Advice on croatia/ balkans

[Gingerisgoodforyou]

Bit late in planning our summer holiday, but thinking of croatia/ slovenia/ montenegro area as always wanted to go. But feel overwhelmed when looking!

Ideally thinking villa with a pool, or somewhere near the coast/ lake. 2 site holiday maybe over 2 weeks.

Issues

• will it be too hot? Weather websites suggest highs of 30 degrees in August, but wondering if this feels tolerable with a sea breeze or stifling? DC don't like it too hot but we went to northern Europe last summer and it was t hot enough!
• is croatia too busy? Thought montenegro/ albania would be quieter, but are they even hotter? Harder to drive around?
• any recommendations for towns? Ideally want somewhere quiet but with a few restaurants/ shops. Not looking for nightlife.

Any recommendations much appreciated!

If I was planning something like this, I would do a week around Lake Bled / Lake Bohinj and then down either to somewhere on the Istrian peninsula or down to Krk island. You fly into and out of Ljubljana, or into Ljublana and out of Pula (or vice versa).

In Slovenia, somewhere like Ribcev Laz around Lake Bohinj might work. Or Ukanc if you want really peaceful and relaxing.

In Istria, Fazana might fit the bill. On Krk, maybe Vrbnik or Baska.

I’ve not done self catering in either area, but if you’re happy driving that makes a big difference.

Driving in Montenegro is fine generally apart from very rural areas. I found driving in Albania tough going, but I was less confident in driving abroad then than I am now. The roads are tough going, especially out of the cities.

We had a fab holiday in Croatia a couple of years ago. The coast was cooler, inland much warmer. Tourist attractions were busy but not unbearably so.

Croatia was very easy to travel around and we found everywhere very efficient and organised. This was our itinerary which you may find helpful?

fly into Dubrovnik, stayed in an apartment just outside the city walls. A couple of days here.

private transfer to Korcula island (transfer took us over on the car ferry). We stayed in an apartment in the heart of Korcula old town. Did a couple of tours and hired a car for a day

passenger ferry to Split, we picked up a hire car at the ferry terminal and drove to the beautiful Krke National Park. we stayed in hotel Vrata Krke.

returned to Split for a couple of days, split is lovely and I preferred it to Dubrovnik. We flew home from Split and returned the hire car back to the airport

We went on an adriatic cruise October 22. Some of our day stops were Kotor, Koper, Split Dubrovnik. Kotor and Dubrovnik were especially beautiful. The weather was warm enough for shorts still. We would definitely spend holidays in those 2 places

We found Croatia very humid at night. The day was hot but the humidity was just a bit stifling when the sun went down. We stayed in Biograd.

Love Croatia, stayed at the Sun Gardens just outside Dubrovnik.

Just so you know those beaches are mainly pebbles there.

Many thanks all, will look into some options.

We had thought fly into split or dubrovnik, villa rental, and maybe over to brac, but dp isn't too keen on driving and most villas with pools seem to need a car... Accommodation wise it seems more plentiful in montenegro - kotor Bay area, but again needing a car.

I didn't used to feel daunted going new places, but now it seems so much money and therefore pressure to get it right!

If you’re not too confident driving, you could always do Split and then island hopping on the ferries.

Driving in Croatia really is fine generally, but can understand if it’s not something DP is comfortable with then it’s better not doing when it’s meant to be a nice holiday!

We've booked to do this in July! We had planned to fly into Ljubljana and spend 2 nights there, then have 5 nights near lake Bled and 7 nights near Porec on the Istrian peninsula. But there's no direct flights to Ljubljana now, so we're flying into Venice and spending 2 nights there before going to Slovenia/Croatia.

We've booked a gorgeous apartment 2km from Bled, which appears to a good base for visiting lakes, mountains etc. Then a hotel on the coast in Croatia, which is 10 mins walk into the town but has the pools etc to keep the kids happy.

I'm really looking forward to it! Our kids are 16 and 12 so was looking for somewhere with a bit of variety that would keep DS happy (he's getting to the age where he'd rather go away with friends), and I've only heard great things about Slovenia and Croatia from everyone I've spoken to.