Where to go in Croatia?

I spent a week in Cavtat (just south from Dubrovnik) about ten/twelv years ago now. It was quite nice. Quieter than Dubrovnik, some nice restaurants, nice snorkelling. Not sure how quiet it would be now though

We were in Cavtat last year. Quite a few restaurants etc but still felt really nice. Not a lot of sandy beach, but plenty of rocky ones and places to get in the blue water. It was very hot when we went, c. 40 degrees.

We stayed in Porec a few years ago. Lovely old town, couple of decent beaches if that's your thing, very laid back. Saw quite a few sea kayaks out every day.

Don't remember it being that busy either.

Check out Makarska too - lovely little place, Split is great, really tall tower to walk up with great views. 

Following with interest as I'm heading out that way in a couple of weeks for the family hol. We are staying in Mlini, which is just a bit up the coast towards Dubrovnik from Cavtat. Hoping to not to have to hire a car for once, hope that's not a stupid idea.

Omis is a lovely small town. We started our cycle tour to Tirana from there last year. The road inland following the river was quiet and the scenery was nice. There are plenty of other activities you can do in Omis including white water rafting and zip lining.

Went to Vis for a week six years ago, hired a car on the island for a couple of days to get to the further flung beaches, but also walked a lot (May, so not as hot as now). I liked it, mix of rich folk with big yachts and normal folk eating in the cheaper places. Son and his mate hired mountain bikes as well, snorkeling was good.

There's an amazing wartime u boat base, with underground pens you can swim into and tunnels and gun emplacements. 

Went to hvar before that, bit more party focussed, with pirate themed party boats  sailing around blaring out summer beats. Less sandy beaches just sharp rocky coves. The towns were quite nice though, we hired bikes and wee boats to get around there, and used buses.

Not sure about taking your hire car on the ferries, guess that's down to the t&C's, I'd not bother and make use of public transport/bike hire/taxi's.

I've been twice. The first time (probably 16-17 years ago) was in Cavtat. Good for Dubrovnik - a half hour bus ride or a slightly longer boat taxi.

The second time - a year later I stayed in Orebic, it's a 3-4 hour drive north of Dubrovnik on the Dalmation coast. A short ferry over to the island Korcula. The main Korcula town also called 'little Dubrovnik' for a reason...

There isn't much in the way of sandy beaches. All tend to be rocky. Lots of urchins so take some water footwear. Lovely water / swimming / snorkelling tho.

Don't underestimate distances. Aaaaand if driving direct to Split you have to cross the Bosnian border. Or you go via the islands and bypass the bit of Bosnia that prevents it from being landlocked. Ignore me there's a bridge now.

Mlijet is supposedly worth a visit. I never made it our day boat trip got cancelled. I've got fond memories of my 2 holidays there. Not sure how much it has changed in the 15 or so years....

We stayed on an island called Lopud, where you can't take your car as motorised vehicles aren't allowed. It was an old soviet block hotel, so not a pretty place but a lovely relaxing island to spend time on. Hunt out Buza2 on the outside of the city wall in Dubrovnik especially as the sun goes down. 

Also stayed in Hotel Lone, Rovinj (no where near where you are going), it popped up as brand new on a travel site when we went, so took a gamble as it was un-reviewed. Easily the nicest place we've ever stayed, I think they used the holiday company to get some initial bookings in and now don't need to as it's triple the price we paid. This isn't helpful, but I thought I'd tell you anyway. 

Essentially 2 trips to Croatia, both were really lovely, it's a hard place to have a bad time in my experience. 

Omis is a lovely small town. We started our cycle tour to Tirana from there last year. The road inland following the river was quiet and the scenery was nice. There are plenty of other activities you can do in Omis including white water rafting and zip lining.

we also stayed there a few years ago, just up the road in Duce.  hired a villa across the road from the only sandy beach we could find in the area.

and yes, enjoyed a boat ride up the river with a beer stop midway.

Have you heard of the Maskeron challenge? I was introduced to this when I was at a conference there just a couple of weeks before the war kicked off (I swear I didn't start it). Anyway, I was told the challenge was actually to take off your shirt, turn it inside out and put it back on. Which I did!! It's not actually that hard for a climber.

@chakaping, whatever you do I'd love to see the photos. I can give you no up to date advice as my last 'holiday' was 1998. 

I'm currently planning a trip for my 50th next year to visit Croatia and B&H, it was my first operational tour, which to be honest became a bit if a footnote due to the dominance of Iraq and Afghanistan on my career.

Currently planning a road trip starting in Split, routing to Gornji Vakuf, Banja Luka, Sarajevo then finally Srebrenica. 

Krka Lakes national park is great, you could also go South from Dubrovnik into Montenegro and go to the bay of Kotor.

We spent two weeks there (including an 8 nights island cruise) you simply can't go wrong.

Porec was really busy, completely turned over to tourism. Now they have the euro Croatia is also quite expensive compared to Italy. Split is great for the roman history though, Dubrobnik we thought a bit spoilt by over tourism. I've heard the islands are lovely though.

Was in Croatia a couple of weeks ago ie before the "season" really kicked off and toured around a bit

Dubrovnik - superb if you like the history/architecture but insanely crowded. Took us a morning to wander around the old city/city walls then I wanted to get the hell out.

