5 Reasons Why You Should Travel Croatia
Last spring we decided to pack up the car and travel Croatia for two weeks. We drove more than 2,000 km and visited many cities along the coast. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life that I will never forget. If you are looking for a place to travel this spring here are 5 reasons why you should travel Croatia.
1. Croatia Is Beautiful
That's me in front of one of tallest waterfalls in Plitvice National Park
We found this cool little bridge in Trogir
The viewpoints of Plitvice National Park are breathtaking
The epic view overlooking the old town of Dubrovnik
The water in Primosten is crystal clear
2. It's Cheap
Gas is cheap for now....
Accommodation in Croatia is cheap and the views are unbelievable
PLUS our place came with a pool :)
3. It's Undiscovered
Karlovac is one of Croatia's best secrets and home to the Karlovaco Brewery
Slunj and Rastoke are less known and offer some of the best hiking in Croatia
Thats me chasing waterfalls at Plitvice National Park
4. The Food Is Delicious
The atmosphere is incredible
The food is delicious
And the beer is refreshing
5. The Locals Are Super Friendly
We were treated to dinner and dessert by two locals
They shared their home made liquor and played a few songs for us
And reminded me that travel is not about all the places you go.
It's about the people you meet and the memories you create with them.
Hope you guys enjoyed the blog. Feel free to leave a comment below and always remember to
Do what you love, do it often
and always travel with an open mind.
Jeremy
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Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is AWESOME! I can’t believe how amazing and cheep everything is here. The food is delicious and the beachside villas are spectacular. My favorite time to visit Dubrovnik is towards the end of May. The weather is perfect and the water is so refreshing. The beaches you find here will be some of the best you will ever see so don’t miss out.
Things to do in Dubrovnik
Go to the Beach
All of Croatia’s beaches are very postcard worthy and Dubrovnik’s beaches are no exception. However, if you plan on swimming make sure you are wearing water shoes. Most of the beaches, if not all of them, in Croatia are rocky and home to several sea urchins that can sting you pretty good if you aren’t being careful. Getting stung by a sea urchin can completely end your holiday so be careful.
The Walls
It used to be free but now I think the price is 10 euro to walk around Dubrovnik’s city walls. Either way the 10 Euro is absolutely worth it because the best views of Dubrovnik can be seen from here.
Churches
There are churches everywhere in Dubrovnik. Spend the day scrolling the ancient roads and admire the beautiful architecture that surrounds you, with ice cream in hand of course.
Cliff Dive off of the city walls
Yea that’s right! Cliff diving! You didn’t hear this from me but if you are into cliff diving boy do I have a spot for you. From the Dubrovnik Cathedral head south towards the coast and follow the tiny streets. You will come across a small dark doorway/tunnel. Enter the doorway and on the other side you will find a very private café that is perfectly tucked into the city walls. Stop and enjoy an over priced cocktail and pick a spot on the rock to chill out. The cliffs are between 5- 15 feet so pick a spot you are comfortable with and dive right in.
Delicious Food in Dubrovnik
The best advice I can offer about finding a good place to eat is first of all don’t trust Trip Advisor or any of the travel sites because those places are usually over priced and mediocre. The best restaurants I have found in Croatia are the ones I simply stumbled upon while I was wandering the streets. Another piece of advice, don’t wait till you are super hungry to look for a restaurant. It never turns out good.
Apartments in Dubrovnik
If you stay anywhere in the city center be prepared to pay more for less quality. If you want to find a great place for a good deal you have to drive a few km south of the city center. Believe me, you wont be disappointed.
We stayed in Marnic Apartments in Soline, 10 km from Dubrovnik. This was the best apartment of our whole Croatia Trip! Enjoy the ocean view, the pool and relax in the small village near Dubrovnik!
We Made it: Dubrovnik Croatia
Early in the morning we woke up in our nice apartment overlooking the ocean and had a good breakfast which I made. 🙂 After breakfast we drove the 10 km to the city center to explore Dubrovnik Croatia.
Parking in not easy to find in Dubrovnik, especially not on Pentecost Sunday. In Dubrovnik Croatia you have to pay for Parking every day of the week but Jeremy found a tiny spot along the road that was probably the only free parking spot in the entire city. We had to walk a short distance down a a hill to the main part of town. We passed a pretty beach called Benji Beach, and arrived in the old town Dubrovnik Croatia. Behind the chruch in the narrow streets, we found hidden opening that lead to a secret cove in the city walls with a tiny cafe. After sitting on the rocks, enjoying the sun and cliffdiving, we walked throught the City and back to our car.
That night we prepaired a Croatian/German dish for lunch and we spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool.
For dinner we had a homemade noodle salad with croatian meat. After dinner we left to visit the next village called Cavtat. Cavtat is beautiful. We spend the evening walking around the port and eating an ice cream.
