Tell me about Croatia

[tryingsomethingnew]

Hi,

Some of you may have seen other posts where I've been asking about Italy as we are looking for a short break away. Two of us and two young teens.

Can you tell me about your holidays to Croatia? Split, Dubrovnik, Hvar (sp?)

And the food please?

Where would you suggest for 4 nights, looking to walk around towns, relax by a pool or beach, restaurants for nighttime,....

We went on a hiking tour with Terres d’Aventure and it was great. Kids young teens. The food didn’t exactly blow my socks off but if you stuck to freshly grilled fish it was pretty good. We covered Split Dubrovnik Hvar, Krk and more

So it was a fairly long time ago now that I went to Croatia (so pre game of thrones). Dubrovnik is lovely and I really liked Split. Also remember not being particularly impressed with the food but perhaps we were just unlucky (and we had come from Italy where obviously all the food was amazing!)

Dubrovnik was lovely as was Hvar.

Yes...without wishing to stereotype, Italian good I'm expecting to be good and easy with a bit of pizza or pasta. We are foodies, so wanted to be able to go to any restaurant and be able to order something easy and tasty- but what Croatians would eat not tourist food.

I would say that the food choice was fairly limited but the ingredients were fresh and good quality. Lots of seafood, fruit and veg. Bream, squid and sardines seemed popular. Everything was prepared very simply with just olive oil and salt, and sometimes garlic. We found that many of the restaurants in Dubrovnik had the exact same menu!
If you have the opportunity, try meat/vegetables which have been prepared in a peka - kind of like roasted in a clay or cast iron cooking vessel and it is cooked with charcoal both under and above it. Tasted amazing. As did the roast lamb eaten minutes after being taken off the spit.

Dubrovnik is fab. We stayed outside the city in a villa with a pool. There aren't really many beaches and those that are there are fairly small but fine for a quick sea swim. The food is quite Italian influenced. Pleasant but not particularly memorable.

Sorry to be a party proper, but I hated Dubrovnik. Full of stunned- looking tourists from the cruise ships.
But Split and the islands are lovely, also Kotor. And I love Zagreb.

Dubrovnik is lovely but very very busy in the summer, oppressively so I found.

Split is also very lovely but is getting increasingly busy in the summer now. We have been in June and September and it was busy enough, but the locals were saying it would doubly so in July/August.

Hvar gets very party heavy in the summer but is gorgeous. We much prefer Brac, it’s absolutely stunning. Great beaches, good for watersports / activities. We’ve stayed in Supetar and Bol, both gorgeous towns with a decent range of restaurants / bars.

Zadar is a quieter city but we really enjoyed it and has some nice restaurants. Less touristy definitely.

I think PPs description of the food as pleasant but not memorable is fairly accurate. Fish / seafood is often fresh (although do check) and cooked simply with fairly simple sides, maybe some boiled potatoes and steamed greens. We went one year with someone who hated fish and that was a challenge - he struggled a bit and his food didn’t look half as nice generally.

Admittedly we ate at the best restaurants in Dubrovnik, Hvar and Split but the food (and wine) was amazing. Better than Italy (used to live there). We were lucky because we were just out of season and had no problem getting bookings.

I’m there now; Poreč. Very nice it is too.

Fabulous ice cream all over Croatia..

Sorry I know this is an old thread but @DismantledKing juat wondered if you might be able to tell me about Porec. Thinking of booking to go there

If you are foodies, go to istria. Meant to be the best food in Croatia. We thought it was better than Italy. And the gelato was amazing. Really nice local wines as well.

Been to Dubrovnik and Porec... both lovely

Only been to Dubrovnik (which is stunning), but wasn't blown away by the food, which is disappointing for a seaside town. We had a couple of weeks there and used to do the town late in the afternoon or first thing in the morning as it was crazy busy.

We stayed in a fab hotel in Porec, the Valamar Isabella. It is on an island in the harbour, accessed by a shuttle boat run by the hotel. A really interesting, pedestrianised, old town. Rovinj is another lovely old town in this part of Croatia, Istria. The airport is at Pula , which is yet another old town with a well preserved Roman Amphitheatre, a Roman temple, a castle and some lovely medieval streets. Not as busy as Dubrovnik, but lovely atmosphere. The area was run by the Italians for a lot of its history, so the architecture and food are similar. We went on a guided tour of the area and it has a low population density compared to the UK, so vistas with not many buildings. It is lovely.

Rovinj is basically like a tiny Venice - loved it. Just north of Pula. Pula itself is nice for a day out but I'd stay in Rovinj - feels so luxurious and quaint.

Rovinj, Zadar, Split were lovely but Dubrovnik was so full of cruise ship tour groups it was unbearable in the old town during the day. We also went to Kotor in Montenegro - it was much quieter and compact but lovely for a few days especially if you like kayaking / paddle boarding. Only 1hr 30 drive to and from Dubrovnik.

There are a few relics of its communist legacy too. Brutalist concrete buildings, but thankfully, these are few and far between around Porec. Further south, there is an abandonded resort that was used by the communist big wigs, https://www.mywanderlust.pl/kupari-croatia-abandoned-hotels/

When we were investigating where to stay, we found a newly rebuilt hotel which looked good. When we checked why it had been rebuilt, it was because it was next to an air base that was heavily bombed in the 90s war, and the original building took a few hits.
So lots of fascinating history in the area.

I'm surprised people are being so negative about the food. We've had some of the best dishes of our lives in Croatia - and we are foodies. Whereas Italy, where we spend a lot of time due to family, we are finding it harder and harder to get really outstanding dishes.
If you're by the coast, stick to seafood. Or if off the coast but still in the Trogir area, go for their Roasted suckling pork which is done by the side of the road. Avoid as always the commercial looking properties, but instead pick what looks like a family house or restaurant with a pig roasting outside. Normally you will say the number of people, and get given a plate piled high with meat and another big bowl of fries. Not haut cuisine, but oh my goodness the pork is mouthwatering and very traditionally cooked.
Seafood wise, I had an octopus salad in Istria which I still dream about, and Crevettes in a small village near Trogir on the coast. Unbelievable. Inland, in Zagreb (which is worth a visit!!) go for the Germanic influenced food, lots of Goulash and beef and pork stews.

Which airports can you fly into OP from your local one?

Konoba is the term for a restaurant selling traditional/ local cuisine.

Oh and if you go fo the lake national parks (which are worth a visit) go EARLY. They get insanely busy but they are beautiful. We went to Krka which I believe is less busy than Plitvice but was still mad by the time we were leaving. Fine when we got there for opening though.

I wouldn't take two young teens to Dubrovnik. DH and I went on a long weekend without our kids and we really enjoyed it, although it can be horribly busy when cruise ships are moored offshore and disgorge all their thousands of traipsing day-trippers.

It's a little walled town with stuff to wander round and enjoy - there is a island nature reserve a short boat-ride away. There nice bars where you can watch the sunset, city walls you can walk around,. As part of a bigger family trip with a day spent in Dubrovnik, fine, but I don't think there is much to interest young teens if you're thinking more of a city break.