10 places that you can't miss out on in Croatia - Part 1

Hello again everyone!

As I told you in previous posts, I spent a whole academic year in Pula, Croatia. This allowed me to get to know the whole country really well and thus today I am going to tell you what I think are the 10 must-see places for everyone who visits Croatia. I have to say that I haven't included Pula, since I'd rather talk to you about it in more depth in a different post, seeing as I have quite a lot to say about the city - but of course, I consider it a must-see place too.

From cities such as Split or Dubrovnik and enormous and incredible National Parks (which I have talked about in previous posts) where you can enjoy nature or its beautiful coast with crystal-clear and turquoise waters: any place that you go to in Croatia will be a safe bet.

In this first part of the post, I am going to tell you some tips for travelling to Croatia and after I will talk to you about the first 5 places that you can not miss out on seeing if you visit Croatia.

Firstly, I want to explain something important when visiting Croatia.

This country is split into counties, which are then grouped into regions. Each one of these regions has their own customs and traditions. These are Dalmacia, which is the coastal area and the main tourist area of the country; Istria, very influenced by Italy since it is the closest area to the country and where Pula is located; Central Croatia, where the capital Zagreb is located; and Eslavonia, which is probably the least well-known one.

On our route through Croatia we mainly went around the Dalmacia area, since as I said before, it is the most touristy area.

I am not going to include the capital Zagreb in the post, since I want to talk about my visit to the Christmas Market and other unmissable places in the city in another post.

Advice for visiting Croatia

- To see all of these places you need more than a week, since even though they are all relatively close and don't require really long car trips to get them, there are quite a lot of places and a lot of them are worth seeing without rushing.

- You need to rent a car to go on this route. You can get around by bus but you will waste a lot more time since the journey times are a lot longer and the bus times won't let you make the most of your time spent on the trip. Also, the trains are not an option either because they are practically non-existent in Croatia.

- The currency that is used is Kuna. I have to say that in the most touristy places they often accept euros, but I would recommend not risking it and take extra money changed to Kunas. One kuna is equivalent to 13 cents, so 1 euro is 7.4 kunas approximately. It won't be at all hard to exchange your money, in the cities there are lots of exchange shops, practically in every corner.

- In Croatia most of the population speaks English so it is never hard to communicate as long as you can more or less speak this language. It surprised me to see how even old men and women who were 60 years old managed to communicate with us in English, obviously with a limited vocabulary, but we understood each other perfectly. As I said, even though there are always exceptions, you can go to any bar, restaurant, shop or tourist attraction and they will understand you perfectly in English. In some areas they also speak perfect Italian, in fact you will see a lot of tourist signs translated to Italian.

- Important: Always bring beach shoes with you. Croatian beaches, in general, aren't made up of sand but small rocks, and I promise you that without beach shoes you will die of pain walking across them. You can buy them in any shop in any city, where you can find them for around 10 euros. But they are 10 euros well spent!

Focusing now on Dalmacia, here you can find the counties Zadar, Sibenik-knin, Split and Dubrovnik-Neretva. On our road trip, we passed by all of them and I am now going to talk to you about these 10 amazing places.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

As I explained in more detail in another post about this park, the Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of the most incredible places that I have ever visited. If you are lovers of nature, this will leave you speechless. You can find all of the information about it here.

Zadar

Zadar is a small, quite peaceful city, maybe due to the fact that it is located right in the North of Dalmacia, quite far from the main tourist spots such as Split or Dubrovnik.

To park, I recommend that you leave your car near to Land Gate, right before entering the historic district and then walk from there, since it leaves you quite close by. In fact, you can easily visit this city in one day.

I will tell you some of my suggestions for visiting Zadar in a few hours.

If there is something that you have to see in Zadar, it is the famous Sea Organ. It was created by the Croatian architect Nikola Bašić. It is very strange since through small holes in the stairs that went down towards the sea and different sized tubes which made sounds with the motion of the sea and wind, which creates a very relaxing sound. At sunset, a lot of tourists and locals sit on the stairs, whilst appreciating the scenery and the sounds of the sea.

