Croatia - never underestimate high season

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Let me tell you the story of our "travel fail" to Croatia: never underestimate peak season if you want to travel like a backpacker..


Three tips for travelling Croatia upfront

  1. Try to avoid peak season for a more flexible and cheap travel (most place were booked or just not affordable)
  2. Try to avoid July/August in case you want to do anything but lying at the beach (38-40 degrees are quite limiting)
  3. Bring or buy sea shoes (beaches are rocky and full of sea urchins), a mat to lay upon and a sun umbrella (as you will need shade)
  4. Bring Euros since many hostels/hotels charge in Euros and use conversion rates to their benefit

Instead of carefully planning ahead we wanted to travel a bit more flexible and spontaneous - like a backpacker. Hence, we rented a car (already the price should have made us suspicious - double compared to September) and did not book any accommodation but the first night before we left. After visiting the amazing Plitvice National Park with all its fresh water lakes, we carried on to Zadar to wake up on the coast. Unfortunately everywhere we asked and also online, there was no room for less than 120€/night.. Thanks to taking two Italian hitchhikers with us that day, we at least could borrow their tent and sleep right at the beach 😊





But nevertheless, the next day we figured we needed to plan a bit and book the next nights. We found rooms in Split (shared bathroom, run-down, dirty) for 57€ and then Dubrovnik for 98€/night. Due to limited (affordable) vacancy we skipped our plan to visit any of the Croatian islands, and made our way slowly down south the scenic coastal road (longer than the highway but no road toll!) to Dubrovnik with two stays in Podstrana (just out of Split, in a lovely villa next to the sea) and Tučepi (south of Makarska, in a backdoor room w/o aircon). All signs were in German and Italian also, Kaufland and Lidl all over the place, too. On the way it seemd like half of Europe was here plus local tourists.. I believe Croatia also took advantage of the situations in Turkey or Egypt, and increased prices a lot. 


Wherever we came the beaches had cristal clear waters and were refreshingly cold. But with an average temperature of 38 degrees and no cloud at the sky, even staying at the beach was too hot. 






Don't miss the gorgeous beaches and also the mountains of Croatia, enjoy the delicious food (fresh fish for around 10-15€/person) and cold beers, be impressed by the warm and hospitable locals, experience impressive historical places and locations where movies where shot. This goes especially for Dubrovnik as a lot of our favorite series Game of Thrones was produced there. 


Since it was too hot to visit the city of Dubrovnik in the middle of the day, we came to the historical old town at night and took a kayak tour around the citys shore the next day. This way we could refresh ourselves, see the city from a different angle and exercise a bit at the same time. 





After two full days in and around Dubrovnik we carried on to Montenegro.


For more photos and stories follow me on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sebschraven/

Comments

Anonymous said…
Sebbo, dein schreibstil ist so schön zu lesen, als wenn man neben dir sitzt und du es erzählst, voller Motivation und Freude! Mach bitte weiter so! It's good to see you so happy! Birdy
18 August 2017 at 12:23
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