Road Trip to Croatia

I have been away in August – on a road trip to Croatia. It’s been a lovely 10 days driving up and down the country with my boyfriend. So I thought I talk you through it and show you the highlights of our trip. Btw I have already my lookbook from our road trip to Croatia up (click here for some style inspo). But without further or due let’s jump right into this blog post.

Udine

We started in Switzerland and drove through the Dolomites right down to Udine where we stayed for 2 nights. After that long drive – 7 h and something – it was nice to relax and not having to think where to drive the next day. Udine is a nice little city in Italy with tasty food and a pretty old town. And they have so many piazzas where you can shoot some cool outfit shots (my Lookbook).

 

Rovinj

Now this place was quite a favourite of mine. I read about the beautiful old town of Rovinj but I actually didn‘t think it would be that beautiful! All the tiny streets with something new on every corner you turned, it was truly amazing. We stayed in Rovinj for two days and in the evenings before dinner we took a stroll through the old town. What I have to mention is that it is a tourist hotspot and it was the most we paid for food and so on but if you love an old town with Italian flair directly by the sea you need to pay Rovinj a visit.

Just a short drive north from Rovinj there are many beaches where you have an amazing view of Rovinj’s old town whilst soaking up the sun and having a swim in the Croatian sea. Before I forget to mention it, if you wanna eat at a particular restaurant you’d better book a table as it tends to be quite busy all evening long.

The island of Rab

Driving along the coast, then taking the ferry to the island of Rab we arrived at our hotel in the afternoon. After checking in, we went for a dip in the sea as it was only a stroll away from our hotel. As the sun set, we made our way back to the hotel pool and then it was time to get ready for dinner. Sadly we weren’t graced with good weather so we spent a lot of time in our hotel which btw was so nice. But on our last day, we went with a taxi boat over to the “love island” which was pretty amazing. The whole coast has little beaches were you can sunbathe all day long plus the water has this beautiful blue and turkeys tones – just breathtaking.

Actually, every beach we have been to in Croatia presented itself in the most stunning colours (I think I haven’t taken that many photos of water ever). Those 3 days on the island of Rab were just so relaxing and I appreciated not being in a car for long hours for a whole 2 days.

Plitvice lakes

Whenever I was researching for our road trip in Croatia the Plitvice Lakes came up quite a few times and boy they did not disappoint. All the pictures you see with those stunning waterfalls and lakes in all kinds of blues – it’s just the same in real life! When choosing the trail you wanna walk I would recommend the C programme. Yes, it says it will take 4 – 6 hours but let me tell you we didn’t run, just walked as we normally would and it took us under 3 hours. So if you aren’t accompanied by someone who would walk a little bit slower this trail isn’t that long at all. And it takes you to all the amazing places – basically, everything you need to see will be in this trail.

Also, best to come at 8 o’clock in the morning, this way you will definitely find a parking spot and there won’t be as many people. It tends to get really busy towards midday so an early start really pays off.

Trieste

The final stop of our road trip was Trieste. Being back in Italy would also mean there wouldn’t be a too long drive home but we wanted to see the city anyways as my parents visited before and they loved it. Again having a stroll around the old town before dinner or after a scrumptious sweet breakfast is just lovely. You can definitely feel the Italian flair. A top tip is to go via boat to the castle of Miramare. It once was the home of the emperor Maximilian I of Mexico and makes for some stunning scenery. Seems like I took quite a lot of pictures in Trieste which just says it all. The city is beautiful.

more things to see and places to go 

Besides the places I mentioned above, I had to let you know about one or two more things you could do on your road trip to Croatia. There are quite a few caves you can visit in Croatia on our way down to Rovinj we stopped in Porec to see the Baredine cave. It’s a guided tour (every 30 min one starts) about 270 steps down the cave you go and you’ll see 5 beautifully decorated chambers and a mini lake.

Croatia isn’t short of beaches and we found some pretty nice ones indeed. The first beach we actually visited was the Hawaii beach near Porec and it was stunning. When driving to the beach you’re not sure if there’s even gonna be a proper beach but once you see it you’ll be glad to have made the journey. Fascinated by the clear blue water we made ourselves comfortable and soaked up the sun. One thing to remember is to bring some sort of shoes you can wear in the water as there are many sea urchins – no worries with the shoes and when being just cautious in the sea nothing will happen. Also pretty much all the beaches are pebble beaches. If you want that extra bit comfort bring a beach chair or a second towel for some extra padding.

Oh, beautiful Croatia 

Our road trip to Croatia has been truly amazing. The people are so welcoming, the sea is stunning and the scenery is something else. We had a great time and we saw a lot in those 10 days. Having our own car was definitely an advantage as we could drive to everything without depending on public transport etc. We went in late summer but I would say from early summer up to autumn you’ be fine if you wanted to visit Croatia. We stayed in the North as it would have required some more days to travel further down but there were so many things to see in North Croatia we didn’t feel the need to drive down to the south.

A road trip to Croatia comes to an end

Well, this has been a long one. I hope I gave you some idea what you could do on your road trip to Croatia. These are definitely some must-see spots and I am sure when you research for yourself you’ll find them popping up here and there.

Where have you been this summer? Have you been on a road trip before?

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Thanks for stopping by and giving it a read. Until next time, xx