Croatia Land Tours

[CalGalTraveler]

Croatia (and possibly Montenegro) is on our radar.

Any suggestions of land tours or itineraries? We are fine with driving and touring independently if that is viable but not against a guided tour as long as the excursions have walking/hiking and are active. We don't want to sit in a bus all week looking out a window. Alternatively, I have heard about ferry hopping the islands down the coast. We definitely want to tour Dubrovnik and Split. Possibly Montegegro.

We are also considering cruises and have a list.

Ideas on land tours and hotels welcome!

 

[beejaybee]

Some input is that while on a cruise with a port stop in Split we rented a car and spent the day hiking here:
https://npkrka.hr/en_us/. Our port stop in Dubrovnik we took public bus to/from the walled city. In Montenegro, I found a sign in an alleyway below some steps that said to the fort 1 euro. So why not? Let's do that instead of the climb to the top of the mountain overlooking the sea.
Except we did exactly that! https://www.moonhoneytravel.com/kotor-fortress/

 

[CalGalTraveler]

BTW...What is better? Cruise or land for Croatia?

 

[beejaybee]

Time in Port is important. If you can find a cruise that overnights in Dubrovnik that would be perfect.
Our Celebrity cruise in 2013 began in Venice with stops in Ravenna, Koper Slovenia, Bari, Split, Dubrovnik, Corfu, Valetta, Naples and ended in Rome. 13 nights.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Sounds wonderful. Do some cruise lines in Croatia have better access to ports/sites similar to some Alaska cruise lines?

OTOH if Croaia is driveable or offers good trains like Italy going by land may not be a bad way to travel.

 

[mjm1]

We just completed a cruise from Barcelona that stopped in Dubrovnik, Kotor (Montenegro), and Zadar (Croatia) before ending at Ravenna. After we transferred to Marco Polo Airport near Venice we rented a car and drove to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Using that as a base we did day trips to Lake Bled, which was beautiful, including a self guided tour of the Bled Castle. We also toured the Predjama Castle, which was built at the mouth of a giant cave. You may want to consider Slovenia if time permits.

 

[Bourne]

Did a long trip across Europe.. rental, ferries, flights, flixbus, tour buses..and one cab ride to the border.

On east side, my strong recommendation would be a rental. Tours are too structured, rail non existent and buses not as good as north and west Europe.
Sixt adds on a border pass that allows multiple countries. Would recommend Bosnia over Slovenia though both have pluses. Parking is a mess and go with the smallest car you can fit in .
Depends on how much time you have.. it’s easy to add more.

1-10
Zagreb - 7
Plitvice NP - 10( cheaper after 4p)
Zadar - 6
Split - 8
Dubrovnik- 9
Kotor - 8 baby Dubrovnik
Perast - 9
Kravica - 9
Mostar - 8

 

[Laurie]

Many many years ago (almost 50!) I traveled to what was then called Yugoslavia, started in Dubrovnik, then rented a car and traveled up the coast, ferried to at least 3 islands, then inland to the beautiful national park with aquamarine lakes and waterfalls. It definitely wasn't a big tourist destination as it was still "behind the Iron Curtain". It was the most beautiful and interesting place I'd ever seen to date. Driving was easy, as was taking ferries. We had a tent and did some seaside camping, and stayed in some informal family b&b's and even a castle.

I will mention I saw an interesting looking tour at Road Scholar, it was entitled "The Best of Croatia: A Coastal Voyage" and involved travel by small yacht.

 

[klpca]

We are looking at a small ship cruise for Croatia, but not a tour. Has anyone done one of those?

Also we would prefer shoulder season as we already have the middle and end of next summer booked elsewhere. Any thoughts pro or con for May or late Sept/early Oct? I don't care about water activities but I am concerned about weather. Any thoughts? I have googled and both seem to be a mixed bag.

 

[Carolinian]

We did a timeshare exchange quite a few years ago to a resort on the beach outside Split, for which we used a credit with Dial-an=Exchange Europe. Dubrovnik and Split are the must sees, but there are lots of other worthwhile sights. In addition to the timeshare exchange, I have made two other trips to the area. On the other trips, I used the Rough Guide travel guides for hotel suggestions. Public transportation is pretty easy to use in the area, and that includes the coastal ferry running down the coast. It is an easy place to drive with a rental car as well. A side trip into Bosnia to see Mostar and Sarejavo are also worthwhile. As to Montenegro, I have only been to the old royal capital of Cetinje, which was a decent day trip by train from Belgrade on a different trip.

