May 14, 2025 – Plane leaves SFO at 2:40pm PDT (midnight CET)
May 15 – Plane arrives in Frankfurt at 10:30am CET (10.5 hour flight)
6pm – Arrive in Croatia (90-minute flight)
7:30pm – Dinner at Hotel Vila Tina in Trogir!
May 16 – Pakoštane for 2 nights
We plan to start with a leisurely breakfast at Vila Tina, stop for groceries, have lunch and a stroll through Šibenik, and arrive in Pakoštane by 3pm where we’ll be staying in our friend Anita’s apartment for two nights.
May 17 – Pakoštane for 2 nights
May 17th is our play day with Anita and the only day that is a mystery to me! Anita is a tour guide, and I’m going to let her choose our activities that day! I am ready for any adventure, as long as I don’t have to drive that day.
May 18 – Plitvice for 3 nights
We plan to drive to Rastoke to eat lunch at Petro, and spend the day exploring the picturesque town just north of Plitvice.
From there it’s a short 30 minute drive to Plitvice Miric Inn. We stayed at the Inn for 2 nights in 2017 and can’t imagine staying anywhere else for our second visit to Plitvice Lakes National Park. They made us feel very welcome on our previous trip, include a delicious breakfast, and are situated 5 minutes from the National Park. They were kind enough to take our reservation nearly a full year in advance because I am so excited about returning to stay with them.
May 19 & 20 – Explore Plitvice Lakes National Park!
I was sick in 2017, and we didn’t get to see the whole park! We’ll have two full days to explore!
May 21 – Rovinj for 6 nights
You can see Dubrovnik in the far south of the map above. Istria is the peninsula in the north where the arrow is pointing. We’ll be in Istria for the next eight nights. The first six will be at an apartment in Rovinj. In the screenshot of the Google Map below, you can see the names of the other cities in the Itinerary.
We plan to leave Plitvice early on May 21. We want to stop at a castle in Rijeka for pictures, then stop in Hum for lunch at a restaurant that Jeremy found. From there, we drive another hour west, and land at our Apartment in Rovinj for the next six nights.
May 22 – Explore Rovinj!
Istria is the only part of the Itinerary that is all new for us and I am ecstatic to get to shoot new territory! I include a couple of images found on Google to show you what we are looking forward to exploring. The images below were borrowed from the Google since I have not yet been there to shoot them myself.
May 23 – Pula
We’ll leave Rovinj early, and make the 25 mile drive south to Pula where we’ll spend eight or nine hours exploring remarkable Roman history, shooting the sparkling turquoise sea, visiting the aquarium, and eating at wonderful konobas!
May 24 – Explore Grožnjan, Motovun, & Beyond!
Today we’ll explore as many other cities within driving distance as we can. Grožnjan is the only “must-see” today. After that, Motovun, Novigrad, and Umag also look inviting to my camera’s eye, so we’ll just see where the day takes us!
May 25 – Enjoy Istria
May 26 – Relax in Rovinj
We plan to hang out, shop, explore some beaches, take photos, do laundry, and eat good food! We might even hire a boat to take us out on the water to shoot the city at sunset!
image borrowed from www.myluxoria.com/en
May 27 – Opatija for 2 nights
In the morning, we’ll drive 40 minutes north to Poreč to let my camera explore the Unesco protected Euphrasian Basilica.
Then we’ll see the small towns of Labin and Plomin, eat dinner in Volosko, and then stay in Opatija two nights.
Labin 
Plomin
May 28 – Explore Opatija
We plan to lunch at the Amadria Park Hotel, walk the Lungomare as far as our legs hold up, and then just sit and enjoy the views in what was once the summer home of the Habsburgs. We rented a lovely studio apartment with a water view.
image from Booking.com
May 29 – Zadar for 2 nights
We drive 146 miles today to get to our next apartment in Zadar. That’s our longest stretch to drive in one day. We plan to stop in Senj, Prizna, Pag Island, and Povljana for photos and food. We drove through Zadar in 2017, and made a day trip in 2021.
images from Booking.com
May 30 – Explore Zadar
Zadar is a beautiful city! We have explored very little of it, so much of this day may be new experiences. Our only “must-do” items that day are eat lasagna at Restaurant Kompas, and see the Greeting to the Sun after dark. In the image above, I am standing on the Greeting to the Sun. After dark, the waves in the sea organ trigger it to light up like in the image below! I’m excited to see this, and to get to actually spend a bit of time exploring the rich history and beautiful architecture of Zadar!
May 31 – Trogir for 6 nights!
It’s only an 82 mile drive from Zadar to Trogir, but we plan to make it take all day! We want to play awhile in Primošten, and then stop in Rogoznica before ending our day once again at the Hotel Vila Tina!
These six nights at the Hotel Vila Tina are my birthday gift to me!
Jeremy and I LOVE this place. We first stayed here in 2017 when our original plan of taking the ferry from Croatia to Italy was thwarted. It turned out we had to fly to Rome instead. I got on Booking.com and looked for someplace CLOSE to the Split airport. Hotel Vila Tina is a breezy 12 minute drive!
We love the location. We love the food. We love the view. We adore the staff! They always go above and beyond to make us welcome and comfortable.
June 1 – Explore Trogir
I plan to wind our way through ALL the streets of Trogir shopping, shooting, and shoving food in my face!
June 2 – Explore Split
We have visited Croatia three times so far and only managed to spend one day exploring Split! We plan to spend two more days exploring Split this June. I want to arrive early one day and stay till we have seen our fill. Then a second day we’ll drive over – only 18 miles- and stay to enjoy a Split sunset!
They may have to stay at the Vila Tina that day…
June 3 – a second day in Split
We want a second day in Split!
We’ll drive over early one day to walk up Marjan Hill to shoot the view! There are also too many restaurants for one day!
June 4 – explore Čiovo
Hotel Vila Tina is on the island of Čiovo. We have never had the time to explore the island beyond Vila Tina, and Trogir! Many great beaches to explore, and I am BOUND to find some scenery to shoot!
June 5 – Last Full Day!
We may just chill on the balcony of our room all day. We might go to the beach. Maybe we drive to Split and catch a ferry to the island of Hvar! Maybe we walk all over Trogir again. We could choose to drive to Omiš or Krka National Park. We might want to spend a day in Šibenik. Anything in driving distance is fair game!
What haven’t we explored with my camera that we wish to explore?
No matter how we spend the day, I know where we’re eating dinner!
June 6 – Fly Home
We’ll wake up to this view! One last morning at my Vila Tina to enjoy the view and the food and give hugs to the wonderful staff.
Return the rental car by 9:30. Take off from Split Airport at 11am CET (2am California time)
We land in Munich 90 minutes after takeoff where we have a four hour layover.
Our flight leaves Munich at 4:30pm CET (7:30am California Time)
We land in San Francisco at 7pm (4am CET)
