Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. I’m here to help you start traveling the world, so in this blog, guys, I’m going to give you the step-by-step guide to planning your trip to Croatia on a budget. It’s a very specific blog to help you travel Croatia on a budget, and I’m covering everything from when to go, where to go, what to do, financial considerations, flights, and everything else. If you are in the process of booking your trip to Croatia, this blog is going to be super, super helpful, so make sure you read until the end. So, let’s get start…
When to go
First things first, let’s talk about the best time to visit Croatia. Of course, if you want to have a beach vacation, the best time would be during the summer. However, if you are a budget traveler, I suggest you skip the beach and visit Croatia during the off-season because everything is much cheaper. Summer is pretty much the worst time to visit Croatia; it’s incredibly busy. That’s when all the tourists from all over Europe and the US want to come visit Croatia and have a Mediterranean vacation. So, I don’t recommend coming in the summer. Based on what a tour guide told me when I was in Croatia and my own research, I feel like the best time to visit Croatia would be in October. It’s not too hot, and the tourist season just finished the month before in September. You can also try out wintertime to see if the rates are even more affordable, but again, I recommend sticking with the fall. It’s not too cold, and it’s not too hot; the weather is just perfect.
How to get a cheap flight
I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but probably shouldn’t let’s talk about how to get super cheap tickets to Croatia. As you probably know already, if you’ve done any simple flight searches to Croatia, it’s kind of expensive to get a direct flight here. I think they’re starting to have direct flights from Miami to Dubrovnik or something like that, but it’s super expensive to get flights directly from the US to Croatia. So, you’re gonna have to book two separate flights; this is the cheapest way to get to Croatia.
What you’re gonna do is get a flight from your city, like Las Vegas or New York, into a major airport in Europe, for example, London, Dublin, or Paris – wherever you can make a connection to Europe. That’s your first flight. And then, your second flight is going to be from that airport into Croatia. This is by far the cheapest way to do it.
If you go to skyscanner.com, you enter your departure city and input “everywhere,” and then you’ll see the cheapest flights into Europe. Make sure to choose a major airport, like London or whatever, and then you’ll see how much it would cost to get from there to your destination in Croatia. Just work out the math and make sure that it’s actually cheaper to do it that way.
The airlines you would use for getting to the European city and into Croatia would be some budget airlines like Ryanair, Aer Lingus, or EasyJet. So, for example, what we did was we flew from New York to Dublin, and then Dublin to Split.
Two important things: you may miss it.
First thing is make sure that you have the same baggage allowances for both airlines. So, if the first airline is allowing you 50 pounds, make sure you have 50 pounds for the other airline too.
The second thing is, make sure you have enough time connecting to the flight going to Croatia. So, if you’re landing in London at 5 PM and your flight to Croatia is at 6 PM, that’s not going to work because you still need time. You have to check out, go through immigration, and then check back in for the second flight, and of course, go through security.
How to travel on a budget:Transportation
Alright, so the next thing you have to think about is getting around Croatia on a budget, and again, good news, it’s super cheap to get around Croatia. You have your option of taking Uber, which we were taking a lot because it was crazy hard to find parking, especially in Split. The Ubers were really cheap, I’m talking about we were paying like $4 to $6 to get around Split, so you can do that. You can take Ubers, which is what we did because they were so cheap. You can also just stay near the tourist sites and walk. You don’t really have to rely on Ubers; you can just walk. Usually, I recommend not staying near the city center or the tourist sites because it’s usually more expensive, but since the Airbnbs in Croatia are so cheap already, you can get a great deal on an Airbnb even in the city center if that’s what you like. Like I said before, I like to stay away from the tourist bubble, but if you just want to walk, trust me, you can find an Airbnb in any budget in the city center.
And in some cities in Croatia, like Zagreb, there is public transportation, so if that’s an option too. Now, let’s talk about more long-distance traveling, for example, going from Split to Dubrovnik. Of course, you can rent a car. If you want to rent a car for your whole trip, you can rent a car in Croatia. I recommend you use DiscoverCars.com; they have really great rates. But I highly recommend that you just take the long-distance bus. I don’t recommend you rent a car, especially for a short trip, like 5 to 7 days. I just recommend that you take the long-distance bus if you’re going from one city to the next. On my solo travel I use long distance bus many time and I found that you can get from Split to Dubrovnik in the month of September for $12, which is pretty cheap, $12 one way. So, I think that’s way easier than having to rent a car, pay for insurance, pay for gas, and not get lost
How to find budget Accommodation
So, next, you have to find somewhere to stay. I’ll just get into it a little bit. I highly recommend that you book Airbnbs when traveling in Croatia. We booked a nice room for two of us all over Croatia, and I have to say, it was like the best decision ever on so many levels. Not only was it great, we saved money, we got more space because we got to stay in awesome communities, and we avoided the tourist rates for a lot of different things. And because we were shopping where the locals were shopping, my experience in Croatia was made way better just from staying in Airbnbs in local communities. So, I can say Airbnb is definitely a better deal. We needed a washing machine, a dishwasher, and a lot of things, and we were able to get all of those things from an Airbnb. Also, we had a full kitchen to cook meals and save money. So, guys, if you are a budget traveler, again, I highly recommend booking an Airbnb, if only just to save money on food. Food in Croatia is not very expensive, but it’s still a great way to save money.
