Croatia 8-day Itinerary and Tips (with links)

Travel and Leisure

(tapping on any picture will open the gallery view)

We recently returned from a river cruise to Eastern Europe with Emerald Waterways. Since the cruise itinerary was only going to be 8 nights, we decided to do our own, self-guided trip in Croatia before embarking in Budapest.

Based on suggestions from Rick Steves' website, we chose to start in Dubrovnik, and work our way north to Zagreb. We decided upon about a weeks' worth of travel, which prohibited visiting any of the islands, as that would have diverted too much time away from Rick's highlighted recommendations. I used Google maps to try and limit any particular stretch of driving to less than 2.5 hours, and so this is what we came up with for our itinerary.

Dubrovnik for 3 nights (5 stars)

As it was our first stop, and the highlight of Croatia, we made sure we had enough time to get a good taste of the Old Town of Dubrovnik. We booked an Airbnb in the Old Town area right off the Stradun, which meant that we did not have to hike up and down stairs every time we went out; yes, there were stairs in our building (no elevator), but many other Airbnbs will have you walking up dozens of stairs just to get to the entrance to your building.

Stairs are everywhere!

I wouldn't recommend the one we rented, as the height in the bathroom was limited, but would certainly stay at Igor's other suites in the building, e.g. this one. Given the historical nature of buildings in the Old Town, there are no traditional hotels inside the walls; if you need American-style hotels, you can find them outside the city walls. Arriving late afternoon on Day 1, we really only had time to settle into our Airbnb, get some groceries, and then get a bite to eat for dinner. We walked the Stradun down to the Konzum behind St. Blaise's Church, which is the best supermarket inside the walls. Our Airbnb host suggested Dubravka for dinner, just outside the Pile Gate, with great atmosphere and views of the Fort Lovrijenac and the walls. The food there was tourist-priced, and average; we would suggest it's a great place for an evening cocktail, but dine somewhere else. 

Day 2 was a full-day in Dubrovnik, and we wanted to do a little exploring to get our bearings, and decompress from our 14-hour travel day. We found that a self-guided audio tour was available from the tourist shop (just inside the Pile Gate, to the right, behind Onofrio's Fountain). For 100 kunas each, we were given a little audio device, some cheap earbuds, and some basic instructions with a small map. The English narrator was flat and uninteresting, and did not give any instructions on how to get to the next point of interest. A number of times, both of our units would reset, and we'd need to start over and navigate back to the point of interest that we were standing next to. We would not recommend this audio tour.

We ate lunch at the Tripadvisor recommended Pizzeria Oliva, but made the mistake of ordering "Pizza for 2"; we could have gotten by with just one pizza for the two of us. It was very good pizza, and we'd recommend going here for lunch. We met another couple from Ottawa, who we had a nice chat with and they gave us a dinner recommendation. That afternoon, we spent the rest of our time trying to get lost in the Old Town; we stumbled across the Buza Bar, which while being a neat spot outside the walls, we did not stop for a drink, as the sun was blazing on the terrace there.

City views from Lady Pi-Pi

That evening, we hiked up the 155 stairs required to get to Lady Pi-Pi for dinner, right beside the north section of the wall. We planned on getting there right around the time that the first seating was ready to leave, and we only had to wait about 20 minutes. Luckily we were seated on the top section, with views of the city; diners seated in the lower section will not have any views at all. Food was average and tourist priced (are you seeing a theme here?), so despite the views and unique atmosphere, we're not recommending this place.

Day 3 was our second and last full day in Dubrovnik, so we blitzed it; we bought the Dubrovnik Pass (250 kunas each; recommended) which gives you access to the city walls, and a number of other minor attractions. Tip: check the cruise ship schedule and find out when the bulk of the cruise passengers will be trying to get on the walls, and avoid those times; for us, that meant waiting until the afternoon when the ships had departed. We visited Fort Lovrijenac early in the morning, and there was almost no one there. We went to almost all of the other included museums etc., except the Archeological Museum, which we could not find, and no one seemed to be able to tell us.

Tip: we found out after, that it is tucked into an entrance at the Ploče Gate. In hindsight, we should have used the free transit that day to take the bus over to Babin Kuk, but we were running out of steam. Tip: before you start the City Walls walk, we suggest you download the VoiceMap app, and then the "Walls of Liberty" audio tour ($8.20).