This is an area where planning your own trip makes a lot more sense than a cruise. You are able to set your own schedule based on what you are interested in rather than the opinion of a cruise director.

 

[PamMo]

Croatia is very drivable. Our daughter used to live in Zagreb and we’ve visited in mid-Oct to mid-Nov and May. Both times are lovely, but we especially love autumn!

@Bourne has a great list. We traveled with three young kids in tow, so our roadtrips would be much different than yours, but we loved Zagreb, Platvička, Split, Dubrovnik, and smaller towns like Rovinj and Primošten. We’ve visited Croatia on a cruise, too, but unless you’re overnighting, you miss those magical nights and early mornings in town!

 

[PcflEZFlng]

I took a land tour with Overseas Adventure Travel through Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Slovenia in May a few years ago. For the most part, the weather was great. The scenery was spectacular everywhere, especially the Bay of Kotor on a warm day under a clear, bluebird sky. The trip offered plenty of opportunities to get out and walk (or hike) around. I also prefaced it with a 5-day "pre-tour" of Albania (also through OAT). Never regretted a single minute of it. They still offer the trip, it's one of their most popular; you can look it up for yourself and see if it fits your desires.

 

[Carolinian]

For Croatia, like much of eastern Europe, the "In Your Pocket" city guides are excellent resources. While I have always used the printed physical editions, they can also be downloaded. The series was started by some Brits who went to visit the Baltic countries soon after the fall of communism, found that there were no travel guides then, and decided to write some. It has expanded throughout eastern Europe and into some western European countries. There business model is to use advertising as their revenue and give the guides away free.

Croatia Travel Guide: Top Cities & Hidden Gems 2026

Sun, sea, and a coastline that borders on showing off. Croatia packs Roman ruins, medieval walled cities, islands and a national park into a country barely larger than England. It's hard to be grumpy here, and believe us, we've tried.

www.inyourpocket.com

 

[pjhoba]

If you want to be really active check out Sail Croatia for bike and boat tours. Last year a group of 30 of us boarded the boat in Split and finished in Dubrovnik after a week of cycling on the islands (E bikes are provided) We spent a day in Split in advance and 3 in Dubrovnik.

Now, prior to doing that four of us rented a car and toured around Albania for a week. (what? who ever thought about going to Albania) Much less expensive then Croatia, inland is more interesting then the coast and hope that you like feta cheese. If you like mussels get to the south where you will find fresh harvested right in front of you blue mussels. Yummy!

 

[PcflEZFlng]

what? who ever thought about going to Albania

Yup. See my post above. Albania is very underrated, not crowded, and also very cheap. For example, about $1.50 for a pint of beer. Highly recommend.

 

[klpca]

Thanks for the great info! (We had guests in town until a couple of days ago and I forgot completely about this post). It gives me a lot to think about.

 

[TUGBrian]

small world, one of my closest friends does electrical work on huge ships (cruise/tankers/etc) so they fly him just about everywhere on the planet to hop on a ship and work on them while in dock or at sea. just sent me a bunch of videos of him in croatia right now!

he cant say enough about how awesome it is there!

 

[PrairieGirl]

I don't have any advice/recommendations to share YET, but I've been following this thread for ideas - on October 10th we are off to Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia Herzegovina for three weeks. First week Zagreb to Split, second week a small ship (38 guests) tour down the coast to Dubrovnik and then after a couple of days there back into a car for the last leg. I was thrilled to see that PamMo loves it there that time of year!

 

[Bourne]

Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia are grossly underrated.
1. Albania is Albania. would recommend Bunk Art 2
2. Skopji(NM). Well, best description I found was on the net. Wannabe capital with money that wanted to look Italian/European but the architect only saw it in video games
3. Pristina Kosovo. Quirky. Photos below. If you are from the states, you’ll feel at home.

 

[Bourne]

Locations. Sizes are way off