Travelling to Croatia on Saturday.

Caryatnid

Hi.
I'm travelling with my boyfriend to Croatia on Saturday. We'll be staying for 10 days. So far, all we have booked are the flights - we fly in to Pula (north), and leave from Dubrovnik (south).
Although we of course want to 'see the sites', we are hoping to have a a fairly relaxed holiday, so want to check out a few nice beaches. Both of us would love to try scuba diving, but have no experience, so would need to rent equipment and get lessons. Can anyone recommend a good place for beginners? If you have been to Croatia before, can you give some advice?
Also, it seems that 'private accomodation' is popular, and cheaper than hotels, any thoughts?
Any beaches that are beautiful, but not so crowded? (not really interested in the whole naturist thing....)

There is a huge amount of information on Croatian tourism on the web - has anyone found a particular site particularly useful?

Finally, we had originally planned on renting a car (found one for 400e for the 10days), but now it is looking like it would actually just be easier to go by foot (considering so much commuting can be done by ferry). Any recommendations?

Basically any advice at all on Croatia would be useful.

Thanks!

Zaph

Well the first thing to point out is that if you're going for beaches you're going to the wrong country. Croatia is beautiful and well worth visiting, but they don't really have much by way of sandy beaches, most are stony. The most famous beach is Zlatni Rat on the island of Brac, but it's still not exactly what you'd find in Spain or Greece.

Renting a car is a great idea, you get to see stuff that's off the beaten track, but if you do rent and you're planning to visit the islands make sure you check the ferries, only some routes are big enough to take cars. Also rent it in a big town, trying to find a car rental place in smaller places, is just about impossible. We left Korcula and went back to Orebic on the mainland where we were told we could rent a car. After several fruitless hours we got the ferry back over to Korcula and rented the car there.

Private accomodation, both renting rooms in people's houses or renting apartments is much cheaper than hotels. The tourist offices are usually very helpful when it comes to finding you somewhere to stay. As you're going to be flying out of Dubrovnik, you might want to consider staying in Cavtat, which is near the airport and is a nice little town a few miles further down the coast from Dubrovnik itself.

Can't help you with the scuba diving I'm afraid, not my thing. Have fun.

Poncherello

yeah you wont get the beaches I'm afraid. There are a couple of man made beaches in Dubrovnik but are very busy. Dont let that put you off its an amazing place. We visited Hvar(party island but laid back also), Korcula(quiet place) and Dubrovnik(now my favourity city).
Definitely go with the private accommodation only drawback is lugging your bags around till you find somewhere
enjoy
buy some property over there !!

If you're travelling, have to take in Split and the Diocletian (spelling?) Palace. Then move on down to Makarska, which is a typical Med resort but a useful place to start island hopping. Try and get out to Hvar, the town itself is lovely. Haven't been to Korcula or Brac, but they're supposed to be lovely too. Then head further down and make sure to stay in or near Dubrovnik, the old town is stunning. If you're a bit more adventurous, you can head inland to Mostar in Bosnia and see the impact of the war, if that stuff interests you. If the religious stuff gets you, Medjugorje (again, spelling?) is near there too and there's some nice villages in the mountains between Bosnia and Croatia.

If I did it again I would def rent a car, there is only one road that goes down the Dalmation Coast and its not fun stuck for hours in sweaty coaches with mad drivers.

netman

Trains buses and ferries might be a much easier option for you than cars. In Croatia you drive on the right side of the road, depending where and when you travel you might be faced with queues for ferries etc. Needless to say if you rent a car you have more freedom and you can see a lot more.

Car hire is still quite expensive in Croatia, if you are thinking of renting a car you'd get a better deal by booking online in advance than by renting locally.

Most of the public beaches would get crowdy, if you're looking for some peace and quiet then you can reach some more remote beaches by boat or by car. A lot of the locals would be willing to ferry you over and pick you up in the evening for a small fee.

As for beaches, they start off rocky and almost barren in the north, due to soil erosion, as the Italians cut all the trees in the area for their boats during the times of the Venetian Republic. You can almost see how far they got as you travel south along the coastline, and the beaches go from rocky to pebbles to sand.

You won't get the sandy beaches of Lanzarote in Croatia, but then again you wouldn't get them in Lanzarote either if they didn't import sand from Africa.

Here are a couple of useful web links for you:
Highlights of Croatia: http://www.adriatica.net/croatia/feature/main_en.htm
Beaches of Central Dalmatia: http://www.adriatica.net/croatia/feature/plaze_en.htm
And if you're interested in Scuba Diving, theres quite a few underwater sights, Roman galleons etc: http://www.adriatica.net/croatia/feature/ronjenje_en.htm

There's also a lot more on the Croatian Tourist Board site: http://www.croatia.hr/English/Home/Naslovna.aspx

Roddy23

Only back from Croatia. Went for 5 days over the August bank holiday weekend. It was brilliant. We flew into Pula, and then went north to Rovinj, it's a great little town. The Croatian people are some of the friendliest I have met, and there aren't many tourists around, so we had a seriously relaxing break. I'd recommend Rovinj, as it is a small town, but there are a few good pubs. Teh beaches are all rocky, and I'd get yourselves some sandals are something that you can wear into the water.

We didn't get a chance to see split or dubrovnik, but we were told that Split is more of a commercial city, and dubrovnik although bigger than Rovinj would be similar.

One thing about Croatia from what we saw, drinking out is not that cheap, but if you like seafood, it is some of the cheapest, but best you will taste.

Forgot to include this link, not just great for Rovinj, but shows how cheap the private accommodation is:

http://www.rovinj.info/