AIBU to think this Croatia itinerary is doable without feeling too rushed?

[Tchmmkln]

Going to Croatia in June and would love some opinions from anyone who’s been 😊
This is our current itinerary:
Day 1 – Split

• Flight arrives at 12
• Check into hotel around 2pm
• Explore the old town alleys
• Diocletian’s Palace + cathedral
• Walk up Marjan Hill
• Swim at hotel pool in evening

Day 2 – Split

• Krka waterfalls day trip
• Rafting on the Cetina River

Day 3 – Split

• Plitvice Lakes National Park day trip

Day 4 – Split → Hvar

• Relaxed beach morning in Split
• Mid/late afternoon ferry to Hvar
• Pool + evening walk around Hvar marina

Day 5 – Hvar

• Pool/relaxing morning
• Pakleni Islands boat trip OR lavender fields
• Explore Hvar Town marina and restaurants
• Fortica Fortress at sunset

Day 6 – Hvar

• Day trip to Bol
• Zlatni Rat beach

Day 7 – Hvar → Dubrovnik

• Explore Hvar main square + St Stephen’s Cathedral
• Beach/swim before ferry
• Late afternoon ferry to Dubrovnik

Day 8 – Dubrovnik

• Walk the city walls early before crowds/heat
• Old Town, Stradun, Rector’s Palace
• War Photo Museum
• Cable car to Mount Srđ
• Evening kayaking

Day 9 – Dubrovnik Still deciding between:

• Mostar + Kravice waterfalls day trip
• OR
• Cavtat / Lokrum / Mljet National Park

Day 10 – Dubrovnik

• Fort Imperial
• Final swim at Lapad Beach
• Flight home at 2pm

Does this sound realistic/doable? Any amendments you’d make, places I’ve missed, or things that are overrated/not worth it? Thanks!

Fair, you don't mention dinner / drinks. But there's still a lot of combined watersport/city combo days which I presume require a change of clothes. Are you hiring a car?

It sounds exhausting! I’d need another holiday to recover.

Are you hiring car and using car ferries? Or do you also have to allocate for getting public transport between a and b?

Car ferries require being At ferries early, often an hour before departure at least. And can take a while to leave and then there’s traffic to navigate as everyone else doing the same. So you need to allow time between them.
if I’m taking a ferry I wouldn’t do anything else all day except pool or relax at beach or dinner after journeying.

It’s also busy everywhere in June. So again allow time for waiting in queues, getting out of airports, car hire taking forever, traffic, struggle to fine parking

Add in more time for finding parking spots and also paying for parking, fiddling with meters or mithering with apps

That looks like a lot. We spent 3 days just in Dubrovnik.

But what does your partner want? It all sounds very regimented.

I think that you have planned to do too much. I am not the type of person who sits by the pool when i am on holiday. However there are days when i just want to relax and read a book. I also don't plan anything for arrival day just in case of delays

My favourite thing to do in old cities is wander and see what I find. People watch a bit. Discover unexpected things. I love to allow some time for this, acts as buffer time too if needed

I don't think it sounds too bad if you're used to active holidays. You've got a decent amount of time in each place as a base and if you get tired when you're there you could always drop one of the day trips.

I like to have a big list of options, theres nothing forcing you to do all of it if you find something else you enjoy.

We always do holidays with busy itineraries, it's just what we like to do. The only rule I have is no one night stays, travelling between places with luggage for one night gets exhausting quickly.

This sounds like my kind of holiday! I think it sounds fine, I've been to Dubrovnik and Mostar. The Montenegro day teip is amazing too, dare I say it even better than Mostar. Visiting the islands are nice too, definitely not enough for a whole day there as far as I remember.

Just back from a week in Dubrovnik , where we mixed activities with chilling out. The walls were great, but take longer than you might expect, partly due to other people(!) but also you really don't want to rush round, we stopped so often just to marvel at the views and soak up the atmosphere.
The cable car was a little underwhelming, we thought. We did spend a while in the fort/ museum at the top, but it only took a couple of hours.
It's a wonderful area for walking (we did the coastal trail round Lapad and Babin Kuk) but very hot, lots of hills and steps, so quite tiring. I would want to leave more down time in that itinerary.

Has ChatGPT done this for you 👀

I think it sounds great. 😊

I’d be tempted to just stick to Hvar on day 6 and just play it by ear that day. And definitely do the walls early in the morning - both to avoid the crowds & the heat. There’s not many shaded areas. If you are a Game of Thrones fan you’ll love Dubrovnik!

