Croatia help?

[devonpow]

I feel like a few here have been to Croatia in the past year or two. We are planning a trip in June with our kids (will be 18 and 13). Where would you most recommend going (we have 10-12 days)? Also if you drove how easy was it? We are used to mainly doing public transport when we go to Europe but it seems like trains aren’t as easy there, and the buses didn’t seem highly recommended. We assume we would do a mix of ferry/boat and a car but weren’t sure if driving would be too stressful or if we should look to hire a driver for certain days etc

[sdlaura]

It’s been almost 20 years since I went to Croatia, but we rented a car and it was pretty easy. There were big modern superhighways. We stayed in Split and took boats to the islands of Hvar and surrounding ones. And also went to Krka National Park with amazing waterfalls. It was one of my favorite places I’ve ever visited.

[fernweh]

We did a boat trip with Sail Croatia. They took us I think to 5 spots starting in Split and ending in Dubrovnik. We loved it. They stopped at swim spots each day before docking, gave recommendations for what to do on land (plus offered excursions) and breakfast and dinner was included.
I think there was 16 rooms on board so up to 32 people (very small rooms definitely couldn’t get more than 2 per).

[mofongo]

Nov 17, 2024 16:21:37 GMT -5 fernweh said:

We did a boat trip with Sail Croatia. They took us I think to 5 spots starting in Split and ending in Dubrovnik. We loved it. They stopped at swim spots each day before docking, gave recommendations for what to do on land (plus offered excursions) and breakfast and dinner was included.
I think there was 16 rooms on board so up to 32 people (very small rooms definitely couldn’t get more than 2 per).

We are doing something similar with a different company. We will be there end of May into June. I’m so excited. My BIL and a bunch of his friends did the same trip and loved it.

[RockNVoll]

We went in 2017 and the driving was pretty easy as I recall. We tend to use Sixt in Europe and have had nothing but good experiences with them.

[jwright]

My husband and I went to Croatia in September 2022 and absolutely loved it; we are both dying to go back.

We did not rent a car; we had transfers worked out before we went and just used Uber if we needed it. We used Zicasso Travel and they booked everything including the transfers for us.

We went to Split (day trip to Krka waterfalls and Bibich winery), Hvar (daytrips to surrounding islands), and Dubrovnik (day trip to Montenegro), we stopped in Ston between Hvar and Dubrovnik for a oyster demonstration for a total of 8 days including travel. I think I wrote out our whole itinerary in a post here awhile back. I wish we could have gone to Plitvice waterfall park but it was too far from Split to make it worthwhile.

[wildrice]

I went in 2022! We flew into Zagreb, then took a short plane ride to Dubrovnik. After that we ferried over to Korcula, then ferried to Split, then rented a car and drove back to Zagreb, stopping at Plitvice national park along the way.

Driving was totally fine - the roads are great and it felt like driving in the US. I would NOT plan to have a car when staying in the cities, though - I had read that it was difficult to drive/park in the narrow roads, and from what I observed I would think that is true. They of course have taxis and also Uber, so we had no issues getting around when we needed a car - and the cost of getting a ride wasn't anything crazy. I think if you plan to island hop a bit more than we did, you can ferry between them.

I absolutely recommend Dubrovnik - you hear mixed things about it but we LOVED it. Try to time it when there isn't a cruise ship there, though - we didn't have issues with that at all, but I hear it gets very crowded. We were there late May/early June and I think maybe it was enough of the "shoulder" season that we didn't run into the massive crowds, but if you are going there later in June just be prepared for that. It was such a unique and beautiful place, and so neat to just walk around. It was more expensive than the rest of the country, but I thought it was worth it. It's so gorgeous and special.

Split was also nice but we didn't find it as magical as Dubrovnik. And Korcula was a great little island, though I think there are tons of others you could choose from and enjoy just as much! Plitvice was spectacular if you can get to it, but it's a bit further inland so depending on what else you do, you may or may not find it easy to hit. And finally, Zagreb was a good place to fly out of and very cute, but I don't think I'd go out of my way to get there since there isn't a ton to see. It was significantly cheaper/better itinerary for us to fly there from the US though.

We loved Croatia.

[egishere]

We just went in Sept and also did the boat for seven nights. It was amazing! We were with a big group - friends of friends that organized so they rented out the whole boat but its an option just to book rooms on these boats.

Loved Korcula, Hvar and Stari Gaard the most. We went to both the blue and green caves. Did a wine tasting in Stari Gaard that was incredible- the wine and views there! Rented Vespas in Split..that was a little scary and I won't do that again. Went to the palace in split. There were a dfew other things we wanted to do our last day like the national park but it was so rainy we had the cancel. As far as driving, we took Ubers everywhere but it didn't seem like driving was too difficult there. Uber was easy and cheap there.

[devonpow]

Thanks all! Unfortunately I get incredibly motion sick very easily (I once took about 5 hours to recover from going around a lazy river one time - while on Dramamine) so the boat options won’t work. I know we will need to go on boats and ferries to get around but i just can’t stay on one. We we were mainly thinking we needed a car to get to Krka national park and Plitvice lakes, but maybe we will hire a driver for that.

