Croatia is a fascinating place to visit. It’s a beautiful country along the Adriatic Sea full of stone buildings and walled cities that make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. There are seaside restaurants, palm tree-lined streets and the rocky shoreline is dotted with islands. There are so many places to visit in this country and you can definitely spend a lot of time here. Follow this guide to Croatia for where to go and the best places to see!
Guide to Croatia
There are a lot of cities to visit in Croatia but also a lot of islands you could explore. To me, Croatia is a place that needs a decent amount of time to travel around. We spent about 2 weeks traveling from the north to the south and definitely could have spent longer. Here are some of the most popular places to go to help you plan your route:
Zagreb
Zagreb is the largest city in Croatia and also the capital. We went back and forth for awhile on whether or not we should visit Zagreb. It felt weird to skip over the capital city, but in the end, we thought there would be other places we would want to explore more.
If you do decide to stay in Zagreb, there’s a famous cathedral, a medieval looking church (St. Mark’s Church) and the several parks and museums to check out. Visit the main square and stroll the streets of colorful buildings.
Plitvice Lakes National Park
If you’ve see pictures online of insanely gorgeous waterfalls with walkways between them, it’s a good chance it’s from Croatia. The Plitvice Lakes National Park is a series of 16 lakes all connected by flowing waterfalls. It’s in every guide to Croatia and is the most popular attraction in the country.
Another reason we considered going to Zagreb is because the National Park is halfway between Zagreb and another popular city, Zadar. Plitvice Lakes is not convenient to get to unless you go to both of those cities. It’s a little over 2 hours to get to from Zagreb and a little under 2 hours to get to from Zadar.
I really wanted to get here, but we decided to focus our route mostly on the center and south of the country. Luckily, there’s a pretty great alternative.(read on!)
Zadar
Zadar is where we decided to start our journey. Zadar is a city by the sea with stone streets and Roman ruins in the city’s old town. There are cute squares to walk around, Venetian architecture to admire and ruins to photograph. There are some things to see here but we were fine with 2 days to explore.
A neat thing to experience in Zadar is the Sea Organ. It’s essentially steps leading to the sea wall with various cut outs in the stone. The steps are actually an instrument and music is created by the sea waves hitting tubes underneath the marble stairs. It’s a great place to swim, watch the sunset and listen to organ-like sounds from the waves.
While you’re there, you can also see the Monument to the Sun, which is a collection of glass panels in the ground that light up at night.
Sibenik
Sibenik is another coastal town that is situated on a hill overlooking the sea. It looks like an adorable place to explore with many fortresses around the area. However, it also happens to be the gateway to Krka National Park–the waterfall alternative to Plitvice.
Most people stop in Sibenik, where you can then take a bus to another small town called Skradin. Then you can buy your ticket to Krka National Park. We stopped in this town just to switch buses but it’s definitely worth looking at to explore.
Krka National Park
Another series of waterfalls is at Krka National Park. It’s smaller than Plitvice but also beautiful. If you can’t get to Plitvice Lakes, this is a great option to surround yourself in nature. It’s the second most visited park and a little closer to visit. It’s an hour from either Split or Zadar.
Split
This is my favorite city in Croatia. I found Split to be very charming and a really fun place to explore. There’s a boardwalk by the sea with palm trees lining the street and many old ruins and buildings to explore.
The stone cities are one of my favorite things about Croatia. It’s so authentic and far from my own culture that it is really fascinating to explore. Split has so many cool passageways and buildings. Also, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you’ll find several filming locations here!
Diocletian’s Palace is a highlight to see as well as the many archways and squares.
Trogir
Just across the way from Split, is a smaller version called Trogir. It’s an equally cute town to explore with it’s boardwalk by the sea and seaside castle. It’s a short drive or ferry away and a great place to explore for the afternoon or to grab lunch. Trogir is quieter, smaller and definitely less crowded than Split.
The debate is ongoing as to which is the better place to stay. Both cities are charming in their own way. I’m partial to Split as it has a lot of places to explore but these are two cities that should definitely be included in your guide to Croatia.
Hvar Island
After Split we headed to Hvar island, one of the most popular islands to go to in Croatia.
Hvar island is beautiful with turquoise lagoons to uncover. Lots of boats pull up to the boardwalk unloading guests. Restaurants are tucked in small alleyways with tables pressed up against the walls. It’s a large island and you can spend several days here riding around and finding hidden spots like this one:
There’s a fortress on Hvar island that gives you a great view of the island!
They have ferries leaving daily, but we made the beneficial mistake of not booking ahead. We went to the office to buy a same-day ticket and they had sold out until the next day. My husband suggested we go to the sea plane office to inquire about charter flights and I thought it would be wayyy out of our budget. Turns out, it wasn’t and we were able to take a SEA PLANE to Hvar!
Vis Island
Another popular island (that we unfortunately did not get to) is Vis. There are cute beach coves and sea caves. The island is mountainous with overlooks of the small towns. It is also the furthest from the mainland which has kept it fairly local.
Korcula Island
Another island I read a lot about was Korcula Island. Korcula looks extremely picturesque, like a fairytale location. There are views of rolling mountains, beautiful lagoons and even wineries. It’s also the place locals believe to be the home of Marco Polo!
Once you’ve finished island hopping, it’s time to move to one of the most well know cities in Croatia.
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is arguably one of the most famous cities in Croatia, made even more well known by King’s Landing, the fictional city of Game of Thrones. The old town of Dubrovnik is surrounded by a giant wall that you can walk along the top of. The stone passageways are beautiful to explore and the views of the city are spectacular at any angle. There are also lots of restaurants where you can eat outside to enjoy your surroundings.
There are several beaches around Dubrovnik worth checking out. However, the beaches in Croatia in general are not great. They aren’t the beautiful sandy beaches, but rocky. The water on the other hand is sparkling turquoise.
It’s a large city and often crowded with tourists but it’s definitely a fun place to visit and a must-see in Croatia!
Things to know about Croatia
- As stated above, the beaches in Croatia are not the sandy beaches you’d hope for. The rocky coast of Croatia extends to its beaches and a lot of them are full of pebbles and are not enjoyable to lay out on or walk on. Likewise, if you want to get in the water, you might want some water shoes.
- Croatia can get very hot! We went in the dead of summer and were sweating all the time. Make sure you check the weather to know what to wear in Croatia. Bring lots of sunscreen!
- Check the location of your hotels/Airbnb’s. I don’t just mean get in a good part of town. I mean, read the reviews and make sure your place is not at the top of a very, very large hill. Lots of places in Croatia are a little mountainous and our place in Dubrovnik was damn near the top of the largest hill around. Every time we left our place, we had to trek down and up about 12 flights of stairs. in the summer.
- And while you’re checking the location, check to see if the air conditioning is indeed working. We landed in several places where it was sub par.
Traveling around Croatia
It’s fairly easy to travel around Croatia. We took buses to and from each city easily. The ferries we could have booked ahead but it worked out in our favor. We actually didn’t rent a car until we got to Dubrovnik, but only because we wanted to take a day-trip to Bosnia and Montenegro.
Our Itinerary
We spent 2 weeks traveling around and decided to go to Zadar, Krka National Park, Split, Trogir, Hvar and Dubrovnik. We felt like we had a pretty decent amount of time to explore and never felt too rushed. There’s definitely more places we would have liked to get to but this was a great itinerary to do.
Croatia is definitely a place that we would go back to. The coastal cities of stone are so unlike anything in the US and it is a beautiful country. I also think you could choose one place to visit and just relax and take in the scenery. Whichever way you choose, you can’t go wrong! It’s high on our list!
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