Not even delays as such but we get to our apartment, usually takes ages to get the key to work!

Then we unpack, put things a way, perhaps have a shower, my first thing as soon as I get anywhere is to make a cup of tea, test out the kettle and work out how things in the kitchen work.

Then have a rest, only then go out and explore the local streets, bars, shops etc, just a slow stroll, picking somewhere for dinner etc.

As someone who regularly does driving holidays and did one around Croatia a few years back, it sounds like you are trying cram a lot in…
If that’s the style of holiday both you and your partner like, then great, crack on. But for me, I would want some more downtime / opportunity for serendipity. Often it is the small things that aren’t top of the tourist ‘hit-list’ that make the holiday for me. I always need to leave enough breathing room in the plan to allow those things to happen.

I love Croatia: have been there several times and to most of the places you've listed. I agree with others that the best way to see it is to mix sightseeing/excursion days with lazier pottering and beach days. It is also really, really hot in high summer so you'll want to allow time for resting/keeping out of the sun in the afternoon. I'd split your Dubrovnik activities over two days personally and leave time for long lunches and coffees to escape the business.

I think what you've got is possible and all the things you want to see are good. I just think it would be exhausting and you'd miss the best bits of Croatia which is the chill vibes and amazing people. Plus if they are doing well in the world cup while you're there, the parties are going to be worth joining in.

If you like wine, I'd recommend this tour in Split: https://putalj.com/

You need siesta time I think

This is a ChatGPT suggested itinerary! Too busy for my liking, just your prompts for a more relaxed time.

We travelled north to south in Croatia. We stayed next to Plitvice and spent a lovely two days there on the lakes, one day doing the top half and the next day doing the south. You cannot travel there from Split in a day, walk round all the lakes and feel you’ve done it justice. It’s beautiful but it’s also busy and lots of the paths are single file so you can’t rush it.

As a side, we hated Split. Totally ruined by tourism. We loved Dubrovnik though and could have stayed there longer than the 4 days we did. Soak up the history and do a tour. Quality not quantity.

I think you've been given an unfairly hard time on this thread. There is nothing wrong with having a plan to make the most of your trip or being a detailed person. I like to plan my trips in detail and maximise my time somewhere. I'm not on Instagram etc either. I don't know why people felt it was necessary or appropriate to start attacking you for liking a different type of holiday to them.

Mostar is really lovely, as is Herzegovina more generally (very beautiful region). Kravica waterfalls are amazing, you can swim and kayak and spend a whole day or certainly a full afternoon there. Both are worth visiting IMO. On a day trip to Mostar and Kravica from Croatia you won't have much time in either place as you'll mostly be on the bus.

You might have a nicer time if you had a night in Mostar/Bosnia so you can see a bit more or just without spending a huge chunk of one day on a bus. I loved Bosnia more than Split or Dubrovnik. I might drop one of the Hvar nights to have a night in Mostar or Herzegovina instead.

Otherwise, day 8 sounds possibly ambitious. I was a bit underwhelmed by the cable car (and the city walls too if I'm honest - I would perhaps say do one or the other but not both). If you extended your Bosnia segment slightly to get your kayaking at Kravica instead then that might also make day 8 more achievable. Or, if it's specifically sea kayaking you wanted to do in Dubrovnik, I'd think about what else on that day you could drop if it proved too much.

Overall it sounds like it will be a fun trip.

Oh, I liked the cable car!

I agree that written down makes this look more than it is and dont see why the OP is being vilified for planning. There's plenty of relaxation at the places OP is going.

It is a little strange that you have planned in your swimming, but maybe that is how you like to do it... I don't really do sitting about holidays and I like to get out and see things when abroad, but I think you need to cut out a couple of things there, especially the day trips. Day trips take longer than you think, the travelling especially if it is hot is tiring. I would limit the trips out from where you are staying to 2-3 for the whole trip, and spend more time in the places you are staying. I think you are running the risk of being so busy running around seeing stuff that you don't actually have time to engage with your surroundings and the cultures you are visiting.

I was going to say similar about Plitvice. We spent two nights there between stays in Zagreb and Split and it was lovely. A couple of evenings in the mountains after the heat and crowds of the days were so much better than squeezing it into one day with long bus journeys at each end.

OP you can holiday how you like of course but for places like Plitvice I really recommend taking time to experience it properly or save it for another trip.

I got halfway and thought Nah!
Way too much planning.

Some people like planning...