Judy -
Suncanihvar own many of the hotels in Hvar - here's their website:

http://www.suncanihvar.hr/

Julie -
This summer will be my third time - I would like to see Croatia, specifically Istria, in the fall - the lakes in winter time - there is so much to see. My friends don't understand - I keep saying, just come along but they refuse (could be a blessing in disguise)

Thanks to all of you...what a great site this is!! We're planning a trip to Croatia in May. I'm going to Paris with some friends, my husband can meet me there and we can go on to Croatia. Julie, your itinerary appeals to us and we seem to have the same hotel/restaurant taste. Thanks for taking the time to post your report.

Hi Julie:

You write a mean trip report! Excellent job, and thanks for taking the time to do it.

A question: You mentioned that your husband needed some convincing before he agreed on a trip to Croatia. What did he think after you got back? Did he love it too? You mentioned he loved all the photo ops, but did he also love the country and the trip?

I am doing the preliminary research for our next big trip (LOL, just got back from 15 days in Ireland last week and I need to be planning some trip at all times)and am strongly considering Croatia, but am running into the same brick husband wall you started out with. My DH just doesn't know enough about Croatia I think.

So anyway, I would love to hear how you convinced him and what he thought after.

Hi Happy

For a friend of mine it was the pictures that worked. Check out virtualtourist.com and do a search on Croatia. You'll find great planning tips as well.

Julie, Enjoyed your wonderful report. We were there and in Slovenia in April for three weeks. Both are beautiful countries and the people are so friendly. Wish we could go back and visit some of the places we missed, but we're on to the next trip.

Felt the same way about the food. We enjoyed the Italian the best.

My husband was the one that had Dubrovnik on his list of places to visit, so he had to talk me into traveling there. Grasshopper is right. Once you see some pictures, I saw Judi's. She has them posted somewhere here, you can't wait to visit.

HappyCheesehead, I would contact Croatian Tourist office and ask for some materials, brochures... Many on this board have done it before and got plenty of wonderful materials with many beautiful photos.

Croatian National Tourist Office
New York 10118, 350 Fifth Avenue, Suite 4003, U.S.A.
Phone:++1 212 279 8672
Fax: ++ 1 212 279 8683
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://us.croatia.hr

HappyCheesehead, If anything, my husband was even more entranced than I. He kept saying stuff about waiting 20 years to see the place. Yes, pictures are everything. I think the tourist board should have very good ones. We have some fantastic pix but just aren't computer saavy enough to be able to post them I'm sorry to say.

By the way, I'm originally an Eau Claire girl. Gotta tell you, Croatia sure beats Eleva, Augusta and Fairchild as a trip destination.

Granny, Glad you enjoyed the report. I used yours in planning mine. The one thing we didn't have in common was our experiences with Ragusa 2. If I recall correctly, you liked yours well enough to return but we had such dismal service that we didn't. Anywhere can have an off night, but when it's the night you dine there you just don't feel like giving the place a second chance. We enjoyed the courtyard at Jadran though.

Cheesehead, tell you husband how the number of questions and reports on Croatia is increasing all the time. Tell him how no one ever returns crabbing about the place and then tell him he'd better get on the stick and go before it gets overwhelmed by tourism--which I do fear may happen since it's got to be their primary industry. One thing I wouldn't do is buy him the Eyewitness guide to Croatia. It's helpful for planning the trip so you should probably get it, but the pictures IMO just don't seem to do it justice. After I got it, I sort of got concerned that I might be making a mistake, but the posts here got my positive thinking back and I was rewarded by a county far more beautiful than the Eyewitness guide pictures it to be.

Cheesehead, one more thing. My trip to Croatia was preceeded by travel in Italy but I broke it into 2 reports. I find it interesting that the Croatia report has drawn far more responses and questions than the report on Tuscany and Rome. Perhaps people are just Italied out.

I don't think Judi would mind me posting this link to her great photos:

http://homepage.mac.com/pj2592/PhotoAlbum29.html

ooohhhhh- Loved the pic's - Thanks Grasshopper for posting that link, and to everyone for their suggestions.

Yep, I think the pictures will do the trick. I will definately email the tourist board for hands-on materials. I like the online sites for planning, but brochures are better for showing someone else, and slipping under a certain someone's bed-pillow, and propping up on the fridge shelf next to his beer, and taping to his bathroom mirror.

The hubster will generally go along with what I want, as long as it is safe and I do the research and leg work to actually make the trip happen. It works out well, I love the planning and he does not. If I can find out that there are some good breweries in Croatia I will have this trip in the bag.

I am thinking of going in the fall - perhaps September 05, do you think it will be as nice as May?(which is generally when I like to travel)

Julie - I should ask you where you are planning to go next, because I will probably be going there about a year or two after you. I don't know if you remember, but I planned a trip to Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary shortly after you went (we emailed once or twice at that time) and now I am following in your footsteps to Croatia - where are we going next, LOL??

Cheesehead, our next trip will take us to Vienna, Budapest, Lake Bled, Ljubljana, Piran and the Istrian peninsula and home from Venice. Thinking about Greek Isles for the trip after next. Any place you want me to start looking so you can be sure to get there? Consider Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. We were there once and it's high on my repeat list. Also thinking of the Veneto region.

Too Funny! The competition for Croatia for 2005 is a couple of Greek Islands (Santorini, Crete and ?) Turkey WAS the highest on my list but hubby has some serious concerns about going at this time, so, in the spirit of respecting his wishes, I agreed to let it go for a few years.

I have the same troubles with trying to get to Croatia with NWA, so I REALLY appreciated the hints on how to make it work, especially if I can use points for the transatlantic portion.

Happy planning for the next trips - remember - you are planning for two:)

Just back from Croatia and Slovenia on 6-13 and am getting together a trip report when the jet lag goes away but Julie had a great part of mine in her report.
I did stay at the Hotel Adriatic in Hvar and loved it and the location.
Also like Julie, I stayed at the Park Hotel in Split.
Absolutely loved Slovenia and Croatia, Everyone should go and experience the two countries.
I was really surprised that almost everyone spoke really good English but I asked and was told they just started in their schools where children have to take it from the first grade up every year. It used to be later on in the school years.
Trip report to follow in a couple days.