A week in Croatia: Split, Plitvice & Zagreb

Drive from Srebreno to Split

We left Srebreno for Split after breakfast. As soon as we started, I realised that I would need petrol before starting 3 hour drive on wrong side of the road (yes Croatia like most of Europe has cars with left hand drive). Last I drove a LHD car was almost 10 years ago and I was a bit unsure of how I will deal with it over a long drive. While it was a comedy of errors to get to the nearest fuel station due to double white lines in most places, I managed to refuel before embarking on the journey. 

Thankfully one no longer needs to cross the border when driving from Dubrovnik to Split. The Pelješac Bridge, which opened in July 2022, connects mainland Croatia to the Pelješac Peninsula, providing a route that bypasses Bosnia and Herzegovina. Earlier it meant crossing a border where Schengen visa is not accepted and from what I heard BiH insists on IDP (International Driving Permit) as well. 

Beautiful views all along the route

It was a lovely drive overall with amazing views. Initially I was sticking to speed limit of the highways (130 kmph) but since almost every car was overtaking me and roads were wide & everyone was following lane discipline, soon I was also driving at 160-170 kmph. My co passenger wasn't very happy about it though :). We also crossed many long tunnels on the way - one was 5 km long!!! (they mention the length as one is entering the tunnel).

The 240 km drive to Split took us a little over 3 hours and I was glad that we chose to drive instead of taking a bus - i mean where would you get the kind of roads where you can drive at 170 kmph and not feel a thing! 

Split

We had chosen a hotel with its own basement parking as old town of almost all European cities are crowded and getting a parking there is a nightmare. Our plan was to walk or uber from hotel to old town and beachfront.

We chose AC Hotel - a new modern construction with spacious rooms, a gym on a high floor with lovely ocean views and sauna & steam. After recovering from driving "wrong" side of the road and after sun had calmed down a bit, we stepped out and walked to old town which was barely 2 km from our hotel. My favourite past time in Europe is walking and Split was no exception :)

Split waterfront at night

After spending some time admiring the buildings like Diocletian's Palace, we decided to make way to waterfront. This is when the city truly came alive. Lined by restaurants, Split waterfront is the hub of all tourist activity. We spent hours walking and enjoying the harbour and its amazing views. As the night approached, the buildings lighted up the entire waterfront beautifully. Some large cruise ships were also docked - all lighted up and made up for lovely light sources middle of the water.

Around 11 pm, fully spent, we decided to uber back to the hotel which was another interesting experience as GPS wasn't working well in old town and it took a few phone calls before we could be in the same location as our uber.

Split at night

Due to paucity of time, we had planned only one night in Split, so we left for Plitvice National Park next day after breakfast. And this time it was very easy to fuel up at the station right across the road from the hotel :) 

It was to be 2.5 hour drive but took me almost 3.5 hours as a lot of it was not on highways or roads with medians so I had to drive a bit slower and be more alert. Overtaking was difficult and at one place there was construction going on the two-lane road and it cost us 15 min to get through that stretch alone. Last stretch was on side roads as we were staying in a bed & breakfast instead of a hotel inside the park. None of the hotels had great reviews and this B&B came recommended by a friend - and we were not disappointed. But even with narrower roads and slightly longer distance (255 km) than the day before, I wasn't that tired.

Plitvice is the main reason we chose to drive instead of relying on tour operators. The tour buses from Split or Zagreb all land at the same time (11-12 pm) and park becomes very crowded. In order to truly enjoy its immense natural beauty, it is imperative that one enters the park as soon as it opens at 7 am. Which is why we drove to the park vicinity the evening before and stayed overnight. 

We chose to drive to a nearby burger joint for our dinner and enjoyed the same along with some local beers before retiring to our en-suite room with a bottle of rose.

Plitvice National Park

As was the plan, we left the B&B at 6:30 am - the park was just 10 min away but I knew that parking wouldn't be very close to the entrance given the number of visitors that enter the park daily. After parking in the huge lot, and crossing a bridge, we reached the main entrance - there were hardly 30-40 folks at the gate and we were inside the park in minutes. I was glad that I had carried a sweater, as it was a bit nippy in the morning.

View as soon one enters the park

Tourists can choose from different trails based on time on hand and their fitness levels. If one wants to see only lower lakes, Entrance 1 is best and for upper lakes Entrance 2 is better. Since we were covering both sets of lakes (Trail C) we started at Entrance 1 itself and made our way all the way to last upper lake. The trail length was 8 km and it took us 4 hours and included a short scenic boat ride. At the end of the trail, we chose to take a bus back to Entrance 1 instead of walking all the way back. 

Photos cannot do justice to beautiful place but here are some all the same:

As soon as we reached the entrance 1, we saw hordes of tourists descending from tour buses. The viewpoints where we were the sole watchers, had long queues of 100+ folks. Also most tour buses plan so little time for the park that doing both upper and lower lakes is not an option. We exited the park around 11:30 am and decided to drive to Zagreb right away. 

Zagreb

Zagreb is just 2 hours from Plitvice and it was an easy drive except for the last few kilometers when we entered the capital city. The one-ways were super confusing and the hotel had run out of parking, so we dropped our bags at the hotel and went to return our car to the rental agency's Zagreb office. I had chosen this rental agency so that I could pick up car at one place and drop at another without paying anything extra. It's a local rental agency run by really nice people. The guy at Zagreb drop point was so happy to see us arrive 3 hours before appointed time that he chose to drop us back to our hotel as no uber was willing for such a short distance. 

