Croatia

[chrisbee1]

After reading Nigel’s blog I’m toying with the idea of visiting Croatia next year. Does anyone know how busy the small sites are in June and if booking is required? My research so far seems to show smallish pitches packed together which isn’t really my favourite type of holiday. Anyone got any experience of small sites or know of any other blogs?

 

[BigTim]

HI Chrisbee 1
We visited Croatia in August 2010, towing our Bailey Senator Arizona. We stayed for a couple of weeks at Camp Galeb at Omis, on the Dalmation coast about 20 miles south of Split. It was not the first Croatian site we looked at but we liked this one. We had done a lot of research on caravanning forums and in Alan Roger's and the Caravan Club's "Caravan Europe guides and had selected possible sites before leaving the UK. It was not a large site by Croatian standards and right on the beach. The pitches were of a generous size and the 'vans were not packed too close together. Our research seemed to indicate that the many large sites on the Istrian Peninsula do get busy in the summer months.
If you follow this link it will give you further links to all the blogs I wrote at the time:
http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=7&TopicID=262092&SearchPagePosition=1&search=croatia&searchMode=phrase&searchIn=Topic&forum=7&searchSort=dateDESC&ReturnPage=Search
The post I'm referring to is the 6th one on that thread - Tim and Cary.
There are a lot other posts about Croatia and reviews of Croatian campsites on that same site.
I always, however, add that we found it a LONG drive. We were away for about 5 weeks and we did 3,303 miles door to door from home in St Helens.
I hope this helps.
Tim

 

[chrisbee1]

Thanks Tim, excellent reading and very helpful

 

[airsiggy]

We went to Croatia in Sept 2005 and enjoyed it. We stayed at Omis which was a bit crowded with c'vans, RV's, eastern european coach tours in cabins and canoeists camping for the night. For the first time ever on a site we did experience some petty thieving, e.g. beer and wine from the awning cold box but nothing serious. But the site is very good, e few feet from a sandy beach and a 10 minute walk into town with loads of restaurants. Keep your vehicle topped up with fuel, at the time the petrol and diesel used to run out for a few hours/day, not because of supply problems but because the fuel tanks were small and had trouble keeping up with demand. People were very nice, buses and unofficial taxis run up the main coast road by the site to Split, saves the problem of taking the car and parking. Plenty of ATM's and shops and markets. If you want fresh meat get to the butchers early, they may not have a big fridge so they only butcher what they can sell that day and the choice has gone by midday. Fresh markets every day, get there before midday again and pick your own products. Be wary of idiot youth drivers, there were accidents. Go north of Split and sample the lamb restaurants by the roadside (not m'way), an experience in itself. The sceneary is amazing, in Croatia and on the journey, we went via Vienna and returned by way of Salzburg. There are no language problems, international English all the way. You may need a green card as it wasn't in the EU then, now ??. Also check your breakdown cover for Croatia. If your interested you can receive some Sky channels (news) on the southern beam by retuning your box. Out of interest its about the same distance as southern Spain, just a different direction ! As far as sites go there are a lot in the books but can be situated just off the main coast road down a track to the beach, OK for the convoys of RV's, not for caravans. Its the first time I've seen bear on a menu ! Hope you are OK with tunnels, on some m'ways they are 5 kms long. Enjoy the adventure

 

[chrisbee1]

Thanks for that air siggy. Tunnels are not a problem, went to Austria a couple of years ago and encountered some rather long ones. Having looked at Tim’s link I’m convinced it’s worth the drive and Mrs Chrisbee is almost won over.

 

[NigelDonnelly]

Chrisbee 1

It is a long way but it is worth the effort. I'd suggest making time to stop off in Slovenia on the way which is fab.

We went in may and the sites were broadly empty during the week although things were a bit more snug at the weekends. Do get hold of the Caravan Club Europe 2 book before travel though. It's invaluable if you are touring rather than stopping at one or two sites. Much better than any other site guides for the continent

Have a great time!

 

[chrisbee1]

Mrs Chrisbee would like to visit Zagreb for a couple of nights on the way down. Looking at via Michelin there are two routes suggested, distances given are within a couple of miles of each other.
One using the A3 going Brugge-Gent-(Holland)-Aachen-Frankfurt-Regensburg-Graz-and the Plabutsch tunnel into Slovenia and on to Zagreb, the other A8 via Luxembourg-Saarbrucken-Munchen and the Karawnken tunnel into Slovenia then via Ljubijana and on.
I know I can get cheap fuel in Luxembourg using the A8 route but the A3 is shown as more than an hour quicker for the same distance. As it’s virtually all motorway does anybody know why the travelling time should vary so much and which is the better roure?