Vacation Dubrovnik
We slept in this morning and after breakfast we packed our things in our quite, ocean view apartment in Podaca. We had such a good afternoon with the croatian couple the night before but it was time to get back on the road – Vacation Dubrovnik
So we said our goodbyes to Marija and her husband, gave hugs and we were off to our next destination.
After crossing the boarder into Bosnia we stopped to have lunch in a little grill restaurant in the small village of Neum. It was a good thing that we were allowed to pay with Croatian currecny, because we didn’t have a chance to stop and get Bosnian currency. After feeling fit and full again we continued on.
Vacation Dubrovnik
We crossed the Bosnian boarder back into Croatia and we soon arrived in our vacation Dubrovnik. The Coastal roads offered such a fantastic view which was what we expected to see when we planned our road trip and it was a great first impression Dubrovnik. We drove further down the coast, past the city center to find more afordable apartments.
The third Apartment we visited, was perfect. The name is Marnic Apartments. We could not imagine anything better and it is properly the nicest one of our whole trip. The apartment was huge and it had an awesome ocean view, a great terrace and a beautiful private pool. The inside of the apartment was fully loaded with a good bathroom, a great shower a double bed and nice sofa that you could turn into bed. The apartment also came with a very new kitchen where we cooked every day of our Stay. It was perfect!
Actually the plan was to see Dubrovnik in the evening, but we were so impressed with the nice, quiet Apartment with the perfect view, that we enjoyed the evening there. We only left to get groceries in the next village and cooked and relaxed on our Terrace.
Croatian Hospitality
After visiting the beautiful cities in the north of Croatia we were not particularly impressed with Split. The city center is run down and probably not the safest so we decided that one night was enough and continued on.
On our way we found a small Pizza place called Domina in the center of Nikola-makarska. We spent about 2 hours there enjoying an order of their delicious pizza.
After lunch the plan was to drive all the way to Dubrovnik but the weather was so bad that after two hours of driving we decided to look for an apartment. We saw a sign off of the road in Podaca advertising available apartments so we decided to stop and check it out. The apartment was absolutely beautiful and it had a balcony that overlooked the ocean. The owner Marija did not speak English or German but we managed to communicate and negotiate a price on her hand held calculator.
After settling in to the apartment we met Marija’s husband who is a carpenter and makes his own chairs and terrace furniture out of wood. He invited us to try some of his homemade liqueur and he showed us his work shop. We were all sitting together on the terrace and he and Jeremy began taking turns at playing his guitar. Marija’s husband sang croatian songs for us and Jeremy shared some of his American music.
Later a family friend by the name of Raoke came to visit, he spoke English and German which made everything easier. He brought olives out of his garden and wine for us to try.
We were the first guests in Marija’s apartment this season and her husband wanted to make dinner for us. We got so delicious croatian saucages and bread and Marija made palatschinken for desert. We Will Never forget this perfect croatian afternoon.
Krka National Park
In the morning we went into the city of Zadar to grab breakfast before heading out to Krka National Park. We sat down at a nice little Croatian restaurant where they advertised a “delicious English breakfast.” We both ended up passing on breakfast all together and ordered the Spaghetti Bolognese. I know you might be wondering, Spaghetti for breakfast? But after seeing the picture of the English breakfast I’m sure anyone would have done the same.
Towards the end of our breakfast we noticed a crowd of young people in matching shirts gathering in the streets. I wanted to know what it was all about so I asked one of the guys in the crowd. He told me the students in Croatia celebrate the end of a school year by having a food fight. The students divide themselves up into separate groups that wear different color shirts according to their class and participate in the event. By the afternoon the small food fight turned into all out war. Some students were being ambushed with flour bombs and egg launchers. I even saw a group of students armed with ketchup and mustard squirters shooting crazy into a crowd of their peers. The food fight was all in good fun and very exiting to watch. I had to dodge a few flour bombs myself while capturing the footage on my go pro. Luckily, both of us survived the battle free of any stains.
We left Zadar around noon headed for Krka National Park, the second national park of the trip. We arrived at the park shortly after 3pm when most of the visitors were on their way out. We followed the main trail which was an easy 4 kilometer hike to the big waterfall. When we finally arrived at the falls I was completely blown away. Krka’s waterfall is absolutely massive. Made up of 17 smaller waterfalls the Krka waterfall is easily the coolest thing I’ve seen so far on our road trip. We spent about an hour swimming and relaxing around the falls before getting back on the road.
Our final stop for the day was scheduled for Split. We made it to Split around 9pm and drove around the city center looking for accommodation. I read so many great things about Split during our research of the city and wasn’t expecting to have much trouble finding a place even at such a late hour but boy was I wrong. We must have checked out a dozen places but every place we checked was either super sketch or ridiculously out of our budget. We ended up finding a small apartment 5km outside of city and called it a night.
