CROATIA

Given its long coastline, it makes the most sense to compare Croatia with the other major European Mediterranean destinations: Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. The category in which Croatia decisively beats these other countries is their very high level of service. My impression is that tourists are far less likely to get gouged or ripped off here. We never felt we were in an atmosphere of chaos, and many things seemed to run quite efficiently. Additionally, it is noteworthy that persons in their tourist service industry will go out of their way to help tourists when a problem arises. (One of our experiences is discussed further down on this page.)

Another strong plus for Croatia is that its beaches are among the best in the Meditteranean. The water off its coast is mostly unspoiled and clean. The category where the four other countries beat Croatia is food. That is not to say that food in Croatia is not good. We ate many excellent meals on our trip. It is just that the other competing countries all have strong food cultures and are renowned for their cuisine.

Among the many great options, the places we chose to visit in Croatia were Zagreb and Dubrovnik.

Flying vs. Driving

Our primary interest in Croatia was Dubrovnik. Since we would be arriving in Zagreb by bus from Slovenia, we needed to decide our mode of transportation within Croatia. The two cities are far from each other, at opposite ends of the country. A one-way car rental would have the advantage of allowing us to visit in-between places. Plitvice Lakes National Park (point B on the map) is a UNESCO World Heritage site two hours south of Zagreb. After spending a day there, we could continue to Split (point C) three hours further south. Car ferries to the island of Hvar (point D) take less than two hours. Vis (the green marker) is perhaps the most spectacular of the Croatian islands and easily reached by ferry from Hvar. The final leg from Hvar to Dubrovnik takes a little under four and a half hours. I estimated five overnights in the various points between Zagreb and Dubrovnik.

Alternatively, Air Croatia runs several direct daily flights from Zagreb to Dubrovnik. The flight time is an hour, and one-way tickets can cost as little as $55. Given our limited number of days, we chose to fly. Flying allowed us more time to spend in Dubrovnik, and we included a 2-night visit to nearby Kotor, Montenegro.

Dubrovnik Airport has many international flights. It is often easier to find a good deal on a flight out of Dubrovnik than from Zagreb. We had a very positive experience at the Dubrovnik Airport when we were leaving the country. We were returning from Montenegro and grossly miscalculated the very long wait time at the Montenegro-Croatia border crossing. We returned our rental car and explained to the rental agent that we were very late for our flight check-in. He kindly expedited our paperwork and rushed us to the airport. We arrived at the airport 15 minutes before our flight departure, and the airline check-in attendants for our flight were already gone. I had conceded that we would need to buy alternative tickets. I went to another airline company and inquired about the earliest next flight to London, explaining that we were not in time for the flight we had booked. That agent immediately phoned a person at the gate for the plane on which we had tickets. Since we did not need to check baggage, they agreed to issue boarding passes. We were then rushed through security so that we could make our flight. It is hard to imagine experiencing the level of efficiency and courtesy in many other places.