Going to Croatia was like a dream come true for me. I couldn’t believe I was there, or how beautiful it was- and it didn’t disappoint. The cities were lovely. The people were particularly kind and accommodating. The food was always fresh and delicious, and their niche wine scene is awesome. Everything in Croatia just sparkled. This is an absolutely lovely place to travel.

My Itinerary

Day 1- Dubrovnik- Arrive and explore, Game of Thrones tour

Day 2- Dubrovnik- Wine & oyster farm excursion, dinner at 360 Restaurant

Day 3- Dubrovnik- City Walls

Day 4- Split- Travel to Split

Day 5- Split- Explore Split and Marjan Park

Day 6- Split- Krka Waterfalls & Skradin winery excursion

Day 7- Split- Art Museum and City Sites

Day 8- Plitvice Lakes National Park

Day 9- Zagreb- Arrive and explore

Day 10- Zagreb- Museum hop

Tips and Highlights

I flew to London first, then went on to Dubrovnik, where everything went quickly upon arrival. I took an Uber to my hotel. Because I went off season in April, I stayed at the Rixos hotel, which is way fancier than my usual travel style, but it was a deal I couldn’t pass up. As a Game of Thrones fan, it was cool to go on the tour to see the settings of Kings Landing and where some major events happened in the show. I also went on a special wine and oyster farm half-day tour with Mario the wine expert. Just tasting the oysters fresh out of the water at the oyster farm was an amazing experience in itself. On my third day in Dubrovnik, I climbed the city walls and walked around for 1-2 hours. This is a must-do, but note that admission is a bit pricey (30 or 35 Euros, I believe). Be sure to go on a dry day because it got extremely slippery and scary in the rain! My favorite meals in Dubrovnik were Restaurant 360, the Michelin starred spot within the old city walls. I also loved the Taj Mahal, which (surprisingly) is a Bosnian restaurant- you can get sample combo type dishes to try more than one traditional item. Outside of the city walls on an unassuming side street, I found Mr. Foster, a steampunk styled cocktail bar with a unique menu of well crafted cocktails.

Traveling from Dubrovnik to Split required a long and trafficy bus ride (substantially longer than Flixbus indicated).. but when I finally arrived, I instantly loved it there. Here, I stayed at an Airbnb within the city walls. I loved exploring the city streets, walking on the waterside path, and climbing the hills and stairs at the Marjan Park. This city also had some of my favorite restaurants. Sug, outside the city walls, had beautiful and well-presented dishes. Within the city walls, I loved Corto Maltese Freestyle Food with it’s tasty, eclectic menu and Villa Spiza, which puts out a new handwritten menu daily- I went to both of these restaurants twice.

My only disappointment of the trip was with the overcrowded Plitvice Lakes National Park. This was more of an amusement park than a nature park. Hiking around crowds of aloof tourists holding selfie-sticks was just awful and far from the peaceful hiking experience I had sadly allowed myself to imagine.

Moving onto Zagreb, another cool city with the most museums per square foot! Lots of them are small and quirky, but you can have fun checking out places that appeal to you. Definitely don’t miss the Museum of Broken Relationships, a collection of items with stories attached about loves gone wrong. I also checked out the contemporary art museum and 80’s museum, both rather small. I went to Bornstein for a wine tasting, they had lots of reasonably priced options to sample and learn about wines throughout the regions of Croatia- I highly recommend this. Zagreb also had some fantastic food, like my standout dinner at Bestija… and I am still dreaming of this cake that I ate at Boban. I cashed in some credit card points and treated myself to a stay at the Esplanade Hotel, which was beautiful but a tiny bit of a walk outside the city center.

Next Time?

Next time I’d return to areas around Dubrovnik and Split. I missed some things in Dubrovnik (due to rain), like visiting Lokrum island and another winery area. I’d also really like to visit some islands, and stay on Korcula island. I’d return to Split as a base, even if I saw the main attractions already, it’s a lovely place to spend time.

If you feel enticed by the Plitvice Lakes National Park like I did, take some time to reflect your patience level in dealing with crowds of tourists before deciding if it’s worth it. You will not get to do any real hiking there. If I had a redo, I would have skipped this part of my trip and visited an island instead.