by Tamfra

Created on: June 19, 2008

Croatia is a beautiful and varied holiday location and I would whole heartedley recommend it for all budgets. My boyfriend and I travelled to Croatia in June 2007 and although we were on a tight budget we managed to have a wonderful, two week holiday for around 350 ($700) for both of us. We bought tickets from budget airline Wizz Air for around 50 a piece and flew out to Split on the Dalmatian coast.

Split - The historic city of Split made a wonderful start to our holiday with it's bustling atmosphere and impressive architecture. The Diocletian's palace is an absolute must for visitors, built by the Roman Emperor Diocletian and now a UNESCO world heritage site. The most interesting thing about the palace is the way it is integrated into modern, downtown Split with apartments, shops and restaurants built into it's walls. This creates less of a 'museum' atmosphere and makes Split feel more relevant. It is very enjoyable to sit down for pizza and wine in a little piazza or eat an icecream whilst wandering around the palace. I would also recommend making the trek up Marjan Hill for breathtaking views over Split as well as quaint churches and even a zoo on the way up. When we got to the top we found ourselves completely alone and able to enjoy a tranquil atmosphere with lovely smelling flowers and abundant butterflies. The one thing I regret about our stay in Split is that we were located at a camp site a few kilometres outside of the centre and although the location was lovely I would recommend staying centrally to take advantage of the evening entertainment and shelter from the midday sun.

Plitvice lakes - We took the bus inland to Plitvice Lakes which took around 5 hours but beware as the stop is not well signposted and we might well have missed it had it not been for some helpful Canadian girls on the bus with us. At Plitvice we stayed at a campsite which had good facilities and it's own picture perfect lake where we could swim and sunbath on it's wooden bridge. We had the lake virtually to ourselves and it was a real highlight, swimming in the natural environment gave us a real feeling of freedom. The national park itself is another essential experience although it can be a little crowded. The sparkling blue/green water and majestic waterfalls add up to a magical experience. Although it was a definite detour for us I would say it was well worth the time and effort.

Hvar - After catching the bus back to Split we caught the ferry out to the island of Hvar. With

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