A couple of friends and I are going to be spending about a week in Croatia later this year. Any advice on things to see/do/avoid?
We are flying in and out of Split. We plan on spending a day or two there, and then going to Dubrovnik (possibly by boat?). We’ve tossed around the idea of a day trip to Mostar, Bosnia or Kotor, Montenegro. I am a little hesitant about either of those as we would rent a car and drive. My only experience with driving in Eastern Europe is from a trip to Romania 10+ years ago and it was frankly terrifying (by American standards) at times - bad drivers, poor infrastructure, and constantly needing to go around various horse-drawn wagons sharing the same road. Are conditions in rural Croatia/Bosnia/Montenegro similar or better?
My friend wants to kayak some caves (I believe around Dubrovnik) but other than that and allotting time to explore the old city we haven’t planned much else yet!
I drove from Baška to Dubrovnik (via Split) in September of 2021. Driving was perfectly fine, especially on the main north-south highway. We took the coastal road south of Split and it was also fine (more twists and turns, but more scenic). I recommend it if you decide to drive that part of your trip. We did not encounter a single horse-drawn wagon.
One thing you want to watch out for is the Neum gap, which is a little bit of Bosnia that sticks out to the shore and you have to cross if you want to drive from Split to Dubrovnik while staying on the mainland. We had no problems crossing, but there is a passport check (so have that on hand). When I was there they had almost finished a bridge that lets you bypass the gap while staying in Croatia (by transiting to an island) and I assume it is done by now, so that’s probably an option.
We were fine in a car driving everywhere. There’s a new bridge open that allows you to drive from Split to Dubrovnik without entering Bosnia. It had just opened 2 days ago when we went so we were some of the first people across.
Coincidentally, we just visited Kotor yesterday, and Dubrovnik the day before, by Viking cruise ship, so I have only limited insight, other than to say that Old Town Dubrovnik is beautiful, but very touristy, especially now in the high (and HOT!) season.
I’ll follow this thread to note with envy all the amazing things we could have done if we’d spent more time in the Balkans. Enjoy yourself!
My comments on Croatia are there. My advice focuses on the north coast and not Split (we find it too touristy), but the general advice about food and historical sites still applies.
I just returned from a three week trip to Croatia, a small tour organized by a friend. The first part was a land tour on a bus, including two days in Slovenia. That part ended in Split, where we caught a nice 36 passenger yacht where we went to several islands before arriving at Dubrovnik. My wife and I had planned to take day tours from Dubrovnik to both Mostar and Kotor, but decided that spending six or more hours on a bus (there were reports that the border crossing could take over an hour) wasn’t what we wanted to do at the end our our trip. However, a couple from our group did go to Mostar and said it was worth it, the border wasn’t an issue. You can find multiple tour operators from Viator (which I think is now part of Tripadvisor) for reasonable prices (about 60 euros or so per person). That’s probably worth it, let someone else worry about driving.
You can take a ferry from Split to Dubrovnik, it takes about 6 hours. Of course, if you do that I recommend spending a night or two in Korcula and then continuing to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik was packed full of tourists. I wish we could have spent more time in Korcula.
Any reason you are flying out of Split and not Dubrovnik? Seems that you waste some of your vacation time just getting back to Split.
Uber works extremely well in Dubrovnik, as do the busses.
Definitely plan on taking a swim in the sea.
Edited to add: If you do rent a car, be aware that there is no tolerance for driving after a drink, that is the legal limit is 0% BAC. Another reason to let someone else do the driving if you drink. Speaking of which, Croatian wine and beer is excellent.
Agree, especially the wine. It deserves more attention than it gets compared to other winemaking countries.
Croatian olive oil is also world class. Try to stop by an olive farm with a press, taste some oil, take some home. Don’t waste it cooking, just dip bread and make simple salad dressings. Mmm.
Yes, the Peljesac Bridge is complete. No need to pass through Bosnia anymore. We were there last October, and the bridge had just been opened; GPS units didn’t yet have it as an option.
If you take the highway from Split to Dubrovnik (or vice versa) it will be fast and likely very lightly travelled. It is a toll road and apparently most people don’t want to pay the toll (I can’t remember what the toll was).
The road to Kotor was perfectly fine, and I don’t remember any particularly crazy or bad drivers. It all seemed pretty chill.
The entire Dalmatian Coast is just stunningly beautiful. I would go back there in a heartbeat (with my SCUBA gear) to spend more time in some of the smaller towns (and to visit Hvar; we didn’t make it there).
It’s overpriced, but I think worth having a drink at the Buza Bar in Dubrovnik. Well, I guess technically it is outside of Dubrovnik, as it clings to the rocks against the wall of the old city. Worth stopping at for a bit, I think.
As mentioned above, we had some excellent wine while there. Plavac Mali is the predominant red. It can be a little rustic, but well worth sampling a number of producers.
Like I said - we loved Croatia. Have a fantastic time!
Thank you everyone for the suggestions - they’ve all been super helpful! And also given me a few things to research that I hadn’t known about.
I actually don’t know why - my friends had already booked their airplane tickets several weeks ago. Then when they were telling me about it my FOMO kicked in… and I was able to mostly get the same flights.
For us, there were some weird scheduling issues. We could get in and out of Split every day of the week (we were flying to/from Rome), but Dubrovnik was only a few days a week. Could very much be a seasonal thing; we were there in late October.