It is easy to travel brilliantly in Croatia. It offers mountains and beautiful waterfalls in addition to a famous coastline, castles, and walled cities. Croatia is a country that anyone seeking natural beauty, rich history, good facilities, English speakers, temperate weather, and value on the dollar should visit. Its Dalmatian Coast, national parks, and capital city are all lovely. Dubrovnik is a vision.
I visited in November 2020 when the country was still open to US travelers with a valid Covid PCR test.
In this post, you will find recommendations for hotels, dining, sights to enjoy, and more in the sidebar but please check on current conditions.
THE PRACTICAL
Tips for a brilliant time in Croatia
Stay
This link will take you to my private Google Map for Croatia, which lists my chosen hotels and more.
I really enjoyed Rustic Lodge in Plitvice Lakes National Park.
“Aurelia Antik 2” was a nice Airbnb in Zagreb; Art Hotel Like in Zagreb was a well-located bargain.
I would book my small room in the well-located Guesthouse Vicelic in Dubrovnik again.
Eat
This link will take you to my private Google Map for Croatia, which lists my chosen hotels and more.
In Zagreb:
Kavkaz Kazalisna Kavana has a storied history and it appeared to me to be deserved. Velvet was also a great stop.
Qwahah was great for coffee, snacks, and ambiance.
Lička Kuća restaurant at the north entrance to Plitvice Lakes National Park offers traditional dishes in a rustic setting around an open-pit fireplace.
Bajamonti in Split is on a lovely square.
Il Porto in Hvar has a great view.
Food Bar Guloso in Dubrovnik was one of the few restaurants open in town because of Covid. I love the burgers and fries.
Do
Take Luca‘s tour of Zagreb. Enjoy an opera or symphony at the Croatian National Theatre.
Zagreb is a center for contemporary art — as well as animation. Visit the Croatian Society of Fine Artists in a striking round building and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Go to Plitvice Lakes National Park. I’ve been to many national parks and this one is among the most unique I have visited.
Budget
My total on-location spending from 10/30/2020 to December 3, 2020 was $2,190. 47%of that went to my accommodations,; 22 % to restaurants and groceries. I spent an average of $62/day.. You can see all of my spending in this file:
THE THEORETICAL:
The brillance of Croatia
I was attracted to Croatia not least because it was open to travel. But I also had the sense that I would enjoy it. I have never heard a bad word about the country from a former visitor, in fact, quite the opposite. Still, I did not have a clear image of the country in my mind. Croatia was a bit mysterious to me. It is in many ways a hard country to describe. And I mean this primarily geographically and historically and maybe culturally as well.
First of all, Croatia is oddly shaped. Croats will tell you that. It was been described as a V, a crescent, and a boomerang. One arm of the crescent — along the Adriatic Coast — is where most visitors flock. But it is not the only arm of the boomerang worth visiting.
Learning to describe Croatia is a lot like trying to pin down Nikola Tesla’s nationality. there is the issue of where this croaked country is physically on this round earth. Is Croatia in central Europe? (Croatia does not share a land border with Italy but it is only 15 kilometers away through a thin slice of Slovenia. This is helpful in picturing where in the world it is but the Republic of Croatia also borders Montenegro, which I would argue, is not as helpful in getting one’s bearings.) Should we call Croatia an Eastern European nation? Famously, it was once a part of the former Yugoslavia (which means “the land of the Southern Slavs” — just to add to the confusion. And what about calling Croatia a Balkan nation? Pondering this brought me to the question of what are The Balkans anyway?) I assumed (—correctly— ) they are mountains. But they do not run through Croatia yet it is referred to as a Balkan Country. And while Croatia is indeed Slavic, Croats are Roman Catholic, not Orthodox Christian; they write with the Latin alphabet, not the Cyrillic. And while they endure a winter, as good Slavs should, they live more like Italians flocking to the coast en masse.
Halloween: Zagreb
I arrived in the Capital from Denver by way of London on October 31. My Airbnb was near the center of town, close to the wonderful Croatian National Theatre (or as Croatians spell it, ‘Hrvatsko narodno kazalište”). Thrilled to learn that I could listen to live music, I brought a ticket to the unstaged performance of Donizetti, “Lucia Di Lammermoor”. I then retreated to the lovely restaurant across the street, Kavkaz Kazalisna Kavana.
