Croatia

[Littlesticklebrick]

Just wondering if anyone can give any advice where to holiday in Croatia. All a bit last minute but it’s for August and it’s myself and my 12yo son. Lots are coming up for Istrian Riviera, is it a nice destination?

It's a lovely place. Rovinj is delightful and Porec is very attractive too.

Will you have a hire car? Are you interested in sightseeing, or just a beach holiday? Be aware no sandy beaches.

@Ellmau
Well, i wanted us to go somewhere different hence Croatia. Yes, we’d love to sight see, I’m not sure on driving but maybe I’d be ok! I didn’t realise there were no sandy beaches but that wouldn’t put me off. Many holidays seem to be the Riviera, would that be nice? thanks for your reply

Pula is beautiful with lots of history to look at. We normally stay near a town called Labin and go to Rabac beach a lot. Northern Croatia is one of my favourite places to go!

istria is gorgeous. We stayed in rovinj which is beautiful.

Porec is lovely. Just be aware a lot of access to the sea is via bathing platforms. There aren’t many sandy beaches. This never bothered us but may bother some.

If you can hire a car that would give you lots more flexibility re sightseeing so I would recommend that. The buses are a bit limited.

Pula has an amazing Roman amphitheatre; Rovinj is a delightful little town on a hill that used to be an island; Porec is also very charming; with a car you can go inland to explore the old hilltop towns; and there's a lovely restored castle (Morisini-Grimani) in the inland village Sveti Vincenet with good child friendly presentation, which you definitely need a car to get to. Lots of boat rides and watersports in the resort towns. Also inland at Pazin there is a gorge with caves and ziplining and things like that if your DS is into that kind of thing. Again, you'd really need a car, you can get there by bus but not at convenient times for activities.

Just make sure you're not there when they have Europe's biggest drum n bass festival!

Accommodation with a pool is a good idea.

How is eating out there?

I've been to Split- we island hopped to brac, hvar, starigrad and vis.

Food was great and everyone was so helpful and friendly

Lots of Italian influence to the food as the region was owned by Venice for much of its history (then Austria for a bit until WWI, then Italy again until WWII). Lots of restaurants. I don't think great for vegetarians from memory.

I vote for Split, lots of small beaches to choose from.

Cavtat.

Are any of you able to say whether you did HBoard, B&B, SC etc?

I did HB and it was fine.

We did b and b. So many lovely restaurants - def wouldn’t want to be stuck in hotel every night!

I was in my motorhome so can't comment. Had amazing fish on Hvar island

Thank you to all of you 😊

Oh no … when and where is that ?

I don't know if it's an annual thing but Sept 2019 was in Pula as we accidentally found out!

It's OK.. was in July at Tisno this year!

We’be stayed in Porec nearly 20 years ago and a few miles out of Dubrovnik last year. We will be off to Split in September.

We always stay self catering and have had no problem finding affordable places to eat.
I’ve seen a couple of posters saying how expensive Dubrovnik was but we didn’t find it so. We tend to eat out more at lunch time though which is generally cheaper as only one course/not so much alcohol.

Somebody commented there wasn’t much choice for vegetarians, I think that may be more true of smaller villages inland. In coastal resorts there are plenty of places with Italian influences -
pasta, risotto, pizza. We’ve found it very good for fish / seafood if you like that.

Phew! As long as it’s not in Split mid September!

Last time I was there was when it was part of Yugoslavia ( many years ago ) and I loved it. Think Italy ( they are next door so the influences travel ) and back in the day - half the price

I think we stayed in Porec, beaches arent great in the area - stones - but lots of beach clubs - platforms with steps into the sea

I loved it for being so green, the wide promenades , the great ice cream, and the friendliness of the locals This was during Communism , it still shone

It was quite funny really
We were desperate for a good night's sleep as we'd had snoring pigs and church bells in Slovenia, a heavy metal night at a bar on coast of Slovenia a snoring man in tent in Rovinj, and then the drum n bass. I made my partner drive to Krk island just for peace!

We went to Pula, Rovinj and Porec after someone on here recommended it in a thread. It was the best holiday, and we have been twice more since! We based ourselves in Pula each time.