G E T T I N G T H E R E :
B Y C A R
Deciding to road trip from the Plitvitčka lakes to Dubrovnik was one of the best decisions we made for our honeymoon. We drove in the countryside and along the coastline allowing us to see and experience the quieter parts of Croatia. I have to say, the mundane moments away from tourist crowds tend to be some of my very favorite when traveling. Croatia is a beautiful country, like breathtakingly beautiful, which made the 5 hour drive easy on the eyes.
We drove south on the E65. If you have the extra time, which we didn’t, I’d personally detour to hit up Zadar and Split which aren't far off the E65 highway and by the looks of my research - totally worth checking out.
B Y P L A N E
You can fly right into Dubrovnik making this an easy alternative to road tripping.
After we dropped the rental car off in Dubrovnik we hailed an Uber that dropped us outside of Old town. We stayed within the castle walls at the cutest airbnb. Everything can be reached by foot within the walls, which means that if you too decided to stay inside Old Town, the location of your stay isn’t necessarily important. Our place had a giant window that opened out to a bell tower with a courtyard below and on our last night we sat on the windowsill, drank wine and people watched. Highly recommend.
W H E N T O V I S I T :
Summer of course! There’s something magical about European summer’s especially in the mediterranean climate. Croatia happens to be one of the biggest hot spots for sailing trips + island hopping - if you’re into that.
We visited in early September, which is honestly the perfect time. The majority of the peak summer crowds have dispersed and the weather is still warm. Peak travel season is from May - September with a mild winter from December - February.
H O W L O N G T O V I S I T :
3 - 5 D A Y S
We spent 2 1/2 days in the city of Dubrovnik which left us wanting more. Additionally I would have liked to take a boat ride to a neighboring island for the day, or rented kayaks to do some solo exploring. We did just about all there was to do within the city walls but definitely missed out on enjoying some ocean time.
We did our laundry at the most adorable laundromat right outside the east entrance into the castle walls. Immediately as you exit the walls and cross the small bridge, better known as Ploce Gate, there’s a crosswalk to your left, cross that and follow the small street up until you see a blue Launderette sign. Bonus - right next door is a super cool tourist shop. I can’t for the life of me remember the name, I even google earth-ed it but, nothing, dang it! They sold craft beer and unique souvenir’s like vintage post cards. Not your typical, seen it everywhere stuff, but high quality products that felt authentic to the country and the owner was incredibly friendly.
W A L K I N G T H E W A L L -
On our first full day there we woke up before the sun so we could make it to the wall by the time it opened at 8 a.m. We wanted to beat the swarm of tourists and we didn’t necessarily want to melt in the sun, so getting there early is the best way to do it.
DISTANCE : 1.2 MILES
After our walk along the 13th century medieval wall, we headed to Lady Pi Pi for lunch. The atmosphere on the rooftop here is killer and the food was top notch. However, funny story - I’ll preface by saying that we were being a tiny bit picky in wanting to sit on the balcony and we showed up 30 min from their midday closing BUT, our server was EXTREMELY rude to us. Not just had a bad day rude, because we’ve all been there, but blatantly mean. Kyle and I grant benefit of the doubt almost to a fault, but she never stopped being mean even after Kyle and I tried to kill her with brutal kindness, THE ENTIRE TIME! It was the most bizarre experience. She was literally talking shit to the outside grill cook, about us, IN FRONT OF US! Weird, right? I’ll chalk this one up to a fluke because the food, drinks, view and atmosphere were worth having to deal with her tude.
On our last night we ate dinner at restaurant Kopun which is a MUST VISIT! We got the seafood stew to share and it was one of our favorite meals on the trip. Additionally, the St. Ignatius Church across the courtyard was a sight to behold.
P.S Pistachio ice cream in Croatia is not the same as pistachio gelato in Italy. And by not the same I mean not good. I felt like that was important to note for all my pistachio ice cream lovers out there.
