Croatia holiday

CCOVICH, you've made me smile, thank you, it's been a long cold day! It's been a constant pain for me in Croatia that the locals expect people to pay outrageous rates for poor service, and in tourism it's attrocious. When we had Shels and their fans in the level of service given to them was abysmal to the point of being embarassing, and there was a near mutiny. When we brought the Croats over, their team and fans were shocked (with delight) at paying the same price for actual 4 and 5 star accomodation (Burlington and Berkeley Court). sadly in Croatia ther are no signs of making things come up to scratch!
 
I liked the hotel ok, it was the price of gargle in the bar that was a downer. Was nice to have a drink there on the way back from the village.
 
Ah, hotel beers, well, it's the same everywhere. It's really weird how prices are so differnt in Croatia. You get a coffee for 2euros in Dubrovnik, move a little ut and it's 1.50, then up to Split and it's 1.50, up to SIbenik and it's 1euro, then to where I am and it's 40-50cents, then up in zagreb it's back to 1.50, even in each place the prices vary from cafe to cafe, at least in Dublin it's just plain expensive!
 
Ccovich
Croatia Tours brochure (finally) arrived. I'm looking at Cavtat and feel quite drawn to it. The Dubrovnik Hotel (where you stayed) is around €1100 each for the two weeks that we would want (end May early June). It's still about €600 for one week in May, as it was when you went. I'm also looking (in the brochure) at lovely villas in Cavtat - they're old mediaeval in style, restored/converted to four-star standard (Croatian four-star of course). Being self-catering of course they're far cheaper than hotels, but they do look very attractive in the brochure. If Cavtat is a nice spot (in your opinion) then I might just go for a villa there. At €885 per person for the fortnight, it seems a lot better value than the hotel. Did you find it easy to get transport to Dubrovnik? Was there enough to do (restaurants, bars) in Cavtat in the evening??
CCOVICH said:
We went to Dubrovnik (actually stayed in Hotel Croatia in Cavtat) last May with Croatia Tours and had no complaints (other than sharing a charter flight with a bunch of pilgrims!).

€1,000 per person sounds pretty high, we paid around €600 B&B at the end of May for a 5* hotel.

The locals are very friendly, and very tourist oriented (Ireland could learn a thing or two I feel!). Food is good, albeit not much variety (every restaurant offers the same/similar menus), but not exactly cheap.

Beer is cheap and very good.

Shopping is strange-everything is either designer label at Irish type prices, or imitation tack.

We only came across one guy who couldn't speak English, but we were never outside Cavat or Dubrovnik.

One problem-the lack of 'proper' sandy beaches-everything is rocky.

Beautiful area, friendly people, cheap beer, good weather. A good place to visit.
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There are around a dozen restaurants in Cavtat, some are very nice, nearly all are good. Plenty of seafood if that's your thing. My one problem would be that the menus are the same nearly everywhere and that hot starters are around the size of an Irish main course (I think that hot starters were introduced in response to the wishes of tourists and that the locals would go for cold starters).

There are a few cafe bars, no entertainment, but nice to have a drink outdoors by the water. It's quite a peaceful area, no large parties of guys/girls, mostly couples, some families, and a few senior citizen tours.

Getting to Dubrovnik is fairly straighforward. There is a local bus service that goes around once an hour and costs around €3 if I recall correctly. Be sure to get off at the right stop in Dubrovnik as it is a long walk from the station/terminus to the old town. You can also go by 'water tax' from Cavtat to Dubrovnik, around €10 return I think (could me more). We did it once, but used the bus after that. I think the water taxis stop at 6 or so.

Getting back from Dubrovnik after a night out could be hit and miss as I think the last bus is at 11 pm or so. I can't remember how much a taxi would cost.

A villa sounds like a good idea. You can look after your own breakfast, although the advantage of the hotel is that you have a pool etc., but I guess you can use the pool if you are a non-resident.

I would say 2 weeks in Cavtat (and even Dubrovnik) is quite a long time, unless you are going to travel around a lot (ferry trips to the islands, Mostar, Montengro etc), as there isn't that much to do, but I am restless at the best of times, and not really big into holidays.
 
Thanks Ccovich. We do plan to take a lot of trips, visit other islands etc., and I always feel that you can't really unwind completely until you get into the second week. Even just resting up in the second week will be better than working!!
 
We stayed in the Villa Katherina (think that's the name) in Cavtat for one night at the end of out holiday - really nice hotel, small villa, only a few rooms & recently renovated. Booked it directly on-line, worked out about €110 per night for meself and the missus, breakfast included. It's near the monastery, so the early morning ringing bell for the monks was an issue (although quaint as well). Grub in the restaurants was nice - the one nearest our hotel was great. Only potential downside is that Cavtat is very close to the airport (Ciplici), so planes do fly low over it, although not at night as far as I remembered. Other than that, a lovely place. Nice and chilled out. Only regret we had was that we didn't check out Montenegro, which is really close. Supposed to be lovely.

I think the Bus that goes into Dubrovnik is the Number 11 (not 100% on that - it's a small place, so you can't get on the wrong bus to Dubrovnik), but it is handy for getting in and out of the city.
 
Stayed at the Neptune.Good hotel .Nice people.In general fairly expensive until you move out of Dubrovnik,
 
Hi Andrewa, don't know if I would fancy Dubrovnik for 2 weeks.

The old city is beautiful and well worth the visit. Be sure that you are fit to be able to walk the numerous steps and hills that are Dubrovnik. We didn't find the new town great, very little to see and less to buy.

Cavtat on the the other hand was a beautiful little village with a very hairy bus ride to Dubrovnik. I would be quite happy to spend a week there chilling out.

I think if I were to go again, I would definitely either book a week in two different places or arrange a load of day trips as Isle of Man suggest.

Cheers
 
Thanks for that Phoenix. I had booked the two weeks on the Lapad peninsula (close to Dubrovnik) this morning, and paid a deposit. Now, having read your post, I may change that to one week on the Lapad peninsula and one in Cavtat, which does seem lovely from the brochure.
 
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