Thinking of planning a trip to Croatia? First of all, you should decide the itinerary you want to follow. The country extends over 600 km, so either you start from the South to go up North, or you begin your journey in the North from the capital Zagreb to go down to Dubrovnik. To help you in putting together a travel route through the country, here is our 2-week Croatia itinerary, hints & tips, and mini-guides for several destinations along the way.
Best time to visit Croatia
Like most Mediterranean countries, Croatia gets “live” in summertime: high season goes from June to August when the weather is at its best, and you can enjoy both the inland and the coastline. Summer days can get as hot as 35°C, so be sure to plan some days at the beach.
How to get there
We wanted to use our own car for this road trip, so we started our tour from Milan and reached Zagreb by car. At the end of our tour, we were in Dubrovnik and needed to go back to Italy, by car. So we opted for the ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari. Remember to book it in advance as there are no many ferries each day.
Roads in Croatia
The best way to visit Croatia is by car: bring your own or rent one. You will certainly be free to plan your tour, change your mind along the way, set the departure times and be independent, so as to best enjoy your time in this eastern European gem. Roads are in good conditions and speed cameras are frequent throughout the entire country.
The ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari
This route took us something like 9 hours. Yes, you read it right: 9 hours. First of all, they will need about 1-2 hours to send the list of all passengers to the Police in Bari to check all the names. Then, the journey takes about 7 hours or so. So, be sure you don’t forget some essentials to survive this journey.
- Food and water, as the cafès don’t have a large assortment
- Something to spend your time with: a good book, an iPad for a movie (that you should have downloaded in advance) and playing cards…
- A jacket or a sweater because it can get a bit cold.
- Hand sanitizer and tissues, as the ferry is not extremely clean.
Our 2-week Croatia itinerary
Now it’s time to share with you our 2-week itinerary: we spent 15 days in Croatia and decided to travel from north to south. Below is the route and the destinations we chose for our tour:
- Arrive in Zagreb: DAY 1 – evening
- Visit Zagreb: DAY 2
- Leave Zagreb: DAY 2 – afternoon
- Arrive in Plitvice Lakes National Park: DAY 2 – evening
- Visit Plitvice: DAY 3
- Leave Plitvice: DAY 4 – morning
- Arrive in Zadar: DAY 4 – morning
- Visit Zadar and surroundings: DAY 4 – 5
- Leave Zadar: DAY 6 – morning
- Arrive in Krka National Park and visit: DAY 6 – morning
- Leave for Trogir: DAY 6 – afternoon
- Arrive in Split: DAY 6 – evening
- Visit Split and surroundings: DAY 7
- Leave Split: DAY 8 – morning
- Arrive in Hvar: DAY 8 – morning
- Visit Hvar island: DAY 8
- Arrive in Hvar City: DAY 8 – evening
- Visit Hvar City and surroundings: DAY 9 – 10 – 11
- Leave Hvar island: DAY 12 – morning
- Arrive in Dubrovnik: DAY 12 – afternoon
- Visit Dubrovnik and surroundings: DAY 13 – 14
- Leave Dubrovnik: DAY 15 – morning
For each destination of this itinerary check the separate mini-guides, to find out the best tips for things to do and to see and the best places to eat in each place. Hope you enjoy it!
I hope you find this itinerary helpful for planning your own tour of Croatia!
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