Travel Review: Vacation in Croatia and Montenegro, Dubrovnik, Istria, Hvar, Split, Elephantine Islands, Plitvice Lakes

We would not do anything differently. We spent two weeks which was perfect to see everything we saw. We spent the right amount of time in each place and did not feel like we missed something when we left. Our agent made sure we divided touring time with free time. 

Two things you should know though: Our walking tour guide in Hvar, while outwardly pleasant, really did not have her heart in the tour. She went through the motions of the tour, cut it short by 30 minutes, and kept saying we could do things on our own, when we should have done them with her.  I would not have a tour with her again.  In Dubrovnik, we had a wonderful guide and what we saw was wonderful; but again, the scheduled three hour tour was cut short by an hour.  We stopped for a drink and our guide graciously covered it; but you should include an option to tourists to climb the city wall, and offer to exit after 1/3, 2/3 or the full trip, as one of the highlights of Dubrovnik is the wall.  But it is steep initially and we would have opted to exit after the first 1/3 despite paying the full fare. But that should have been part of the tour.  We actually did just that the next day after returning from an all-day trip.

One minor thing: on an all-day tour, the guide should offer water to us. That was the only thing missing from our two days with our guide in Istria. He is quite a character and a most delightful fellow.