Croatia

[HornGrandioso]

I am going in September. My dad's side of the family has been in Texas for generations (for example, my great great...grandfather was Sam Houston's attorney and wrote a history of Texas in 1846), but my mom's dad was a first generation American whose parents came over just before WWI. I want to meet some distant relatives and hit up the beaches.

Tell me everything I need to do and see over there.

Go.

 

[orange-explosion]

Zadar is a really cool city with tons of history. Worth a couple of days for sure. Dubrovnik is supposed to be really nice but pricey, that's where Micheal Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones tie up their yacht, etc... The Dalmation Islands are a must. Crystal clear water, great seafood, topless European chicks, you can't beat it. We stayed in a friend's house in an island village only accessible by ferry with no motorized vehicles on the whole place. Incredible. Also might try to time your visit to different villages around festivals. We were in Paag during a fete and partied for 2 days straight. Check for the 3am drunk-food cart serving steaming bowls of mussles, grilled calamari and fresh baked bread. Cheapest, freshest, best **** ever. Eat the local goat cheese. Horde the home-made olive oil. Make Tito jokes. Awesome place.

 

[HornGrandioso]

Thanks, man. I cannot freaking wait.

 

[BA97JD00]

I would allow yourself plenty of time in Dubrovnik. It's one of the prettiest, coolest cities I've ever seen. The beach just outside the old city gates is great.

I also went to Hvar, which is a nice little island off the coast near Dubrovnik. Not a lot to do except cruise around looking at lavender fields and checking out other beaches but still a great side trip.

I did not think Split was worth going to. Avoid it if you can. Even the Diocletian palace was a big disappointment.

Also, try to limit the amount of time you have to spend on the ferryboats. Jadrolinija, apparently the only ferry service on the whole Dalmatian coast, is a terrible company. The boats suck and they don't run on time.

 

[taco]

lttle late to this but check out Korcula, I'd rank it up there with Dubrovnik

 

[Uninformed]

Yeah, I wasn't too excited seeing Plitvice and Split. The waterfalls in plitvice are pretty but they have paved roads and such to get to them. It didn't seem very outdoorsy despite the beauty. Worthwhile but not incredible IMO.

 

[VinnyVango]

you might want to limit your time in touristy Dubrovnik and hit any of a slew of cool smaller towns tucked along the coast...

 

[Jive_Turkey]

is it just me, or does this country produce some amazingly beautiful women?

 

[VinnyVango]

Me likey Balkan women

 

[Music City Horn]

Wonderful country, that Croatia. And yes, gorgeous people.

I've tooled around the Dalmatian coast some, including a heck of a time crossing from Montenegro (prior to the separation) over to Croatia given the closed border. I spent several days in a beautiful, quiet coastal town called Tivat, not too far from Dubrovnik.

That whole area is just amazing. I hung out with a former US ambassador in the Balkans who has chosen to retire in Tivat with a house that overlooks the sea. What a rough way to live!

Enjoy your trip! I'm envious.

 

[HornInDub]

I just returned from a week in Croatia. I'm surprised to read that someone didn't enjoy Plitvice and Split, I thought they were pretty fantastic. Plitvice was nice because we got there before the hoards of day-trippers from Zagreb and Split, so we had the place essentially to ourselves till about 11am. When it got crowded, we were pretty much done but it wouldn't have been as enjoyable with that many people there. We did the long hike, going around all the lakes, and most of the paths were dirt, not paved.

Split had a nice old town, we really enjoyed the food and the outdoor bars. It didn't feel crowded with tourists as Dubrovnik did.

Dubrovnik was nice, the old town is larger than Split and we stayed here 5 days. Lots of nice restaurants and bars here as well, moreso than Split but also a lot more tourists.

We did a day trip to Mljet from Dubrovnik on Atlas tours. It was nice, but seemed to be too short. In hindsight, we wished we woudl have booked 2 nights in an apartment on Mljet, taken the normal ferry over and had a full day to explore the island. You can rent scooters at the main harbor for a day for I think about 250 kuna. We wanted to go see the famous sandy beach at the far end of the island but it was about 60km from the port, and we didn't want to spend all our time driving there and back.

If you are going to rent a car, a few comments:

- If you drive from Split to Dubrovnik, you will have to cross over Bosnia-Herzegovina for like 8km. When you get to the border crossing, just stick to the right (with the green sign). That's for the "passing through, nothing to declare" lane. A bunch of tourists were sitting in the left (red) lane unnecessarily. Same when you drive back into Croatia.

- Stopping for lunch in Ston is great - some of the best, freshest mussels I have ever had. Cool small town too, worth a walk around and climbing up the old walls.

- If you are driving from the north to Zadar (to/from Plitvice or Zagreb to Zadar or south on the motorway) note that the tunnels are still under construction near Zadar (between exits 12 and 14 I believe). We sat for about 2 hours waiting to get through on our way from Zadar to Plitvice. On the way back, we just took one of the secondary roads to get over the mountain and linked back up on the motorway near Zadar. Saved us a ton of time.

- If you intend to drive into Serbia, Bosnia or Montenegro, make sure your car rental company allows it and, most importantly, provides you with a Green Card when you pick the car up. The border guards will almost certainly ask for this when you cross the border... Our rental company (Sixt) provided it, but some others didn't.

 

[Uninformed]

Maybe the problem that I had with Plitvice had more to do with my expectations. I thought it was going to be a place like Yellowstone or Yosemite. Instead, it was more like Niagra Falls. It was fine, but I definitely wasn't getting away from it all. In fact, there was a sniper killing nearby while I was there (It was during the very early part of the war - mid-late 1990).

 

[HornGrandioso]

Good stuff. My trip is right around the corner!!!

 

[HornGrandioso]

Leaving tomorrow. Any last minute ideas/tips?

Definitely on my list are Zagreb, Split, and Hvar.