Just returned from a fantastic weeks holiday in Croatia, 06/09/08 to 13/09/08 based in the resort of Makarska.
We booked a package holiday with UK tour operator holiday options which specialises in Croatia. Stayed in the hotel Park in Makarska on a half board basis.
Hope you will find the report useful when planning your trip.
Flights
Travelled from Bristol to Split with Brussels Airlines on a Avro 96 seater jet. Aircraft looked relatively new with leather seats and was relatively comfortable. Outward flight 2hrs 55min, return flight only 2hrs 30min. Both flights were on time, crew were friendly and efficient with a very smart appearance. Complementary food was served (ham salad sandwich and chocolate bar) along with tea, coffee and soft drinks which was more than adequate for a short flight. I was particularly impressed with the captains announcements which were always clear and passengers were always kept informed about the progress of the flight. It was the first time I have travelled with this airline and overall I was impressed, would definitely travel with Brussels airlines again.
Transfers
We arranged our transfers from Split airport to Makarska through the tour operator holiday options. After a little bit of waiting around for the outward transfer the return transfer back to the airport was smooth with no delays. Journey time from the airport to the resort approximately 1hr 30min. Please remember than when leaving Croatia you have to pack all batteries, e.g. cameras, shavers etc in your hand luggage. If you pack them in your hold luggage you will be asked to take them out in the airport. The airport authorities were very strict on this rule when we came home on Saturday, it does not apply for your outward journey, only coming home.
Accommodation - Hotel Park, Makarska.
The brochure describes this hotel as “an example of Croatia’s new breed of quality, 21st century hotels”. Brochure was not wrong, hotel was fantastic from start to finish. To be honest, I could not fault any aspect - we were extremely lucky as were upgraded to a suite on arrival. The suite had two floors with two bathrooms and two flat screen televisions and all of the rooms were very large. We had a sea view from all rooms with amazing sunsets which reflected in the bathroom mirrors! Hotel was extremely modern and immaculate, food was very good and staff were friendly and helpful. I have written a detailed review in the hotel section (definitely 5/5), should appear in the hotel section shortly. I have also included lots of photographs, there is not a great deal of information about this hotel or photos on the net. In the meantime, if you have any questions let me know.
Makarska
This was our base for the duration of the holiday. Thought Makarska was a very pretty resort, sitting in the middle of a horseshoe bay against a spectacular backdrop of the Biokovo mountains. I could admire the mountains all day, can understand why there are the tallest mountains in the Mediterranean. I recommend a visit to the towns museum which traces the towns history. Another point of interest is the Franciscan monastery which was built in 1400. This houses a wonderful sea shell collection which is open daily from 10am to 12pm. St Marks church is also worth a visit which features a baroque silver altar. After reading reports that Makarska was extremely busy in July and August I was glad to find that September was a lot quieter and in my opinion is an ideal time to visit. I would not want to visit in the height of the summer season. We had a good lunch time meal in the Adriatic restaurant on the harbour in Makarska, lovely fresh food with reasonable prices. During our stay in Makarska we visited the following places :-
Tucepi
We caught a small taxi minibus from Makarska harbour (close to hotel Porin) for 12kn, (under £1.50) very cheap and efficient, journey time 5 - 10 minutes. There is no set timetable, buses run every twenty minutes. The minibus does not take you into Tucepi itself, its drops you off on the main road and you will have to walk into Tucepi down a little hill (uphill coming back) but it is only a two minute walk. I thought Tucepi was a charming quiet resort with some lovely restaurants along the harbour and was extremely pretty, a lot smaller and quieter than Makarska. We originally booked in the hotel Laurentum in Tucepi two years ago but we had to change our travel plans because the airline cancelled the flights. We visited the hotel and it looked really nice in a very quiet position overlooking the harbour with a lovely waterfall and flowers outside.
Jelsa (Hvar) %26amp; Bol (Brac)
We went on a trip on the Pasat boat from Makarska to Jelsa %26amp; Bol. This was good value for money, 150kn (about £16) which included lunch on board the boat, either fresh fish or chicken. We left Makarska at 08:30am and arrived in Jelsa (Hvar) at 10:20am. The island of Hvar is the second largest in the Adriatic and in 1997 was voted as one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world by the traveller magazine and is known as the “Madeira of the Adriatic”. I have been to Madeira several times and am a big fan, it does remind me of the beautiful and lush vegetation. We only had an hour to explore the 16th century main square which is surrounded by baroque style building and take lots of photographs but it was really nice. Could have stayed there a lot longer. At 11:20am we left Jelsa bound for Bol and arrived at 12:30pm after a lovely fish dinner.