Split - stayed just outside the old city walls, right near the harbour. Definitely more of a younger, party crowd and nearly as busy as Dubrovnik. Just FYI: Split is a huge sprawling city and the "old city" is just a tiny corner of it...

We got the ferry to Hvar when in Split. There is a car ferry (operated by the National ferry company IIRC) but there are also some passenger only catamaran ferries. These went to a different port on Hvar. Hvar town was ok but I didn't see anything which would make me want to stay more than a day.

Rovinj - a LOT further north and, even though it was still busy, it was my favourite place. Very "middle class" 😉

We were touring around and I had my gravel bike with me so we needed a hire car but, frankly, the car was a liability in some place. Parking is problematic/expensive in Dubrovnik and Split (there are parking apps but I can't remember which ones). Also, some of the small towns/resorts along the coast don't really have enough capacity for all the incoming cars, so you've either got to get there very early, or pay a LOT for parking or walk in from far.

Our AirBnB in Rovinj had a couple of (very) cheap "mountain bikes" for our use, so we just used them for scooting around beaches and going out for dinner

Edit 1: If you're driving, note that changes of speed limits aren't always posted - I posted a thread about it on here if you want more info....

Edit 2: if you fancy going to one of the Croatian national parks, you may need to book tickets. We had planned on going to Krka or Plitvice national parks but it didn't seem as though you could just turn up and wander round at will like you can do in the UK. (You had to get a tour bus in one of them IIRC so we didn't bother going)

Another vote for Omis, stayed there a few yrs ago now. Also 2nd the trip up the river and the national lake park. Amazing country, I'm sure you'll enjoy wherever you end up.

This little restaurant not far from the airport is awesome. Tables in/on the stream outside.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8EDnNEKp7fV1CJum9?g_st=ipc

To me the best bit is not hiring a car. Get the boat to Split stopping on a couple of islands. Then bus back or vice Versa. Dubrovnic is as good as it gets for a tourist thing

Ask if you want more details

Don't remember much of Split when we went about 15 years ago but loved Zadar.

We stayed in Tisno for some of that trip which may still stand a chance of being a little quieter. 

Last year we stayed in Cavtat in early season and it's clear the area is a destination now. Not so accessible to the cruise boats unlike Dubrovnik. Was advised not to visit Dubrovnik when the cruise boats are in as it gets so busy. 

Wherever you go the coast is great for snorkeling and kayaking. And ice-cream.

We went last year via Split, its the nicest airport I have been to in years, although the food options are very limited !  You can however walk to a beach in 10 minutes where there are a couple of restaurants that look a bit dodge, but are actually very nice.

We took the ferries out to the islands, basically you can island hop (not all places are car ferries). Some parts of the islands are very busy, others not.

We spent most of our time on Korcula, Vela Luka. A not overly touristy part of the island, where as Korcula Town at the other end, although very pretty is very much the touristy destination of the island. It looked like it had some very nice gravel/mtb riding on well maintained sign posted trails. The locals talked highly about it, but the hire bikes were not great and it was too hot when we were there. 

This year we are flying to Dubrovnik. We are going to be based on Mljet for a week. We have hired a car from the airport, it was ridiculously cheap to do it for the week. We have already booked the car ferry over to Mljet. It will give us flexibility to go to other islands too if we want to. Mrs FD is well in to her open water swimming so we basically are 

The ferries are pretty big but loading is a bit chaotic !

We have heard about Dubrovnik being over crowded these days too, which is a shame.

Would be very interested to hear of what is worth visiting north of Dubrovnik before we head up towards Mljet, even if slightly in land?

Another vote for Rovinj. Also try Plitvice Lakes - its amazing with board walks across water falls/lakes etc.

Posted by: timmys

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Following with interest as I'm heading out that way in a couple of weeks for the family hol. We are staying in Mlini, which is just a bit up the coast towards Dubrovnik from Cavtat. Hoping to not to have to hire a car for once, hope that's not a stupid idea.

I stayed in Mlini, there's a water taxi and good local bus services to / from Dubrovnik. If you're staying there the abandoned Hotel Kupari is an interesting place for a nosey around, just along the beach towards Dubrovnik.

Posted by: oomidamon

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If you're staying there the abandoned Hotel Kupari is an interesting place for a nosey around, just along the beach towards Dubrovnik.

Thanks for the tip, sounds interesting and just doing some reading about the hotels, looks as though they have started fencing them off and demolishing them this year though.

Thanks for all the responses, some great advice and food for thought there 🙂

The fort on the hill above Dubrovnic is worth a visit. Set up as a museum to the siege of the city in the 90's conflict. One room dedicated to the horrors of the siege, the other rooms to boys with their toys. It's easy to see how (along with the narative that it was only the other side that did bad shit) coflicts with Croatia's neighbours are far from resolved.

Would anyone be able to recommend a car hire company at Dubrovnik airport?

We were in Dubrovnik at the end of June - already very busy, and was glad we were staying well outside the old city / main tourist areas. If you do visit (and it is worth a visit) go early, and check the websites for quieter days. 

Definitely take some form of beach/swimming shoe - the rocks are sharp and when we were there very hot!

Cavtat was nice - 30 minutes by bus from Dubrovnik, less touristy things, but still pretty busy.

Its a bit further up but Cres, Mali Losinj islands ar ebeautiful and accessible with ferries. Rab island was unbelievably busy.... 

I have the GPS tracks for the 4Islands race on these islands if you want them but as I said, a bit far north for you.