Oh, one other thing. We haven't finalized our airline tickets, so we can also fly into Zagreb instead of Ljublana if that's better (still flying out of Dubrovnik)

Hello there ...

I would like to give you some advices about your trip
the season starts on 1stMay and everything is opened then already.to swimm is very nice from a period of 15th May.I would rather spend more time on the sea then in Plitvice ,it is nice but nothing special.1 day for hvar and islands is enough.Split is also very interesting.
when you come to Montenegro you must see :the Boka bay (especially
Kotor )BUDVA ,Cetinje-Lovcen ,Sveti Stefan,that is must see.it is very good to book an easy jet air ticket for return.....a few months in advance so you can spent the last days of your holiday in Dubrovnik at least 2 days .if you have any other questions write..... all the best from Budva

Hi, thank you. Sounds like I should cut down the time on the islands and add more time to Dubrovnik and Montenegro.

One itinerary I just found is the Smartours itinerary which is similar to what I'm looking to do BUT I luckily have 3 more days.

If this is a good itinerary - http://www.smartours.com/croatia.shtml - where should I add the 3 days? The one thing it does not include is any trips to the islands.

Thinking 1 more day Istria, 1 day Hvar, and 1 more day in Montenegro? Would Hvar be the best island to go to?

> 1) If we go in early to mid-May will places be closed?

The places I wanted to see were open in that time frame, but you should check site web sites.

> How many days to spend in Dubrovnik?

It depends on what you want to see and experience. For my needs, 2 full days were sufficient for Dubrovnik itself (i.e., not counting day trips).

> Our plan is to rent a car in Slovenia and then drop it off in either Split or Dubrovnik. Any recommendations?

Make sure you know what the drop-off fee will be for renting the car in Slovenia and dropping it off in Croatia. If the fee is too high, consider taking one of the frequent trains or buses from Ljubljana to Zagreb (or other international routes). And if you do rent a car for your time in Slovenia, make sure the car has the "vignette" that covers charges for the toll roads.

> Thoughts on my current itinerary would be much appreciated

Here's what I did:

Bled: 2 nights, more than 1 full day
Ljubljana: 2 nights, 1 full day
Zagreb: 4 nights, about 2.5 full days (I spent a 1/2 day in Čakovec)
Plitvice: 1 night, almost a full day
Trogir/Split: 2 nights, 2 full days (separately, so 1 night/day each)
Hvar: 2 nights in Stari Grad; 1 full day on the island with a few hours in Hvar Town
Korcula: 1 night, 1 full day
Montenegro/Kotor: the better part of a day (early departure, late return from Dubrovnik)
Dubrovnik: 3 nights, about 2 days in Dubrovnik itself.

So your pace is much more rapid than I would prefer. As a rule, my only "down" time is over dinner (I don't even stop for lunch) and I don't spend time shopping, except for 2 or 3 hours over the course of a 3-4 week trip during which I buy gifts family and friends. I do spend a lot of time in museums. So it really depends on what you want to see and experience.

You'll see some wonderful places! Hope this helps.

Slovenia is being neglected!

I am not a fan of Zadar and Split. I would also skip Zagreb and add in time in the Soca River Valley for some hiking, and/or canyoning. It is incredibly beautiful.

But it just depends if you like nature, and just how sporty you are!

Other gorgeous areas in Slovenia: Logarska Dolina, gorenska Brda, Bohinj, Piran and then, head into Croatia throug Rovinj, head SE to Plivitce and then, continue on down.

All, thank you so much for your replies! I have updated my itinerary and I hope it is not too crazy. I think this may make for some long days, so please let me know if this makes sense / is doable!

1) In particular, is it okay to cross the border from Croatia to Bosnia in the evening? Or does the border close down at certain times?
2) Also we will be going in early to mid-May. How long is daylight / when does the sun set?
3) I know it is preferable to spend more time in Sarajevo than just a 1-1.5 days. Is it better to spend more time in Sarajevo or more time in Montenegro?
4) Is it possible / is there a faster way to drive from Sarajevo to Kotor without going through Dubrovnik?

