Cha
Dh and I went to Dubrovnik for a week in early Sept 2000 - pre baby. Obviously, was not observing then with the same attention to detail that I would employ now for baby friendliness, but here are my impressions.
- Provided you are near a reasonable sized town, should be no problem getting hold of baby essentials
- Very Italian oriented food (lots of pizza, risotto and pasta - all cheap and delicious)
- Seemed baby and child friendly in a "Southern European" way - plenty of family groups out doing promenade/paseo/passegiato in the evenings, children happily asleep in pushchairs
- Although the coast is beautiful, very picturesque, the beaches are stony - I believe the only sandy beaches are in the Split area
- Dubrovnik is beautiful, and very easy going, unstressful place to visit. Plenty of interesting daytrips within easy reach
On the package holiday issue. What I found when I was researching this was that the options for non package travel were somewhat limited. The scheduled flights were booked up for our dates and the accommodation ranged between the hotels (dominated by the package holiday operators - and rather communist era, if you see what I mean!) and rooms let out by families in houses. I didn't manage to find out how these could be booked in advance. The big car hire firms are represented in Croatia. The travel industry in Croatia is really picking up, though, so there may be more options available now.
We travelled with Holiday Options - it was fine, but a bit package-y - hadn't done a med package before! If we went again on a package, I would consider using them again, but might go for a more up market hotel.
All in all, we had a great time and I would recommend it. Only downside was the hotel (and it was by no means terrible - I suppose I have just got a little spoiled!), but you don't have to spend much time there after all!
Useful websites:
www.visit-croatia.co.uk
www.holidayoptions.co.uk
I've got the rough guide at home - so if you have any specific questions, I would be happy to see what I can find from there.
PS - If you like Dr Kovac from ER, he goes home to Dubrovnik every August to take part in the Shakespeare festival! He's on the cover of every local mag!
PPS - Feelings still running high about the war... Dh and I followed a "don't mention the war" policy, but other tourists were quite curious, so we managed to earwig a few conversations... To my surprise people (albeit connected to the tourist industry) seemed happy enough to talk about it, but the process of reconciliation has some way to go, IMO - not surprising really...
Hope that helps - have a lovely time whatever you decide to do!