Croatia

[headthebaw]

My wife and I are heading to Croatia in September. We're staying at Cavtat nr Dubrovnik. Any tips or recomendations?

[senorsoupe]

I've never been down that far in Croatia but enjoyed Split when I went in 2008.  If you will have a car I suggest driving down the coast into Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor, my sister went there a few years ago and said it's really beautiful and like an hours drive from Dubrovnik

[stevieKTID]

I've never been down that far in Croatia but enjoyed Split when I went in 2008.  If you will have a car I suggest driving down the coast into Montenegro and the Bay of Kotor, my sister went there a few years ago and said it's really beautiful and like an hours drive from Dubrovnik

Just back from Bay of Kotor/Budva, beautiful place

[senorsoupe]

It's definitely on my bucket list

 

Edited July 1, 2017 by senorsoupe

[McSpreader]

Stayed in Istria recently which was wonderful. 

I can't help with regards to the Dubrovnik area but if anything like Istria  will say the people,  food, the local wine the countryside, the history and culture are all absolutely beautiful, fascinating, enjoyable and compelling. 

We went in September also  and had a few days of  heavy thunder storms, but Istria is a lot further north than Dubrovnik and if I remember , was basking in warm sunshine whilst we were in our waterproofs and under umbrellas. 

If you're a G.o.Thrones fan you'll know a lot of scenes were filmed in and around Dubrovnik....

[thejailender]

I was out in Dubrovnik at the start of June, and took a day trip to Cavtat
First off Cavtat is about 10 minutes from the Airport so that's a plus, the downside is it's also directly under the flight path - so you'll see quite a number of planes especially on a Thursday which seems to be the busy day.

Cavtat is a quiet small place split over two bays, small harbour for smaller type boats in one, and a larger harbour for some quite expensive looking yachts in the other.
Plenty of water sports equipment hire around the headland between the two bays - and with crystal clear (albeit very salty) water it's perfect for water sports

It's about 20 minutes from Dubrovnik by bus (use No 10 bus from bus station at smaller harbour) it goes to Dubrovnik bus terminal but drops off at Dubrovnik old town - but Dubrovnik is a one way system near the old town so it's a different bus stop for the return journey - difficult to explain where the stop is so best to ask when there.

Croatia isn't cheap like the rest of Eastern Europe - prices are much about the same as here. But inside the walls of the old town you can double the price of everything - typical tourist trap

If you're interested in excursions, the three most popular which seem to run from Dubrovnik (possibly Cavtat hotel pick up too) is

Three islands tour-
I never did this as I had just come off a cruise and had enough of boats, but it's an all day boat trip to the three main islands around Dubrovnik. Depending which company you go with you'll get different experience. Some do quiet boats with a walk on each island and a fish style meal en route. others do more party style boats with more alcohol than food en route - so choice is yours.

Kotor (Montenegro) tour -
Again I never did this as I was already in Kotor on the cruise, but if the bus journey is anything like the boat trip into Kotor it is fantastic
Easily the most beautiful scenery I've seen. Beat Switzerland, Iceland and the North West Highlands of Scotland

Mostar (Bosnia) tour-
This is one trip we did do. There was two options when booking either just Mostar or Mostar and the Kervice waterfalls.
We did the latter which meant it was a busy day.
Only got 1 hour at the waterfalls (could have done with a bit longer) as there is about a 15 minute walk down to them. But they are stunning
Mostar is about another hour away, it's heaving though around the bridge area. Everyone goes to see the bridge and it is the only way to cross from the Christian side to Muslim side of the town.
You don't need to exchange currency as they will accept Croatian Kuna but they call the exchange rate. But it will still be considerably cheaper than Croatia.
Only issue with Bosnia was the boarder crossings. Ours took about 35 minutes both ways (our tour used a back road crossing, so we're in a mini bus) but others saying the big coaches use the main highway crossings as can take up to 2-3 hours on busy days.

Dubrovnik area is lovely, you'll have a great time

[LongTimeLurker]

On 2017/07/01 at 14:37, headthebaw said:

My wife and I are heading to Croatia in September. We're staying at Cavtat nr Dubrovnik. Any tips or recomendations?

