Thinking of Croatia but never been. Advice

batman1

Family of 3, 2 adults and 16 yr old.

Thinking of Croatia but never been. Would be grateful of any advice on where to stay, and where not to stay!

We generally go for hotels, chill out. Not the tacky resort type of place.

Any other tips or advice appreciated.

NewbridgeIR

Went there in 2002 so a long time ago.

No sandy beaches - takes a while to get used to.

Stayed in Hotel Cavtat - about 15 miles or so from Dubrovnik. Travelled to the city via water taxi and regular taxi.

Cavtat is a small town, horseshoe shaped bay

Food is good, not as nice as Crete IMHO.

Dubrovnik is a lovely city. Nice to walk around. Great architecture.

no one of interest

We stayed in a place in diocletian's palace, Split. If you're thinking of Split, I'd definitely recommend something in there. It's very central.

Great base to go island hopping also; to Hvar, Vis, Brac and many more.

We'd no teens with us though. So cant comment on that.

I highly recommend visiting plitvice lakes on a day trip. Absolutely stunning. Also Krka waterfall.

It depends on what you're looking for. As previous poster said, it's not the place to go if you're looking for sandy Caribbean type beaches.

The food is nice, (been a while since I was in Crete so cant remember to compare lol.) The food is very Italian, so if you don't like Italian food, you might need to look harder.

I highly recommend Croatia, It's georgous.

It reminded me of Ireland in the 80s, when we were just finding out feet. Still a bit of sexism and Church influence. But nothing severe.

Tippman24

I have been there on two occasions. stayed in Dubrovnik and Split. Could not recommend it enough. I was there about 15 years ago and prices compared very well to here. On the second time we landed in Dubrovnik on an organised tour. Stayed there for a couple of days and then went north staying in Split and then on to Lake Bled in Slovenia. Came back from Venice. thinking about it now makes me think about a suggestion for 2024, well we will have to submit that to the War Office for consideration.

We flew to Zadar a few years ago, absolutely fantastic place to stay. Its a small walled town, no traffic inside the city walls. There's a small port with boats to various day trip places. The water is crystal clear all around the city, you can just plop into the sea from the edge of the town. Would highly recommend.

JohnCleary

Sorry to hijack...

Going in October (early) for 8 nights (not including travel days). Splitting it between Split (fly in) - Dubrovnik (fly out) and will transfer via ferry / catamaran.

We are considering 1 night on Hvar, just to mix things up. But a part of me things 1 night is a bit pointless.... upacking to pack again. I know we can get ferry Split - Hvar - Dubrovnik.

Would you just day trip to Hvar? Or worth a relaxing night there and then on to Dubrovnik the next day? Or 2 nights in Hvar?

We're mid 30's, absolutely love the sea. We don't necessarily have to be swimming (know it's not going to be roasting in October but we swim in Ireland in winter so not an issue), but we just love hopping about from island to island (even on day trips) but don't want to be exhausted. Typically we cram in as much as possible but we do want to do a bit of relaxing and 'doing nothing except wandering' on this trip.

We do fully intend on doing a day-trip (organised bus) to Mastar when in Dubrovnik so that's one day definitely gone there. While we're OK with driving abroad (I managed Thailand / Myanmar / Vietnam etc!) but on this holiday we don't want one of us stuck as a designated driver, so it's going to be organised tours (or alternatively, very reliable public transport!)

Nigel Fairservice

The water in Dubrovnik is lovely in October. Or at least it was when I was there. I'm not much into open water swimming but couldn't get enough of it in Dubrovnik. The water was crystal clear.

I see sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120687340#Comment_120687340

Croatia is fantastic (for swimming & in general).

In Dubrovnik you can swim right in the old town (West Habour) where they filmed some GOT.

I'd say spend 2 nights on an Island.

A few years ago we went to Korcula from Dubrovnik, beautiful Island, we stayed in the town you could walk 2 mins from the hotal and swim the harbour, perfectly clear water. Never been to Hvar but I'm sure it's the same.

We didn't drive but I've heard it's a bit chaotic so yeah I'd avoid it.

Rustyman101

Stayed air b&b in lapad its just outside dubrovnik.

fabulous coves around for swimming, bring pool shoes as beaches are stoney and lots of sea urchins in places.

Sunset beach was nice in the evenings. Its in lapad as well.

They are gone over to the euro this year, tbh I found eating out quite expensive.

We were there in August last year pretty hot , walk the walls early in the morning.

We hired a private boat for the day 400 I think, we went to several of the islands lovely day.

Public transport was grand for getting about.

Kids loved the sea and the swimming.

I would go back but as I said it's pricey.

pcasso

Apologies for hijacking the thread.

Myself and my better half are thinking of going to Croatia for our first time in September,

We re thinking of flying into Split and out of Dubrovnik or vice versa and island hopping in between,

For anyone who has done similar would it be better to stay in the bigger cities and just explore the islands on day trips or would a stay on one if not a second island work better.

TIA

justdavidalone

Croatia is a good place for holiday.