Discover Croatia: Best Road Trip from Dubrovnik to Zagreb

Date of trip: May 26 – June 3, 2016

I was inspired to visit Croatia after seeing a friend’s social media after his visit to Dubrovnik. I didn’t do a lot of research for this trip and at that time I was using a site called “European Destinations” (now Trip Masters) so I just used their recommended itinerary. Here’s an outline of our trip as well as a recommended itinerary.

Flew into Dubrovnik with a layover in Paris.

Day 1-3: Dubrovnik (day trip to Lokrum)

Day 3-6: Split (day trip to Hvar, Vis, a private island and a few caves. Then a separate day trip to Trogir).

Day 7: Zadar

Day 8: Opatija (Plitvice on the way from Zadar)

Day 9: Zagreb

Flew Zagreb to Atlanta with a layover in Paris

Recommended itinerary:

-Dubrovnik 3 nights (day trip to Mostar)

-Split 1 night

-Ferry to Hvar 2 nights with day trips from there to the other islands and caves

-Zadar 1 night

-Plitvice 1 night (stay in Slunj)

-Optional to add 1 night in Opatija and/or Pula

-Zagreb 2 nights (with a day trip to whitewater raft, canyoning, zip lining)

Logistics:

It’s very easy to drive in Croatia. I suggest you fly into Dubrovnik and drive up the coast to fly out of Zagreb. If you end up spending a night on the islands, you can opt to take a car ferry. Keep in mind, you will need your passport to briefly cross over Bosnia by car. There were plenty of facilities en route and parking was easy where we visited. Croatia now uses the euro (we used the Croatian Kuna when we were there). There are so many options for day trips, I’ve only listed a few. I felt like Croatia was overall inexpensive but I’ve heard that since our trip, there is more tourism and things have gotten pricey. Be aware of the cruise ship docking times and try to plan your day to be outside of the city at those times to avoid crazy crowds. We did a lot of “Game of Thrones” filming locations but you may want to adjust the itinerary to see more or less depending on your level of interest.

I’ll get to the highlights of my trip below, listed by city.

Dubrovnik

We stayed at Hotel Adria Dubrovnik. I really enjoyed the views and now that there is Uber, you could more easily stay outside the city but we had to walk 2.5km or try to catch a bus or taxi.

https://www.hotel-adria-dubrovnik.com

Old town is adorable. There’s a bar you must see along the old wall that overlooks the Adriatic.

http://www.dubrovnik.com/discover/restaurants/223-buza-bar-or-the-qhole-in-the-wallq

Walking the old walls is pretty cool but definitely do it first thing in the morning. The cruise ship crowds make it unbearable from 11-4:30/5.

Here are some photos of the old town (and some you may recognize from Game of Thrones).

Church of St. Ignatius

Notice the new tile vs the old tile roofs after the war.

We did a foodie tour the first day we landed and I cannot recommend this enough. Our guide was fabulous and was from Dubrovnik. He helped us tweak the rest of our trip and we learned so much about Croatian history and of course food. I’ve linked the company we used.

https://dubrovnikfoodtours.com

The cable car starting from the old city wall was a cool experience and a great aerial view of the city

The Lapad neighborhood was laid back with a beachy vibe. We rented paddle boards here then had an amazing dinner.

Lokrum is a little island near the city. It’s a 10 minute ferry boat ride (super cheap). We didn’t book a tour, it was easy just to go to the port. Game of thrones was filmed there. It’s a nice little afternoon break while the cruise crowds invade. It has lots of nature and cute restaurants. Lagoons, peacocks, light hiking, etc.

We hiked to the top of the island for these views.

Split

Split is a 3 hour drive up the coast from Dubrovnik. It’s a port city with a fun night life. It’s the most convenient city to base from when exploring the islands off the Dalmatian coast.

There’s a walled old town similar to Dubrovnik and then more city infrastructure as well.

Palace of Diocletian ⬆️

There’s shopping within the old city walls and we bought Adriatic Coral as souvenirs for my mom.

We climbed the hill in Marjan Park near the Split Zoo for views of the city from above.

I loved the Bacvice Beach area. We had a few beers and enjoyed sunset from there.

The highlight from our time in Split was a day trip to the surrounding Islands. We booked a nice speed boat with only like 6 other folks. The tour went to Hvar, the green cave, the blue cave, a private island and another little island town Vis. It was 12 hours and amazing. Our friend did something similar but stayed in Hvar. Unlike the islands we went to in Colombia, Hvar is an actual medieval city with lots of restaurants, hotels, etc. I attached the information from our agency and below are all the pictures from the trip.

Green cave ⬆️

The water level was too high to take the little row boats into the blue cave so our guide let us all swim in. I was so scared to cross that “do not enter” rope but the cave was so worth it.

There wasn’t a lot to do in Split so another day we took the car to Trogir. It was a cute city and we enjoyed but it could definitely be skipped.

Zadar:

Zadar was an hour and a half drive from Split.

We stayed in Hotel Bastion, an adorable boutique hotel where Anthony Bourdain once stayed.

https://www.hotel-bastion.hr

It’s a cute town to stroll around and listen to the sea organs.

We did a kayak tour downtown and it was a highlight of the trip. I’ve linked the company we used.

https://www.kayaktours-croatia.com

Plitvice

We drove to this national park from Zadar on the way to Opatija (but you could drive from Split if you skipped Zadar).

Even the hour and a half drive was lovely.

It was the most beautiful hike I’ve ever done. Hundreds of interlaced waterfalls. We spent 3 hours here and did the whole waterfall circuit. We also took a short boat ride through the park. There is no swimming here unlike Krka National Park closer to Split.

https://np-plitvicka-jezera.hr

We drove to Slunj from the park for dinner which was adorable. Like a little Dutch village almost.

Slunj

Opatija

This was a lovely town where Austrian nobility built their summer homes. The architecture is unique and everything felt fancy.

We stayed in a very nice hotel called “Hotel Ambasador” yes with only one s.

https://www.liburnia.hr/en/hotel-ambasador

The walk along the sea was beautiful.

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia. We stayed in an industrial district but I’d recommend the old town. It was super fun. Lots of bars, festivals, fun people.

We did a walking “coffee” tour with Hello Zagreb which ended up being a history, architecture, foodie tour.

Then we just wandered around the city admiring the street art.

Of course I had to buy records and books as souvenirs.

I went to the Museum of Broken Relationships during a torrential downpour and surprisingly enjoyed myself! This one is the original although there a many now.