We hiked the walls for about an hour and half, catching the city from many angles, and then we went outside the walls to catch sunset from Fort Lovrijenac. Unfortunately, the Fort was closed for a private event, so we missed sunset that evening. We went for dinner at Mea Culpa, which has a fun atmosphere, as the outside seating extends for about 3 old town "blocks". We both had pasta, and it was very good, with tourist prices; recommended. A little bit of strolling around the Stradun at night for some cool photos, then back to the Airbnb to pack up.

Road trip to Mostar (stop in Počitelj) enroute to Split (3.5 stars)

Day 4 was the start of our road trip; we grabbed a taxi to the Hotel Rixos to pick up a car at Sixt. Tip: use Uber instead of the normal taxis, if you want to save a few bucks. Second tip: Use Oryx for rental cars, as they are not only cheaper, but they do not charge a fee if you want to take the car out of Croatia. e.g. Since we were headed to Mostar, we had to pay a 22€ surcharge for each day of our rental! Despite this, using a car is the easiest way to get around Croatia, and for the most part, driving was easy. Third tip: book your car as early as possible to secure the best rate.

On the way out of Dubrovnik, we drove the narrow, single-lane road up to one of the lookout points for some photos of the city. This was in lieu of taking the tourist cable car to Mount Srd, which saved us 200 kunas each. After some brief photos, were were on our way to Mostar, based on Rick Steves' recommendation.

We should have stopped at Ston

Here's one of our/my first mistakes; we were using Maps.me to navigate, as it does so without requiring a data connection. However, I did not check the button that allows you to use toll roads, so we were sent the slightly longer route. This turned out to be a bonus, as it sent us through the fortress town of Ston. We didn't have time to stop to explore, but in hindsight, I would have used Ston as a stopover, rather than spend the extra hours going to Mostar.

On the way, we stopped at the medieval town of Počitelj to check out the little village and take the brief hike up to the ruins of the fortress. Note: the rocky steps leading up are very uneven and would not recommend this for folks who have trouble with walking, or during periods of rain. We arrived in Mostar, and parked at the lot that most tour buses use. There you will find public pay toilets (0.50€ if I recall correctly) and you pay 1€ at the Campanile Café for parking (although they didn't take my plate number, so I don't know how they know who has paid or not). It was a short walk of about 5 minutes or so until you get to the old town street that takes you down to Stari Most, the old bridge.

The narrow pedestrian street was very cool, and the main attraction, Stari Most was stunning. Despite the light rain, the street was packed with tourists, so after grabbing some sandwiches, we ducked into the Museum of War and Genocide Victims. It was a depressing reminder of what happened in this area, and while not recommended for everyone, it gave us good historical context. After a couple of hours exploring, we were back to the car, continuing the drive to Split. This is where we realized that our Maps.me directions were avoiding toll roads, as we were sent down some dodgy, gravel roads. 

Once we corrected that issue, the guidance had us staying on the higher speed motorways. We chose another Airbnb in Split, based on the fact that they had parking available on site, as well as a washing machine. It was a delightful, little, self-contained, studio cottage, only a 5-minute walk to the East Gate of the old town area (below).

After getting settled, and starting a load of laundry, we walked down to the lively boardwalk area for a bite to eat, and stopped at the first busy restaurant. We should really have done a Tripadvisor search first, as this place Piccolo, was terrible. Cash only too, so something to ask about before you sit down.

Day in Split (4 stars)

Day 5 was a full-day of exploring in Split, which was very interesting. While Split itself is quite a large city, the old town, walled area is quite small. The extraordinary complex of Diocletian's Palace takes up a good portion of this city area, but you need to pay to go into the buildings that make up the palace. The Split City Museum was closed when we were there, and so we were a little disappointed visiting the sites.

We would have preferred if there was one flat fee ticket, that allowed you to see all of the things inside the city walls, rather than having to pay for each one individually. There are guides available in the main square of Diocletian's Palace for tours, but we chose to explore on our own, visiting the blue tourist placards placed around the old town area. That evening, rather than make the same mistake for dinner, I looked up a Tripadvisor recommendation, and we went to Bistro TOC to try and get something different for dinner (not an easy thing in tourist Croatia). We were disappointed again, and would not recommend it. 

Road trip to Zadar enroute to Plitvice Lakes (4 stars)

Day 6: Back on the road to Plitvice Lakes. On the way into Split, we noticed an impressive fortress on the outskirts of town. We looked it up, and Klis Fortress seemed like it deserved a visit. There is a free parking lot about 120m or so past the main entrance; it is an unmarked gravel lot on your left, across the street from the school's concrete football pitch. Entrance to the fortress is around 10€ each; we wandered around the ruins (which had been used extensively as Meereen in Game of Thrones) for about an hour or so, and it was worth the stop. We got in the car just before it started pouring, and hit the motorway to Zadar.

