Croatia
As suggested by the British government for its citizens
- keep your headlights on all the time
- have a fluorescent vest in your vehicle, not in the trunk, and wear it when attending a breakdown
- be careful of gangs pretending to request help with a breakdown in their vehicle. Keep driving…
- ZERO tolerance for drinking and driving
- register your arrival with the police within 24 hours, unless staying at a hotel or part of some group tour – you have to prove you can survive there, 100 euros a day??
Parking your vehicle along the coast
– thanks for the tips and I will certainly log them. Got any suggestions about parking near the coast? I heard the police were really against that, and then I heard something about gangs attacking people in caravans on lonely stretches of road. Not certain what you mean by “parking near the coast” – the police will probably trouble you if they catch you parking a caravane near the coast and sleeping there outside of the camping site – apart from that there shouldn’t be any trouble. Haven’t heard of any agressive gangs, though you might consider parking a caravane somwhere safe (city parking lot or someone’s yard should do) when you leave it for a longer spell of time – there are indeed “seasonal gangs” crawling the coast in summer on the prowl for careless tourists leaving valuables in their cars.
Places to visit
– If I was visiting Croatia for the first time, I’d make sure not to miss:
– Zagreb
– Plitvieka jezera
– Velebit
– Rovinj
– Dubrovnik
– Hvar
– Krka national park
– Kornati national park
There’s quite a lot to be added to the list and each of the locations listed features a number of different sites, but I’d say it’s a good place (err…god places, lol) to start
- There is also great swamp Kopacki rit in Baranja region-greatest birds reservat in Europe with many fine vine roads and willage ekogardens. You may also want to see some great castles in the northern region like Trakoscan.
– Most of the Croats will recommend you to see the Croatian Adriatic coast, but what most tourists miss is Eastern part of Croatia.Two names for you – Natural reservate “Kopachki rit” and Nature park “Lonjsko polje”, beside beautiful nature, there a few really good restaurants with home cuisine and some really good vine (especially in Kopachki rit. You can also go to Istria to see the so called smallest city in te world – Hum. As to the islands in the Adriatic – island Mljet is a must, avoid town Pomena – too commercial and too much concrete, then island Dugi otok, and of course Vis, and its town Komiza – which is almost untouched by modern "architects". There are a lot of beautiful places in Croatia, but in my opinion, if you do not have much time on your hands, these are the places most worh of effort.
– Croatia is a beautiful country with 10 Nature parks and 8 National parks. I am working as a biologist in Nature park Medvednica and on our web site (www.pp-medvednica.hr) you have a link to all of these 18 parks – try to visit at least NP Plitvice and NP Krka – they are gorgeous! I am a “sea person”, so I would always recommend visiting our coast – especially Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar, Istria (Porec, Rovinj, Motovun, Hum – the smallest city in the world, Groznjan…), and of course, the capital of Croatia – Zagreb!
– You should visit ALL our cost .- it is enaugh travel (and pleasure) for your whole month. We are in Istria- start there (Rovinj, Pula, Umag, Poree, Rabac, Opatija) and travel to the south (Rijeka, Crikvenica, Rab, Pag, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Koreula, Hvar, Brae, Trogir, Solin, Makarska, Dubrovnik). Or you can start from the Dubrovnik and visit the places along the coast from East to West. Do not forget National parks (Croatia have 17 of them): Plitvice (lakes), Risnjak, Paklenica, Kopaeki rit, Kornati (islands), etc. Also if you want to eat exceptional food – visit our restaurants all over the country (esspecially in Gorski Kotar – Fužine, Istria – villages and agro-tourism, Zagorje – Varaždin, Krapina, Zabok, Podravina – Koprivnica (the best food I ever tasted, Podravka (Vegeta) is situated there) and don’t forget Slavonia (Osijek, Vukovar, Vinkovci) and of course ZAGREB (sugar on the end!).
My Personal Reflections
– generally didn’t rip me off
– met some great people, as can be found in any country, and who were extremely willing to help me
– along the more touristy part of the coast around Makarska, I found the people a bit snotty and tired of tourists, which I guess can be expected with such overdose of tourists every summer.
– someone wrote me asking about hiking in the mountains, wanting to hike from pension to pension in the mountains. Researched and doesn’t really exist, at least along the coast. Mostly the coast is developed and not so much along the hiking trails, so if you want to go hiking, expect to make it back to the coast by nightfall. Be careful about mines and make sure you do not venture too far off the beaten tracks, and research the area you are going to.
– found that the parking was not such a problem anymore and that it was an old law. But perhaps be careful anyway. Didn’t find many police in smaller towns and away from major tourist destinations.
You can find my personal stories driving through this country here and here.
We are a family operation managing private custom boat tours in the beautiful Palawan area, and are happy to help travelers with their plans through the Philippines, having traveled a lot of it ourselves and planning to visit it all. These pages in this section cover my various solo travels through Europe before meeting my wife.