looking at next years hols now, recently back from a lovely villa in spain and wanting the same sort of thing but maybe try croatia next.

there seem to be hundreds of villas all in different areas, so thought id see if any of you have any experience/advice for different parts so we can fine-tune the search a bit.

there’ll be around 14 of us ranging from 6yrs old to my elderly ma and pa, so we’d want to be within walking distance of beach/cafes/shops etc rather than a drive away.
i dont mind hiring a car for ourselves so maybe within an easy drive of one of the lovely national parks or other interesting places?
also got half a mind to have a look at montenegro too, so i assume that means south of the country?

if we’re near a beach itd be good if it was sandy, im told there arent too many in croatia, theyre nearly all pebbly?

we just seem to be looking at hundreds of photos to try and choose ‘a nice one’ when really its probably location that should be the key but as we dont know the country thats difficult.

thanks for any help you can throw my way.

Rovinj is lovely. The beaches are pebbley but it’s not quite the opening credits from “Kung Fu”. Get everyone beach shoe type thingies from Sports Direct and it’s a win.

Cavtat. Lovely wee place and 20 minutes on the boat from dubrovnik.

I have a mate who’s moved there, if you want his contact info let me know.

He loves the place.

We always go to Supertar on Brac island, as it’s so accessible from Solit airport.. Loads for the kids to do with a nice sandy beach to the west of town, near all the villas.

Was there this year – Split/Hvar/Mljet/Dubrovnik/Cavtat 2 adults 2 kids 14/11

Islands are great and Brac is a good location, we were in Havr Town which was described as “party central”, it was certainly busy but quite some way from being annoying, it was just busy enough to be interesting.
Mljet was the total opposite, peaceful and beautiful. The stand out memory for us was swimming in the blue cave.
Cavtat was OK, good in that it was close to Dubrovnik but I preferred the islands. I really liked Split too.

Here’s my thread http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/croatia-holiday

thanks a lot, fair bit to go on there. weeksy, yes id like to have a yap with him about it please.

as for the pebbly beaches, i just dont get on with them. yep you can buy the footwear to cope with them, but i find its still uncomfy when you go into the sea. just nicer to walk on lovely soft sand 🙂 spose im gonna have to work out whether its a dealbreaker or not. anyone know of any sandy beach locations? dont think theres that many over there.

just had a look at villas in supetar dan, but they all show pebbly beaches again. any chance you could give me a bit more info where that particular beach is please?

mijet sounds good, ill have a read of your thread SBH.

thanks a lot

It is called Vela Luka.. On a map of Supetar look toward the west of town where there is a deepish cove. It is backed by Villa Vela Luka and Hotel Amor. It is not strictly a beach rather a long concerete jetty (where you sun bathe) backed by grass and pine trees (where you cool down in the shade). Once you step off the jetty into the sea you step on to sand. And the best bit is that the depth of the water is about waist high (for average height adult) for about 100m, so all playing and ball games are played in the sea. There’s a video here to give an idea http://www.supetar-brac.eu/en/txt_beaches-in-supetar-and-other-settlements-on-brac.html

On the way back to our apartment every evening we would have a quick dip in the all inclusive swimming pool, which is also in the pine trees. Loads of nice restaurants and cafes. Make sure you stay fairly close to the front as the land rises steeply the further from the sea you go, and stay in the new town (grid iron layout on the map), its only 10 min walk to the old town, restaurants and harbour. If you want more detail let me know

We love the place!!

Also to add, that we have been to Hvar and Mlini (which is near Dubrovnik) and for a family holiday we think Supetar is the best.

dan, got excited when i saw one of the villas on our shortlist, it says its near vela luka!

looking as best i can on the villas map tho, i dont think its the same place is it?