The day after the performance, I took a tour of Zagreb with local tour guide Luca. When I mentioned to him that I had never before been to Eastern Europe, he let me know that I could still make that claim. “We would never say that here,” he said like someone in Miami explaining it was not the South. This is Central Europe he told me in so many words. I realized that my view of Europe skews West — to England, France, and Germany. What I should have said is that Croatia is the second Slavic country I have visited.
Luka was warm, charming, informative and a pleasure to be with. He combined the historical with the personal and it felt like a conversation with a friend. I finished the tour feeling like I not only understood Zagreb’s history better but also its present place in the world. Luka’s delightful tour was helped with a beautiful Autumn day and a tour group size of one.
Further from the center of town, I took the bus to the striking Museum of Contemporary Art. Art lovers should also visit although they were in short supply during my visit. (I came across the fun audience painting at the Croatian Society of Fine Artists pavilion.
Plitvice Lakes National Park is the creation of water, limestone, and sun. Not to be forgotten is the role of precedent in establishing Croatia’s largest national park — the great worldwide movement of protection of natural wonders through national parks. Just think what travel would be if we did not have national parks — and remember that the first one, ever, is Yellowstone.
I had a preview of this karst palace decorated over millennia with majestic and intimate waterfalls at the nearby town of Selište Drežničko. The agent at Avant car rental recommended that I stop for a look at their falls. Since she gave me a BMW instead of the economy car I was paying for, I was happy to agree to do so.
The national park provided for a magical setting, a ballet of water and tuff — and on the day I went — mist and sun rays.
Remembrance Day: Split
Split is probably what Dubrovnik was a few decades ago before it was overrun with tourists. It is also the center of Croatia’s interesting Roman history. It is not surprising given how close Italy is but still I had no idea that a Roman emperor had lived in Split. Emperor Diocletian’s Palace is how locals describe the whole of the old town of Split.
Thanksgiving: Hvar
I spent Thanksgiving on what I learned is the largest island in the Adriatic and one of over a thousand Croat islands. The catamaran run by Kapetan Luca, took me here from Split; it reminded me of the fast ferry from Boston to P-Town. Hvar is a Croatian Island (and the name of its largest city). I spent some very quiet days there including my third-in-a-row Thanksgiving abroad. As I saw more breaches of social distancing and mask-wearing, I stepped up my own practice of observing social isolation. There was one restaurant serving food in the town of Hvar so my Thanksgiving dinner plans had been made for me. The Dalmatian coast gives many reasons to feel thankful. My Airbnb, for one, cost next to nothing and has a large patio and a view of the sea.
The young men here are tall, bearded, lean, and often unfortunately dressed in tracksuits. The men my age are everywhere — in single-sex pairs or groups, seldom in couples. They have a hard look about them. I guess I mean they look at me unwelcomingly. Maybe it says something about the density of the Dalmatian coast that one is looked at at all. I imagine most fought for independence against Serbia in the 90s so I should be kinder in my evaluation. They came by their hard looks honestly.
Thanksgiving Day felt like a holiday. I saw only a handful of people. Of course with only a single restaurant open (Restaurant Mizarola) Hvar was exceptionally quiet. Still, there was a routine: reconstruction or renovation performed by pairs of men, the yellow postal van crawling the streets. Shoppers with single plastic bags walk the narrow stone streets silently.
Hvar has been Greek, Roman, Goth, Ottoman, Venetian, Austrian, Hungarian, Austro-Hungarian, Axis, and Yugoslav. So a Fortress is either — depending on your perspective — a very good idea or a rather pointless one. The fortress was closed but I enjoyed the stone walls and the view over the town and the Adriatic.
At Restaurant Mizarola I had a very disappointing meal of a boring tomato soup, the thinnest sea bass fillet smothered in a pink cream sauce (just as good as it sounds) served with overcooked Swiss chard and potatoes. Searching for satisfaction after the main course, I ordered a tiramisu (Italy is 100 miles west). It was an enormous portion served in a globe Mason jar The presentation told me all I needed to know about the quality of the contents.
