Has anyone been to Croatia?

Question

What's it like? Where's good to go? What's good to do there? I'm thinking of going late august.

Answer 1

Yes, you MUST go there...

Dubrovnik is one of the best preserved medieval cities in Europe... and you can still walk around the whole of the old city on the original medieval city walls...

Split (in the Northern Istra region) is where you will find Diocletian's Palace (built as the retirement home of the Romana Emperor Diocletian)

Plitvice Lakes is where you will find stunning lakes and forests...

Pula (near the Italian border in the North West) has the largest Roman ampitheatre in the world.

From Split you can take the ferry down pas the islands of the Adriatic to Dubrovnik, and it's one of the classic journeys of Eastern Europe...always in sight of the coast, and it stops at islands like Hvar (where they give you a refund on your accomodation in the hotel if it rains!)

Zagreb is a classical Austro-Hungarian city... like Vienna

I started in Pula (travelled there by bus from Triest, and got to Trieste by Ryanair for £10!) then travelled by bus to Split, side trip to Plitvice Lakes, took the ferry from Split down to Hvar then ferry to Dubrovnik.

After Dubrovnik I took the train to Mostar and Sarajevo in Bosnia, and finished with a train to Zagreb...

I highly recommend a tour like that :) It's easy to get around by bus and train, there are amazing places to see, beautiful girls (something in the water in Split I think!) ...and you will never forget it!

Happy Trails

Philip

Answer 2

Croatia is wonderful! It's one of the most beautiful places to visit. The coast line is fantastic--crystal clear water for swimming and snorkeling. Dubrovnik is a beautiful and old city which you should visit. It is very crowded because Croatia is getting to be so popular though. I think it's better to stay outside the city and just visit it for a day or two. I like staying in smaller villages. Look for one called Molunat. It's in the south--further south than Dubrovnik. I think it's wonderful. If you don't want such a small place then Cavtat, also nearby that region, is very nice. There are a number of nice islands off the coast if you just prefer to relax on the beach, but Croatia's old cities are well worth visiting, so I'd plan a few days on the mainland. Split and Dubrovnik are two cities that are nice and full of history.
You will find that some people speak English in Croatia, especially on the "tourist trail". However, many people don't speak English. It's worth learning how to pronounce Croatian sounds so that you can read a map and say the city properly--some of them don't sound anything like they look to an English speaker. The best thing in Croatia is the beautiful coast line and the old cities, plus the really friendly and wonderful people who live there.

Answer 3

I went to Croatia last summer. I went to Zagreb and the Plitvice Lakes National Park, which I'm surprised nobody has really mentioned yet. Zagreb was a very chilled out city with a great pavement cafe type of atmosphere with some nice charming streets etc. Plitvice, which Ive read is Croatia's top tourist attraction is absolutely beautiful. Dozens of cascading waterfalls, lakes, endless forest, with some nice and varied wildlife too. Very relaxing, it does get a lot of visitors though, so you don't get the place to yourself unfortunately! If you go to the park you only need a day. There's nothing else in the national park apart from 2 hotels and a shop and cafe! The Croats were very friendly people, and from talking to other tourists Ive heard that Split is supposed to be one of the prettiest cities in Europe, and that the whole Dalmatia region is very beautiful. It is a country I definitely want to see more of. Hope you have a great time there!

Answer 4

late August will be crowded with Germans but the coast is beautiful that time of the year (nice from spring to fall). It's on the Adriatic and there are many islands so it would be nice to take a boat ride if you can. Dubrovnik, Split, Trogir, Zadar are all really nice cities along the coast. Hvar, Mljet, Brac, and Korcula are beautiful islands (Hvar is famous for lavender, Mljet for vineyards). Zagreb is a nice capital with old world charm. I'd avoid eastern Croatia since those towns were more damaged by the war and have less for a tourist to do.

English and German will be spoken.

Answer 5

Hi!
I've been to Croatia several times. Great place! Amazing coast. It is worth to see Dubrovnik, (acient part of) Split, Zadar, Trogir, but the islands (esepecially Korcula) are cool too.
People are friendly, very good food, drinks, nice restaurants!

Answer 6

I've had friends go. It's beautiful when you get away from the war damage. The weather is Mediterranean. Like Spain or California. It used to be a really popular resort area before the war. It's getting popular now too.

Answer 7

Yes I have

Answer 8

This is an answer I posted to someone with a similar question, hopefully it will help you too:

I've gone to Croatia every summer for the past six years. Here are the best spots and perhaps the most practical way to spend your eight days.

Starting point: Split (1 night)

Spend one night in Split. Split is a great city, but it's tough if you don't know the scene. Checking out Diocletian's palace is a must, and all the gelato, cafes, and sightseeing is perfect for the day. At night, the best club is called Tribu, but don't bother cabbing it there (too expensive). You could walk there from downtown, it's near the soccer stadium, so just ask a local where to go. Split is a very safe city, so walking around drunk in the wee hours is extremely appropriate. You could even ask a cop or local to give you a ride home. A closer nightscence would be the Bacvice (pronounced Bah-chvitz-eh). It's a complex of cafes, restaurants and mini discos. It's right by the sea, a very close walk from the downtown strip, and is a very chill and relaxing place to hang out (with various levels of uptemponess depending on which joint at Bacvice you decide to settle on). All of these options charge no cover for entry and all beverages are much cheaper (and better) than here in North America. As for accomodation, you could easily get a place for $20 per person. You will run into some little old ladies who are trying to rent their places out to you. Some of them have decent places, but make sure that it is close to the city center. You can also talk them down pricewise as well. If you want a higher quality place, just go to a tourist desk and ask for "private accomodation" and give them a quick list of what you want such as location, air conditioning, etc. As for swimming, if you don't have a car, then it will be difficult as Split is a port city and doesnt have many decent beaches in the city. but 15-20 minutes outside of it is fine. I would just recommend that you just wait and hit the beach on your next stop....

