Last Updated on May 7, 2023
Croatia had been on our bucket list for quite some time. Beautiful beaches, fresh seafood, National Parks, charming towns, what more can you ask for? We finally made our dreams a reality in July when JC’s family came to visit from Peru. We booked flights with Ryanair from Berlin to Zadar one-way and from Dubrovnik back to Berlin with EasyJet one-week later. Total cost was 65€ round-trip per person, which was amazingly cheap, especially for July, key tourist season. That gave us 8 days to get down the coast line of Croatia, which is ambitious, but doable. Read below to find our entire itinerary and get ideas on how you too can spend one-week in Croatia.
Cities, beaches, National Parks and island hopping — Croatia has it all
We chose an itinerary that was a mix of cities, beaches, National Parks and islands. For us, it was really important to have a good balance of everything. But you could easily spend all your time at the beach and on islands. However, you would miss gems like Plitvice Lakes, which was maybe our favorite place in all of Croatia.
Rent a car to see more of Croatia
We rented a car from Zadar to Split and then left the car in Split in order to take the passenger ferry to the many islands. The car ferries are incredibly expensive, so I wouldn’t recommend taking a car onto the islands. Plus, you really don’t need one, especially if you are staying only for a few days on each island.
Day 1: Zadar and Plitvice Lakes National Park
We flew into Zadar on a Monday afternoon and stayed for a few hours to have lunch and explore the city before driving to Plitvice. We were really pleasantly surprised by how beautiful the city of Zadar is.
After walking the city, we had lunch at an excellent restaurant called Groppo. I highly recommend to order the Sea Bass, or Branzino. You can see a video below of our waiter preparing the fish:
We drove about 1 1/2 hours from Zadar to our Airbnb located just 15 minutes outside of the entrance to Plitvice National Park. You can find the link to the Airbnb here. We had a really warm welcome and our host showed us the best route to take in the park the next day.
Day 2: Plitvice Lakes National Park
We woke up bright and early to make our entrance time to Plitvice lakes between 9 and 10 am. You should definitely buy your entrance tickets ahead of time to ensure availability. Buy tickets at least 2 days ahead of time here.
Be prepared to do a lot of walking! We were at the park from about 9 am until 4 pm. A good idea is to bring your own picnic lunch with you. The food offered in the park is not very good and not cheap. You cannot swim in the beautiful lakes of Plitvice. However you can definitely appreciate their remarkable green-blue hue from both afar and up close.
After spending the entire day at Plitvice, we hopped back in our car and drove almost 2 hours to Sibenik. We spent the night there before going to National Park #2: Krka.
Day 3: Krka National Park and Trogir
Unlike Plitvice, you can swim in Krka
We decided to do two National Parks one after the other for two reasons: 1) they are located close together and 2) at Krka you can swim, whereas at Plitvice you cannot. Now hands down, Plitvice was the more beautiful of the two parks, but swimming at Krka was an amazing experience.
As opposed to Plitvice, at Krka, there are a lot of food options right next to the swimming area. From pizza and hot dog stands, to crepes and full-blown restaurants, you have many options.
Krka is very large, and you can easily spend all day there. We, however, only went to the swimming area, as we had just trekked all of Plitvice the day before. If you are skipping Plitvice and only doing Krka, definitely take some time to explore all of Krka. But a car is recommended to reach all the key spots.
We left Krka around 4 pm for our next destination, Trogir, which is about 1 hour away by car. We checked into the most amazing Airbnb that was only 5 minutes walking from a small beach and 7 minutes walking to the center of town. You can find the Airbnb here.
Explore the charming town of Trogir before heading to Split
Trogir is an incredibly charming town. It is referred to as the little ‘Split’. With small narrow streets and a medieval castle all located on the waterfront, it is definitely a must-visit!
Quick Tip: FYI ‘konoba’ means ‘restaurant’ in Croatian. So don’t be confused like us when looking for your dinner reservation, as almost every place is called ‘konoba‘!
Day 4: Trogir and Split
We spent the next morning in Trogir at the small beach 5 minutes from our Airbnb. We were one of the only ones there. Beware that Croatia is all rock beach, so definitely bring water shoes!
Feast on seafood and explore the streets of Split
After our swim, we left Trogir at 11:30 am, reaching Split in an easy 30 minutes. We dropped off our rental car and walked to our next Airbnb. Split is the perfect jumping off point to reach all the best islands of Croatia by ferry. As mentioned before, it is expensive and inconvenient to bring a car with you on the ferry to the islands.