I walked home in the dark passing through the port. This was my favorite walk in Hvar. Small boats bob in the harbor, gulls squawk. I had noticed a single cormorant during my first visit. I realized at the time that I was sure I had only seen cormorants in flocks before. (Were the cormorants social distancing too?) On that day, a young boy had just finished terrorizing his schoolmates with a thin stick. Children seem to travel unattended by adults, something that shocked me in Tokyo. The group was saved from the stick-wielding brat by a young peacemaker, whom I commended silently. I could not understand what he had said but his bearing convinced he was good in his role. The boy with the stick immediately fled after their chat, apparently to chase after a bus.
Advent: Dubrovnik. A landscape for kings
Dubrovnik. One might as well call it “King’s Landing”. It has a surreal feel. My arrival was late at night. I came by bus from Split — because I did not want to pay the $100 fees to take a rental car through the Neum corridor of Bosnia & Herzegovina. This tiny bit of coast splits Croatia into two very uneven parts. The bus trip was fine but at four hours and with a late arrival I started to doubt my choice. There is a bridge under intermittent construction that would allow travelers to pass without the two border stops, which frankly felt a bit silly. Perhaps that bridge will be open when you travel to Dubrovnik, which you will do if you are in Croatia.
It was very cold as I waited for my Uber at the bus station. I was assisted by a friendly local who provided all those assurances you sometimes don’t really need but are still grateful to have during those very first minutes in a new city. My Uber driver dropped me at the main gate. Getting out of the vehicle I was struck by a wall of light that stood out on a moonless night. I heard waves but could not see the water. Immediately, Dubrovnik seemed magical to me. Descending down the stairs into the Old Town (Dubrovnik is a constant up and down) I was delighted to be alone on the stone main street. Again, lights were everywhere and they all seemed to be there just for me. I stopped to take in the sight and indulge in the idea that I was the only person in this medieval city with walls of light.
My ABB was not far but it was high. The name of the street was _. But it was more a staircase than an avenue. I climbed the equivalent of 4-5-6 flights of stairs to reach NAME. I was winded by the exertion but I was also thrilled. How history and geography had conspired to fashion this as a city street was a wonder to me and a great accomplishment of the Croats.
I was again alone the next day on the City Wall. I paid the $30 to walk along the top. It was cold and rain came down in curtains — fleeting but bracing. I quickly learned to seek cover in the many turrets along the walls. They were surprisingly small spaces, with windows in their thick walls. Many had graffiti but it was how they offered protection from the weather and views out to the story Adriatic that made me linger, alone, at the tip of one of the boomerang arms of Croatia.
In a typical year, one million visit the walls, most of them probably when you want to be there. I almost wanted to thank the coronavirus for giving me the Walls — and much of Dubrovnik — to myself. I am not prone to loneliness or to empty streets when I travel. So the emptiness was to me external only. There was no one to be annoyed with for their stupid behavior. There was no one either too fast or too slow on my route. I felt gratitude for the HAMBERGER place, for the hotel manager who greeted me warmly. For the life-sized clock tower figures in the MUSEUM. If the museum had been crowded and I might not have had the patience to linger over this compelling pair of statues. I had the leisure to move slowly, to backtrack. Stop and gaze, without considering any flow of traffic (which a brilliant traveler needs to do). The Walls protected the City that day and enclosed it in stillness even as the wind blew and the rain fell. It was one of my favorite days.
When I returned to my hotel, passing one of the agents atop the wall who told me I was crazy to be on the walls on such a day, I found myself thinking about what traveling during the coronavirus surge meant. A world in lockdown simply does not offer the variety or vitality that so many of us seek. Croats had gotten sloppy and more and more places were closing as the virus surged. However, I could also appreciate that with nowhere in particular to go, people linger. There is a gift in that. I wonder if the world missed an opportunity. Imposing a “lockdown” was a mistake. Not only should people have been encouraged to be outside but the term itself was too much a concession to the virus. We would have called with time, our“slowdown”, our time to linger, huddle, and ponder.
Being in Croatia made me think a good deal about where I actually was on this round wonderful earth of ours. I found myself intent on paying attention to how I moved — by air, auto, train, and bus — as I crisscrossed this diverse land. My month-long trip to Croatia was like finally wandering down that meandering street just a bit out of the way in your hometown. A month crisscrossing Croatia felt like a slow walk down that street that had been beckoning you but which you had never before had the chance to explore.
