Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it’s no secret that Croatia is hot, hot, hot these days! It appeals to beach-lovers, history buffs, foodies, outdoorsy adventurers and romantics. Despite its popularity it’s still an affordable option — especially when compared to Italy and Greece — and if you can stay away from peak pricing in July/August, there are definitely some good values to be had.  Corinne and Ryan just came back from an anniversary adventure in Croatia, and were kind enough to share their trip review and photos. Let me know if this inspires you to answer Croatia’s call 🙂

Hi Ann,

Thanks for planning us another AMAZING trip! Croatia was absolutely beautiful! It was the perfect mix of sightseeing and relaxation.

Our first stop, Dubrovnik, was breathtaking. This city was much more than we expected.  It helps that we are big Game of Thrones fans as much of the filming was done here. Our first full day their was our private walking tour (literally us, our driver, and the guide)- so amazing! Our tour guide was great.

If you’re looking for a nice place to watch sunset and over look the sea for a drink try Buza bar. The drink menu was disappointing but the views made up for it! Great place for a pre-dinner cocktail.

Our second day, we paid to walk the city walls.  It gave you great views of the Adriatic as well as the city. I would highly recommend! However, there are lots of steps and no shade so it’s best to do this early morning or late afternoon. The Hotel Kazbek was our favorite of the whole trip. It had a beautiful courtyard where we ate breakfast every morning. The rooms were warm and inviting with the perfect amount of European charm. It was a bit further away from Old Town but we took the bus for about $2 each round trip.

Hvar was just pure relaxation. The pool at the Amfora was so nice. It even had a water slide which was adult friendly. The room here was on the smaller side but our amazing balcony made up for that. We pictured this place as a big party island similar to Ibiza and Mykonos. However, we visited a  little too early in the season for that. The famous blue cave excursions are about a 45 minute boat ride from here. Given the small entrance of the cave, if the sea is rough the cave is closed. We planned on doing the excursion on our last day here but given weather the caves were closed. We decided to save this excursion for Split. You visit all the same spots just a longer boat ride.

Lastly, in Split we did a bit more sightseeing around Old town which included Diocletian’s palace. The Hotel Luxe was the largest room we had. The free hotel breakfast wasn’t anything to write home about but the location was super convenient . We were about a 5-10 minute walk from everything.  Split is known for the Riva or boardwalk along the water surrounded by cafes and restaurants. We were able to find a great restaurant here – Brasserie on 7. We liked it so much we are here twice. On our last day we booked a tour with Hello Blue Cave. We went to see the blue cave on the island of Bisevo. You can only visit it on a small boat through a man made entrance that you have to duck down to get past. It such a cool experience and I would recommend it to anyone. From there we went to another island, Vis, to see Stiniva beach (which was recently named the best beach in Europe) and then a blue lagoon for snorkeling. Split was certainly the largest of the places we visited. The nightlife here was much better than Hvar (at least for this time of year). I highly recommend the Chops Grill for dinner if you want to splurge on some fine dining one night. It was my favorite meal of the whole trip!

Croatia seems to be an up and coming travel destination and I would highly recommend it. The prices seemed very affordable. Our first tour guide suggested we stay away from taxis as they can be a bit of a rip off to tourists. Luckily Croatia has Uber!  Be sure to get some extra Croatian Kuna (their currency).  They don’t allow you to tip on credit cards and lots of bars/restaurants are cash only. We found ourselves making a few ATM trips because we ran out of cash sooner than expected!

Thanks again!!