Croatia

[Hilux]

We visited Croatia in September and thought that those who are thinking about a visit might find the following information helpful.

 

We travelled in a Pilote Galaxy "A" Class motorhome.

 

The border crossing from Slovenia into Croatia is straightforward. Coming out of Croatia into the EU was equally trouble free and relaxed, but for both have your passports ready.

 

On the Croatian motorways the toll is payable with a cashcard, but no PIN is needed. The toll is manned and they speak good English.

 

The currency is the Croatian Kuna (HRK). At the time of our visit 1HRK = 0.1386071 Euro. So 2000HRK would have cost 277.21Euros. There are plenty of cashpoints, even in bus stations. If you have any HRK notes on return just pop into the first post office in Slovenia and they will change your money back into Euros.

 

The cost of 1 litre of diesel was about 9.1HRK or about 1.25Euro per litre.

 

The roads are good quality as are road signs in the tourist areas. Fuel stations are fairly frequent and we did see LPG for sale at some stations, but we didn't have to buy any as we had filled up in Italy.

 

Free camping is not allowed in Croatia and we only saw one "camperstop" which would have accommodated about 20 vans. Elsewhere on the coast some car parks have height barriers or restrictions preventing the parking of campervan between midnight and 0200 hours. There are also specific road side restrictions in places preventing the parking of campervans at any time.

 

The campsites, called Autocamps, vary between large and huge with some able to take up to 3000 persons. These are mostly near the coast. Sites have shops, bars and restaurants. The amenity blocks are spotless with more than enough showers, hot water and WC's to suit everyone's requirements. The on-site hook ups were all first class never tripping out.

 

Surprisingly, campsites and many shops and restaurants close towards the end of October as they consider the season to be over. It was noticeable during our stay that things were certainly winding down with occupation at some campsites running at about 20%.

 

English is taught at school and at every campsite that we visited English was spoken at reception. This was also the case at almost every restaurant. Eating out is reasonably priced and cheaper than Italy. There are many harbourside cafes where a simple lunch for two with wine, or a few beers, can cost less then 20Euros.

 

In some of the larger campsites payment could be made in Euros, but all major credit and debit cards are also accepted. The cost of an overnight stay in a campsite for two persons with electricity, using an ACSI card was about 150 to 200HRK, but not a great deal more without an ACSI card. Expect to have your passport kept at reception until you leave, or some other form of surety or identification.

 

We visited Istria (mainland) and three of the islands comprising Cres, Krk and Rab. We took a ferry from the mainland to Cres, a ferry from Cres to Krk then Krk to Rab, followed by a ferry from Rab back to the mainland. The ferries run frequently and cost between 200K and 450K for a single journey. The ferries have good access and seem to take all types of vehicles from bikes to HGV’s. However, check that they are all running and that routes have not been seasonally discontinued. No need for an advance booking just roll up, but try and avoid the guy doing the three card trick on the harbour just before the ferry arrives.

 

The sea water is crystal clear in many places with mainly shingle beaches or access from concrete pads. There are beach showers some of which are free to use. Snorkelling is great fun with lost of tame and pretty fish close to the shorleline. There are also boat trips available between the islands for lunchtime excursions, fishing trips and dolphin sighting.

 

The parts that we visited had a splendid coastline and a profusion of beautiful harbours. The Roman remains at Pula are worth visiting as are the Venetian towns of Rab and Rovinje. If you like swimming in clear blue water beneath cloudless skies, then you will enjoy your visit, although we found the campsites rather overwhelming. We did travel inland giving us a chance to see how local people carried on their daily lives. However, we had to take a chance at wildcamping in a village car park as no other option was available, getting permission from a local bar owner who’s friend had a lorry parked on the same site.

 

It seemed to us that during the holiday period the campsites are mainly occupied by visitors from Austria and Germany and it was notable that almost 50% of the vehicles on the road bear foreign registrations.

 

We also experienced the Bora, a fierce wind that blows in these parts of the Adriatic and Dalmation coast. We had a few days of it, which really transformed the weather. We understand from fellow travellers, now returning through Italy, that it caused some coastal routes to become closed for a few days in October.

 

Hope this information helps with your holiday choices.

 

H

 

[jointerjohn]

We did croatia in june/july 2010 (six weeks in rapido 7099f 7.3m long) used the coast road(beautiful scenery very good roads), we agree with all that has been said, we found there were so many small sites, it seems almost every house owner with an area of land or large garden opened up for camping/motor homes, during our six weeks we mostly stayed on smaller sites overlooking the sea, every morning there was an abundance of local markets/ stalls selling every sort of produce/wine\cheeses etc etc, almost everyone spoke english, would thoroughly recomend a visit, cant' think of any negative points. jointerjohn.