Going to Croatia soon...tips?

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Ello all

Going to Budapest and training it down to Croatia in a few weeks.

I was wondering if anybody had any tips/must see/really cool things to see/do which aren't the obvious.

Plus, I'm planning to just turn up and find cheap rooms there. Is this easy?

[rennie]

No clue about the rooms as I stayed with friends (when I visited in winter 2000). It's a gorgeous country and the peeps were super friendly! I took the cheap train from Zagreb to Split which took forever... I think there's a new bridge now so it's quicker.

Make sure u visit the coast. breath taking. and if u have time go island hopping... I think jadreolina ferries do a hop on/off ticket. enjoy!

[phildwyer]

Dubrovnik is fabulous, but I suppose that's obvious. No problem finding cheap rooms--in fact, they'll find you...

[rennie]

If u can go to Varazdin the north... beautiful castle. and then Krapina next to the slovenian border. otherwise, stick to the coast. lots to do and see! Uh, im jealous.

[tastebud]

you are soooooooo lucky! :)
budapest is nice, but croatia is fucking amazing!
zagreb is utterly lovely. just aimlessly walking around the city and exploring was really good fun. the architecture is beautiful. i hear that dubrovnik is a top holiday destination, but haven't actually been there myself.

as for accommodation, yep. i think that's pretty much how it works there.
we also visited an island called rab, and they only really take people as and when you turn up. they have so much accommodation.
but, if you stay in zagreb (advisable: it's a beautiful city!) i would try and book online prior to leaving.
we booked a hotel that was half the price online to the price if you just turned up and booked a room.
same applied to a hostel we were going to stay in as well.

as for things to do- get one of the lonely planet books. the croatia one was really cool and helpful.
go by the sea if you can: the best seafood i have ever tasted!


->don't go on guided boat trips though. it was one of the most boring, frustrating days of my life!

[tastebud]

i took the train from ljubljana to zagreb as the flight to ljubljana was really cheap. it was nice (except we got on the direct train to munich by accident and had to get the train to stop :o ) and really cheap, but the passport police are fucking scary. especially of your hair colour is different in the photo.

ohhhhh: i'm jealous too!
you will have an amazing time!
:)

[rennie]

i took the train from ljubljana to zagreb as the flight to ljubljana was really cheap. it was nice (except we got on the direct train to munich by accident and had to get the train to stop :o ) and really cheap, but the passport police are fucking scary. especially of your hair colour is different in the photo.

ohhhhh: i'm jealous too!
you will have an amazing time!
:)

Ha! try movign around croatia during the presidential elections after Tudjman died in 2000 with a lebanese passport. not much fun.

[wrysmile]

When are you going? I'm there from Sept 7 - 14 - am glad you started this thread... saves me doing one!

[adsr]

Thank you everybody, will take everybody's comment with me.

I love this forum. It only took a few hours for friendly comments. I find that Lonely Planet users are those arrogant die hard traveller types obsessed with one-upmanship

:D

[jugularvein]

yeah it's great, people are incredibly friendly. islands are amazing so if you can meet some who has a boat that would be ideal but get on a boat anyway you can

i have also done the ljubiana - zagreb - split route, was great fun and met some crazy irish chaps on the sleeper train from venice to ljubiana. the passport people woke me up in the middle of the night and that was scary as i was no me own and a bit paranoid about sleeping in a tiny cabin with 5 others i didn't know.

croati's great

[oisleep]

there's a nice place just outside split called trogir, like a mini-dubrovnik without all the fuss of split/dubrovnik

i've been up and down on the train a good few times as well, it's slow as fuck going down that coast, but it's a nice experience, you can also get the boat from split to dubrovnik, which is a nice way of seeing the coastline and islands and stuff

i'd skip croatia (apart from zagreb) for montenengro these days though, much nicer without all the fuss of places like split/dubrovnik

Depending on how much time you've got you could take a bus from split to sarajevo, bosnia is a beutiful country, full of contrasts, and nothing like anywhere else in europe, can get a bus back from there to dubrovnik also