SaraFay

Hello! I have been planning a trip to Croatia from September 19th - October 4th. We would spend the majority of time in Split, Hvar, 2 days at Plitvice Lakes, and possibly adding Korkula or Rovinj. However, I really want to incorporate a sandy beach into our vacation, and I have read most of the beaches in Croatia are beautiful but rocky. My ideal trip would be 10 days in Croatia, and 3-4 days on a Greek island.... but it doesn't look like that's possible.

Are there any sandy beaches in Croatia?
Are the beaches too rocky to swim / relax in the sun?
Will the end of September be too cold for swimming and laying on the beach?
If I want beach should I just go to Greece and skip Croatia?

Thank you!
Sara

Ackislander

I personally did not see any beaches in Croatia that were not either big rocks or round stones/ pebbles, but I certainly did not see all the beaches.

We went swimming in Dubrovnik, diving off the rock ledges, around October 10 and were quite comfortable.

dugi_otok

Been there. My dad was from there. Hence my screen name. Fantastic beaches.

http://www.likecroatia.com/news-tips...-to-love-them/

clausar

Personally i think that you can't go to Greece to spend just 3-4 days on an island.

You would have to pay the very expensive plane ticket with Croatia Airlines to Athens, and a second one from Athens to an island.
That would also be quite time consuming depending on the departure/arrival times, you might lose a whole day just to get to a Greek island.

I don't think that it will be worth it for just 3-4 days, why don't you just save Greece for a future trip?

Greece ( both the Mainland and the Greek islands) has a coastline of 15.000 Jilometres and there are thousand of sandy beaches, which i understand are pretty rare in Croatia.

SaraFay

Thanks for the responses. Has anyone been to both countries and could give a comparison? Split and Dubrovnik look amazing, but I am definitely a beach person. Im just wondering if I am planning Croatia when I should be planning Greece.

eluckhardt

Well, in general, many gorgeous beaches in that area will not be sandy. That however, does not prevent you, as a beach person, from being able to enjoy it. Unless you really want to build sandcastles, traveling with little kids, etc., I think a pebbly beach can be just a nice, if not nicer (e.g., no sand blowing and sticking to you). I get it. I grew up in So. Cal and only knew sandy beaches. But I think you can still enjoy your time in Croatia.

We were with our kids a few summers ago near Split and though there was no sandy beach to speak of, we all had a great time. We were also in Hvar about 10 years ago. I still have a smooth stone that I picked up as my souvenir, to remind me of the gorgeous beach there.

Travel11

Here are some sandy beaches in Croatia:

- Bačvice, Split
- Slanica, Murter island
- Saharun and Telašćica, Dugi Otok island
- Ninska Laguna, Nin
- Mljet island has multiple sandy beaches
- Velika Plaža, Omiš
- Lopar, Rab island

However, I don't think that you should judge the beaches only on their type (sand/pebble...). Beaches in Croatia are indeed wonderful, water is among the cleanest in Europe (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publication..._download/file), almost all of the them are completely free to use etc.

Regarding rocky beaches, actually there are almost no rocky beaches in Croatia. People like to go to the rocky parts of the coast, because you can find your spot easier there and avoid the crowds during the summer. However, it's hard to call that a beach and the "real beaches" usually have pebbles. That doesn't stop you from enjoying it, actually it has some advantages, i. e. not getting muddy, water remains cristal clear even if many people are swimming around you etc. Most of the pebble beaches are perfectly comfortable to lie on them, especially if you put a mat under the towel.

Another advantage of visiting Croatia in that period of year is that the high-season is mostly over and you'll avoid the crowds.

Regarding the weather, average max temperature in that area at that time is 23-25 C, with sea temperature at 22-23 C. That should be fine, but Greece might be somewhat warmer, depending on where you'd go.

mmodrich

I agree with eluckhardt. I am from San Diego and am accustomed to sandy beaches. But my husband and I had an awesome time in Croatia last summer. We too thought we could do Croatia and Greece in one trip but quickly figured out it isn't as easy to get to the Greek islands from Croatia as we thought. So we skipped Greece and are going there this summer instead. As far as Split goes, I wouldn't go there for the beaches. There was actually a sandy beach on Korcula that our apartment owner recommended. We had to take the local bus about 15 minutes there but we had the whole beach to ourselves. We also loved Mustaco Beach in Hvar. It was awesome. Round pebbles but it didn't bother us at all. Some people say you need those beach shoes for the beaches there but we bought some and never used them. We just loved Hvar in general.

halik

Beautiful beach near Dubrovnik:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3xs8zHypM&t=8s

Regards
Luk