For solo traveler
But if Airbnb is not your thing, I recommend that you use HotelsCombined.com. They are a hotel search engine, it’s super cheap, and they have a price match guarantee. Or you can use hostels, and Hostelworld.com is cool too. I used to use them a lot when I first started traveling. But the thing about hostels is that you still get a better deal with Airbnb because with hostels, you’re sharing a room with people, make friends with other international traveler that’s a good point but if you like and the costs are sometimes similar to renting a private room in an Airbnb instead of renting a room in a hostel. So, just do the math, see what’s best for you. But if hostels are your thing, use Hostelworld.com.
Foods & Drinks
In terms of expenses, one thing you don’t really have to worry about is eating in Croatia. You are going to love being in Croatia because it’s so affordable, and the food is amazing, so don’t worry too much about this part of your budget. At an average restaurant, expect to pay $10 to $15, and on the higher end, maybe $10 to $20 for a meal. That’s for an average restaurant. In an expensive restaurant, for example, we went to a restaurant right near the walls of Dubrovnik, expecting to pay maybe like $25 per meal. And I’m talking about a glass of wine and a plate of food.
What to do: Explore the city.
Alright, guys, next let’s talk about what to do when you’re in Croatia. Of course, activities vary from city to city and costs vary, but I’m just gonna give you some general tips. So, I have really, really good news for you: there are a lot of free things to do in Croatia. Honestly, I feel like the best thing to do in Croatia is just to walk around the old cities and explore, take pictures, and just enjoy yourself. And get some delicious ice cream; that was really fun for me, just walking around for free and getting a bunch of ice cream. So, don’t worry, you’re just gonna have a good time exploring the city and it costs you nothing.
But if you want to do some paid tourist activities, they’re affordable too. So, I found that the range of tourist activities was like 15to 30 Kuna($2,15-$4.30), which I don’t find a lot. For example, in Diocletian’s Palace, we paid 30 Kuna for the underground part to explore that part, and as for the tower, we paid 15($2.15) Kuna. And for Pula Arena, that was a bit more expensive, we paid 70($10) Kuna, but I think that was just that tourist attraction. But just expect to pay between 15 to 30 Kuna($2,15-$4.30), which I think is very affordable.
Next, if you want to take tours, they are affordable too. You can use a website like GetYourGuide.com for super affordable tourism, and also Viator.com for affordable tours too. We took a tour in Zagreb of a walking food tour, a 4-hour walking food tour, and I think we paid about $30 or $40 each, but it was just like a full 4 hours of just walking around the area, eating yummy foods, learning all about the city, learning all about Croatian people and culture. It was just so much fun and so worth it. And in Pula, we took a dolphin-watching tour, I think that was like $25 per person, and we had a blast. It took us to a little island to go swimming and it was lots of fun, and that was also a full-day activity. I think it was from maybe 9 to 5 or something like that.
So, there are so many different tours that you can take based on your interests and they’re pretty affordable. And then there are the really expensive private boat tours or private tours; there’s also that too on GetYourGuide and Viator. And finally, of course, you can always book a free walking tour. There are free walking tours all over Croatia, and there’s also a free Game of Thrones walking tour. Use the website freetour.com
Where to visit: Ultimate route map
Now, let’s talk about what to visit in Croatia. There are many tourist destinations and places that people love about Croatia, and they’re not overrated; they are actually really great places to visit. Unlike many cities in Europe that are actually overrated, many of the cities that you hear about in Croatia are awesome and breathtaking. I definitely suggest you take the tourist track.
Where you’re gonna go in Croatia, of course, depends on how long you’ll be in Croatia. But we were in Croatia for 6 and a half weeks, and we went pretty much from the bottom of Croatia to the top, from Dubrovnik to Zagreb, with stops in Split, the islands, and Plitvice Lakes National Park. I’m just gonna give you a rough itinerary of where to go based on the number of days.
Itinerary based on your duration
If you’re in Croatia for 3 to 5 days, I suggest that you just go to Split and Dubrovnik. If you’re in Croatia for 7 to 10 days, I suggest that you go to Split, Dubrovnik, spend one or two days in Hvar, and then you can take a day trip to Hvar island or one of the islands, or a day trip to Plitvice Lakes National Park.
As you can see, guys, I don’t recommend going to too many places when you get to Croatia. There’s so much to do in Split and Dubrovnik alone, forget about the islands and the national parks; there’s so much to do there alone. I suggest that you don’t overbook your trip and try to do too much in one day or go to many different places in a short period of time. Just focus on Split, Dubrovnik, and the islands in that area.
If you’re in Croatia for 10 days or less, focus on the tourist track; you will not regret it. It’s fabulous, worth it, and not overrated. One tip I have to give you is that if you’re coming to Croatia and you want to see most of the country, I recommend starting from one end of the country and working your way down. So, for example, start from Dubrovnik and go up to Split, or start from Split and go all the way up to Zagreb. It’s really cheaper from different areas of Europe; it’s really cheap to fly into Split. You might be tempted to fly into Split and then go down to Dubrovnik and go back up to Split and go up into the country, but I recommend that you just start from one end and go to the other because you’ll be wasting money doing it that way. Of course, do the math and see which option is cheaper for you, but I just wanted to let you know it’s best to start at one end and go down to the other.
So, that’s it for today. I try to cover everything you need to know before traveling Croatia on a budget. If you guys feel its informative and helpful for you then stay connect with me. You can give me your email blew the box then I can send all the budget tips direct to your mail, don’t worry it’s absolutely free.
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