Dubrovnik
Where to Stay
- Hotel Excelsior
- Hotel Bellevue
- Hotel Supetar
- Villa Dubrovnik
- Hotel Croatia in Cavat which is a little south of Old Town Dubrovnik but its cheaper
- Sun Gardens in Orasac which is north of Old Town so also cheaper
- Hotel Odisej on Mljet Island, very affordable
What to Do
Here’s an old blog post, it’s from years ago but my thoughts on things like the city walls and food recs still stand.
I highly suggest doing Bowa Beach one day! You take a boat to an island and it’s way less crowded and relaxing. All of the food, olive oil and wine is grown locally in their own garden on the island, it’s lovely.
This is my Google Map with beach/food recs.
Dubrovnik to Montenegro
While in Dubrovnik, you can take a day trip to Montenegro—it’s ~1.5-2h drive to Kotor. The whole drive is beautiful and Montenegro is super underrated. Here’s a blog post if you’re interested.
Dubrovnik to Split
Makarska (not much there but a beautiful place to stop if passing through, it literally looks like AI in my photos)
Brela Beach
Split
Where to Stay
- Hotel Vestibul Palace is really cool to stay in the actual Diocletian’s Palace
- For a cheaper, no-fuss accommodation, we stayed at an Airbnb in the Palace. It was tiny but cute, cozy, clean, and just cool to be in the Palace.
What to Do
We did this walking tour of Diocletian’s Palace, it was super cheap and only 1.5 hours—Mickey is obsessed with Roman history and loved it.
I also highly recommend waking up early one morning and walking around the Palace when it’s empty so you can really see it and take it all in. It was sooo crowded during the day.
We didn’t have time, but it was recommended to us to go to the Belvedere viewpoint to see the city.
Hvar
Where to Stay
- Lesic Dimitri Palace (Korcula)
- Maslina Resort
- Palace Elisabeth it’s so luxury I love it
What to Do
Gariful is like ‘the place’ for dinner, it’s where all the celebrities go. We didn’t end up eating there though because it seemed very over priced but just wanted to note that.
We did this boat tour that took us to these blue caves, Stiniva Cove and Palmizana for lunch—it was a great tour. I have a Hvar story highlight on my IG that has a bunch of videos from it. But if you don’t want to be on a boat all day, you could do Palmizana beach for the day, it’s super low key and so pretty.
Hvar is a big day club scene but if you’re looking for nightlife there lot’s of cute little bars on the streets along the harbor.
This is my Google Map.
Split to Northern Croatia
Trogir
Northern Croatia
Where to Stay
- Boutique Hotel Alhambra
- Meneghetti Wine Hotel and Winery between Rovinj and Pula near the coast
- Grand Park Hotel Rovinj
- If you like Airbnbs, we absolutely loved the Airbnb in Rovinj we stayed at
- Palazzo Rainis Hotel & Spa
- San Canzian Hotel
What to Do
Krka National Park is awesome. And you can swim, so bring your suits!
Plitvice Lakes National Park is also beautiful—I’d recommend going around sunset for minimal crowds (so peaceful) and pretty lighting. Both of these national parks are pretty low key, I do not hike or even really like the outdoors and I enjoyed them LOL
Rijeka is a really cute place to visit but I probably wouldn’t recommend staying there or going super out of your way to for. You could see the Trsat Castle and clock tower, shop in Korzo and eat in the Old Town.
Pula is where the famous colosseum (Pula Arena) is for my Rome enthusiasts, it’s one of the most well-preserved Roman monuments.
Rovinj is one of my absolute favorite places in the world and amongst my proudest hidden gems!! Being so close to Italy it has heavy Italian influence—the population is half Italian—and it’s just the cutest little town.
I had all of these plans for us before we got there but we ended up ditching them all to just walk around and eat all weekend. The locals recommended watching sunset from the rocks on the west end of the city, so we got a feast of dips, bread, cheese & wine from the market at the marina, took towels, plates and wine glasses from our Airbnb and set up a picnic to watch the sunset one night. Get there early if you want a good spot!
It’s not as much of a beach town but there are a few—Plaza Balota is a good one.
