Croatia - please help!

[Thehouseofmanyrooms]

I’m 50 next year and would love to go to Croatia In august.

We’d like beautiful scenery, lovely food and wine. Swimming in the sea ideally.

I have no idea where to start or where to try and book?

Any advice or guidance would be really appreciated

An excellent choice I love Croatia so much I got married there 😊

we fell in love with it after going for a holiday a few years ago, we had no idea where to start either but we used a company called Balkan Escape who took our budget and requests to see a few different places and put an itinerary together for us. We did Dubrovnik, Hvar and Trogir (near Split) which were all amazing and would tick off all your requirements.

since that trip we’ve been back to Dubrovnik a few times and I absolutely love Cavtat which is only about 10 mins from the airport.

id definitely recommend using a company to put an itinerary together as there’s so many beautiful places to see and I guarantee you’ll want to go back!

happy planning!

The island of Lopud just off the coast of Dubrovnik. Beautiful island, no cars allowed so very quiet and peaceful. One of Croatia's very few sandy beaches and it's beautiful.
Hvar is also really lovely and you can go island hopping round all the little islands around it

Rovinj is gorgeous (you fly into Pula).

I can't provide much info as my holiday was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid, but we were booked to go to Rovinj as it looked fabulous

We also did Dubrovnik and went to the island of lopud- it is beautiful

Absolutely agree!

Cavtat is beautiful and very romantic. Hotel Croatia is a beautiful 5 star hotel. We went at Easter and I couldn't recommend it enough

We honeymooned in Dubrovnik, it's gorgeous. We did an island hopping boat trip one day with fish steaks on one of the beaches.

Definitely want to return one day.

I'd probably avoid Dubrovnik and Hvar given how busy they are now... Brac, Vis, and Korcula islands are all gorgeous. I also highly recommend Sibenik, which is a short coach ride north of there - lovely city in its own right, and there are loads of little islands nearby you can visit by ferry, which aren't much visited by tourists (for example Zlarin) which are lovely. No need to go to a travel agent either, public transport is pretty good and ferry timetables etc. all online.

Oh there's also a great vineyard near Sibenik - Rak. Can go there for an extensive tasting including local meat and cheese, really good wine.

You probably need to choose north or south. North is like Austria and south is like Greece.

Mostly I prefer south but plitvice lakes national park is just amazing. (It's in the middle but a little closer to Zagreb than split.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlitviceLakessNationalPark

We also liked trogir. Lots of little stone streets and shops selling wonderful silver filigree jewelry.

Split is mostly a concrete monstrosity but the center is historic and rather wonderful.

Dubrovnik.... it's kind of a tourist replica of its former self. Pretty but insanely crowded, with the horizon blocked by enormous cruise ships.

I’ve stayed near Pula and really loved it - day trips to Venice are also available.

I always struggle with the food in Croatia though. They like things served luke warm, I remember undercooked fries, greasy meat, nameless stews, and a lot of fish (which I don't eat).

Rovinj is gorgeous. Near Italy so has an Italian influence on food in the area and there are several brilliant restaurants. The wines are great too. Scenery beautiful. Look at ‘Frank about Croatia’ it’s a great blog about all the different areas.

Dubrovnik is amazing, but go to the old city after 4 - when the cruise passengers have left, it’s much less crowded.

We stayed at the Hilton, just outside the old town and ate at the Mimoza restaurant opposite, really good. The owner was a fabulous personality.

I was just going to recommend this place. Absolutely beautiful.

We went near Sibernik last year, was beautiful.

Probably the most beautiful country I've visited, picture postcard views at every turn. We did a self catering road trip from Zagreb to Cavtat taking in the Plitvice Lakes pre Covid. Didn't visit anywhere I didn't like although Dubrovnik is very busy and Cavtat has a fair bit of aircraft noise and was probably the most touristy spot we stayed but it is beautiful. The islands are fabulous. We will return as there are more islands we'd like to visit.

Rovinj was in Italy until the 1940s I think.

I agree - it's gorgeous and the food there was divine.

Just come back from Dubrovnik (May). Bloody gorgeous - couldn't find fault with it. Rocky rather than sandy though. Fab hotel (a complex just outside the city). Temperature was around 28c so bearable.

We went to Mostar (Bosnia) and Montenegro for day trips (we booked a private taxi for those).

We didn't so the walls but took the cable car which was well worth doing as there's a war museum at the top (not particularly well advertised).

Totally agree with Don'tcallthepolice,

Cavtat is superb, only. couple of miles from the airport, beautiful scenery. great little port with lovely restaurants.

And you can catch a small ferry/boat straight across the harbour to Dubrovnik.

We also stayed at Hotel Croatia and can thoroughly recommend it.

We stayed in Medulin last time. Great hotel and location except every time you want go for a drive you had to join a traffic queue for/from a holiday centre as it was one road in and out. Didn't spoil it, though.

Medulin was convenient for driving to Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro.

We stayed in Rovinji in 2019 - just so stunning and the sea is heavenly. The food was great, a lot of fish! We stayed in the hotel Monte Mulini (gorgeous). We are going to Split and Brac this summer, a few days in Split and a week in a villa in Brac. I cannot wait! My son did a school trip (2018) to the lakes and various places and loved the walking and canoeing.