Yes, Croatia is one of the easiest countries in Europe to backpack on your own, with frequent buses, regular ferries, hostels in every major town and English widely spoken.
The classic independent route runs
Zagreb to
Plitvice Lakes (2 to 3 hours by bus), then down the coast to
Split and
Dubrovnik (4 to 5 hours between them). Hostel dorms cost about €20 to 40 a night in summer, rising to €35 to 60 in Dubrovnik and Hvar. The main challenge is the peak season: book beds and Plitvice tickets ahead in July and August.
Ten to fourteen days is the right amount of time for Croatia, enough for the capital, Plitvice Lakes, a couple of islands and Dubrovnik without rushing.
With 5 days, stay in central Dalmatia: 2 nights in
Split and 2 on
Hvar, with a day trip to Krka. With 10 days, add
Zagreb (2 nights),
Plitvice Lakes (1 night) and
Dubrovnik (2 nights). Two weeks lets you add Istria, with
Rovinj and Pula about 4 to 5 hours by bus from Zagreb, plus a hiking day in Paklenica.
Yes, you can travel all of Croatia without a car, since buses link every major town and catamarans and ferries reach the islands.
Typical bus legs are
Zagreb to
Split in 4.5 to 5.5 hours for €20 to 35, and Split to
Dubrovnik in 4 to 5 hours for around €20 to 30. The catamaran from Split to
Hvar takes about 1 hour and costs roughly €8 to 20. A car only helps for Istria’s hill villages like Motovun, where buses are infrequent.
The places in Croatia that justify the trip are Dubrovnik’s walls, Split’s Roman palace, the Plitvice Lakes and at least one Dalmatian island.
Walk the
Dubrovnik City Walls at opening time (about €35 to 40, 2 hours). Explore
Diocletian’s Palace in Split, including the underground halls. Spend a morning at
Plitvice Lakes, ideally sleeping nearby the night before; summer tickets cost around €40. For islands,
Hvar is the liveliest and
Korčula is quieter. In the north,
Rovinj and the Pula Arena are worth 2 to 3 days.
If you are short on time in Croatia, skip Krka when you are already seeing Plitvice, and cut Zagreb to a single night or leave it out entirely.
Krka and
Plitvice Lakes are both waterfall parks, and with tickets around €40 each in summer, one is enough on a tight trip.
Zagreb is pleasant, but one evening covers the Upper Town. Istria sits 4 to 5 hours by bus from the Dalmatian coast, so on a week-long trip, focus on
Split, Hvar and
Dubrovnik and save Rovinj and Pula for another visit.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Croatia in seconds. Try it out!
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