Last summer, I found myself needing to spend some vacation days before changing jobs. Kind of like my Alaskan Cruise in 2017, I needed a plan fast and I needed someone to go with me! Luckily, my mom was available and gave me free rein of the itinerary. Here’s how I planned our trip to Croatia using points and miles.
Our Croatia Itinerary
Here’s how we decided to break out our time in Croatia:
- Day 1: Overnight flight to Croatia
- Day 2: Arrive in Zagreb
- Day 3: Travel Zagreb to Split via Plitvice Lakes
- Day 4-5: Split with visits to Trogir, Blue Cave, and Hvar
- Day 6-7: Dubrovnik
- Day 8: Fly home
Flights
Since we were booking this trip to Croatia pretty last minute, we didn’t get the best “value” with our points and miles. Here’s what I ended up booking:
- Flight to Croatia: Boston to Zagreb via Paris on Air France Business Class
- Booked on Flying Blue: 116,000 miles (transferred from Amex) and $462.30 worth $13,240
- Flight to Boston: Dubrovnik to Boston via Dublin on Aer Lingus
- Booked with Chase points: 121,729 points (courtesy of my mom) worth $1,825.94
- I know this is a bad value but what was important to us was not spending any money on the flights rather than getting “the best deal”.
Total cash: $462.30
Total miles: 237,729
Total value: $15,065.94
Hotels
We were able to use points for most of the hotel nights. Split didn’t have any good points options so we had to pay for three nights there.
- Night 1: Canopy by Hilton Zagreb
- 40,000 Hilton points worth $145.00
- Night 2-4: Priska Luxury Rooms
- $584.28 (no good points options available)
- Nights 5-6: Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik
- 140,000 Hilton points worth $1,122.00
Total cash: $584.28
Total points: 180,000
Total value: $1,851.28
Final Thoughts
When planning our trip to Croatia using points and miles, I used 417,729 points and miles and paid $1,046.58 for a trip valued at about $17,000. For a trip planned a few weeks before departure at peak travel time, that’s not too shabby! Special thanks to credit card churning for helping me plan this trip to Croatia on points and miles. Over the next few weeks, I’ll post travel guides and hotel reviews from our trip.
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More from our Croatia vacation:
Trip Reports:
An Afternoon in Zagreb, Croatia: A Half Day Itinerary
Zagreb to Split via Plitvice Lakes
Top Things to Do in Split, Croatia
How to Spend an Afternoon in Trogir, Croatia
How to Visit Croatia’s Blue Cave from Split
The Best Day Trip from Split: Blue Cave and Island Tour
Two Days in Split, Croatia: A Complete Itinerary
The Perfect Dubrovnik Two Day Itinerary
The Best Beaches in Dubrovnik
One Week in Croatia Starting in Zagreb
15 Photos That Will Make You Want to Visit Croatia
Reviews:
Hotel Review: Canopy by Hilton Zagreb City Centre
Hotel Review: Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik
Air France 777 Business Class Boston to Paris
