Croatia

Croatia is one of the new countries on the political map of the world, got independence in 1991. However, exit from Yugoslavia escalated into a war that ended only in 1995. Now everything is fine and in 2013 Croatia joined European Union.

Has a very favorable geographic position, occupying almost the entire coast of the Adriatic Sea and thus received a huge tourist potential. We highly recommend Croatia for a beach holiday and for leisure. High season here is July and August. We were in August and have to say that number of tourists in that month is great.

Curiously, that part of the territory with Dubrovnik is separated from the rest of the country. Read more about this in an article about Dubrovnik.

In 2005 was opened a new highway A1, which runs through the whole country (the green line on the next map). It is paid, but nevertheless very convenient. We drove by it from Zagreb to Split.


The roads are very comfortable, so the car will be a great choice. Buses are the main passenger transport in the country, although they are quite expensive. On the second place are ferries and catamarans and only then rail, which is quite underdeveloped.

The main resort region of the country is Makarska riviera. Here tourist finds a standard set:  mountains, beach and sea. It looks like this:


As a basic place we chose the town of Baska Voda, where spent a week. If you travel by car then choose any resort town on the coast, it does not matter which one, they are all almost the same. All the major attractions of the country, except Plitvice Lakes, located in  2-hour drive from Makarska Riviera and it is extremely convenient.

But even if you do not travel by car, you can use buses. Croatia has well developed bus service and buses run on a single track along the coast , so it is impossible to get lost.

Our route in Croatia:

Day 1 - Zagreb

We arrived in the morning from Hungary and spent half-day in the capital.






After lunch we went to the coast to the town of Baska Voda.

Day 2 - Baska Voda

On this day, we rested and walked to Makarska.




Every evening we watched a beautiful sunset


Day 3 - Dubrovnik

Visited Dubrovnik, one of the jewels of Croatia






Day 4 - Baska Voda

Rested and walked towards Brela




Day 5 - Sibenik, Krka National Park

First went to Sibenik




And then to the Krka National Park




Day 6 - Split, Trogir

Visited Split and Trogir.






Day 7 - The islands of Brac and Hvar

On a pleasure boat visited large islands of Brac and Hvar.




Day 8 - Plitvice Lakes

Left towards Zagreb and on the way visited the main attractions of Croatia - Plitvice Lakes.








Useful links :
http://croatia.hr - Croatia travel guide
http://www.hr/directory - all croatian websites
http://www.mvep.hr/en/ - information about visas
http://meteo.hr/index_en.php - weather forecast
A huge number of PDF brochures about Croatia
http://www.croatia-beaches.com/index.html - Croatia beaches

Transportation
http://www.jadrolinija.hr - the main operator of ferries and catamarans
http://www.akz.hr/default.aspx?id=260 - Zagreb bus station
http://www.ak-split.hr/EN/index.html - Split bus station
http://www.liburnija-zadar.hr/index.php?lang=en - Zadar bus station
http://atpsi.hr/hr/ - Sibenik bus station
http://www.udaljenosti.com/vozni-red-vlakova  - train schedule. On croatian language, but it is not difficult to understand what to do
http://www.croatiaairlines.hr - Croatian Airlines
http://www.hac.hr/home - the official website of the Croatian highways

Hotels and private apartments
http://www.adriatic.hr
http://www.adriatica.net
http://www.hrvaska.net
http://www.croatia.hr
http://www.rentalcroatia.com
http://www.dubrovnik-area.com
http://www.atlas-croatia.com
http://www.dalmatia-cen.com
http://www.apartmani-hrvatska.com/croatia/index.htm
http://www.youradria.com/

Car rentals
http://www.mack-concord.hr
http://www.easycar.com
http://kompasno1.hr
http://www.markulin.hr
http://www.nationalcar.hr
http://www.weltrentacar.hr

Some movies where you can see Croatia:

Game of Thrones (TV Series, 2014) - a popular TV series filmed in Split and Dubrovnik (video).

Doctor Who (2010) - two episodes of the cult TV series filmed in Trogir. The Vampires of Venice (video) and Vincent and the Doctor (video), locations can be found here.

Winnetou movies (1962-1968) - in the 60s were shot more than 10 films about the leader of the Indians, which have been popular for a long time. Almost all movies were filmed in Croatia, mainly in Trogir and its surroundings, as well as on the Plitvice Lakes. For example, here are locations of the third film.

Armour of God (1987) - movied, which made Jackie Chan a world famous star was partly filmed in Zagreb. For example there was made a scene of one of the most spectacular car chases in the history of cinema (video).

Hercules (2014) - Some scenes of the blockbuster with Dwayne Johnson filmed in Dubrovnik.

Season of the Witch (2011) - fantasy with Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman, mostly filmed in Croatia.

The Hunting Party (2007) - a thriller starring Richard Gere filmed in Croatia.

Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Job (1988) - action movie filmed entirely in Croatia

Fiddler on the Roof (1971) - American film about Ukrainian village filmed in Croatia. The action takes place in 1905.