We drove directly to the free parking lot in Zadar, but it was a gong show. By the time we got there, it was full, and the rain had made small lakes everywhere. However, after scoping out the area on foot while she drove around slowly, we came across someone leaving and managed to park on dry land. We used a free, self-guided walking tour we found on the web to explore the old town on our own. 

It is a great old town area, with a Roman forum and many other historical sites; you could easily spend a couple of nights here. However, with another 2 hours of driving ahead of us, we said goodbye to Zadar and set out for Plitvice Lakes. Our destination was Zrinka House, a Tripadvisor recommendation that did not disappoint! Rooms were large and well appointed, free mini-bar, and comfortable bed. I had done another Tripadvisor lookup for dinner in the area (Grabovac), and Old Shatterhand came up as the top place. They serve a massive hamburger (not a traditional American-style) that required a knife and fork to eat, which was just what we needed after 5 days of the same style of Croatian meals; highly recommended.

Plitvice Lakes Hike (5 stars) and on to Zagreb

We started Day 7 with a fantastic breakfast where Zrinka described all of the items on the buffet. She also included supplies to make sandwiches and provided bags to takeaway these and other snacks for the day hike. This is another one of Rick Steves' don't miss Croatian attractions, and we agreed - it was one of the highlights of the trip.

There are 8 named routes around Plitvice Lakes, but it is really only 4, with the other 4 being the same but just running in the opposite direction. We chose parking at Entrance 1, and we recommend route C (don't bother to buy the map), which will give you views of the falls as you walk towards them, rather than having to turn around often to see them. It also avoids the lengthy and somewhat uninteresting walk around the Kozjak lake; you take the boat across one way, then the shuttle back. With many stops for photos and a sandwich break before taking the shuttle back to Entrance 1, our hike took about 3.5 hours.

On our way out of the area, we took the recommendation from Zrinka's daughter to stop in Rastoke, a small town only 20 mins away. We found a storybook spot where waterfalls cascade down right beside the village's old buildings and houses! After taking some photos, we continued on to our final Croatian destination of Zagreb. After dropping our car at the Sixt location in the centre, we grabbed an Uber to our Airbnb. Jelena's place was an amazing apartment only 100 metres from the edge of the Lower Town area; the only drawback was the pub downstairs played loud music well into the night. Tip: always travel with earplugs; they may only be required for one or two noisy spots, but you will thank me later. Our host recommended a few choices for dinner; we selected Market Street Food as it was close to the Airbnb, and we finally got a great meal in Croatia!

Day in Zagreb (4.5 stars)

Even though Zagreb is the large, bustling capital of Croatia, the city has upper and lower Old Town areas that are worthy of visiting; there's good reason that it’s another one of Rick Steves picks. Again, we used a self-guided tour to help us discover the sites and history, and we could easily spend two days here, but by this time, we were eager to stop having to pack and unpack every couple of days. For dinner that night, I took to Tripadvisor again and found KAI Street Food, which was hard to find, but worth it!

It is just off Ban Josip Square, on the Southeast corner; across the street from the Tourist Information Centre and East about 20 metres, there will be an alley entrance where you will find KAI. After a full day in Zagreb, we packed up and headed to Budapest the next morning to catch our river cruise.

Other tips and things about Croatia

We're not big breakfast people, and that's why Airbnbs usually work well for us. We pick up some local baking, some fruit and yogurt, and we're usually good to go. However, we found that Croatia's version of croissants were a far cry from Western European versions; instead we bought a loaf of bread to make toast. Unfortunately, toast is apparently not a thing for Croatians, and not a single Airbnb we stayed at had a traditional toaster!

Another small irritation is that they also don't use bar soap or supply wash cloths (face cloths); there was always liquid body wash available, but never wash cloths. I had planned on the soap issue and brought my own bar soap, but she would have liked face cloths to help take her makeup off etc. It always took a few times for us to get used to the fact that light switches were outside the room; e.g. the switch for the bathroom would be on the outer wall, not in the bathroom. But this is common in Europe, as is the issue with no wash cloths.

There is no tipping required in Croatian restaurants; as such, we found service pretty much wherever we ate to be lacklustre, with the exception of KAI Street Food. Most restaurants take credit cards, but we did encounter two that did not, so be sure to ask if that is the only method of payment you have available. Smoking is still very much a thing in Central and Eastern Europe, so if you want to sit on the patio, expect to be surrounded by smokers, especially in non-tourist restaurants.