Adriatic Adventures

We are just back from a week in Croatia. It’s been my bucket list for a long time and I’ve organised several trips for clients to various locations over the years so I felt like I knew it quite well. I didn’t expect to fall so hard and fast for it! We based ourselves in Cavtat, about 30 mins south of Dubrovnik and 30 mins north of Herceg Novi in Montenegro. Its an incredibly pretty town, nestled on a peninsula between two bays. The highlight is the gorgeous harbour lots of restaurants and café bars and some incredible yachts. You could while away the whole afternoon with an Aperol Spritz watching the comings and goings in the harbour. The turquoise sea is crystal clear and there are plenty of bathing platforms and places to rent sun loungers. In terms of amenities the town has everything you might need. Two small supermarkets, bakery, chemist, several ice cream vendors and numerous attractions such as Churches and a small museum. There is a lovely loop walk around the peninsula where you can stop at the Little Star beach bar at the end to watch the sunset. You can pick up some day trips to the Islands or the Blue and Green Caves directly from there. We got the boat taxi to Dubrovnik Old Town one evening but more on that later We stayed in the 5-star Hotel Croatia. Built into the cliff side, our room, a deluxe double overlooked the sea. Room was very comfortable, not 5-star luxury but of a decent standard. It was spacious and the bed was very comfortable. It’s a large hotel and it takes a while to get used to the layout, reminded me of a cruise ship as Reception is on floor 3.5 so you go down to a lot of the rooms. The main restaurant has a beautiful, terraced area so you can eat alfresco, and the breakfast buffet was good. There is an indoor and outdoor pool on the 5th floor and also sun loungers by the sea. The get to the town you can either take the hotels complimentary golf buggy or you can walk down the steps, its only 5 mins but its steep so not for anyone with mobility issues. There are several options for accommodation in the area, for luxury I would recommend the Hotel Supetar, a boutique hotel right on the promenade. Alternatives to the Hotel Croatia would be Hotel Cavtat or Seventh Hotel or there are two hotels under the Remisens brand which are about 10 mins walk from centre of Cavtat on Beach Zal which is pebbly but turns to sand when in the water so good for kids. If you are not bothered about a swimming pool when you have the divine Adriatic to dive into then there are loads of self-catering options. We hired a car for the day and headed to Montenegro. There are two crossings, and you can check the live cameras to see which one is quieter, usually the longer journey but it only adds about 15 mins to the journey and could save hours in the queue. You need your passport to cross the border and a green card for the hire car. If you are hiring a car, don’t forget to let them know you intend on crossing the border, there is a charge for that. Its usually €20 a day. We visited Herceg Novi, Persat and Kotor and each one was as beautiful as the next. We manage to avoid the cruise ship crowds but doing Kotor last when most of the big ships were leaving at 4pm. I will certainly be returning to any of the above places, real European feel and a lot less touristy than Dubrovnik. Driving is easy enough and the roads are fairly basic. We took a scenic route back from Kotor to catch the Lepetane to Kamenari Ferry so that we did a loop, parts of that road were a tad hairy with no barriers between the road and the sea. This could have been avoided but it was worth it. If you take this route, there is a great viewing point and swimming spot by the Church of Our Lady of Angels. We visited Dubrovnik one evening, we took the boat taxi directly from Cavtat and it’s a wonderful way to travel. It was August and very busy, so I checked the port schedule and picked an evening with no cruise ships in port and actually the Old Town was quiet. We wandered around and up a lots of steps (my 80-year-old Mother still has the hump with me) and got a general feel for the place. There are loads of public boards with the history that make for really interesting reading. We didn’t walk the walls as they close at 7pm but would certainly recommend that if you are there off season. We got the cable car up to the Dubrovnik Museum and had a drink in the Panoramic Restaurant, I would recommend this. We caught an Uber back to Cavtat which cost us €40 as we needed a Van for 5 people. A normal taxi is around €30, and you can catch the bus. Overall, I adored the holiday. My top tips would be try to avoid late July and August due to the heat and the volume of people. We didn’t struggle for a table etc but Dubrovnik, Kotor etc would be a lot more pleasant if it was 5/10 degrees cooler ?? Make sure you bring swimming shoes, there is a lot of rocks and pebble beaches. It’s not necessarily somewhere for people with mobility issues, most towns are built into mountains and cliffs Use the tools like port schedules and border cameras to your advantage Just do B&B in hotels, the food in the restaurants in far superior Its not a cheap destination, prices were pretty similar to what you’d pay locally. Bring Euro cash, some places like the beach bars don’t take cards