No, not the same place. This a lovely villa that backs the beach. http://www.booking.com/hotel/hr/aparthotel-perla.en-gb.html?label=gen173nr-1FCAEoggJCAlhYSDNiBW5vcmVmaFCIAQKYAS64AQfIAQ3YAQHoAQH4AQuoAgM;sid=b35b04b5d149151112b9418a6e78793c;checkin=2016-10-22;checkout=2016-10-29;room1=A,A;matching_block_id=1990814_87616798_2_1_0;m_occ=2

There are loads of options around that area that are more reasonably priced. The theee times we have been there we have used booking.com for three different apartments

that looks to be a hotel dan. think i can see the bay you mean on the map, there only looks to be one villa near there, villa avema but it only sleeps 11. think we need one for 2 or 3 more. thanks a lot tho 🙂

The majority of the houses in the grid iron layout in the new town are apartments and villas. The large waterman resort on the front also has self catering villas. There’s loads

As said above, Vela Luka, Mljet etc are all lovely. The islands are lovely, but obviously a little harder to get to. Mljet is stunning, but possibly a little boring, depending on what you want to do.

Not going to repeat myself though; here’s my post from teh above thread: http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/croatia-holiday#post-7575066 😉

thanks a lot for all the recommendations, we finally plumped for one in a place called duce, near omis?

we’ve looked at car hire which seems silly money (certainly compared to granada last year), so i think we’re going to have to rely on public transport to get around.
ill have another look at the recommendations on here and the other thread for places to go, but what would be the best way of seeing these places? rail? bus? taxi? or extortionate car hire? (there will be 9 of us)

thanks

We sailed around that area last year, really nice place. Beaches we found were mostly pebbly…
We saw a lot of sea-taxi tourist boats that seemed to flit between the islands quite regularly, so they would be worth a look…
Think we moored in Omis for one night, Quite a busy little place, and like all the places we found, they bloody love ringing the church bells!

its time to start seriously thinking about plans for this holiday now! done a bit of research on duce, sounds lovely, also a bit on omis which is the nearest ‘big place’. sounds like lovely sandy beaches and decent local tavernas, just our sort of thing.

anyone got any recommendations on things in that area to see and do? looking at the map, plitvice seems too far away but is krka a decent substitute? are buses regular/cheap enough as a way of getting about or would we rue not hiring a car? car hire seems a lot more expensive in croatia than greece which we’re used to.

split probably worth a look while we’re in that area altho we dont generally do busy towns.
think brac would be worth a boat trip, hvar maybe too touristy/expensive? anyone hired boats either with a captain or sailed themselves?

thanks for any advice.

bumpity bump for the kroatia krew?

I’ve been going to Brac for years now. Bol is my favourite spot, quiet but not too quiet and loads of watersports. Fruit market, pharmacy, grocers shop and restaurants etc. Supertar is quite a lot bigger, but has less charm, it’s more of a bustly traditional resort by comparison.
Hvar town is bigger than bol but a bit more expensive and far more party-town.
Some things for you;
Getting from split airport to split; 2 options; public bus or all-in taxi. I would recommend the taxi every time, some will take you all the way to the door of your accommodation via the car ferry. With kids; it’s a no brainer. I have contact details of firms who do this for a reasonable amount.
Self catering accommodation is generally in blocks. Very nice too. Adria-tours are the biggest operator. There are few large houses, most outside the larger centres (I know of one, it’s lovely but not cheap. PM me for details.
Food and drink is reasonable, they accept the Kuna and the euro. If you like fish you’re in luck. If you like real ale, less so!

If you are considering Bol, please drop me a mail and I’d be happy to give you the benefit of my experience.

thank you mate, bols somewhere we may well end up as we plan on visiting brac, so ill drop you a message tonight.

cheers

looking like we may hire a 9-seater for a few days now, and looks like ill be the only one driving. i read on pimpmaster jazz’s thread that theres a few loonies on the roads. anything i should worry about in particular or ill be ok as long as i dont become one of them 🙂

also when visiting the islands (brac, mljet for example), are they car ferries or do you leave car on mainland, boat it to the islands and then taxi/bus from place to place?

thirdly are the roads in the towns ok for size, or will a 9-seater struggle to navigate some of them? i know i was certainly pleased of a small car on the greek islands, is croatia anything like that?

thanks