carrom

Hello Travellers,

Please, any comments on this itinerary for a road trip in the Balkans? We are 65ish driving our own car from North Italy. We don’t mind driving and we like changing hotels. Interested in historic towns, cooling off in pool or sea, moderate hiking, eating drinking, staying in nice characterful places . Unfortunately our departure date is 20th August, we know it will be busy but we need to be in Valjevo Serbia on a precise day. Ideas on places to stay (budget not important but quiet, beach, pool, charming)? Comments on number of nights in each place? Must-sees on the way?
Thank-you in advance,

Night 1 somewhere in Italy around Udine to break the journey

Night 2 - Plitvice Lakes (Hotel Degenija) . Plan to arrive in the afternoon and visit the park early morning. It will be a Monday hopefully not too crowded.

Nights 3&4 Zara. Any suggestions for somewhere nice to stay in the surrounding area?

Night 5 – Split

Nights 6 & 7 Area around Dubrovnik

Night 8 Mostar

Nights 9&10 Sarajevo

Nights 11-16 Valjevo (cannot be changed)

Night 17&18 Belgrade

Nights 20&21 Zagabria

Night 22 Lubjana

Return to Italy (Mezzocorona Trento) with a stopover

neckervd

"historic towns,"
Really?
Reading your post, I have rather the impression that you are interested in long drives, bypassing as many historic places as possible.
If that should not be the case, you could check
the many WW1 sites in the Isonzo Valley (Caporetto, etc.) and dthe churches not far away with fresoes showing Hitler and Mussolini as devils........
the "Venitian" towns of Pirano, Parenzo, Rovigno as well as the ancient amphitheatre of Pula...
Brioni, the once private Island of Josip Broz Tito,
Otok Goli, the concentration camp under Tito,
the scenic historic city of Rab/Arbe,
Sibenik/Sebenico and the Krka Falls Park,
Trogir/Trau,
the scenic medieval cities of Hvar/Lesina and Korcula/Curzola (home of Marco Polo),
an itinerary from Dubrovnik/Ragusa via Kotor/Catarro - Lovcen - Cetinje - old Serbian Monasteries (like Studenica) to Valjevo and then to Titovo Uzice - Visegrad - Sarajevo/Mostar - Titovo Jaice - Zagreb/Zagabria - Ljubljana/Lubiana - Bled - Fusine - Tarvisio - Tolmezzo - Cadore - Mezzocorona.......

carrom

Thank-you for your input Neckervd,
Historic towns was just one of our interests not the only one on this particular trip! I was also under the impression that most of the places on my list are also of historic interest.....
Perhaps I should have mentioned two things: In 2019 we travelled through Istria and all along the coast and islands visiting many of the places you mention. We did not go as far as Zara.
Secondly we do need to be in Valjevo on a precise date and 22 nights is the maximum time we have.
My first itinerary included Montenegro but I don't think it is do-able in this time frame unless we skip Belgrade and the Lakes as you suggest. A possibility. I will look into it.
My initial plan was flying into Tirana and driving in a circle though Montenegro, Macedonia, Kosovo, Valjevo and back through BH but it turned out the rental companies are not too happy with all these border crossings and it was just too long. I would like to do that sometime in the future when we dont have the Valjevo issue.

neckervd

I didn't suggest to skip Plitvica: it would have been easy to go from Jaice via Bihac - Plitvice to Zagreb.
I furthermore suggested to visit Krjka Falls park wth Lake Skradin.
Your initial plan is perfectly feasible.
You could also skip Zara and Ragusa in order to have more time for Sebenico - Traù - Spalato and may be Hvar Island. There are car and passenger ferries from Split to Starigrad and from Sucuraj to Drvenik.
From Drvenik you could continue to Ploce - Mostar - Sarajevo and may be Visegrad and the Tara National Park.
Or include Montenegro by using the car ferry Ancona - Bar (Antivari) if the timetable match with your dates.