The same architect Nikola Basic created, just a few metres from the organ, an enormous circle of glass in the ground known as the Monument to the Sun. Hidden under this circle are several solar panels which absorb the sunlight during the day and when the sun goes down, it creates different animations with several colours and shapes. And if this is strange, these panels also generate part of the city's lighting.

But if there is something characteristic about Zadar, it is its cultural heritage. Proof of this is its old Roman forum and to the side of it, the emblematic Church of St Donatus. As for the forum, there are lots of pieces of columns and capitals but little remains. The best conserved and most important piece is the Column of Shame, which has its name because it was where they formerly chained up people who had committed a small crime·

You can't miss out of the Zadar Cathedral, the archaeological museum of Zadar. Go for a browse in Zadar market or appreciate the walls, which surround the historic district, which were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sibenik

Sibenik is a small city on the coast. It is very close to Zadar, approximately an hour away, but also from other important cities such as Split or Trogir. But without a doubt, what this city is most well-know for is that it is very close to the famous Krka National Park, only 15 minutes drive away from the centre.

The city is very pedestrianised so it is perfect to walk around. It is very well-known for having been the setting of the famous series Game of Thrones in its 5th season and also for being the Croatian city with the most stairs.

I have only seen a bit of Sibenik, since the day that we were there it was horrible weather and it barely stopped raining, so our visit was quite brief. However, I will tell you the must-see attractions in Sibenik:

Most definitely its cathedral, the Santiago Cathedral which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000. You have to pay around 3 euros to see the inside, although I only saw it from the outside.

It is also essential to visit the town hall which is located in the Croatian Republic square. This building has 9 large windows, 9 arcs and 2 staircases at its sides which characterise it. In addition to that, this area in the city is special since this building was built on a kind of hill full of stone buildings of different heights.

Another interesting place in the city which I have not been lucky enough to visit, due to the bad weather which accompanied our trip, was the Saint Michael Fort.

Krka National Park

As I did with the Plitvice Lakes National Park, I previously made a blog specifically speaking about the incredible Krka National Park which you can read here: https://erasmusu.com/es/erasmus-croacia/blog-erasmus/descubriendo-el-parque-nacional-de-krka-772521

It is definitely one of my favourite places in Croatia, for sure, but also out of all of the places that I have ever visited too.

Trogir

This city is well known for being the oldest one in the Adriatic Sea and also for having the best-preserved Roman gothic architecture in Central Europe, which you can see in its numerous palaces and churches.

You can go around it easily in a couple of hours since it is quite small, however, it has a lot of charm.

Going along its narrow alleyways, you will come across a multitude of bars and restaurants to eat at. We ate in one of them which unfortunately I don't remember the name of, but it had a really wide terrace with lots of plants and the food was delicious. Anyway, generally all of the restaurants look really good and they are full of people.

Some of the places that you can't miss out on seeing if you visit Trogir I will list below:

Firstly, the Ivana Pavla II square since it is definitely the prettiest one in the city. Here you will find all of the most important buildings in the city, such as the Trogir Cathedral, the Saint Sebastian Church which is famous for its clock and the Rector's Palace.

Another unmissable place is the Kamerlengo castle-fort. Kamerlengo is named after the person in charge of administering the wealth of the church. It was built in the 15th century and it is possible to visit the inside by paying around 3 euros. We didn't enter because there was hardly anything to see inside, although it does have good views from the tower.

Finally, although of course there are lots of other interesting things to visit in Trogir, I recommend seeing the city cathedral. The interesting thing about this cathedral is that it took almost 300 years to finish being built, so you are able to see the different architectural styles which make it up.

This has been everything for today, but soon I will publish the second part of this post where I will tell you about the other remaining 5 places and which you have to visit in Croatia.

Thank you for reading!

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