related - maybe kayaking or a speedboat trip in the morning
Sometime in the afternoon, make our way to the cable car and take it up to the top. Visit the museum up there, then have dinner at the Panorama restaurant at 6:30. We should be there over sunset, then take the cable car down.

Tuesday: 
This day is totally open. I am considering leaving Dubrovnik in a rental car and driving to Mostar for the night. We'd leave as early as possible in the morning, probably 8:30ish after picking up the car. It's a 2.5-3 hour drive. 

If we don't go to Mostar, any suggestions for something else interesting to do in Dubrovnik that day?

Wednesday:
If we are in Mostar Tuesday, we'll drive back to Dubrovnik. If not, we have the morning free.
Mid-day - go to the Red Museum
Catch a ferry to Korcula at 4:30pm. I had wanted to leave first thing in the morning Wednesday, but I can't find any boats to Korcula earlier than that. It's POSSIBLE we'll find something when we're there, but I hate to leave this important detail to the last minute since we need to get to Korcula somehow! We will be staying overnight in Korcula.

Thursday:
Spend the day exploring Korcula.
6:30pm ferry to Split

Friday:
Explore Split. There is a walk through the Diocletian palace that we will definitely do. Not sure what else.

Saturday: 
Pick up rental car early and drive to Plitvice National Park. We have an 11am reservation. We'll probably stay 4-5 hours and then drive to Zagreb. Likely will just return our car, grab dinner, and sleep.

Sunday:
Fly home


I know this is a lot of bopping around, but we're ok with that. We aren't really "lay on the beach all day" people and love history, learning about local culture, and seeing pretty scenery. We do want to have things to do each day but don't want it to feel too rushed, so I'm back and forth about a Mostar trip. Will we feel like we have enough time if we get there around 11am-12pm and leave first thing the next morning? If we don't go to Mostar, is there another worthwhile thing to do with our extra day in Dubrovnik? 

[fernweh]

I don’t know if this is something you would be interested but we are head to Croatia in 2 weeks.

We booked a boat tour that starts in Split and goes to Dubrovnik. They also have trips that go the opposite way but it is 7 days total and stops in a few other towns in between.

We went through Sail Croatia. It’s not a private boat but I think their is maximum of 36 guests on board so I’m not super uncomfortable like I would be with a cruise.

[mrsGreeko]

Klis fortress in Split is interesting.

So is the Split City Museum

If you have time on the drive from Plitvice to Zagreb, the Turanj war museum is a quick open air museum stop. It’s maybe a 29-30 minute stop, but we thought it was interesting. Tells a little about the war in the 90’s.

Froggyland in Zagreb is one of the weirdest things we have ever done. It was hilarious. We also did the Torture museum, which was entertaining enough. We were in Zagreb on a Monday when most of the museums were closed so we were fairly limited in what we could do.

[cattledogkisses]

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[wildrice]

Apr 25, 2022 19:52:39 GMT -5 cattledogkisses said:

It's just under 2 hours to drive from Dubrovnik to the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, so you could easily do that as a day trip (we used to day-trip to Dubrovnik a lot when we lived there). If you want recommendations, I can give you a ton.

That's definitely a thought. Is the Bay of Kotor mostly scenic or is there anything else to see there? Am I understanding that you lived in Montenegro?

I'd love any Dubrovnik recommendations - if we don't do a day trip to another country, I'll be looking for something else in the general vicinity to do with that time!

I also just posted on ML since this board seems somewhat dead, but do you have any thoughts/experience on Mostar?

[cattledogkisses]

Apr 25, 2022 20:25:52 GMT -5 wildrice said:

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[wildrice]

cattledogkisses, thank so much for all that information! I hadn't looked much at going to Montenegro, and maybe I need to rethink that. It sounds like it would be a great trip!

[cattledogkisses]

Apr 26, 2022 13:51:00 GMT -5 wildrice said:

cattledogkisses , thank so much for all that information! I hadn't looked much at going to Montenegro, and maybe I need to rethink that. It sounds like it would be a great trip!

If you do end up going please don’t hesitate to message me at any point if you have questions or want suggestions or advice. I get so excited when people go there because we loved it so much and want other people to love it too!

[Mushe]

What a fun trip! We did something pretty similar for our honeymoon. In Dubrovnik, we really enjoyed just strolling, and we had a drink at Buža Bar, which was seriously gorgeous, just rickety tables placed on platforms carved into the rocks. I enjoyed a boat ride where we could see the city from that vantage point.

We did Hvar instead of Korcula, and then just drove through Split - well, a few hour stop. We really, really loved Plitvice Lakes, and I’d encourage you to extend that to more like 1.5 days than .5.