Euro trip itinerary advice - first trip in 5 years !

[ellen10]

We picked up a car in Zagreb, drove to Plitvice for 2 nights and then on to Split to drop off car. But they did charge us a oneway drop off fee. The road is very good, a new freeway. But I think the tour idea sounds good even though a little pricey it takes all the worry away of picking up and dropping off a car, plus it would include your entrance into the Lakes. Then much easier to link by train from Zagreb to Budapest.

 

[romney]

Wondering if anyone has any tips advice on where and how long to spend in Croatia and how to get around ?

Thinking about Dubrovnik and Split. or. Split, Plitvice and Zagreb

I was in Croatia in late September for about three weeks. Admittedly I am travelling long term at the moment and so cost is more of a priority than time, but we found Croatia easy to navigate with public transport - we used buses the whole time. Both Split and Dubrovnik will be crazy busy in August, and even Plitviče Lakes will be crowded. It was bad enough when we were there.

How are you getting to Plitvice and then on to Zagreb? As far as I know there is no direct train from Split to Plitvice, only buses. The buses can get very full in summer so you would have to book ahead.

We caught the bus to Plitviče, admittedly from Zadar not Split, but just want to give you a heads up about buses we discovered throughout the Balkans - just because you have a ticket, does not mean you will get a seat! Ensure you are at the bus station with plenty of time to spare, and then stand close to the bus so that when they open the doors you are in the first handful of people to get on. The buses are coaches, and the bus station in Split is kind of like one of our interstate ones.

We are trying to finalise our Croatia itinerary though. So far we have four days. It feels a bit rushed, we might put an extra day in Dubrovnik and/or drop Korcula.

I didn't go to Korcula so can't comment on if it is worth it, but I think one day in Dubrovnik will be way too rushed. Definitely spend another day there if you can. (We spent six days there and were busy every day) Make sure too that if you are only there for a short time you stay close to the Old Town. The airport is a good hour out of the town. If you want to save some money getting in, there is an airport coach that does the trip for 40Kuna (about $8AUD)

If you want to read about my time in Croatia, my blog is in my signature

 

[cgichard]

Have just returned from Lisbon and its a fabulous city that needs at least 3 full days to do it justice....The food is great and not expensive and a days visit to Sintra and Cascais is highly recommended.... landing into Lisbon in the summer can take over 3 hours to get through immigration so that can eat into your time in Lisbon so my suggestion would be to leave Madrid for another time and concentrate on Lisbon and Barcelona.

Just a query if you are still reading this thread: why does immigration at Lisbon take so long? Would it be better using an EU passport rather than an AUS one? Any idea if arriving in Porto would be preferable?

 

[RB]

Just a query if you are still reading this thread: why does immigration at Lisbon take so long? Would it be better using an EU passport rather than an AUS one? Any idea if arriving in Porto would be preferable?

Haven't experienced Lisbon but our arrival into Porto was very easy & we caught the metro into the city

 

[pyffii]

Just a query if you are still reading this thread: why does immigration at Lisbon take so long? Would it be better using an EU passport rather than an AUS one? Any idea if arriving in Porto would be preferable?

Sorry for the late reply....Lisbon immigration was a total disaster taking over 3 hours....Whilst Lisbon is a great city I will not ever enter Lisbon again by air....We were travelling with our Aussie passports ( we have no other ) and even though the info says we could use the e gates we were not permitted to do so....There were over 3000 passengers waiting to be processed and only 3 booths open !!!....Go figure...grr

 

[cgichard]

After Portugal, I'll probably be going to France so your reply pretty well decides me to take the sleeper train via Hendaye and then TGV to Bordeaux rather than flying. The only airlines that fly that route are easyjest and TAP Portugal, which both have many negative recent reviews, so train now seems a sensible choice, irrespective of cost.