The Best of Croatia (and around) Itinerary
Between living and travelling to Croatia, we’ve spent more than 2 years in the country. We’ve really gotten to know Croatia, it’s one of our favorite countries with tons of remarkable places to visit.
I’ve read that the average tourist spends an average of 5 days in Croatia. That’s not much. So making a “Best of Croatia” itinerary is really challenging.
So I’m going to try to make everyone happy with the itinerary recommendations that I include below. They account not just for the number of days you have available but also distances between destinations and essential short trips to nearby destinations (I also include a couple of trips to some incredible places that are among our favorites in the Balkans).
If you only have 3 days: Split
In my opinion it is ‘the’ must-see destination in Croatia (more so than Dubrovnik). In addition, Split has so many options for close by day trips whether they be islands (Hvar, Bol), mountain hikes (Mosor, Kozjak), special towns (Trogir, Omis), National Parks (Krka) or fortresses (Klis fortress). There is so much to do. Besides which, Split has incredible geography. It’ll blow your mind away.
You can’t fit all the above in in 3 days. So what would I do?
Spend day 1 visiting Diocletian’s Palace, go up the bell tower of Saint Domnius, explore the Old town, walk the Riva, go up to the 1st lookout on Marjan Hill.
Day 2: go to Trogir for a day trip. When you come back to Split chill out at some of the city’s beaches: Bacvice (touristy and overrated to be honest), Ovcice and Znjan (both of which have a lot of local charm).
Day 3: If you want to see a beautiful local town and do some hiking and see some incredible scenery, go to Omis for the day (I call Omis “Croatia’s Adventure Capital”). Hike up to the Starigrad fortress, go to the Mirabella fortress, go Ziplining. If you still have time left over, go to Omis’s beach. OR, maybe you want to go to the Island of Hvar? If so, take the catamaran from Split’s port. In Hvar town, walk up to the Fortica for incredible views of town and the Adriatic, stroll around the pretty old town, have drinks at the port watching all the beautiful people.
Accommodation: The Best hotels in Split
See my very detailed guide: Travel Guide to Split, Croatia (including the best day trips)
Related: Split or Dubrovnik?
If you have 5 days: Split (see above) plus add 2 days in Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is very touristy but it is the “Pearl of the Adriatic” for good reason. You don’t go to Dubrovnik for beaches – you come here for some incredible history, historical monuments and one of the best travel experiences in Croatia (walking the city walls).
Day 4/5. After arriving from Split, walk the walls, visit the St. Lawrence fortress (Lovrijenac), explore the old town and visit the various churches and palaces. Take the cable car up Sdr hill if you don’t mind blowing some money (or hike up) for the views. The above might not seem like much but there’s lots to see in Dubrovnik.
More: Highlights and Lowlights of Dubrovnik
More: Why you should visit Dubrovnik in Winter
If you have 7 days: Split, Dubrovnik. Add a day and night in Mostar.
If you have a full week add a day & night in Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina). Although this is a Croatia itinerary, Mostar is so special and so different to Croatia that it’s worth a visit (I call it a piece of the Middle East in the Balkans). Many people visit Mostar as a daytrip from Dubrovnik – but that’s a lot of travel for 1 day (2 hrs one way, so 4 hours return) so I really recommend staying overnight in Mostar. Besides anything, it’s a lot cheaper than Dubrovnik and you’ll have some great food and wine.
More: Why you should visit Mostar
If you have 9 days: Split, Dubrovnik, Mostar. Add a day and night in Kotor.
Have 9 days? One of our favorite places in the Balkans is Kotor in Montenegro. It is home to one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Hike up to the St. John Fortress, visit Perast and walk around Kotor’s beautiful old town. Like Mostar, it is often visited as a daytrip from Dubrovnik. But, again, it is such a special destination that it deserves at least a night.
