Split to Dubrovnik - first family vacation

Hello everyone,
My husband and I will be travelling to Croatia next June 2016 with our one year old daughter. We have never travelled internationally together, let alone with a baby. We are quite excited and a bit nervous. We fly into Split and will be staying at a resort along the coast for three days to attend a wedding and will then have 5 days to make our way to Dubrovnik. During those five days we would like to explore some of the islands, national parks and historic sites but with so little time we won't be able to do it all.

I am looking for some advice/suggestions/input on where to go, places to stay, tips on travelling with a baby and transportation. I have been told that the most common accommodation style is billeting in people's homes but that with a baby we may have trouble finding places to stay. Would you recommend booking accommodation in advance or finding places when we get there?

Would appreciate any feedback. Thank you very much!
K

I have been told that the most common accommodation style is billeting in people's homes

Croatia has the normal full range of accommodation hotels (of all standards, B&B/guest houses, apartments, hostels etc. I have found the following as a good booking site – www.booking.com

We did the following and it worked for us (we are a couple in our 60s but should be doable with a baby) –

Split 3 days (came in by hire car). The old town (Diocletian’s Palace) in Split is quite fantastic and shouldn’t be missed. You can easily spent a day looking around. I’d suggest starting with a walking tour -
http://www.splitwalkingtour.com/index.php/split-walking-tour.html

Ferry day trip to Hvar from Split

Ferry to Split to Korcula town (left Split late afternoon and arrived early evening with guest house owner meeting us at the harbour). The ferry terminal in Split is only a 10 minute walk from the Diocletian Palace and there are plenty of luggage storage options opposite the ferry terminal.

Korcula 2 days including a day trip (with a walk around the lake) to Mjlet Island (from Korcula).
Mini bus from Korcula to Dubrovnik (which includes a short ferry trip from Korcula to the mainland) Had a reasonable departure time (930am from memory) compared to the bus which was very early.

Used the following for the mini bus trip from Korcula to Dubrovnik, they will drop you at your hotel.
http://korkyra.info/about-us/

I’d also suggest a walking tour of Dubrovnik. It was free/tip based when we were there last October however I believe the Croatian authorities are cracking down on free walking tours (this was explained to us on our Split walking tour).

http://www.dubrovnik-walking-tours.com/?pid=37

The ferry and bus times vary depending on the month however I expect in June will have the full options but probably need to book at least a couple of days in advance.

Korcula town accommodation - Guest House Leon, small room but very good and great location (above the travel office mention above)

http://www.booking.com/hotel/hr/guest-house-leon.en-gb.html?sid=05589ccabe0e77cef1872ac0780c1b42;dcid=4;dist=0;srfid=7b3713d62a97a2a64d3e414fb6ddf9ebd301aa8cX1;type=total;ucfs=1&

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts. You have provided me with lots of great ideas and information sources.
- K

Given you have never traveled with a one year old before I would consider limiting the number of destinations. Ferries and especially mini-buses can be hard with a squirmy one year old

The island of Havr is great for families. We stayed in the town of Jelsa which is quieter than Havr Town. It's an easy ferry ride over from Split. We rented a house through Airbnb and it was great. We find self-catering is a nice option with the kids.

Agreed on the earlier call out to limit the itinerary with a little one.

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We fly into Split and will be staying at a resort along the coast for three days to attend a wedding and will then have 5 days to make our way to Dubrovnik. During those five days we would like to explore some of the islands, national parks and historic sites but with so little time we won't be able to do it all.

My husband and I spent 2 winters in the Split area (one winter in Split, another in the nearby town of Trogir). We loved using Split as a base of operations to explore greater Dalmatia. I'm not sure how much free-time you'll have in Split given that you'll be attending a wedding there, but I'll share some pointers below.

While we only visited the island of Hvar, Split is the perfect hub for ferries headed to the islands. Islands to which you can likely easily day-trip to from Split are Brač or Šolta. A ferry to gorgeous Hvar took about 2 hours one way. We were only on Hvar for 1.5 days, but loved the town of Stari Grad in particular. Hvar Town itself is more popular with travelers.

There's a lot to do in and around Split. (I wrote extensively while in Croatia, so several of these links go to my personal travel blog, with more details & photographs.)

• Explore Diocletian's Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in which lovely and quirky residential buildings and shops have sprung up over the centuries: http://triciaannemitchell.com/2014/01/04/diocletian-palace-split-walking-tour/

• Visit the nearby ancient Roman city of Salona, which was once home to more than 40,000 inhabitants: http://triciaannemitchell.com/2014/08/24/salona-roman-ruins-day-trips-from-split/

• Walk up to Split's Marjan Hill, which is known as the “lungs of Split” because of its pine-forest fresh air and positioning away from the city. (Marjan has been a popular recreation spot since the 3rd Century, when Roman Emperor Diocletian had parts of it reserved as park space.) http://triciaannemitchell.com/2014/06/08/marjan-hill-split-croatia/

• Stop into Split's Archaeological Museum. Many of the museum’s headstones, sarcophagi, mosaics, coins and other everyday objects were discovered in the ancient Roman city of Salona (mentioned above in #2).

http://www.mhas-split.hr/Default.aspx?alias=www.mhas-split.hr/english

http://triciaannemitchell.com/2014/04/10/split-archaeological-museum-croatia/

• Take a day trip to Krka National Park. It's less famous than Croatia's Plitvice National Park, but we still found it to be quite impressive, especially its waterfalls:

http://triciaannemitchell.com/2014/04/13/krka-national-park-skradin-primosten-croatia/

http://www.np-krka.hr/en/

• Spend a few hours at the Ivan Meštrović Gallery. He was a well-known 20th Century sculptor. The gallery is housed in a lovely seaside villa:

http://www.mestrovic.hr/muzeji/galerija-mestrovic/galerija-mestrovic.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Me%C5%A1trovi%C4%87_Gallery

Hope this helps! :)

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