Hi,

I will be leaving this Thursday to Croatia. Did any solo female travler feel comfortable staying at a sobe? I plan to find my stay as I go and sobe seems attractively within my budget. However, I am not sure how safe it is for a single woman.

If anyone has any tips for me as a solo wanderer, pleae let me know.
Thanks!!!

Sunnydays, I went to Croatia and Slovenia by myself last summer. I didn't stay in sobes, but I don't think it would have been a problem. They are a great value. You will have a wonderful time.

Hi Grasshopper,

Do you mind telling me where you stayed and what was the cost for each? I will probably stay overnights in Zagreb, Plitvice, Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik.
Thanks!

I'm new at this. What is a sobe?
I'm planning a weekend to Dubrovnik Oct 9-11? Were you able to visit this town? Where did you stay?
Thanks

Sunnydays - I'm thinking of doing the same thing in the summer '05. How did it go and any tips on doing the solo female thing? Where did you go, stay, etc? Would love to hear!

Thanks!

I'm sure sobes are safe almost all of the time, but the long and short of it is that you are staying at a stranger's home. Not only that, a stranger about whom you know nothing or have no common acquaintances in most cases. I wouldn't typically do this when traveling in the US or Canada, so why would I do it when traveling in a former Soviet-bloc country?

I should add I haven't been to Croatia.

Google brought up SOBE drinks, like soda with herbs added.

A sobe in Croatia is like a zimmer in German - a room in a private home.

Sunnydays, I think you don't have to worry, you'll be perfectly fine in sobe. Although WillTravel is right, you'll be staying in somebody's home, but you don't have to mingle with hosts if you don't wish. Usually hosts will offer you a coffee, some fruit or a drink and that's it. You don't have to sit with them and watch TV in their living room. I suppose they even wouldn't like that, who would?
If you have concerns, you can always go to the nearest tourist office and ask for a room with a separate entrance.


WillTravel, Croatia or Ex-Yugoslavia was never part of Soviet-bloc.

Fascinating subject although i think the term "zimmer" in German is used to define a room whether or not it might be in a private home.

Jones, you'll have to forgive the people who have decided that everything "communist" is automatically evil.

Ex-Yugoslavia had a semi-independent role as a Communist entity, but I don't think it was free of Soviet control. Romania was sort of in the same category, although Romania was much more oppressive.

<i>Jones, you'll have to forgive the people who have decided that everything &quot;communist&quot; is automatically evil.</i>

Who posted that? Not me.

Please note that the original post on this was back in May and has already made her trip but for Mickietucs or others who are interested here is some info.

I did Croatia on my own a few years ago but stayed in hotels except for on Hvar where there were no rooms available so I rented a room from a family. It was next to their house but had its own bathroom. Pretty noisy, not ideal but my only option if I wanted to stay in Hvar. Most hotels in Hvar are reserved for the large tour groups from Germany and England or at least that is what I was told then.

In Split I stayed at Hotel Bellevue which was the closest hotel but a bit run down. They may have renovated since then. I switched to The Marjan after one night because Bellevue had no A/C. Marjan or Park were the nicer hotels. In Dubrovnik I stayed at Hotel Argentina, again a bit run down but I was there while they were still rebuilding after the war.

I traveled mostly by bus but did some Ferry to Hvar. I have traveled many other places in Europe alone but found Croatia the most difficult to meet people or start conversations. It was a pretty solitary trip for me. It was also extremely interesting in how people lived and how they were rebuilding their lives after the war.

Many people do speak English but a few German phrases might be helpful there. Let me know if you have other questions.

Ooops, I just saw &quot;next Thursday&quot;...

WillTravel, you are right, ex-Yugoslavia was a semi-independent communist country, semi influenced by USSR and semi by USA. Who do you think supplied us with credits to keep our relatively good life (much, much better than any other communist country) and to keep us out of Soviet influence? Tito was a too much of a hedonist to lose his western friends. He was in no way fan of USSR.
I know you didn't say everything communist is evil. I think communist idea is theoretically good and basically utopia, but in practice it was bad and in some cases evil. Comparing to other ex-communist countries Yugoslav citizens were blessed with many good things others didn't have, and freedom of travelling being the most important. You could simply took your passport and off you go wherever you wanted, no question asked. More or less just like now.