Lina

I'm arriving in Dubrovnik with a friend on Sunday. We plan to visit Cavtat on Monday while waiting for two more friends to arrive. Tuesday we are all taking the Montenegro Blue tour with Atlas. Wednesday and 1/2 day Thursday will be devoted to Dubrovnik. Thursday afternoon we plan to bus up to Split, spend the night, and tour 1/2 day before taking the bus to Trogir. Saturday we will have to bus back to Dubrovnik for our last night before leaving at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn) on Sunday.

We wanted to visit Hvar but figured it warranted more than a day trip. Hopefully we'll be pleased with Montenegro and Trogir.

Any comments/hints/advice? We will be staying at the Villa Adriatica initially but haven't reserved ahead for other nights. I've heard mixed reviews on Hotel Pasike in Trogir.

We were wondering about how late restaurants are open in the evenings. Since it's no longer high tourist season, will there be people out and about in the evenings?

Thanks to everyone for posting reports and sharing info!

Carta_Pisana

Restaurants in Dubrovnik should be open normal hours - not late like Barcelona. Grape harvest is going on now which is a popular eco-tourism activity. As for Trogir - it's a town with numerous suburbs. When I visited Vis at the beginning of September last year - numerous places were obviuosly already closed for the season - but that's one of the farthest islands from the coast. Trogir is suppose to be an architectural gem. Enjoy and let us now how it goes. I'm going for olive harvest next year.

sssteve

Check out my web page on our trip to Croatia. Hope it will help you.

http://www.travel.stv77.com/croatia/croatia.htm

grb9uk

We are just back from Dubrovnik and it was still very busy particularly during the day but also a good atmosphere at night, plenty of restaurants open. Trogir is a great place and not as 'touristy' as Dubrovnik, there were also plenty of restaurants open a couple of weeks ago. Pity you can't get to Hvar, it's well worth a visit. We stayed in apartments in Trogir and Dubrovnik, both excellent.
Have a great time!

sfmaster

Just returned from Croatia. We enjoyed evening in Dubrovnik much more than disneyland feel of the day time. I think you will find lots of activity and restaurants open.

In Dubrovnik we LOVED the excursion to Mjlet with Atlas (9:30 - 5:30) enjoying swimming in the beautiful lake around the monastary.

Your itinerary feels very cultural/town focused which can be grat but our favorite part of Croatia was swimming and relaxing. In Dubrovnik we took easy short ferry to Lokrum for a stroll around botanical gardens and a swim.

We really enjoyed Split hiring private guide (arranged by hotel sorry didn't get proper information) for a tour around the palace.

Our favorite part of the trip was Hvar. You'll have to do that next time.

I am still waiting to put together trip report (having return from Croatia to new town, new house, sea of boxes, new job/school).

I miss Hvar!

Lina

Thanks for your replies. SFmaster: where did you stay in Split?

We are a pretty active bunch and more likely to hike than sit on the beach, but I am looking forward to the views. We didn't expect mid-October to be beach weather anyway...am I wrong?

gavan

If you're flying intop Dubrovnik the airport, Cipli (sp?) is close to Cavtat - there doesn't appear to be any direct bus to Cavtat from the sirport, but it is very close and costs 100 Kn by taxi. If going to Cavtat from Dubrovnik city centre, take the number 8 bus (costs 12 Kn), journey takes approx 30 - 40 mins - Goes from either the main bus station (at the port, note not the 'old port', that is inside the city walls), or a bus stop located at the base station of the old cable car that used to go to the hill above Dubrovnik (sorry don;t remember the name). Note - No 8 time table not displayed in the centre of town (known as 'Pile', pronunced 'Pee-lay') where all the other buses go from (I couldn't find it anyway and the guy at the ticket kiosk was not very helpful). Alternatively, take a sea taxi from the old port (didn't do this, so unsure of details).

Hvar you definitely won't do in a day trip (bus takes at least 5 hours to get to Split from Dubrovnik, plus an additional hour ferry ride to Hvar)- maybe try Korcula or one of the many other islands mentioned earlier (Lokrun is very close and can be reached by sea taxi from the old port, costs 35Kn return)

Restaurants don't open late into the night, like in Spain or Italy.

Websites state tempretature in Croatia 29 - 34 Celcuis at the mement, so that's warm enough for me!!

acolossale

Great article in Gourmet magazine(August issue I believe) written by Henry Alford. Check it out.

pat

Just returned from Croatia yesterday. The biggest surprise was all the people. We loved the Montenegro day trip. It is just gorgeous. The village of Kotor looks like world war 2 just ended and nothing has changed. Be sure and have euros, they don`t want croatian money. We did eat lunch there, and later, had gelato in Budva, another cute town. It costs about 50 cents. Trogir was a cute little town, but we didn`t stay there. Don`t miss Cavtat. Take the boat from Dubrovnik, it is easy and short. Just walk out the Ploce gate and the boats are there. The weather was very good. We climbed the walls and it was hot. An hour later would have been perfect. We enjoyed the buskers in Dubrovnik. We sure and eat at Proto`s. The fish all over Croatia is so fresh and good. I usually don`t even like fish. If you can pronounce "Cavtat" you will be doing better than me. It`s something like chouta. Croatia is marvellous, but much more crowded than I thought. Saw many tour buses.