I had the most amazing time travelling along parts of the coastline with my husband last month. I loved the stunning scenery, swimming from the rocks and exploring the old towns. We spent nine days in the country, starting in Dubrovnik, heading up the coast to the island of Hvar and then spending the final few days in Split. Here are some of my best bits of the holiday..
HVAR
I could've stayed in Hvar for days! As it was we were there for three, but we certainly saw plenty.
We arrived on the ferry and as soon as we got off the boat I knew I was going to love the island. The old town is just so quaint and has a really relaxed feel to it. By day there's lots of people milling around, shopping at the market stalls along the side of the water and eating food in the street cafes. You'll also bump into a lot of guided tours of the town, although I didn't join in! At night the town was all lit up and there was a real buss around the place as people drank in bars on the edge of the water, and others partied on yachts and boats docked in the ports.
I would definitely recommend a walk up to Fortico, above the town. The views at the top are well worth the steep walk in the heat. And for the same reason I'd recommend paying to go into the Fort - not so much for the fort itself, but to see the views from even higher up.
On the ferry, and on signs in the town, there's lots of reminders of the rules in Hvar, for example how public drinking could get you a fine of £623 and walking around in a swimsuit could cost you £534, Don't let these put you off, just follow the rules and you'll love the island!
THE SWIMMING
If you are looking for stunning beaches, then Croatia isn't for you! Every 'beach' we were recommended was a very gravelly patch of land on the edge of the sea - not really the most relaxing! However, the swimming is incredible as there's lots of places to swim straight off the rocks along the coastline. And as someone who doesn't really like sea swimming, I was in as often as I could!
Just a note, if you are in Split, follow the road along the coast past the port and you'll find a bustling place to swim and sunbathe - a place we sadly only found on the last day, and majorly regretted not finding sooner!
DUBROVNIK
Hvar was my favourite place on my trip, but Dubrovnik was a close second. I'm not a Game of Thrones fan, but if you are, make sure to visit because the old town is the real-life set for large parts of the series. And you are reminded of it everywhere as there are souvenirs in all the shops.
We stayed in part of the city called Lapad, and I'm glad we did as it was a lot more relaxing and 'seaside-y' compared to the Old Town, yet it didn't take long to get into the walled city on the bus.
One of the things that everyone recommended we do was walk around the old city walls, and not to miss out, we headed up to walk round. What we weren't expecting was a fee of about £35 (between us) for the privilege! It did seem a lot of money to walk around for an hour in the heat and to be honest with you, I felt quite ripped off! Walking the walls does give you a unique view of the city though so I would recommend it, just be prepared for the cost!
THE DAY TRIPS
We went on two, organised day trips whilst we were in Croatia - one booked locally, and the other booked online before we went. The first took was whilst we were in Dubrovnik and it took to the
Elafiti islands where we hopped between Kolocep, Lopud and Sipan. They were all varying sizes, and all absolutely stunning. There wasn't a large amount to do in each place, other than have a short walk around and a chill on the beach - but what else do you want to do when on holiday?!
Our second tour was whilst we were in Split and we headed out to the National Park of Krka. As you can see from this photo, the waterfalls were absolutely stunning. What wasn't as fun through was the sheer number of people swimming in the water at the bottom. Again the 'beach' was a total let down and there were simply hundreds of people trying to swim in a tiny amount of space. Not quite the romantic ideal I had in mind...
The tour also took us to the town of Sibenik and I would totally recommend stopping off there. It is almost a thousand years old, and again parts are used for Game of Thrones filming - but it isn't as commercialised as Dubrovnik which makes it even nicer to visit. The highlight of the town has to be the cathedral but unfortunately it was closed for a school visit so we didn't get to go inside...
THE FOOD
Most of every day revolves around food, and holiday is no different. In fact it is probably even more important! And we had some wonderful food in Croatia. I can't say there is a distinct genre of food in the country, but there was a lot of Italian influence and we ate a lot of pizza and seafood.
One of my favourite meals though has to be at a place we were recommended to go in Hvar called Fig which is down a side street off the main square,. One of the people that runs it is Australian and that is certainly obvious in the menu, which features lots of tasty flatbread options. Mine was topped with figs and farm house cheese and I'd go back to Hvar just to have it again! It was delicious.
THE PEOPLE
One final highlight of the holiday were the people we met, who were just so friendly. The first place we stayed, a little apartment a short walk from the beach in Lapad, was run by a lovely couple, who really went above and beyond for us. That included plying us with cheery liquor at all hours of the day - especially after breakfast. Not something I' can say I've done before!
I would certainly recommend Croatia as the perfect place to have a relaxing holiday, whilst getting to explore a lot too. In fact, I don't think we explored as much as we could have. There was a little island called Korcula that we dropped before off at whilst on the ferry between Dubrovnik and Hvar and I wished we'd planned to stop there too. I think you only really need a day and a half in each of the places we stopped in so I could recommend stopping in as many places as you possibly can! You won't regret it.
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