Croatia Itinerary, Part 1
Skip along if you aren’t planning a trip to Croatia. Saving this here for the times friends want to know where we went & what we saw!
Dubrovnik:
Location & accommodation: We spent three nights in Dubrovnik, getting in on the evening of Day 1, and leaving very early on Day 4. We stayed in Old Town, just outside of the walled city. Our apartment was part of a multi-unit house, expensive for what it was, but comfortable with beds for three, a mini fridge, and a patio with a view. Missing were any cooking tools or a coffee machine. Everything of tourist interest to us was walkable, as was the bus/taxi stop to get you to the dock.
Day 1: Relaxed and delicious seafood dinner at Cafe Dubrovka, right outside the Pile Gate of Old Town. This cafe has a stellar location adjacent to the walls, and great food and service. If you snag their loyalty discount card, their sister restaurant inside the walled city is also recommended by me. Use this evening to stroll the busy Old Town streets, do some GOT fanboy/girl location spotting (or spot the fanboys & fangirls), eat gelato (like Tuscany, gelato is a thing here). If you find yourself on the far end of Old Town, walk past the small pier to watch sunset. At the end of your night, pick up some croissants from Mlinar bakery in Old Town, and some instant coffee for the omnipresent water kettles in Croatian rooms.
Day 2: Get up bright and early and go for a jog. You will never see Dubrovnik this empty unless you get out before 7:30. Ideally, start at 6:30, and grab a coffee when you’re done at 7:30. Venture into Fort Lovrijenac for spectacular views. This served as the building for the Red Keep in Game of Thrones, and you can almost imagine the Iron Fleet pulling up to you. Plus, great views of the city! Save your tickets to score a discount on the wall.
The weather was great on Day 2, so we grabbed seats on a cave tour of the Elafiti islands. Word of caution- the typical Adiratic visitor is a great open water swimmer. After all the Europeans jumped into water, I found myself reaching back into the boat for a life vest. Who wants to swim/paddle for 30 minutes, including time in a cave?! If you are extra industrious, pack yourself an inflatable snorkel vest (I bought but decided against taking. Why?!) and fins. They don’t seem to find fins necessary in Europe. With that out of the way, let me say that cave snorkeling is a very unique experience, and if you are confident in your ability to stay afloat (with a lifevest even), then go forth & have fun! If it is a cool day, you’ll find the water a little chill. If the water is choppy, this will be no fun. So I recommend not pre-booking this adventure. Alternate activity: ride up the cable car and hike or go on an ATV trip there.
Dinner on Day 2 was a grab & go, nothing to write home about.
Day 3: Again, some of us (me!) enjoyed jogging the empty streets at dawn. After breakfast, we headed over to the wall. The wall opens at 8am. People line up for tickets starting 7:45am. On a sunny day, get it done as early as possible. On a cool day, it doesn’t really matter except that it gets more crowded as the day progresses. We walked about half the wall, after which the kiddo got bored (despite gelato fix enroute). We had a luxurious and delicious lunch at Gradska kavana Arsenal. Use your loyalty discount from Cafe Dubrovka here. We felt jetlag catching up with us on Day 3, so we spent the afternoon just reading in our room. Then we spent time playing with the many stray cats, booking ferry tickets for the next day, dinner at Kopun, and hitting Captain’s Candy for some delicious, yes, candy!
Day 4: Korcula! One of the quieter islands in the Dalmatian cluster, Korcula was our break day (despite the unplanned slower pace of Day 3). The ferry left at 7 in the morning, so we left our room at 5:45, took a taxi over, and lined up by 6. Seats are first-come-first-served, so you want to get there early even if you have tickets. The ride was 2-ish hours (I forget), and you can get coffee, beer & croissants on the catamaran. Note that ferries to Korcula are less frequent than its glitzy cousin Hvar, so it needs planning & flexibility on your part. Our apartment in Korcula was also in their Old City, a short 10 minute walk from ferry dock. Korcula is worth a day just to decompress and relax. There is excellent food & crappy food. I recommend restaurant Filipa in Old Town. If you didn’t get a cave dive in while at Dubrovnik, you can schedule one from here. Otherwise, stroll around and enjoy the island. The blue water is unbelievable!
Day 5: We took the ferry from Korcula to Split, rented a car, and drove to Plitvice National Park, coming up in Part 2 of this post!
Hey Meera, thanks for writing this travel journal and remembering all the places! I wanted to ask one of you for recomendations and tour descriptions one day, because we are more and more interested in visiting Croatia. I know many people who spent all sorts of vacation there (boating, driving, beach….) and heard NOBODY complaning about anything. They were all very happy and told us the scenry is awesome and the people are really friendly. Very outstanding as mostly you find at least one german vacationist finding the fly in the ointment 😉
Looking forward to part 2!