Our Airbnb host recommended us one restaurant called Villa Spiza. We went and proceeded to have the best lunch of our entire trip. The pasta con frutti di mare is to die for, as well as the mussels. We highly recommend that you order both dishes!
Split is the second largest city in all of Croatia, so there is a lot to see. We walked around the city center, visited the market, and strolled along the marina.
Day 5: Take the ferry to Bol on the island of Brač
The next morning, we left on the 7 am ferry to the beach town of Bol. We bought our ferry tickets online ahead of time here. But you can also buy the tickets on the spot. However, we recommend at least checking the ferry schedule ahead of time. Oftentimes there are only 1 or 2 departures per day due to the capacity of the islands.
Visit Zlatni Rat Beach in Bol – the Best Beach in Europe
We dropped off our bags at the Airbnb and then walked 30 minutes to the famous Zlatni Rat beach. You can also take a ‘cab’ by boat to the beach for 20 kunas per person one-way. There is also a train running, but we were never able to catch it. Walking to the beach is simple, as there is a boardwalk all the way there from the town.
The beach is beautiful, and definitely deserves the title as one of the best beaches in Europe. It is also a rock beach, but the pebbles are very small and smooth; however, we still recommend wearing your water shoes. Beach chairs and umbrellas are available, but at a charge. There are many food options at the beach. From healthier fare such as fruit smoothies and salads to fried food like fried calamari, anchovies, french fries and pizza.
At Zlatni Rat, there is a children’s jungle gym on the ocean, which you can play on for 100 kunas (10 EUR) for 1 hour. Adults can play too! 1 hour is more than enough time, and it is quite a hilarious way to pass the time. The obstacles are quite challenging. JC spent most of his time falling on his butt (unfortunately, we don’t have any videos) and into the ocean. It’s also fun to watch other people falling as well! We spent the good part of 30 minutes from the beach laughing at other’s missteps.
Day 6 &7 : Take the ferry from Bol to Korčula
Unfortunately, the next morning we had a rainy day instead of a beach day in Bol up until the time we took our 4 pm ferry to our next destination– the island of Korčula.
Korčula was by far our favorite island and favorite city in all of Croatia! Kind people, narrow streets waiting to be discovered, amazing food, beach, and no crowds. All that you imagine Croatia to be is Korčula. It is often referred to as the mini ‘Dubrovnik’ because of the orange roofs. We actually preferred the charm of Korčula to the larger Dubrovnik and would recommend spending more of your time there.
Eat at Marco Polo restaurant in Korčula
Korčula is believed to be the birthplace of Marco Polo. This is why there is a Marco Polo museum, multiple souvenir shops and an amazing restaurant all in his name.
Speaking of the restaurant, we had a delicious dinner there and would highly recommend it. The fish dish for two is fantastic, and the handmade macaroni with mixed seafood is also a specialty of theirs. Be sure to order a bottle of GRK wine. It is produced on the island specifically on the side of Korčula town.
On the same street as the restaurant, there is a very talented artist and his gallery. I bought a beautiful print of one of his artworks of the ferry port of Korčula.
Head to Banje Beach on Korčula
The next day we walked around the marina before heading to the beach. The water is the clearest most beautiful water that we’ve ever seen.
We walked to Banje Beach which was only a 10 minute walk from the city center. We even took our snorkeling gear and saw some fish in the sea near the swimmers.
That same night we took the ferry to Dubrovnik, arriving around 10 pm to the ferry port. We then took an Uber to our Airbnb destination, which was located 20 minutes by car from the old town.
The next day we were flying back to Berlin from Dubrovnik airport at 1:30 pm. Our plan was to wake up early to walk the wall and see the city center before we left Croatia.
Day 8: Dubrovnik
Visit The Wall and King’s Landing
We reached the entrance to the old town of Dubrovnik at 8 am and were one of the first to buy our tickets to walk the wall surrounding the center of old Dubrovnik. We had read horror stories of the crowds in Dubrovnik thanks to Game of Thrones. But at 8 am we almost had the wall to ourselves! We definitely recommend going early as we did.
We walked half of the wall and it took us about 1 hour, but it was more than enough. You do have the opportunity to get down the wall halfway if you don’t want to continue.
We then proceeded to explore the city. You can easily see the entire old town in 1 hour. We had 2 hours, so more than enough time!
That’s it! We hope this gives you a better idea of how to plan your time in Croatia. If you have any of your own favorite spots or recommendations, comment them below!
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