Croatia

Zagreb - unfortunately we only had a couple of days in Zagreb and it was over the Easter weekend so we did not experience much of the city. We did walk through the Old Town and all the food we ate in town was very tasty! We did an all-day bus tour to Plitvice Lakes National Park. Honestly, I was not looking forward to being a part of a tour bus group for an entire day but this was among one of the best things we've done. The area had snow about a week before our trip so the waterfalls were abundantly flowing. Our guide was friendly and full of interesting information - I have to give props to the guides who can manage large groups.

We flew from Zagreb to Split and stayed a few days in Split. We walked through Old Town, visited Marjan Park (be prepared for a good walk up - clear, straight path with a good incline), and walked to a beach nearby. There is a big marina next to the Old Town area with plenty of options for boat tours, but we did not do any boat tours from Split. I liked this town - it was busy and there were a lot of tourists, but it was not overrun by them (or should I say "us"!). This was early April 2026. I imagine it could be quite crowded in the summer as it seemed to be a popular spot for families and big groups.

From Split we took a ferry to the island Hvar for a week. The ferry takes only about 1 hour so is very easy. We had a lot of time to rest on Hvar. It was mid-April and many places on the island were prepping to re-open for the season. For us, this simply meant limited options for dining out. For those looking for nightlife, it would've been disappointing. Those visitors would definitely want to wait until after mid-April. We were happy for the quiet time to enjoy the sea air and nature. The entire island smelled of flowers and orange blossoms. We rented a quad one day and explored a bit (from Hvar to Brusje to Stari Grad and then down towards the beaches before returning to Hvar). Being there in the shoulder season made it feel like we had the island to ourselves. Stunning views and very few cars on the roads with us (I think we only got honked at once!). The quad rental was only about 100 Euro for the day and was in excellent condition. The beaches were nice and warm - but the water was cold (nice for a dip, but too chilly for swimming).

We did go to Bosnia-Herzegovina before going to Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, we stayed in their Old Town - which was fun to do - tons of restaurants & bars, but it was very crowded during the day. We found that when the cruise ship visitors were in town for the day, it was at times too crowded to walk around. We did take a Blue Cave boat tour one day and mentioned how nice it was to get away from the crowds and they laughed a little because they said the crowds will get much more intense as summer approaches. The Blue Cave boat tour was a great time - I would recommend doing this (if we return to Dubrovnik, I will want to do this again!).

When I sat down to write about Croatia today, I did not intend to focus so much on the size of the crowds and number of tourists. I realize that we ourselves are tourists, but it does impact your visit when there are too many of us... yet, not enough, then the businesses may not be open for season yet. Interesting to think about. We truly enjoyed our time in all of the cities in Croatia (beautiful country) and hope to have the opportunity to visit again in the future!