Second stop: The island of Brac (2-3 nights)

This is the closest island to Split, and beachwise, it is THE BEST. Bol is the name of the town and you can take a super fast Katamaran to this spot for only 22 kunas ( approx. $4). It takes 45 minutes to get there. the boat tickets will sell out if you try and buy them at the last minute, but you should be more than safe buying it a couple of hours in advance (there is a "Jadrolinija" Kiosk right on the port where you buy them). This island is very chill, and is more of a loungy outdoor cocktail bar environment. The beach is a freakish wonder, named the Golden Cape (Zlatni Rat), where the shoreline hits it from both sides:
http://www.adria-bol.hr/im-bol1.jpg...
The pebbles are extremely small and smooth, the water is clearer than anything I've ever seen, and there is a great deal of cool activities to do (i.e. wind surfing, tubing, kite surfing, etc). The best pizza in the WORLD is at a place called "Pizzeria Skalinada". You must ask for this place when u get there, these amazing pizzas are roughly $5, but huge. Bol is extremely small, so everything is a walk away. If you want, you could rent scooters for fun, but it's kind of expensive ($20 per day). Accomodation wont cost you more than $20-25 per night, per person, just go to a tourist desk (there are like 3 of them in a 5 minutes walk span once you get off the boat). If you're a beach bum, you will LOVE Bol and I once stayed there for a week straight doing absolutely NOTHING. I also recall. foodwise there is also a place near the beach the serves the best Spagetti Pesto Mozzarella ever. Also, when you go to Pizzeria Skalinada, try the "topli sendvic". It's a Pannini hot sandwich with prosciutto, cheese, mayo, pickles on the freshest bread. Unbelievable. What you will miss beachwise in Split, you will more than make up for it on Bol. Culture-wise there are not many historic sights on Bol, as in Split, but the next stop makes up for it.

Next stop: Hvar (2 -3 nights)

This oldest inhabited island in Croatia has a lot of nice scenery. To get from Bol to Hvar Island, you can take a katamaran (for roughly $3) directly from Bol to a town called Jelsa (located on Hvar Island, 30 minutes away). You can relax in Jelsa for a bit if you'd like (it is a nice town), but I'd recommend you take a bus to Hvar. There are a lot of buses going there, and cabs are expensive. If you're lucky, there may be a kombi (a taxi van) that will take you for a very decent price and it'll get u there faster. Hvar town is one of those island port cities where everything is at least 500 years old and everything is done in cobblestone. A lot of sights, a much more uptempo nightlife than Bol, but the beaches are more of a rocky slab type. The water is extremely clean, but this is more of a place where you dive into the water. the water is almost instantaneously deep, and has a lot of nice mini cliffs and some ports to jump off of. There are nice yachts and nice restaurants here as well. Hvar is more of a chic place to be, but if you get private accomodation, it won't cost u more than $30 tops per night.

Next stop: Korcula, Makarska, and/or Dubrovnik

Of course you can't hit everything in 8 days, but these are the most practical places to check out without straying too far off from your final destination of Dubrovnik.

Dubrovnik is an extremely relaxed place, with great cafes, restaurants, and the BEST place to sightsee. I can go on and on about Dubrovnik, but I will just say that you must spend at least a couple of nights here. I stayed at a friend's place when I went so I can't say how much accomodation will be, but I believe private accommodation should be comparable. You can get to Dubrovnik easily by bus from Spit, or even by ferry from Korcula.

Korcula is the next island over from Hvar. You can take a ferry or a katamaran to Korcula from Hvar for a similar price ($4-6). It's a cross between Bol and Hvar in terms of beaches and the scene. It definitely has its own flavour and many people love it for it being largely unspoiled. Oddly enough, it is the most inhabited island.

Makarska is on the mainland, between Split and Dubrovnik. It is a cool place simply because it has quite the Balkan flavour. A lot of Bosnian Croats come down to Makarska a lot, and the cafes and discos there are genuinely local. If you want to experience some hardcore local music and flavour, without the mainstream music, try Makarska. Eat foods such as Burek and Chevapi (you'll love it). The BEST, and I mean BEST, burger joint in the friggin universe is here. It's called HAMBI. YOU MUST EAT HERE. Due to Makarska's strong connection with the Bosnian communities, you can get some amazily counterfeit products (many times you can get real products!) for a very cheap price. They have name brand products, such as Diesel wear and Ray Bans, for $20. They have the tags on them and everything. I don't know why this isn't illegal, but I'll take it. Makarska is extremely cheap for accomodation. Just talk to the lil' old ladies at the bus station and you'll get a place for like 11 Euros per person. Makarska is just so fun and great, simply because of how cheap everything is, and it seems to have a great soul to the city. I even forgot to mention that there are some pretty decent beaches and sightseeing in Makarska as well!

Honestly, I don't know how you're going to fit this in eight days, but my recommendation is that you hit Split, Bol, Hvar in that order...take an early ferry back to Split (8am) and try and go to Makarska and Dubrovnik. If you're really loving the island life, then skip Makarska and go to Korcula and ferry it over to Dubrovnik from there. Don't try and do too much. If you're constantly running around, you won't enjoy the true culture of the Croats, which is simply...doing nothing and kicking back.

Answer 9

yeh i spent a great summer there a few years ago, ethnic cleansing, oh what fun we had Arkan the tiger,Slobodan milosovich and i.

Answer 10

I haven't been there.