Having had a Croatian girlfriend I can vouch for the fact that they have zero sense of humour about being referred to as "Krotes" rather than Cro-ats even in jest. If you don't spend the whole time on the beach and actually run into some of the locals avoid making any casual references to Tito being one of the good guys during WWII or the breakup of Yugoslavia being a bad thing or anything like that because even though most of them seem normal enough most of the time they can quickly become completely mental when politics is the subject of the conversation. Steer completely clear of politics and ex-Yugoslavs of all the various nations that have emerged on the whole tend to be great to be around in my experience. Learn the main swear words and you will be well on the way to being fluent in core Serbo-Croat vocabulary as the amount of swearing they tend to do is incredible and can be hilarious to listen to.

[Ross.]

Wear mirrored sun glasses or expect your missus to fall out with you pronto. Never seen such a high proportion of stunning women as I did when I was in Split a few years back.

[DiegoDiego]

On 2017-7-3 at 14:43, LongTimeLurker said:

avoid making any casual references to Tito being one of the good guys during WWII or the breakup of Yugoslavia being a bad thing

There are plenty in the former Yugoslavia who still hold Tito in high regard, even among the young.

Dalmatia is probably the most overrated region in Europe at the moment. I'd probably spend most of my time outside of Croatia, either in Montenegro or Mostar. It all depends on what you want out of your holiday, of course and I don't know what sort of stuff you're into or how long you'll be there for.

[LongTimeLurker]

Just now, DiegoDiego said:

There are plenty in the former Yugoslavia who still hold Tito in high regard, even among the young...

For sure and rightly so in my opinion, but it's better to steer clear of anything political/historical like that so you don't find out the hard way who doesn't and wind up with some swivel-eyed Ante Pavelic worshiping maniac telling you all about their views on the British Army's role at Bleiburg. I speak from experience.  

[Paco]

My wife and I are heading to Croatia in September. We're staying at Cavtat nr Dubrovnik. Any tips or recomendations?

 

Dubrovnik is nice enough but is quite literally only a tourist town, more so than probably even Venice. Cavtat is just outside, haven't been but I believe you can get either a bus or a boat easily enough. If you're after a week's peace and quiet with the odd venture out to Dubrovnik's old town you'll have a grand time. I stayed in the 'city' for three nights and it was more than enough to be honest. Didn't find it as expensive as people make out, comparable to here (maybe slight more given current exchange rates) but definitely more expensive than even Zagreb.

 

Plenty to do nearby though. Kotor is about an hour and a half down the road (remember your passport), dozens of companies will offer to take you down and some will even take you down to Budva or Sveti Stefan. Public bus is very easy if you just fancy Kotor, I don't remember prices but it isn't much. Don't let some tour company fleece you for a lift down the road if you're only doing Kotor.

 

Montenegro is well worth the trip, it's a poor country but just about to join the EU so hopefully will take off in the coming years. Probably my favourite country to be honest, Kotor is definitely the most naturally beautiful place I've ever been.

 

Other than that there's a good boat trip to the Elafiti Islands, with a terrific beach on Lopud. Get a taxi (a golf cart) from the port to it.

 

Mostar is easy too albeit I've never been myself. Split is pushing it for a daytrip but worthwhile for anyone else in the region. I also did Plitvice Lakes from there which while touristy was great fun.

 

Croatia is great. The Balkans are great. More people should go, and they should venture away from Dubrovnik. I've had a few great conversations about politics with people in the region but I generally just sit on whatever side they're on. Seems safer, the mental fuckers.

[ICTChris]

Three years ago a group of us rented a villa near Split and had a fortnight in Croatia, we loved it.  The villa was a bit of a disappointment, the facilities weren't great and it wasn't really as advertised.  It was fine but it was sold as a luxury villa and it really wasn't.  However, what that meant was that we went out every night and day and didn't spend any time sitting in the villa.

We drove down to Dubrovnik one day, it took ages and our friend got done for speeding on the way  I enjoyed it, the scenery was amazing and Duborvnik was great.  It's a bit more expensive than anywhere else in the country though, certainly pricier than Split or the local town to us, Omis.

We also went to Mostar, I loved it and would love to go back to Bosnia - Sarajevo.

[Darren]

I've just done Split-Hvar-Makarska-Mostar-Kotor-Dubrovnik.

You'll need a day, tops, in Dubrovnik. It's a beautiful place but a tourist trap and expensive. 

