Dubrovnik or Split with teenagers ?

[IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads]

We have a bit of money spend on a foreign holiday this summer and are looking at SC accommodation Croatia around Dubrovnik and Split.

We do like to be active though - are to ones for lying on the beach all day, and DH can't swim so doesn't care about swimming pools.

DC are DD(11) and DS (14) - where would you recommend where we could maybe do bit of water sports, excursions, historical sight seeing?

There’s an episode of Travel Man in Dubrovnik that I just watched - on Netflix. Shows the key sightseeing etc. I would say it’s a useful start and looks great for what you’re looking for!

We went to both when DC were 17/19.
I had been to Dubrovnic before but was expecting to be underwhelmed by Split. In fact we all loved Split. The Dioclesian palace is amazing.
Dubrovnik was spoiled by greedy commercialism and crowds.

The current series of Travel Man has an episode on Split, we watched it last night! I thought it looked lovely.

Dubrovnik walls. Take cable car to top, Lunch at Panorama restaurant, then zip-lining. Dinner at Nautika on terrace. Lunch at Gradska kavana Arsenal overlooking harbour. Visit Lokrum island and go swimming in the Dead Sea pool.

Dubrovnik Fly boarding or scuba diving or jet ski or bunjee jumping.

Dubrovnik old town is very small and unless your teens are particularly cultured unlike mine I can't see that there's a great deal to interest them. It's also VERY crowded during the day, as cruise ships disgorge thousands of people into the streets and they all trail round in giant crocodiles following guides. DH and I went for an adults-only weekend one May and we quite liked it (particularly in the evenings, when all the cruise passengers had fucked off again), but I wouldn't go back there with our DC (12 and 15). So based on that, I'd stay in a nice hotel with water sports somewhere near Split.

Dubrovnik suffers from the cruise ships badly. It's a lovely city and the islands nearby are beautiful.

But if I'm honest, unless you have a particular reason to want to go there, you will have a wonderful time in Split too. And I echo about the old town and places to stay - and there aren't many hotels in the actual old town itself - most are just outside.

When we went to Dubrovnik we went just before the start of the summer season and there weren't many cruise ships - but you needed to be up early to enjoy the city otherwise it was fighting the hoards. Evenings were lovely though. It was just a few tourists left and hundreds of cats!

We also go a bus trip to Mostar in Bosnia which was fab and eye opening and I do recommend. The bridge is amazing. If you are lucky you will see jumpers. And the obvious recent history is sobering. As a bonus there's the restaurant behind the bridge in just about the most touristy spot has nice local food. We were expecting it to cost it an arm and a leg but the prices were amazing (even if that's changed it should still be very affordable - especially in comparison to Croatia).

But realistically you could do the same trip from Split. It's not much further. And you can do island hopping / water sports around Split. For me it's really just the old city thing and it depends on how much that matters to you to go to Dubrovnik over Split or vice versa.

I'd personally have a good look at prices and hotel locations to both and go from there rather than make a decision of one city over the other first tbh.

The bridge is amazing. If you are lucky you will see jumpers.

Please tell me you mean bungee jumpers?

We flew in and out of Split last summer with DCs similar age to yours and had a great holiday. We had a couple of nights in Split at the start, a couple at Trogir at the end (v close to Split and airport, and a lovely town as well) and then a week in Omis- about an hour down the coast in between. Omis was a fantastic base for activities- we did white water rafting one day and zip lining another. There were also lots of tours from there as well as Trogir that looked really interesting but ran out of time for everything…
So would definitely recommend Split as a base and look at Omis/ Trogir as well. Haven’t been to Dubrovnik for 20 years or so but remember it being very crowded even then!

Nope. Not at all.

They are locals who know the river well and now are essentially professional and do so for the tourists.

OK, I am glad that you were talking about people who jump in safely. That was not the image that "jumpers" conjured up for me.

'Safely' might be pushing it, as it's obviously possible for it to go badly wrong and it's dangerous. But yes they are people who clearly know the river well and understand what they are doing.

They are nuts. But it's quite the sight and has gone on for long before it has become a destination for visitors.

100% Split. We've done both and Dubrovnik is beautiful but small and heaving with cruise ships. Split is a much buzzier city, lots to do, easy to get to nearby islands, you're also not far from the waterfalls etc. We had an amazing time there.

Could also look at Zadar, I preferred the old town there to Dubrovnik, again the cruise ship crowds spoiled Dubrovnik for me. Ryanair often have cheap flights to Zadar. Some nice islands to visit, also the Sea organ and Greetings to the Sun. We visited the Roman town of Nin and the seaside town of Petrcane.

This is all amazing intelligence folks, thank you. We'll have a big think about it this weekend. I'm veering towards saving up a bit more and going next year.