Did anyone make it to Slovenia? We were thinking of going to lake Bled. Not sure if it’s worth tacking the time on

[TR]

Nov 19, 2024 15:34:48 GMT -5 devonpow said:

Did anyone make it to Slovenia? We were thinking of going to lake Bled. Not sure if it’s worth tacking the time on

I haven’t been to Croatia, but have been to Slovenia and Lake Bled was gorgeous. If you can add it, you’re so close, I would. Of course, you could also do a separate trip of just Slovenia

Our friends in Serbia have said Rovinj is their favorite place to vacation in Croatia, fwiw.

[wildrice]

Nov 19, 2024 15:34:48 GMT -5 devonpow said:

Thanks all! Unfortunately I get incredibly motion sick very easily (I once took about 5 hours to recover from going around a lazy river one time - while on Dramamine) so the boat options won’t work. I know we will need to go on boats and ferries to get around but i just can’t stay on one. We we were mainly thinking we needed a car to get to Krka national park and Plitvice lakes, but maybe we will hire a driver for that.

Did anyone make it to Slovenia? We were thinking of going to lake Bled. Not sure if it’s worth tacking the time on

Definitely compare prices, but I think you'll be totally fine renting a car just for those. Ours was just a 1 day rental and it was no big deal at all. I am not huge on driving outside of the US (I've actually only done it there and in Mexico!) so usually wouldn't go that route, but it was super easy, GPS worked great, the roads were well maintained, and my nerves about driving in a foreign country were unnecessary.

[RockNVoll]

Nov 19, 2024 15:34:48 GMT -5 devonpow said:

Thanks all! Unfortunately I get incredibly motion sick very easily (I once took about 5 hours to recover from going around a lazy river one time - while on Dramamine) so the boat options won’t work. I know we will need to go on boats and ferries to get around but i just can’t stay on one. We we were mainly thinking we needed a car to get to Krka national park and Plitvice lakes, but maybe we will hire a driver for that.

Did anyone make it to Slovenia? We were thinking of going to lake Bled. Not sure if it’s worth tacking the time on

I feel you on the motion sickness as I'm pretty sensitive, too. 

We drove to both Krka and Plitvice and it really wasn't a big deal at all to get to either.  Loved both parks and would highly recommend, though it probably helped that we were there during shoulder/low season so we practically had both places all to ourselves.  As for Lake Bled, I thought it was OK but not worth detouring for; I'd definitely rather spend more time in Croatia.  We were based in Zadar and enjoyed the Sea Organ as well as the Greeting to the Sun installation (both can be relatively quick visits, but the latter has to be seen after dark).

[Vespasia]

Nov 19, 2024 15:34:48 GMT -5 devonpow said:

Did anyone make it to Slovenia? We were thinking of going to lake Bled. Not sure if it’s worth tacking the time on

We did 10 days in Slovenia and barely scratched the surface of what I wanted to see. It could definitely be it's own trip!

Lake Bled is gorgeous but it's touristy and the traffic on the only road through town can get insane.

If you were going to pop up into Slovenia I would suggest Tolmin Gorge and Postojna Cave. The cave has a lot of tourists but it's very cool. The gorge was incredible and there were very few people there. It involves a lot of stairs though!

My favorite day was just driving up a mountain pass but they're doing construction on that road and it will be closed next year. That might mess up traffic in general as it's one of two main ways from the Bled area to the west.

[justemily]

Just back from a cruise that stopped in both Split and Dubrovnik - we loved both so much!

Split is very Italian-influenced and we spent the day on a tour learning about Diocletian's Palace (super cool) and then went to the cute town of Trogir - also filled with a ton of history. While in Split, definitely go to Fabrique for pizza. TO.DIE.FOR.

In Dubrovnik, we did a GoT-themed tour as we loved the series, but also learned a ton about the history of the city, which was really neat. Inside the city walls was so cool. So many nooks and crannies to explore - one being the Hole in the Wall Bar. Literally a hole in the fortress wall, and it's a bar on the cliffs! Beautiful scenery and take cash - they also serve non-alcoholic drinks. It's very bare bones - you sit on milk crates with cushions on top - but really neat! Another place to (maybe stay??) is the Cave Hotel and the Cave Bar. It walks out to this gorgeous sea-level patio/cliff with places you can just walk into the water. It was SO beautiful!

Try "burek" while you're there - our guide in Dubrovnik told us it's the Croatian fast food. Basically a phyllo dough "stick" filled with things like chicken, cheese, spinach, etc. SO GOOD. My husband has tried recreating it back home, but it was still SO MUCH BETTER there!

I'm excited for you as we'd love to go back someday!

[dutchgirl678]

I still haven't made it to Croatia, but a friend of mine went this summer and she said the highlight of their trip was a spontaneous road trip to Kotor, Montenegro. It is just under 2 hours drive south of Dubrovnik. On my dream trip I have Split, Dubrovnik, Krka National Park and Plitvice National Park and some of the islands. I hope I'll make it there one of these days. Our problem is that we are still bound to school vacations and it tends to be hot and busy during the summer there.