Kotor is beautiful, Budva is pretty good and I enjoyed Cetinje, the old capital and one of the more bizarre places to have a Scottish pub.

Mostar is a must. Brilliant place, even better if you get in the waterfalls as well.

 

 

[tarapoa]

My wife and I are heading to Croatia in September. We're staying at Cavtat nr Dubrovnik. Any tips or recomendations?

Did a Euro road trip from Frankfurt to Montenegro in 2012 and Cavtat was our chilloot destination for a week.

Nice little port with plenty restaurants by the marina and a boat ride to Dubrovnik across the bay.

Only drawback was some lottery winner getting married had brought his whole clan of estuarine trash into the otherwise grand Hotel Croatia including ghetto blaster. They were particularly irritating the night Murray won the US Open with the worst thing being the bar shut at the end of the fourth set, so we missed the GIRUY after hearing the 'ginger jock had bottled it'

Bay of Kotor in Montenegro is special as is the nearby islet of Sveti Stefan - albeit the big resort in MN, Budva, is a bit of a trash-hole of Serbian and Ukrainian opulence.

Mostar well worth a visit too - but the fact I have already been there is why I'm not doing Siroki Brijeg this week. Drove through it on the way from Mostar to the town I enjoyed most in Croatia, which was Trogir - 25 miles or so north of Split. Was only there one night and it was a thunderstorm, but still thought it was a special place.

Fascinating read was Death of Yugoslavia - just such a fked up part of the world.......and still an underlying powder keg.

[Darren]

12 hours ago, tarapoa said:

 the town I enjoyed most in Croatia, which was Trogir - 25 miles or so north of Split. Was only there one night and it was a thunderstorm, but still thought it was a special place.

 

A world heritage site, apparently. One regret of our trip was not going there. It's only 17 miles round the bay and right next to the airport.

[DiegoDiego]

21 hours ago, Paco said:

Montenegro is well worth the trip, it's a poor country but just about to join the EU so hopefully will take off in the coming years.

The optimistic timeline is 2022, so accession is still quite far away. It needs to make a lot of changes before I'd be happy with it in the EU.
As far as tourism goes, it's already taken off. Of the European countries, only Croatia has more of its GDP from tourism. The rate of development along the coast is almost Arab. However, short of major political change, you can only sell off sovereign land once and there's no more family silver left to flog.

[Paco]

The optimistic timeline is 2022, so accession is still quite far away. It needs to make a lot of changes before I'd be happy with it in the EU.
As far as tourism goes, it's already taken off. Of the European countries, only Croatia has more of its GDP from tourism. The rate of development along the coast is almost Arab. However, short of major political change, you can only sell off sovereign land once and there's no more family silver left to flog.

Didn't realise it was still so far out from EU accession. Hopefully that's soon enough to prevent any sort of change in the domestic politics that always seems to bubble under the surface. It's easy to forget Montenegro went independent 55.5% of the vote, when 55% was necessary. A few hundred votes either way really.

You're right about the development, not entirely sure why but Russians seem to have an especially big thing for Montenegro. The coast is full of their mansions and yachts. The exit plan for when Putin comes knocking, perhaps.

[S7C]

Noticed there were cheap flights between Glasgow and Zadar not that long ago and was tempted. Maybe next year. Dubrovnik looks amazing.

[LongTimeLurker]

5 hours ago, Paco said:

...You're right about the development, not entirely sure why but Russians seem to have an especially big thing for Montenegro...

Orthodox brothers angle I suspect and beyond that it's basically a mafia state that the West tolerates as part of its club to weaken Serbia. Ditto Kosovo on the latter bit but it's mainly Muslim and has no beach, so the dodgier portion of Russia's population isn't quite so keen on it as a holiday destination. Suspect it will take a while for them, Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia to get into the EU, because there's just too much negative baggage and the Germans don't see them as part of their back yard to anything like the same extent as Croatia and Slovenia as they weren't part of Austria-Hungary either at all or for anything like as long.

[Mallo_Madrid]

On 01/07/2017 at 13:37, headthebaw said:

My wife and I are heading to Croatia in September. We're staying at Cavtat nr Dubrovnik. Any tips or recomendations?

How was your holiday?
 

Giving serious consideration into booking this hotel for our honeymoon next year?