Croatia - recommendations please

[MadameGazelle]

Anyone been and loved it? If you did could you please share which resort you stayed in. We’d be looking to book our own flights and either villa/apartment rather than hotel. TIA

watching with interest....

Also watching. We want a really good pool as well!

Porec was lovely - fly into pula

Baska Voda on the Makarska Riviera. We loved it.

Cavtat - very close to Dubrovnik- even closer to the airport, 10 min transfer.
There are very few villas/apartments with private pools (which worried me initially; I have to be near water when it's hot)
but our apartment was within 10 paces of the beautiful, crystal clear sea. Didn't miss a pool at all.
Lovely family-friendly resort; small, compact with loads of bars and restaurants. We took the boat to Dubrovnik and smaller islands several times. Was just lovely!

We flew to split, then a ferry across to Brac. Lovely island. Amazing sea and views.
One point about pools... don't know if it was just become we were on an island but all of the pools we saw( in villas etc) were quite small. Not sure if it had anything to do with lack of space. Very rocky ground.
Didn't visit any big hotel complexes

We flew to Split then drove to Zadar (you can fly into Zadar from some airports I think) Split is beautiful, Zadar is beautiful. It's the only place I've swum in the sea as I'm a cold water wimp! We stayed on a camp site (Satin) with Roan just outside Zadar which had its own beach, pool, restaurants, bakery, supermarket, fun train, entertainment, scuba school, high ropes etc. Amazing site with so much to do.

It's amazing but I found it hideously expensive to eat in the city centres, luckily I had a hire car and drove out into the country to fill my face with Pasticada and Rozatas for afters.

Absolutely loved Korcula - bit of a transfer from Dubrovnik but worth it once there do not stay in the old town but go and visit it we stayed in lumbarda . Sailed second week further north near split but not as scenic.

Second Cavtat - absolutely loved it there in May.

Third, Cavtat!

Cavtat was lovely but it's the only Croatian place I've been to so I can't compare it with any other towns.

What kind of break are you hoping for?

Definitely go, you'll love it. I've flown into both Split and Dubrovnic, then sailed out of both to the various islands. Brief summary of some are as follows:
Mljet - One of the nicest islands I've been to. Large national park situated at the north with large lagoons etc.
Lastovo - One of the outer islands. Very quite but that has it's benefits. People of very friendly and trusting! The owners of the hotel lent us there car to drive around the island in.
Korcula - Slight more expensive and similar to Hvar in a way. I most probably wouldnt rush back.
Vis - Old military island. Pretty with plenty to do.
Hvar - Think south of france. Great if that's what you want and have the budget. I'd recommend Stardi Grad which means old town
Brac - One of the easier islands to get to. Some lovely towns.

Cavtat if you're going as a couple - been twice with DP, its gorgeous

Not ideal for families unless you're going with babies. Not much for kids there but it is stunning.

Only been once, but loved it.

Like BlackCat we went to Pula and stayed in Porec. Really lovely place and also possible to do a day trip to Venice (by boat).

However, I also really want to go to Dubrovnik as it looks beautiful.

We had a great holiday in Mlini. It's pretty small, but there's a lovely walk round the bay which has a play park every few minutes. It may be better for half board though.

We loved Dubrovnik in the summer but my daughter thought Split was even nicer. We felt totally safe and never saw a single drunk person the whole time, which made a nice change from the UK

I went to Cavtat with DH this summer and it was beautiful. We stayed at the Hotel Cavtat which gave us the most stunning views and great service. We visited Dubrovnik for the day which was interesting but we loved Cavtat.

Agree about safety. When I was in Dubrovnik this summer, it was so nice to see people of all nationalities happily milling about. No-one was being drunk, or stupid, or threatening. A whole different world, and a beautiful one at that.

Fly to Split then ferry to Hvar. Stay forever, smell the lavender and never want to come back

Talking about Dubrovnik in the summer, did no one else notice the horrendous crowding in the old town? It was virtually gridlocked when I was there in summer 2016. Worse than central London. The government issues crowding alerts to the local community. A colleague has just been and said even in October it is super busy. I wouldn't want to go back.

Game of thrones is filmed in Dubrovnik probably why it is getting so crowded but wouldn't put me off as I am a GoT fan and would love to do the walking tour.

It wasn't too bad when we went. We checked there was no cruise ship in port before we set off!

We flew to Split and stayed there for 4 nights (old town, excellent bars and restaurants, ferry port) then took a taxi to Trogir (very reasonable fare and great for the little clean beach, family restaurants and boat trips to other towns) and stayed there for 9 nights. Booked our own cheap flights and Air BnBs which were perfect, the owners were super helpful in arranging transfers etc.

We stay in a small village outside Dubrovnik, with a lovely little beach 1 min from the Villa..get the best of both worlds, peace and quiet at the beach, hustle and bustle of Dubrovnik if we want it. Been 3 times. Our favourite place in the world.