I’ve added the Mostar and Kotor to this Croatian itinerary just because they’re so easily accessible from Dubrovnik and both so special. Have more time? The itinerary options I include below focus only on Croatia…
If you have 11 days: Split, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Kotor…add Makarska for 2 days and insert it in your itinerary between Split and Dubrovnik.
Makarska lies at the foot of Mt. Biokovo and has the most dramatic scenery on the Croatian coastline. Besides being incredibly beautiful, this is the Makarska Riviera, home of some of Croatia’s best beaches.
I mentioned Mt. Biokovo. If you have a car, you can drive through Biokovo Nature Park up to the mountain’s highest peak (1762 meters). It’s the highest road in Croatia and the views are astounding. Alternatively, if you like a challenging trek, you can hike Biokovo from Makarska (you can get to Vošac peak in 3-4 hours).
If you have 14 days (2 weeks): Split, Makarska, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Kotor…add Šibenik (and Krka National Park) and Plitvice lakes. Note: if you add these destinations you should change the order of the itinerary. I cover that at the bottom of this section.
If you have 2 full weeks it allows you to see some of the highlights going further north. Šibenik is very underrated and deserves a day. It is primarily a cultural destination, a city with 4 fortresses and what I think is the most beautiful cathedral in Croatia (the Cathedral of St. James is a UNESCO World Heritage site built by the Venetians).
Šibenik is also the gateway to Krka National Park, one of the two most famous National Parks in Croatia (the other is Plitvice which I’ll cover soon). Krka is a beautiful park full of waterfalls and rapids. The highlight is Skradinski buk, a waterfall comprising of 7 sets of rapids.
More here on visiting Šibenik and Krka National Park.
Getting to Krka: take the bus to the pretty town of Skradin, one of the entry points to the park. Bus schedule here.
Further north is Plitvice lakes National Park, it is a Unesco World Heritage Site, the oldest National Park in Croatia, and is considered one of the most beautiful National Parks in Europe. It is known for its sixteen lakes which range from clear to turquoise and for the waterfalls, canyons, and streams that shape the landscape around these lakes.
Plitvice is larger than Krka and, in our opinion, warrants a 1 night stay. If you can, stay at the Hotel Plitvice which is right next to entrance 2 to the park. Besides giving you more time to enjoy this beautiful park, staying overnight allows you to explore in the early morning/late afternoon when all the day-trippers have left.
More Plitvice Lakes: Impressions, Tips and Regrets
As I mention up top: If adding these destinations it’s best to change up the order of your itinerary for your 2 week trip: Start in Dubrovnik (2 days), see Mostar (2 days) and Kotor (2 days). From there, make your way up to Makarska (2 days) then Split (2 or 3 days). Then make your way further north to Šibenik (2 days for Šibenik and Krka National Park) and Plitvice Lakes (2 days). Plitvice is 2 hours from Zagreb if you wish to fly out of Croatia from there (I’d suggest that Zagreb is worth a day though…)
If you have 21 days (3 weeks). 3 weeks allows you to travel at a more leisurely pace and enjoy a few more destinations. In the south, I’d add a daytrip to Korcula from Dubrovnik (this daytrip to Korkula with wine tasting in Pelješac is popular and recommended). Coming from Markarska on the way to Split, I’d stay a night in Omis (which I mentioned up top as a recommended daytrip from Split). I’d add 2 nights in Bol on the island of Brač – a relaxing place and home to Zlatni Rat (Croatia’s most famous beach) and Vidova Gora (the highest peak in the Adriatic and a nice hike from Bol). That can be combined with a trip to Hvar (Hvar Town and Bol are connected by catamaran service in the summer which means you can get between the two in 45 minutes). Finally, you can finish up with 2 days in Zagreb.
Summing up: Start in Dubrovnik (3 days with daytrip to Korcula), see Mostar (2 days) and Kotor (2 days). From there, make your way up to Makarska (2 days), Omis (1 day). Then Split (3 days with daytrip to Trogir), Hvar town as a daytrip and then Bol (2 days). Back on the mainland, go to Šibenik (2 days for Šibenik and Krka National Park) and Plitvice Lakes (2 days). Finish off with Zagreb (2 days).
