Need to spend less than £10K on summer holiday this year. Anyone been to Croatia

[hmcAsWas]

Had been looking at a fly drive around Quebec, Montreal etc but some rather hefty unexpected bills are clipping our wings this year and so we're now looking at Europe. We've done villa holidays before in South of France, various locations on mainland Italy (and also Sardinia and Sicily), Spain, Greece etc and so now we're thinking perhaps Croatia? If you have been, what did you like / what would you recommend?

We are a family of 4 (kids will be 14 and 16 by the time the holiday comes around). They enjoy some sightseeing but not wild about too many dusty cathedrals. They will happily do places of historical interest however (particularly if they relate to stuff they have studied at school). We are not uber beachy (probably would go a couple of times in a week), but do like a well appointed villa with a pool. They also like adrenaline type outdoorsy stuff and appreciate beautiful scenery.

(and there has to be wifi)

I love cruising. It's so easy and stress free. Defiantly worth trying and if you hate it there will still be money for another holiday.

Also I got married on the cruise so it may be a bit of rose tinted glasses. Ours was only a p and o one to Portugal etc as my mum was coming and was ill. Unfortunately she didn't make it but it 2as her idea and amazing

We went to Dubrovnik around 8 years ago and had the most amazing time but I think Croatia has increased in popularity and price since then. Have you considered Montenegro? We travelled around there and it was stunning. I think it is more like Croatia was 10 years ago. Up and coming. Hire a car and you can still travel to beautiful places in Croatia.

Alternatively an island cruise but I think they are quite popular now

@Twofishfingers ... where are you hiring your car through?

I was hoping to do Croatia this August but the car hire costs were just too expensive. £400 for 10 days was the cheapest I could find ...

Ditto finding car hire extortionate! I couldn't get a price below £500 for something that would fit four people and four bags in.

Did a 3 stop stay in Croatia with our 2 teenagers in summer 2016
Flew into Split, then took a boat to Hvar island, ending up in Dubrovnik

Fab time - obviously can't do it in a week. Would recommend Cavtat, just outside of Dubrovnik- a boat ride away, plus you can do Montenegro as well, which we did too! Lots for the children to do, but beaches are rocky

We stayed in the Sun Gardens outside Dubrovnik for a week, it isn't stunning but was pleasant, food wasn't great. In general Croatian food was pleasant rather than great. Beaches were clean and stony, lots of fish in the sea. We hired a nice car and drove to Bosnia and Montenegro. Montenegro is stunning. There are a lot of cruise ships along the coast. Dubrovnik was historic and beautiful however totally overrun with cruise ships. Bosnia was the most interesting of the countries but didn't always feel totally safe. We went in early June and spent about 5.5 in total I think, it's not particularly cheap.

We always stay outside Dubrovnik itself, because in Dubrovnik is just too much..we stay in a tiny village, in a little villa, with a beach a few steps away..clean, beautiful water full of fish..3 restaurants right there (including the No1 restaurant in Dubrovnik as per Tripadvisor..and the food is AMAZING)..it's a little slice of heaven right there.

Don’t go to montenegro in summer holidays. It’s tiny and ruined by crowds of tourists. Free went last August and hated it. I could see it was beautiful but I spent most of my time in traffic jams or being jostled in crowds of loyalty standing shoulder to shoulder with other bathers in the sea.

We have had a summer on Hvar off the Split coast. It was heaven. Will try and find link to where we stayed.

here in Hvar

Croatia is stunning.
Cavtat is lovely and close enough to Dubrovnik without being in the middle of the crowds. Not a lot going on for kids in Cavtat but it's what you make of it. We did a mountain bike guided trail, a day trip to Montenegro, a couple of trips to Dubrovnik which can be accessed by crossing boats very easily or bus/car.

We're going to Rovinj end of May and can't wait.

Would love to see the national parks too.

www.pierreetvacances.com/gb-en/co_holidays-croatia

Croatia is stunning. Dh and I did a big holiday pre kids where we flew to Munich then got the train to zagreb - beautiful city - then picked up a hire car and drive down to zadar. We stopped at plitvice National Park on the way and it is simply stunning scenery, even on the cloudy day we visited. I’ll get my photo album for details..

We stayed at villa mukinje in plitvicka jezera before going to the lakes the next day
We moved on to sibenik, great castle and stayed in the mare nostrum hotel in sveti petar, a family run place and very friendly with amazing sea views. We finally visited zadar, an island city.

Sorry, got a bit carried away! but thank you for the prompt to look through old photos (and marvel at how young I looked pre dc!) all the above was nearly 10yrs ago so it’s probably massively changed!

Captain Sokol - Korcula- we went last last year with 13 and 15 yr old- perfect and then went sailing for a week near Split