Tuckrhp

I am planning a trip to Croatia for late April.

We are flying into Rome and were going to take the Ferry from Pescara to Dubrovnik. Does anyone have suggestions? A few things we wanted to hit:

Stay in Dubrovik and possibly take a boat ride around some of the Dalmatian islands.
Possibly take a bus to check out Sarajevo or Mostar?
Is Montenegro worth visiting? Or Albania?

We were thinking 4-5 days. Any suggestions?

l etoile

I spent a few weeks in Croatia this past summer. Dubrovnik is nice for a couple of days. Walk around the walls early in the day before it gets too hot and be sure to visit the museum of war photographs. You can really cover the city in a day or two. The drive to Split and Trogir is also nice and takes you through a sliver of Bosnia. We stayed in Trogir, which I thought was a very quaint and lovely little town, and made a day trip to nearby Split. You probably don't want to go this far but Plitvice National Park is gorgeous. We did visit many of the islands as we chartered a sailboat for a while so were free to go where we wished. Our favorite island by a longshot was Hvar. We chartered out of Dubrovnik and found that most of the islands that far south were not nearly as interesting as the ones further north. Next time I would charter out of Trogir.

I did do a trip report. If you're interested in details you can look for that in the Trip Reports forum under my name, or if you have questions feel free to email me.

AcaMaca

You won't need to worry about seeing the city early in the day before it gets too hot if you are going in April. In addition the water will still be quite cold. More like a mountain lake than the Mediterranean. Since it is so early in the season you will not have to worry about tourists and you'll really get a feel for the town.
There is a great bar outside the walls of the city on the cliff overlooking the sea. It is hard to find, look for signs painted on the walls that say "Most Buetiful View" or something along those lines with the mis-spelling. It is nothing but a few tables and a fridge to keep the beer cold but the view is spectacular and it is a nice quiet place. The owners are a couple who live near by and the hours depend on a combination of business, weather, and what they feel like doing.

I agree with Letiole's recs. in Addition, Albania is not worth the trip. Montenegro is also very beautiful, especially Sveti Stefan, Kotor and Budvar on the coast.

4-5 days is not long for such a beuatiful area so you will have to be choosy. I would say not to go to Sarajevo because you will lose a day travelling. Stay on the coast and enjoy the Dalmatian Riviera

l etoile

Now how did I miss the April part.

Completely agree with that little cliff-side bar. We never would have found it except we saw it from the top of the walls and figured out to get there from there. Yes, It's a wonderful place to sit with a beer and watch the time pass.

magyarflieger

Sarajevo is a great idea for an overnight trip. Sadly, many of the major museums/attractions are still closed for repairs, but the old turkish quarter is really worth seeing. The food is much cheaper than in Dubrovnik, and the coffee is better. There are a couple of daily buses from Croatia. Mostar is also quite nice, but smaller than Sarajevo, and with much more pronouced ethnic tensions.
Kotor and Cetinje are the places to visit in Montenegro, lots of historical sites and buildings to poke around in. There is a daily bus from Dubrovnik to the border (change buses, the montenegrian bus is waiting at the border) which continues on to Herceg-Novi, and then along the coast. Although northern Albania is supposedly beautiful, tourist infrastructure is essentially zero, and the northest of the country near Kosovo is still very unsafe. Enjoy Dalmatia and do an one or two night excursion to Sarajevo would be my recommendation.

jacob_m

Dubrovnik is pretty nice, a very old city part of UNESCO world heritage, but as people have said, you can see most of it in maybe two days.
After a visit to Dubrovnik, take a ferry from Dubrovnik to Split.
It takes almost a whole day to go between Dubrovnik and Split by ferry but you get to see the entire archipelago outside Croatia and it's so beautiful.
If you want, stay a night or two at one the islands on the way like Hvar or Korcula before continuing.
Split is also very nice with the large Diocletians palace (I don't think the spelling is all correct, but it's something like that).
In Split there is an international airport with flights to for example Frankfurt and Vienna if I remember correctly.
You can also take a train to Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and include a visit to the capital before flying out of Croatia.

brendamc

Great suggestion - I'd also spend a day visiting Trogir - charming little island town.

l etoile

Here's a link to the trip report I mentioned, which might be of some use. (I probably didn't finish it,a s I seldom do.) There is a link to a bunch of photos though at the bottom of the first post. There's even a picture of that bar in Dubrovnik with the great view.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...=333512&page=1

jacob_m

Thanks! I've done pretty much that itinerary myself (only different is that we started in Zagreb and went to Dubrovnik and then flew back home from Split).

Most of it (ferries, trains, buses) is far from luxurious but it's a great experience and I can warmly recommend it just for the experience.
I'm still looking for a chance to go back to Croatia as I very much enjoyed the country.

gabes80

Anybody know what the weather would be like in October/November? Am I too optimistic in thinking I could still swim along the Dalmatian Coast?

rfrost

I love Dubrovnik and, though I don't like it nearly so well, I think Split is certainly worth going to for the ruins. Also agree about Trogir. Hvar is lovely, and very trendy, though April's probably off-season for that. Another possibility (and one I very much regret NOT seeing except from the ferry, but I was also limited for time) is Korcula. I did take a day trip from Dubrovnik to Montenegro, and the coastline was gorgeous. All good choices.