360guy

I am planning A 9 day vacation to Croatia next June. I was thinking of spending 2 nights in DRV and maybe 3 nights each on two islands. Any recommendations?
Thanks

bcmatt

Personally I think you might want more than two nights in Dubrovnik - it is a great place to explore or just hang out eating and drinking. Maybe 3 nights?

On the island front I would recommend Mljet with its national park.

As always with this part of the world, check out the In Your Pocket guide. In addition the National Tourist Board web site has a lot of ideas and is very pretty!!

Enjoy Croatia, it is one of my favourite holiday destinations.

hobarthoney

Just got back from 10 days in Croatia and loved it! I charted a boat and went from Split to Dubrovnik and back to Split and had a fantastic time. It is a beautiful country with very friendly people! I hope you like "first quality fish" and "mixed grill" because every restaurant serves it As for Islands Mljet is a very nice place and Hvar is a place not to miss. Another little place Milna is another very nice place with less tourists.

Enjoy the trip

l etoile

I've chartered out sailboat out of Dubrovnik and visited about 10 islands. Unlike hobarthoney, I vastly preferred Hvar to Mljet. Obviously it depends on your preference. Mljet has very little on it being a national park. You can rent bikes and tour island. Hvar has nightlife and charming town and good restaurants. There are a couple of islands further up that way I wish I had time to make it to: Bisevo for the Blue Cave and Vis, which friends have highly recommended. I've heard it referred to being like Capri but without the crowds.

have fun

schmare

I'll second (or third?) the recommendation for Hvar - I spent a few nights there this past summer and really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed Korcula, which was much quieter than Hvar and provided a great place to rent bicycles and explore.

Rather than renting a boat I ended up traveling exclusively by ferry. It was a little more limiting as we had to plan our stops by the ferry schedule, but it was a cheaper option than renting a boat, and we met loads of great people.

hobarthoney

Sorry I was meant to say I would not miss Hvar! It is great place and my post has been rectified

cbalaska

I will be one day in Split on a cruise in late October. Any suggestions on what to do without too much strenuous walking? Thanks!

l etoile

Split is primarily for walking. The main site to see is the Diocletian's Palace. Here's a snippet of what I wrote about it from a trip report:

It’s an amazing place built around 300 AD and containing some 220 buildings that are now homes and contemporary shops, such as Benetton and Mango. Diocletian had the place built as his retirement home. Apparently, he only ventured out to watch Christians get thrown to the lions. The place is wonderfully preserved. There’s a peristyle courtyard, an Egyptian sphinx and a belltower you can pay a couple of dollars to climb up. Ironically, Diocletian’s mausoleum was eventually turned into a Christian church and his body was removed. The octagonal building now has an interesting relic-filled treasury. There are pieces of skulls inside metal head-shaped containers with viewing windows on the top, boxes of bones, pieces of fingers, and purportedly a couple of pieces from Jesus’ cross. The basement is also open for a couple dollar admission fee. It used to be the garbage dump – those above would put their trash down holes to the basement, but it’s been cleaned out and you can walk through and see the wonderful vaulted ceilings. It also houses contemporary art work.

TRAVELSIG

I also vote for Hvar! Spent a week there in August- fantastic!

rfrost

I liked Hvar very much. I didn't go to Korcula, which looked great from the boat, and wish I had. I'd recommend 2 days in Split; there's a lot to see there and near the city as well.

mattkorey

DBV is a good base to take the day trip "fish picnic" boats to the surrounding islands, including Miljet and Korcula. I found these to be better for just a day since there is not a lot to do on them really. We rent a little mini Brum car (more like a go kart!) on Miljet and rode around the island and it was great fun.

My favorite island is Brac, home of the famous Zlatni Rat beach. It's my favorite place in all of Croatia. It was so relaxing as well as so many outdoor activities to pursue. There are also a few good places to eat. I wasn't thrilled with the hotels, but it was fine enough. You can't beat the tip of that beach, probably my favorite single place to be in the world is sitting there with my legs in the water just soaking it all in.

tfjim

For those of you who chartered boats for trips along the coast in Croatia can you give some more information regarding this. I'm very interested in a charter next June. Can you provide some advice and links to providers, how it worked, cost, etc. I have read in various places that the charter companies require higher qualifications of bareboat skippers, I'd like to confirm that before I start any planning.

l etoile

I used Sunsail out of Dubrovnik and I have friends who used Moorings out of Trogir. I've used Moorings in various other places and both companies run solid operations. Next time I sail in Croatia, I will go with the base in Trogir only because the islands further north are more interesting to me. Most companies also offer a one-way option which is nice because you don't have to back track and you can also plan it so you're always sailing downwind.

Charter companies ask for your sailing resume (assuming sailboat). They really don't care if you've won a transpac, but are primarily interested in how many nights you've slept on the hook (I assume the same is true if chartering a power boat). They want to know you're not going to damage the hull. Croatia does require (or at least it did a couple of years ago) a "sailors license". The US doesn't give such things so the way to get around this is to use a company such as Moorings or Sunsail, which will make you a license when you arrive. I originally was going to book with a Croatia-based company, but they didn't have a way of getting around the licensing requirement. If you're unsure of your abilities, the companies generally offer a skipper for $150 or so a day and you could have one for just one day. You basically just want to be comfortable setting a good anchor and with med mooring if you intend to dock any place.

Croatia is a very easy place to sail. Navigation is line of sight and there's very little tide change.

Cost depends on the size of the boat. An outboard for the dinghy is an add on. Do your own provisioning as it's much cheaper and convenient.

I only spent one night med-moored at a marina. That was at Korcula and it was quite expensive for Croatia - more than people I knew paid to rent an apartment there per night. The rest of the time I anchored, which was free and the islands were all well protected, and one night we stayed on a little dock owned by a restaurant (eat at the restaurant, park your boat for free).

Here are some photos ... midway through are so are some of the boat I chartered - a Jeanneau 37.
https://home.comcast.net/~rodhooper/Croatia%202004.htm

Also, here's an unfinished trip report. Post 19 (the last one) talks about picking up the boat and the first day and night out. We had some weather the first day, but it was beautiful after that. If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...2&page=1&pp=15