After arriving at Bol we turned right from the port to walk to the Church which took approximately 10 minutes. We walked over the beach and rocks but you if you have walking difficulties I would walk along the road as it is much easier. The church is definitely work a visit and combined with the clear waters and lots of greener the area is very pretty. After the church we walked back to the port (10 minutes) and towards the famous ’Zlatni Rat’ beach which took another 25 minutes. I have visited Bol previously, my last visit was over 20 years ago and is just as pretty. The only change I noticed was walking along the flat promenade under the trees towards the Zlatni Rat beach. There were quite a few stalls along the promenade, was not there 20 years ago. We spent approximately 3hrs 30min in Bol, caught the boat to Makarska at 4pm, arriving at 6pm. Excellent day trip and definitely recommended.
Mostar - Bosnia %26amp; Herzegovina
We visited Mostar in Bosnia %26amp; Herzegovina on a organised day trip with the UK tour operator holiday options. The actual tour was with Elite travel and I was very surprised that holiday options was charging the same price as Elite (380kn per person, approximately £43), usually booking through a tour operator costs more than booking with the provider direct. At 8.30am we left Makarska and travelled along the coast and mountains towards the Bosnia boarder. We had a coffee stop by some very pretty lakes close to the Bosnian boarder - sorry cannot remember the name of the lakes. I will write a separate review of Mostar in the Bosnian forum later in the week. In the meantime, if you have any questions let me know.
Weather (6/9/08 - 13/9/08).
We were extremely lucky with the weather, lots of sunshine and very warm with temperature around 32C. The only exception to this was on the day we returned home, we had a thunderstorm during the early hours of Saturday morning and there was a lot more cloud and cooler with temperature around 24C.
All good things come to an end and it is back to work tomorrow. Croatia is a beautiful country and all of the locals were always friendly and helpful. Hope to return next year, plan to stay in a resort close to Dubrovnik. If you have any questions, let me know.
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hi welshtraveller
excellent review there and full of info, will be staying in the same resort next summer (well late may/early june) for two weeks and we%26#39;re already reading up and doing our homework!
when you%26#39;ve done you%26#39;re mostar review would you be able to reply back to this thread with the link as mostar is one place we%26#39;d love to visit whilst we%26#39;re in makarska next year, just anything you can remember, times, prices, where you went, what you did etc
did you visit split during your stay? and also did you go up the mountains which back onto the resort?
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Hi Jason %26amp; Lynz,
Mostar - After the stunning scenery of Croatia I was a bit disappointed when we crossed the Bosnian boarder, there was a fair amount of litter on the side of the road. As we travelled closer to Mostar you could see some burnt out buildings and a relatively sparse landscape. On arrival at Mostar we were greeted by three beggars, two of them were on their own while the other one had a baby. This was made worse by the fact that we had a 1hr 30min guided tour included in the trip and we had to wait for the guide to arrive. As the whole coach of people were stationery waiting for the guide the beggars walked around us, at this point I wanted to go back to Croatia.
When the guide finally arrived (he was waiting for us in a different location) we had a tour of the old town which included a Turkish House and a mosque. After the tour we had some free time (about 2hrs) to stroll around and browse among the many craft shops along the cobbled streets. The centre of Mostar and the view from the bridges (the main attraction) is extremely pretty. We had lunch in a local restaurant overlooking the river with excellent views. We were advised by the courier that the majority of restaurants accepts Croatian kunar, Bosnian marks or the Euro. However, when we paid for the meal in Croatian kunar we had a shock as it was quite expensive, goodness knows what exchange rate they used. Personally, I would take some euros or Bosnian marks with you. Another tip is to take some good walking shoes, there are lots of cobbles and they are quite slippery, especially when walking over cobble bridges with wooden slants at a slight angle! Oh and most importantly, don’t forget your passport.
We did not have enough time to visit Split or travel to the mountains. It is extremely easy to catch a bus from Makarska to Split or there are tours which combine Split %26amp; Trogir (280kn per person) with Elite and Atlas excursions. Atlas and Elite also have tours to the Biokovo Mountains for 340kn per person, lunch included.
Hope this helps. If you have any further questions, let me know. Currently planning my next trip to Croatia in 2009, looking forward to my next visit.
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Hi there,
Thanks for posting back so quickly, it looks like you%26#39;re quite a regular on the forum looking at your recent posts
It%26#39;s a pity you had to wait for the guide to turn up but it sounds like the place itself sounds very nice and pretty - well worth the trip im thinking.
The trip that you went on, did you have a choice whether you wanted to do the tour etc or did you have to go around with the group?