Vir Croatia
We started our day a little before noon and drove to Vir Croatia. A long bridge connects Vir Croatia to the mainland to make it easy for people to cross over without having to board a ferry. Upon arrival we stopped at a small cafe and met a few locals that told us where to find the best spots on the island. Unfortunately most of the places in Vir don’t serve food until 3pm so we picked up a few things from the local bakery to hold us over.
After exploring the island some more we decided to pick a spot on the east side to relax. We spent a few hours snorkeling and lounging on the beach. The water in Vir Croatia is so clear and and there are so many good spots that often we had a whole beach to ourselves.
Later we ate dinner at an small place in Nin called Pizza Palace. The food was excellent and like most restaurants in Croatia, the prices were cheap. After dinner we walked around the old town. We saw a nice church courtyard and a very cool stone bridge.
Plitvice National Park
Since we arrived so late the night before we got out of having to pay for a Plitvice National Park parking day pass which can be pricey during the high season. The entrance to the Plitvice National Park was about a 5 minute walk from our car so we were already off to a good start. The price for students is about 11 Euro and it includes bus rides through the park and one ferry ride. Online we found advice on which was the best route to follow but if you want to avoid the massive crowds follow our route and you will have the best views of the park with the sun always in the perfect spot for photos:
Start early to avoid the crowds and begin your day by taking the bus from Parking Lot 2 to STR 3
Hike to P2 and check out the small rivers, lakes and stunning views from the highest part of the park.
From P2 take the ferry to P3 and stop for lunch. The kitchen doesn’t open till 11:30 so be the first in line at 11:15 and you can have first pick at the meat fresh off the grill.
By noon the park is packed so try to make your way to the Big waterfall before 1pm when the sun is at the highest point in the sky to see a cool rainbow effect in the waterfall.
Close out the hike by walking the rest of the way to Parking Lot 1 and hop on the bus back to Parking Lot 2
The whole hike should take you 6 hours, give or take a few, and plan to be back by 3pm because the heat is brutal in the summer.
We left the park at 3pm and were set on reaching the coast before sundown. We arrived in Zadar much faster than we expected so we stopped in the city center to explore a little bit. We enjoyed a couple of Zadar’s famous pizza sandwiches and made it to the beach house before 8pm just in time to witness our first beach sunset of the trip.
Rastoke Croatia - Our Road Trip
We left Zagreb first thing in the morning and our next stop was Karlovac on our way to Rastoke Croatia. We saw a sport fishing competition at the river and we met the Croatian national team coach. He didn’t speak very much English and preferred speaking German so Ina did most of the talking but he told us about the sport and a little history about the town of Karlovac. Karlovac has 4 rivers that flow through the town and the locals often joke about the 5th river that is made of beer because of a famous brew there called Karlovako.
For a small town there is so much to see and we decided to spend the afternoon at the Vrbanicev Park and walked around Lake Korana. The views in Karlovac are simply amazing. Lake Korana is so cool because it has its own mini waterfall and on the south side of the lake there are 3 diving platforms, the highest of which looked about 13 meters high. If I were to come back to Karlovac in the mid summer I’m sure the lake would be packed.
Waterfalls Rastoke Croatia
After a short coffee and snack break at the Green Cafe we headed to another small city along the way called Rastoke Croatia. Rastoke is easily my favorite little town so far. The old town is famous for its many mills and beautiful waterfalls. We spent a little over an our hiking the short trails and relaxing in one of the small parks which was very beautifully landscaped. You can tell the people of Rastoke take pride in their town as they are eager to share their history with you.
Unfortunately, we had to pass over visiting Slunj because we spent a little too much time at the waterfalls in Rastoke Croatia and we headed for Plitvice National Park. We arrived at the camp grounds a little late and were unable to book a room so we found a safe area and set up camp in the Audi and spent the night in the car. The Audi’s bucket seats aren’t the most comfortable but when you’re planning a road trip on the fly sometimes you have to just roll with it… Get it? Roll with it.
Read more blog posts about our Croatian Trip here: Croatia
Croatia Roadtrip
We left Germany for a roadtrip through Croatia and we want to see the wonderful nature, breathtaking waterfalls and beautiful and lonely beaches in Croatia.
Day 1: Graz, VaRazdin and zagreb
We stoped on our way in Graz, the second largest city in Austria. The old center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We enjoyed a few minutes in the nice park.
We drove through Slovenia and our next stop was Varazdin in Croatia. We explored the town and had dinner at a nice restaurant, called Dominico.
After 1,5 hours driving we arrived in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We had a small room close to the center.
Day 2:
We left Zagreb in the morning and our next stop was Karlovac. We saw a sport fishing competition at the river and we met the Croatian national team coach. We enjoyed the Vrbanicev Park and walked around the Lake Korana.