Wife is wanting to go to Croatia for her 50th in September. She's tentatively planning 2 nights in Split, a week on a Moorings catamaran touring islands, and two more nights in Split. We've never been to Europe, generally Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, Bali, and Polynesia (spent a week on a cat as part of that trip).
Anyone have observations or advice for Croatia?

Love Croatia. Spent 9 weeks there last year. Which islands are you looking at on the moorings tour? I can give advice based on that.
Split is neat but touristy in the palace area. Buffet Fife on the waterfront is really good. Mandrill nanobrew is on a side street between the palace and the beach, and was really good. The islands are the real selling point.

Also, bureks are the national breakfast food of Croatia. They are incredible. Phyllo dough wrapped around ground meat-often lamb- and deep fried. Mlinar is the bakery chain, and theirs are good, but any grocery store will have them.

Thanks for input. Those sound tasty. Not sure which islands yet. We will have boat to ourselves, except for captain and chef, so we will likely have our choice. Need to do some research, Hvar for sure.

We have to provision the boat, Karlovako is the only local beer choice. Any good

I'm amazed at the number of people who wonder why we're going to a communist country or why we would pick Croatia. I don't have the heart to tell them Yugoslavia ain't a thing anymore and it isn't the 90's.

Couple of things. As far as beer, it is fine. Just an inoffensive Pilsner. Croatia has great cheese, especially goat and sheep cheese.
Islands-Hvar is good. We spend a week in Stari Grad , near Jesla on the opposite side from Hvar City. Beautiful water. Brac has Bol and an incredible beach. Korkula has a neat old town, but we didn't stay there. All of those are close to Split. If you go north up the coast instead of south, both of the coastal towns of Trogir and Zadar are great. Zadar might be our favorite Croatian city , just because of the Sea Organ. Google it, and be amazed. Any questions, let me know. If we lived anywhere other than Texas, it would be in Croatia.

Zadar is a pretty cool city, worth a look.

Probably the best sunsets ive ever seen. If you got a boat chartered you'll be all set.

+1 on the pastries mentioned above, cheese are probably my favorite. Don't over do it or they will be sittin your stomach for a few days.

Be real careful renting a car or driving in a cab/uber. Nothing you can do, you got to get around but ...

Those mother ****ers are the worst drivers in the world. Assume every driver is a horrible driver ... because they are. Just stay out of their way and assume they will do the stupidest most dangerous thing possible.

Dont assume everyone you'll see is Croatian most are, but there are Serbs and Bosnians and a bunch of other folks that popped out of the woodwork after the war. They all still hate each other for whatever reason. So try to avoid that issue entirely unless you really know who you are talking to and especially who's around listening.

If you find a place that sells house wine, its legit. Most folks buy wine from the farmers coming in from remote islands. Wine is from the cask before its bottled and before the tax man get his cut. You may see people with reused plastic jugs of it. If you do, thats what you are looking for. Good stuff. Boat captain will put you on some. Real good stuff.

Great info. This is sounding more fun.

Agree on Zadar's sunsets. Just amazing. We were there in fall and late spring both, and looking over the island from Zadar was amazing. Also , don't know if you will have time , but Plitvice lakes is an amazing national park about an hour from Zadar. If you go, make sure you go and get your tickets online. They just started online ticketing a few months ago.

We spent a month in Croatia last September; drove from Zagreb to Isrtria then all the way to Dubrovnik (and on to Montenegro). It is a fantastic country and September is a good time of year to visit.

I second the recommdation on Plitvice Lakes, but only if you can get there when it opens because it gets insanely crowded by midday.

Korcula is well worth the trip if you can make it, and be sure to stop and see Ston (and the "Great Wall of Europe") on the way if you go by land. Lots of beautiful country and great small wineries along the way.

If you go south, Kotor in Montenegro is amazing. That make be too far to sail however.

Great info. Thanks everyone.

We're spending 2 weeks in Croatia and ending our trip with 3 days in Kotor! It's absolutely stunning there so I can't wait!!!!

Any recs for Kotor?

Nothing adventurous as I'm pregnant but at least my maternity photo shoot will be somewhere insanely beautiful!

Kotor is pretty straight forward. Walk around the old town and waterfront. Walk up the side of the hill to the castle. And take a trip to the town next to it which has the church on the island.
The old town is enjoyable. Just walk around and get lost. And cats are everywhere. The town communally feed all the cats, so they are friendly and just hanging out.

Where are you going in croatia?

Headed to Dubrovnik at the end of the month.
Hvar, Split, PLNP, Ljubjljana, and out of Zagreb.

Would love to hear more about Hvar and appreciate the warning about lunatic drivers.

Thanks!

Hvar city is know for the party scene. They are trying to crack down it , so be aware of the police fining people for everything to being shirtless in town to passed out drunk. If you go to the other side of the island, Stari grad is neat. Four Seasons is putting in a resort there, so enjoy it while you can.
Plitvice is incredible. They just started an online ticketing system, so check that out. I think you can get tickets a few days in advance now. (This is what I have heard. No personal information). It was one of the highlights of our trip. Just incredible.
Zagreb is underrated. A good small capital city. Vincek is an incredible ice cream place in lower town. Huge sundaes. Dolec Market is worth going through also.

Here are a couple posts on Kotor and the surrounding area:

http://theintrepidfamily.com/?s=Kotor

If you have a car, definitely drive the serpentine road to Lovcen National Park. Depending on how pregnant you'll be at the time (and how hot it is) this might be a better option than hiking the ladder and the views are equally spectacular.

I should probably ask since we're leaving next week! I just know we have a car and we'll be venturing down the coastline and doing island boat trips while we are there.

Thanks for the Kotor recs wessimo! I'll be sure to pass the info along about Lovcen! Looks incredible and right up our alley.

i was there 6 years ago for a week, agree the bureks are awesome. spent most of my time in istria, rovinj, and pula. pula arena is allegedly the most complete roman coliseum. loved the area. zagreb was meh, no desire to go back

JT88 said:

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Headed to Dubrovnik at the end of the month.
Hvar, Split, PLNP, Ljubjljana, and out of Zagreb.

Would love to hear more about Hvar and appreciate the warning about lunatic drivers.

Thanks!

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if you're going to ljublana, make sure you take a day trip to lake bled

Did y'all have any language difficulties? We're practicing some basic words and phrases just we don't live up to the American stereotypes.

Potcake said:

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Did y'all have any language difficulties? We're practicing some basic words and phrases just we don't live up to the American stereotypes.

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can't remember having any,, basic words and phrases should be sufficient

English is ubiquitous there, even on the islands.

Potcake said:

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Did y'all have any language difficulties? We're practicing some basic words and phrases just we don't live up to the American stereotypes.

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It varies greatly depending on where you are in the country. In some places it was difficult but for the most part I was fine

Mtn_Guide, yep, in general, often everything depends on where you stay. Sometimes it was difficult but basically, everything was great.