Only reason I ask is that we had a day trip (from Rovinj) back in June and on the boat over there they offered us extra tours/things to do/see for extra money. I don%26#39;t regret doing the extras but part of me would of preferred to have had the day by ourselves doing our own thing, and Mostar sounds much smaller than Venice.
Thanks for the advice with the Euro%26#39;s, thats worth remembering. Talking of money, how much did the trip cost you and what were the timing%26#39;s like (pick up and drop off from Croatia.
We%26#39;re going for two weeks next year so we%26#39;re aiming to see as much as possible whilst we%26#39;re over there. I like the sound of the tours up the Biokovo Mountains, I%26#39;ve read somewhere on here that a company does sunrise tours where they take you up the mountains, you view the sunrise and then they give you a tradtional Croatian breakfast, that also appeals to me.
Where abouts are you heading to in Croatia next year and how many times have you been so far? We%26#39;ve only had a week in Rovinj but it was more than enough to make us instantly want to go back - infact we booked next years holiday within two weeks of being back in the UK!
Jason
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Hi Jason,
We did not have a choice about the guided tour, the guide was quite insistent that we stayed together as a group. Like you, don’t regret doing the tour but I did find the Turkish house and the mosque a little boring, seen these before on different holidays.
We left Makarska at 8.30am and arrived in Mostar at 11.30am. On the return journey, we left Mostar at 4pm, arrived back 6.30pm. The Mostar trip cost 380kn per person.
Elite travel have a half day tour of Biokovo, which includes transportation, guide and food : -
“We invite you to enjoy a walk in the Biokovo mountain. We start by bus and after a short drive we will continue by foot. The climb takes us higher and higher as we enjoy the spectacular view of the Makarska Riviera and the islands - so don’t forget your camera! Later on, we will walk down and take a short stop for some delicious local food - cheese, smoked ham and wine”
Not sure how much this trip costs, but at a guess around 340kn.
We have visited Croatia before, stayed in Brac and Budva in Montenegro. We are currently looking at hotels on the outskirts of Dubrovnik or an island such as Lopud for one of next years holidays. We have had a a few holidays and city breaks this year to Lisbon, Mainland Spain %26amp; Lake Garda - Croatia is definitely one of our favourites and like you want to go back. In fact, I did not want to leave!
Where are you staying Makarska? We stayed in the Hotel Park and it was absolutely fantastic, have a look at my review in the hotel section for further information. I have also included some photographs which may be of some assistance.
If you have any further questions, let me know. Happy planning!
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Hi, thanks for your informative report. we are travelling to croatia June 2009 staying 4 days in Dubrovnik and 5 days iN Podgora which in on Makarska riviera, just wondering as you were in the area did you go to this town. IT was recommended to us but dont know alot about it...cheers
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Hi, We did not have enough time to visit Podgora so I am unable to help. I think June and September is probably the best time to visit as July and August is usually busy. We are currently planning our Summer 2009 holiday in Croatia, may see you in Dubrovnik in June! Have a good holiday.
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hi welshtraveller, sorry for not getting back to you sooner after your detailed reply there
thats great, thanks for all the comments and info, i should imagine we%26#39;ll have a few more questions nearer the time, no doubt once xmas has been and gone we%26#39;ll be able to look into exactly what we%26#39;re doing when we go and how much cash to take etc
talking of cash, were there plenty of ATM%26#39;s in makarska? in rovinj there were loads and i said next time we went we%26#39;d take less cash and use the card, just want to make sure there%26#39;s enough ATM%26#39;s for us to do that
also, can you recommend any eating places in the resort? we%26#39;re going half board but will look to eat out 3-4 times to break the fortnight up a bit and sample some of the local food
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Hi Jason - There is a minimum of two banks in Makarska, there is definitely one ATM machine close to the hotel Biokovo in the centre, not sure if there is anymore. As we had half board we did not eat out in the evening but we did have a good lunchtime snack in the Adriatic restaurant close to the harbour. If you need further information let me know.
Ps - When you stayed in Rovinj, did you visit Opatija? Thinking of going there next year.
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Hi there,
Opatija is one place we didn%26#39;t go to, from memory it%26#39;s one place I quickly looked at as a potential day trip but it never happened, I don%26#39;t think our operator did trips there either.
It looks an ideal location if you want to do youir day trips, you%26#39;re in easy reach of Plitvice where I would of loved to have gone this year, you%26#39;ve also got Risnjak national park, your islands, Istrian villages are closeby and of course you%26#39;ve got what looks like an amazing view down the coast
Thanks re the ATM%26#39;s and banks, doesn%26#39;t sound as many as there were in Rovinj but I%26#39;m sure there%26#39;ll be plenty!
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Thanks Jason. If you have further questions, let me know. Have a good trip.
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