Anyone been to Croatia?

[BastardtheCat]

I'm toying with the idea of a fortnight in Croatia with car hire. We usually rent a gîte in rural France and make it our base for cycling, swimming, general mooching around towns and markets etc.

Would love a trip abroad but France is so expensive now. Has anyone been to Croatia and done similar? It looks so beautiful.

It is. We stayed on a carless Island though so no car hire.

@Beachhutnut would you recommend? Where did you stay? How did you get there?

It just adopted the Euro in January of this year so prices wont stay low I'm afraid.

I went to Croatia last year, it was gorgeous. We went slightly off season and were told that it gets very busy end July/August. Very few Brits where we were, tourists mainly from other parts of Croatia and Poland. The food was amazing, people were friendly and the weather was great. Highly recommend!

We've been twice in the last few years. First time based in Cavtat in an apartment right next to the sea. We didn't have a car either time, just used buses or ferries. We visited Dubrovnik a few times, once sailing back to our village at midnight under the stars and a beautiful moon.
Next time, spent 2-3 days in Split and a week a little further up the coast in Primosten, again in an apartment next to the sea. (I have to be near water when it's hot and there's very few properties with pools) Both villages we stayed in were gorgeous, the sea is crystal clear and great for water sports, although there's few sandy beaches, great restaurants, lots of local history, lovely people.
I'm tied to school hols with my job so August is very hot, but we loved Croatia. I'd go back tomorrow.

We went for 2 weeks in august with our 11 and 8 year olds
Flew into Zagreb, hired a car, did stops enroute and flew out from Dubrovnik. Stayed in airbnbs. Was a brilliant trip, only downside is they dont have beaches in the traditional sense, they're very rocky but so much to see and do that the children didn't seem to mind.

We flew to Dubrovnik then took a ferry. Would definitely recommend. Dubrovnik was lovely too.

Slovenia! We did 3 locations over our trip - coast, lakes, city

First time we stayed at one of the bays between Dubrovnik and Cavtat and used the excellent local bus service to get to both towns.

Second time we stayed on the island of Ciovo and could either walk across the bridge to the medieval town of Trogir or get a boat there.

Both holidays were brilliant, it's a beautiful country and I'd love to go back

Always best to be aware, but it may not go crazy -- when the Kuna in its modern form first came into being in 1994, it was "pegged" to the German Mark. When Germany adopted the Euro in 2000, Croatian currency switched too ans pegged to the Euro. So (post-Yugoslav) Croatia has always seemed a bit more expensive for foreigners versus other countries in the region, apart from Slovenia.

We’ve been to makarska and absolutely adored it. Sea is stunning and safe to swim in, lovely mountain backdrop and beautiful harbour area, lovely promenade and old square. Than visited rovinj hotel amarin amazing for families and fabulous food but a bit out of the way, definitely makarska for the resort, if the hotel amarin could be in makarska not rovinj I’d be there every year!

Would love to hear more about this and stop offs please

Not all beaches are rocky. ☺️ Some are pebbles, tiny stones and even sand.

Stops from Zagreb - Plitvice lakes are a must. island Pag, Zadar, Šibenik,Primosten.. Split..islands from there - Vis,Hvar(very expensive though) Brač,...then Makarska,Cavtat, Korčula island...

Thank you!
I'm looking at the map - so many places to visit and stay!

We like staying in our own space - so a house/cottage .

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Yes. It’s drivable south from our house . So we just drive down. Heading down this summer to Zadar, as they have a fabulous kinderhotel ( about 6hrs drive down), can island hop over a bit from there. Will then drive back up to Zagreb and do a few days in the city.

If your in the north many do Trieste in Italy, Piran in Slovenia and then Umag or down the coast in Croatia. All only about 30-45mins from each other, but three countries.

As Croatia is narrow but long, it’s worth trying to fly into one airport further north then out of one south so you can work you way down a bit. Just use booking.com to find self catered houses or apartments if that’s your preference and stay 3-5 nights in a couple

Flew into Split, hires a car and stayed near Niin in a rented apartment. I really liked the area we stayed in, Niin itself is gorgeous and the beach was very near. Also adored Zadar which is a beautiful town and the most incredible sunset, well worth a visit. On the whole though I was left a bit meh by Croatia. It's beautiful but I found people to be really unfriendly - I'm pretty well travelled, a linguist and most definitely not a Brit Abroad FWIW but that was the impression all of us had. The food also was really disappointing (pizza and ice cream excepted), largely geared towards German tourists, of which there are many. Driving was at times terrifying as Croatian drivers seem to be much less risk averse on overtaking distances - we had to slam our brakes on several times to avoid a collision! So a mixed bag for us!

I find your comment deeply offensive how can ethnic cleansing in WW2 and 90’s civil war ie ‘cleared of people several times’ be beautiful as it is not crowded and a pleasure to travel around. People have lost their loved ones and their homes, whole villages destroyed, however that’s okay because you can enjoy the isolation.

Hi, some posts have mentioned sailing between islands in Croatia. Do you have to have someone in your party who is qualified? Is it easy to book?
Thanks

It's wonderful! We've been twice. The first time we stayed a few days in Dubrovnik and then a few days on the Island of Mjlet (think that's how you spell it). On the island we just hired bikes and cycled around, swimming in the lakes and sea, eating wonderful food every night. It was brilliant.
The second time we went we stayed at Cavtat (again, not entirely sure about the spelling). It was out of season and very quiet but a wonderful holiday. It's the perfect place to mooch about, go for bike rides/drives/swims etc.

We went island hopping there. It is so beautiful but v v expensive. You don't notice it so much with the Kuna but it is not cheap unless you go to the more out of the way, less developed places. But Hvar etc are all mega expensive but then again anywhere nice seems to be these days
I love it there and been many times

We went last summer. Started in Split and traveled down to Cavtat. A beautiful country but far more expensive than I anticipated. Certainly in Dubrovnik, prices were more than London - £5 for water, £20 for a sandwich. May be cheap to get to but pricey once there.

Croatia is absolutely lovely. The weather was beautiful, the people were friendly, food was great and there were plenty of excursions and places to visit. DH and I started off in Rome then Venice, Pula, Zadar and Dubrovnik.
We flew into Pula, which was a quiet and tranquil town. We stayed near the sea and spent most of the time on the beach and checking out Roman ruins. We traveled to Zadar and visited the Old Town. It had lovely sunsets in the evening. We also went to Plitvice Lakes National Park and saw beautiful waterfalls. We went to Dubrovnik, toured the walled city and spent some time sea kayaking etc.. All in all, we had a lovely time. It's still one of my favourite trips to date.