If you have a month (4 weeks). Some people will be upset that I haven’t mentioned Istria on the above itinerary. There are a few reasons I haven’t included Istria: 1) you really need a car to properly explore the region, 2) Istria is tucked into the northwest corner of Croatia, making it a bit more complicated to integrate into an itinerary, 3) though with many places of interest, they’re spread out and not easy to get to (see my point 1 about needing a car). I just think Istria is better suited to relaxed, no-schedule travel as opposed to a charged itinerary.
If you do make it to Istria though, there are many great highlights in the area: the pretty town of Rovinj, Porec with the UNESCO World Heritage Site listed Euphrasian Basilica, Pula with its Roman Amphitheatre and Istria’s many charming hilltowns. Istria has, in my opinion, Croatia’s best food and wine as well as its friendliest people. So you could easily spend a week exploring Istria.
More: Exploring the highlights of Croatian Istria
Do you have a favorite place in Croatia?
Related: The Best Balkan capitals
Related: The Most Beautiful City in the World? Our candidates…and winner
Related: 12 Surprising Places to See (that you may never have heard of)
Hi, Lissette and Frank, long time without writing on your posts, yes, Croatia is a wonderful destination, just because of your recommendations we spent 3 weeks, we visited Splitz, Trogir, Hvar, Zadar and Dubrovnik, I wish we have had more time but there still the hope that we could go back. Let me tell you and all potential visitors to Hvar, we bought the ticket to go in the morning and return about 1 pm, but we did not realize how wonderful this island is and stayed until 6 or 7 pm, when waiting for the ferry to come, I asked at the office if there was a problem because our ticket had the return time at around 1 pm, they said no problem ands we went back to wait, as we started getting into the ferry people from the ferry were checking that each person had their ticket, when they saw our return was at around 1 pm they said we could not go in this trip and asked us to wait on the side while other people got in the ferry, finally after some begging and negotiation (it was the last ferry) they let us go in the ferry, so I think you better extend the time of return when visiting Hvar because is so beautiful and nice that you will want to stay longer. We just came a month ago from our trip to the South East of Italy and Sicily, we were not too happy with this trip, Rome was wonderful (as always for us) great food and finally could visit the Galleria Borghese, and visit more the Trastevere, then Bari, not too clean as well as Palermo, nice visiting Matera, and Alberobello and very close to Bari: Polignano a Mare, great food for the first time in Eastern Italy and Monopoli, then Brindisi and Lecce all these very clean, then Palermo, Trapani and Cefalu, we rented a car and found that directions on the road were very good but not good or inexistent in the towns, in Cefalu we wanted to go to the Duomo in the Central Piazza and we couldn’t because of lack of posted information or where it was or how to get there and the GPS do not tell you about pedestrian areas that are everywhere. we would recommend not to rent a car but use one of those one-day trips to visit other cities or towns, they take you to where the action is and bring you back. We love good food, it is an important part during our trips and we did not find anything that was really good except for 3 or 4 meals in a 3 week trip, not as good at least as from the Amalfi coast to the North of the country. Let’s continue traveling, the world is wonderful. Thank you for your posts.
Hello Carlos! I always enjoy hearing about your trips. You always add some good information.
Yes, Hvar is beautiful, one of our favorites (Brac also very special). I was surprised that the person at the office would tell you that all was fine only to discover that it wasn’t. Usually they’re a bit inflexible…so I’m glad it ended up working out.