Day 1: Arrive Ljublana
Day 2: Ljublana city tour
Day 3: Lake Bled (and Vintar Gorje?) overnight Lake Bled
Day 4: Rovinj
Day 5: Rovinj, Pula, overnight Opatija
Day 6: Plitvice Lakes, overnight Plitvice
Day 7: Zadar and Trogir, overnight Trogir
Day 9: Split, then ferry from Split to Stari Grad
Day 10: Hvar, overnight Hvar
Day 11: Hvar, Ferry back to Split in afternoon, drive to Mostar for overnight
Day 12: Tues, June 4 – Mostar half day then on to Sarajevo
Day 13: Wed, June 5 – Sarajevo, overnight Dubrovnik
Day 14: Thurs, June 6 – Montenegro
Day 15: Fri, June 7 – Montenegro, overnight Dubrovnik
Day 16: Sat, June 8 – Dubrovnik
Day 17: Sun, June 9 - Depart

Sorry, a few typos. Here is my revised itinerary (ignore the june dates above, we're going in May):

Day 1: Arrive Ljublana
Day 2: Ljublana city tour
Day 3: Lake Bled (and Vintar Gorje?) overnight Lake Bled
Day 4: Rovinj
Day 5: Rovinj, Pula, overnight Opatija
Day 6: Plitvice Lakes, overnight Plitvice
Day 7: Zadar and Trogir, overnight Trogir
Day 8: Split, then ferry from Split to Stari Grad
Day 9: Hvar, overnight Hvar
Day 10: Hvar, Ferry back to Split in afternoon, drive to Mostar for overnight
Day 11: Mostar half day then on to Sarajevo
Day 12: Sarajevo, overnight Dubrovnik
Day 13: Montenegro
Day 14: Montenegro, overnight Dubrovnik
Day 15: Dubrovnik
Day 16: Depart

I like this itinerary better. You will be busy but it will be a lot of fun. IIRC, sunset is about 8:00pm at that time of year. The weather should be perfect too.

Sorry, can´t help on the other questions.

> 2) Also we will be going in early to mid-May. How long is daylight / when does the sun set?

As SloJan2 said, around 8. For future reference:

http://www.timeanddate.com/

> 3) I know it is preferable to spend more time in Sarajevo than just a 1-1.5 days. Is it better to spend more time in Sarajevo or more time in Montenegro?

If I read your itinerary correctly, you actually have just an evening and part of the next day in Sarajevo. I had 1.5 days there, and wish I'd had much more. I visited Perast and Kotor as a day trip from Dubrovnik, and saw what I wanted to see there in that time. But it depends on what you want to see and experience.

> 4) Is it possible / is there a faster way to drive from Sarajevo to Kotor without going through Dubrovnik?

Have you checked viamichelin? mappy?

> Here is my revised itinerary

This strikes me as a VERY fast paced itinerary. In general, I think it's probably possible (although I haven't done any kind of detailed check and did not check ferry schedules). I think you will probably need to get going fairly early each day, will have to be extremely selective about what you see in each of the places where you stop, and would do well to have some backup plans in case you run into traffic problems or parking problems or unexpected site closures or whatever. (BTW, have you checked opening and closing hours to make sure the things you most want to see are open when you will be in these places?)

You will see some wonderful things - much of it from a car.

Enjoy!

Thanks kja! I am getting the sense that it might be too much for a single trip. Sounds like I can get away with 1 day in Montenegro. If I make that change, would you suggest more time in Dubrovnik or Mostar? Eliminate Sarajevo?

Any suggestions on how to get this into a more manageable trip would be helpful...right now it's too hard for me to cut anything out since every place seems like a must-do.

> Any suggestions on how to get this into a more manageable trip would be helpful

I think we would need to know more about your interests to provide a helpful response.

What are the things you want to see and experience? Are you interested in history, museums, parks, roaming aimlessly through old towns, architecture, art, natural scenery, religious issues, spelunking, resorts, seaside walks, Roman ruins, medieval architecture, civic engineering, fruit and vegetable markets, ferry rides, watching purposes swim from the Buza Bar ... Those are just some of the things that could be part of the itinerary you are considering. Do you want to focus on just some of these things, or do you want to sample as many as possible? Do you plan to get up at the crack of dawn each day or would you prefer to make sure you can savor late night options?