At Zagreb also we had chosen a Sheraton and they upgraded us to a suite. The hotel is furnished old style with carpeted floors and poster beds but we really liked the old school charm. We were here two nights, so first evening we took it easy as it had been a long day and solid hike in the morning. We just walked to the main square, grabbed a bite and a drink and just watched the world go by. 

Next day was spent on local museums, churches and some landmarks. Last morning we were to fly out to Amsterdam in afternoon, so we spent the morning at a park and botanical gardens. 

As luck would have it, the moment we were to board, pilot came out and announced that craft was struck by lightning on way to Zagreb, so our flight stood cancelled. We were provided hotel for the night in Zagreb by the airline though it wasn't as good as the one we had in Amsterdam. Fortunately, we were booked on next day's first flight out to Amsterdam and our Amsterdam hotel didn't cancel our booking as no show as we had informed them of the arrival delays. We reached the hotel around noon and we were able to make our Van Gogh Museum reservations (barely). 

Thus ended a memorable week in one of the most beautiful countries I have visited. I hope to visit it again soon!

A week in Croatia: Dubrovnik

My work travel in 2019 and Covid in 2020 & 2021 didn't allow me to experience Europe after May 2018. In 2021, my Schengen visa expired and the long wait times dissuaded me from planning a trip to Europe. Finally in 2023, when a friend informed me that they got their Schengen visa appointment easily through France, I applied for it and planned a trip for Sep 2023. 

For the purpose of visa I had to book tickets first and had to show port of entry as Paris. But we stayed in Paris only for 3 nights and did our usual museum hopping before taking a flight to Dubrovnik. 

I had been planning Croatia trip since 2019 but Covid kept coming in the way - it was truly a much awaited trip for me. We landed in Dubrovnik around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and a lovely cab ride from airport to our Hotel in Srebreno (10 km before Dubrovnik)

Night view of the Srebreno waters

We chose to stay in quiet Srebreno over crowded Dubrovnik and it was the best decision of our trip. It is a Sheraton property on the beach with two pools (indoor & outdoor), decent gym and huge rooms with lovely balconies. After the tiny Parisian hotel room of Le Meridian, this was bliss. First night we didn't leave Srebreno - just explored the area, walked by the beach and enjoyed a leisurely dinner at one of the restaurants on the marina. 

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the high temperatures in Sep. It was blistering hot during the day (even Paris was crazy hot) - so I needed more dresses as it was impossible to wear denim. Thankfully there was a mall near our hotel and I was able to procure exactly what I needed. 

Dubrovnik as seen from Fort Imperial

Next day, post a lovely breakfast at our hotel, we took an uber to Fort Imperial - it is the highest view point in Dubrovnik. One can take a cable car to and from Dubrovnik old town but I didn't feel like waiting in long queues and paying 27 Euros for a 3 min ride. It was a very sunny day and would have been unbearably hot if not for the lovely sea breeze. We stayed there for a hour, just taking in the beautiful views, before taking another uber to Old town. 

Old Town

Old town is really charming and home to many key locations used in Game of Thrones. One of the key attractions is the walls of old town -  The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 2 km in length, encircling most of the old city, and reach a maximum height of about 25 m. Other key attraction is Fort Lovrijenac just next to Old Town. But mostly its a mecca for GoT fans with many many GoT tours happening throughout the day. 

We chose to keep the key attractions for the next day because the one-day Dubrovnik pass costs 35 Euros and covers all key attractions and they can all be done in half a day. Today we just walked around the old town and spent a significant time by the lovely clear waters of Adriatic Sea. Evening was again spent in one of  the restaurants on Srebreno beach over cocktails. 

View from Fort Lovrijenac

Last day, we again ubered to old town and started with Fort Lovrijenac.  It is a hilltop medieval fortress sits that perched outside the old city walls, on a promontory overhanging the Adriatic Sea. GoT fans recognize this as the Red Keep in King's Landing. It provides breathtaking views of Dubrovnik’s Old Town and West Harbor. 

After spending an hour and a half wandering through stone corridors and patios of Fort Lovrijenac, we entered the old city walls and visited a few other attractions included in Day pass. However none are worth mentioning honestly. We were just whiling away our time so that we could start walking the city walls when the afternoon sun would calm down a bit. We decided to start the walk at 5 pm so  that we get done in time for when the walls close (6:30 pm). 

Some views from the walls

Hence fortified with some lovely local ciders, we started walking the walls of Dubrovnik at 5 pm. Sun was still strong and the first steep set of stairs had us drenched in sweat. But as we got higher the views made it totally worth the effort. These walls are probably 1000 years old but Dubrovnik has retained these walls so perfectly that Dubrovnik is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

Some views from the walls

The 2 km long wall took as 90 min to walk thanks to lovely views and the many many steps one has to climb. One can gain entry to walls at 3-4 different points but the walk is unidirectional and as long as you remember your entry point, you won't miss any portion of it. There are some gelato shops which provided a welcome break from walking in the hot sun but overall this was indeed the best attraction of the old town of Dubrovnik.

We ended the day enjoying the sights of old town before taking a uber to our car rental place. Yes we had planned it to be driving holiday across Croatia and fun was just about to begin