Thank you for the tips of Sicily, it’s a place we want to go. We never rent, take public transport – but that can also be difficult because of the schedules in some of these small towns. And then, just like Spain, they shut down in mid-afternoon (like Spain, but maybe worse) and there’s nothing. You can’t find even find a cafe. We were in Ostuni with a bunch of Serbians waiting for the bus to go to the train station…took over an hour. They couldn’t believe how dead it was, they said this would never happen in Serbia. I’m surprised though about what you say about the food in Sicily. It’s supposed to be famous (having said that, I once had a girlfriend who was Sicilian. Didn’t think her cooking was very good…)
Anyway, always happy getting your comments. And as usual Lissette says hi 🙂
Literally just reading up on these areas for a road trip. This is a great trip. We were thinking about four weeks for a visit but my understanding is that it has become quite expensive now ? Or is that just the busiest bits?
The biggest factor is the season – prices from Jun – Sept can be 3X the off season price. So I always recommend visiting in the shoulder seasons 🙂
AHH that explains it. I know people who visited in the summer. I’m thinking April May. Thanks
Great list Frank. We’ve visited all but Kotor; Croatia is a special place for sure.
I’m glad you have Bol hidden so far down the list. We love it there and don’t need any more “foreigners” (like my wife and me!) crowding the promenade. We are going for our 3rd extended stay this year, and year 4 is already in the plans.
Mark
Wonderful sharing of information!
I loved Croatia and I’m now making a list of new places to visit‼️
Thank you for including Makarska! For such a small town it does get little crowded in the July/August, but it does have a lot to offer. It’s a good starting point for many daily trips, and probably cheeper than Split. Besides beautiful beaches and many sport’s water adventures, one can enjoy Kotišna Botanical Garden, Malacological museum, Municipal museum, and Museum of Fish and Crabs. Night life with many concerts and shows in the summer offer fun for everyone. We also have lots of wonderful Restaurants with some really good foods.
Thank you for sharing this! I’m just in the process of planning a 4 week tour through Croatia and I’m glad to see that my itinerary is very similar to yours. I will have to look in to a couple of places you recommended that I missed. Thanks again!
Thank you. I loved your ideas as we are planning a trip in September. Just wondering why Miljet, Dugi Otok Island and Rovinj were not included in your itinerary? We do like to get off the beaten track although we are not sure if we will be renting a car or taking the bus so that might limit our decisions. Also need to consider our budget. Thanks again.
Thanks Lynne. Just a question of prioritizing because there are many beautiful places to see. I didn’t mention Vis either which is also a great island. It’s of course subjective, but given a certain timeline the above is what I think is the best use of time.
Rovinj is in Istria – beautiful town but you can see it in less than half a day. Unfortunately it’s a bit far from other places and you need a car (have not so great memories of waiting 2 hours at Pula’s bus station for a bus to Rovinj). It’s why I don’t recommend Istria if you don’t 1) have a lot of time, 2) don’t have a car.
I can’t believe, put of all the places you mention, to which I’ve been to most, you completely skipped over Zadar. And incredible place, historical, walled city. Beautiful cathedrals, an interesting light panel show and lovely, incredible ocean lungs. Wonderful restaurants. Hope you see it soon.
Thank you Diana. I didn’t love Zadar as much as you did which is why I didn’t include it. For me the modern installations, the light show and the Sea organ, didn’t do it for me. I did like the historical attractions – but when it came to doing the itinerary I preferred Sibenik over Zadar.
Thanks. A great itinerary. Love Croatia. A couple of places I loved were Cavtat, just south of Dubrovnik which is a quick ferry ride away. From our balcony in Cavtat, we could see the cruise ships docked in Dubrovnik so could time our trips over to avoid the crowds.
The other was Trogir which was a lovely alternative to staying in Split. I was very disappointed in Split as compared to when I first visited in the 1980s. It’s now like a theme park. Oh well, that’s life I guess!
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment! We first visited Split in 2015…even since then we’ve seen big changes, mostly in the number of tourists and the price of everything. Unfortunately quality of everything has also slipped. No yet Dubrovnik but on its way…
Split is still a spectacular place. But it’s a shame when places get “discovered”. I still remember on our first visits the men wearing their “Balkan uniforms” ie the sweatpants. Unfortunately even that is disappearing 🙂