> every place seems like a must-do

I know! I found it very difficult to cut my trip to the area to "just" 40 days. And I'm so glad I was able to do that!

The good news is that you should be able to have a great trip no matter what choices you make.

If you're going to Plitvice Lakes (which is amazing), don't waste your time at Vintgar Gorge in Slovenia. While it's a nice, scenic hike, it pales compared to Plivice. Take the time instead to check out Lake Bohinj if you're looking for something else to do. Or, on the drive from Ljubljana to Bled, take the scenic route via the town of Skofja Loka; the town is very worth a quick visit, and the scenic drive from Skofja Loka through the windy hills to Bled is gorgeous.

This to me also seems like a really rushed itinerary. I've done most of it on two different trips. I made it to Mostar but (regrettably) not to Sarajevo, which I hope to get to in the future. Still, in your case, I might eliminate Sarajevo in this case. Mostar was worth seeing but one night there was plenty unless you want to see more of the neighboring countryside. In fact, even an evening there might be plenty if you get there early enough; during the day there are a lot of day tourists anyway and in the evening mostly of the should be gone. So if you want to push for a quick look at Sarajevo, I wouldn't budget lots of time for Mostar, except as a good place to sleep and explore for a few hours.

> If you're going to Plitvice Lakes (which is amazing), don't waste your time at Vintgar Gorge in Slovenia. While it's a nice, scenic hike, it pales compared to Plivice. Take the time instead to check out Lake Bohinj if you're looking for something else to do.

I so love the different ways people experience their travels! It never have occurred to me to compare the Vintgar Gorge to the Plitvice Lakes - that seems to me to be a comparison of apples to oranges. In contrast, while I loved the opportunity to appreciate the differences between Lakes Bohinj and Bled, that seemed to me a comparison of apple to (different) apple. Whichever comparison applies, I like fruit and was glad to see all three.

> Mostar was worth seeing but one night there was plenty unless you want to see more of the neighboring countryside. In fact, even an evening there might be plenty if you get there early enough...

Andrew makes some excellent points, but Mostar has some lovely restored mosques and Ottoman houses, and they won't be open during the evening. So if you want to see even a few of them, you would need to have some daytime hours there. And as Andrew says, it is much more pleasant after day-trippers leave, so do consider including an evening stay if you can. BTW, one of the things I loved about my time in Mostar was being able to see the (rebuilt) Stari Most in different lights, from mid-day through early morning - every view was magnificent, and each different from the others.

At least when I was there, Sarajevo had a wider variety of things to see (which doesn't mean better or worse), but again, many would only be open during the day. And there are other things worth visiting in Sarajevo that also "eat" your daylight hours - for example, a trip to the Tunel (with a guide, if possible) will probably take 1/2 day. IMHO, very well worth doing! But also worth thinking about when you plan your time in the area.

Again, I hope these comments are helpful.

Thank you all, these suggestions are all very helpful. I'm going to re-work some of this to add more time to Sarajevo (by also spending only 1 day in Montenegro). I'll post my updated itinerary once I get it figured out.

I think what I'm also going to do is arrange a number of day tours in each place (Istria, Hvar, Sarajevo, Montenegro) once I arrive in places to minimize our own driving and give us a chance to relax.

In terms of what we're interested in - we like everything (except nightlife). We prefer to wake up early and start our day. Typically we will just get a snack for lunch, keep on going, and then have a hearty dinner before heading off to bed. I just don't know when I'll get the chance to next be in this area of the world, so would prefer to cram as much in as possible...even a taste of Sarajevo would be better than nothing...and I think with some of the suggested revisions I can get at least 2 days there.

Thanks again - this has all been incredibly helpful!

I'm planning a similar itinerary this August, but with a slower pace- we're staying 3 nights in each place, apart from Zadar - one night and Dubrovnik - one night. Otherwise 3 nights in Trogir, Hvar, Korcula, Kotor, Sarajevo. All by car, we plan on sightseeing, and have included Mostar, Jajce ...
Instead of Blejski Vintgar (Bled Gorge) see Lake Bohinj in Slovenia and Plitvice in Croatia, amazing!
For Slovenia, this website is very useful: www.slovenia.info. If you need any other tips about Slovenia, ask me, no problem, am Slovene

Book marking.