Croatia was one of those countries I knew I wanted to visit; it was always on the list, but I could never get the timing; funding to work outright. At the start of the year, one of the few people I can make travel plans with reached out and asked if I wanted to visit Croatia - she was heading to Italy that summer for an event and wanted to add a few extra days, so she could visit Croatia. As soon as she confirmed dates, I put in my time off request and started planning.

GETTING THERE. There are direct flights to Dubrovnik from major airports in London. If you are based stateside, there are some direct flights, but you will most likely have to connect in London or another major city. A note of caution, Dubrovnik is busy in summer due to yacht week and cruise ships; you may find better travel deals going in May/June or later in the year.

GETTING AROUND. If you are staying in the old town, there is a shuttle bus from the airport to the main gate of the Oldtown for less than 10 Euro (50 Kuna); Air BnB also offer private transfer for a fee - contact your host to confirm. I got duped by my taxi driver, who claimed there was a premium because there was traffic; I ended up paying twice more than my Airbnb host was going to charge me. Be aware of scam taxi drivers. Once in the city, buses run frequently for getting around; we also relied on taxis and shared rides to get around.

ENTRY VISA. If you require a visa to visit Croatia - you have two options; use your Schengen visa or apply for a visa through the Croatian consulate. I already had a Schengen visa, so I leveraged that; my travel companion got a Croatian visa - the process was stressfree from my understanding. If you are planning to visit other parts of Europe, it might be best to get a Schengen visa. Pro tip - when applying for a Schengen visa, make sure to request multiple entries - not two entries. Certain Schengen countries have the option for “two entries” on the application, so make sure you select “multiple entries” on your application form. Also, make sure to apply in the country you will be spending the most time - I cannot stress that point enough.

HOW MANY DAYS DO YOU NEED? If you intend to spend all your time in Dubrovnik, then four to five days will suffice. If you want to explore other parts of Croatia, consider planning up to two weeks. I arrived on Monday afternoon; my friend came on Tuesday evening; We had planned to split our time between Dubrovnik and Split. We immediately abandoned that plan after considering everything we wanted out of our time in Dubrovnik and the complex travel logistics between Dubrovnik and Split. It takes the better part of the day to navigate from Dubrovnik to Split if you want to avoid flying (which cost a small fortune during that time of year).

WHERE TO STAY. I stayed in three different Airbnb during my time in Croatia. IN Dubrovnik, Airbnb is the better option; hotels are few and in summer tend to be at capacity or at costly rates. If you prefer hotels - I recommend Hotel More; Hotel Excelsior; Hotel Kompas Dubrovnik. If you want somewhere more secluded, Lopud has some great hotels - Lafodia Hotel and resort rates very high. There is no shortage of Airbnb - due to the changes in our plans; we ended up staying in four different Airbnb during our time in Dubrovnik; I am sharing three of them in this post. Cosmopolitan house Dubrovnik located in Lapad was my favorite of the four; it is away from the old town but easy access to get the bus into old town; easy access to Lapad bay beach and incredible hosts. The rates on their website may be better than a booking site. In Oldtown we stayed in Villa Ragusa, the host was very friendly; if you are staying in Oldtown, you should consider staying here. Our last day was spent at Alan&Katarina also in Lapad; the accommodation was sufficient; there was a bakery downstairs, and there was an incredible Bosnian restaurant down the street.

CURRENCY AND MONEY MATTERS. The local currency is the Kuna, which you can withdraw from ATM or change at the airport. Several spots only accepted cash, and two of the Airbnb location required we made payment in cash (which was very inconvenient as we were not aware of this before arriving). I recommend having some cash on hand; contact your host before arriving in Dubrovnik to confirm the acceptable payment mode.

DAY 1 (Monday). I arrived at Cosmopolitan house mid-afternoon on Monday; I was welcome by the host, and after a tour of the facility, I was served the most fantastic cocktail. I spent the first few hours resting and taking in the view from my balcony. Before arriving the Dubrovnik, I had been in Milan and surrounding areas, and we had a very packed itinerary; I needed the rest before starting on the Dubrovnik itinerary. Early evening I made my way down to the beach and enjoyed a lovely evening stroll along the footpath while enjoying gelato; I ended my time out with dinner at the Rockstone Atlantic kitchen - great seafood spot. I spent the rest of the evening on the balcony of my room enjoying the sunset. Just look at that...

DAY 2 (Tuesday). My travel companion was arriving late Tuesday, and we planned to explore the city together. I decided to take a day trip instead - the two most popular options are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. It was a difficult decision, but I ended up visiting Montenegro on this day trip. You can read all about my journey here. I transferred from my Airbnb in Lapad to one in the Old town. We ended the day with dinner at Lanii in Old Town

Day 3 (Wednesday). We slept in and did not start our day till about 10:30 with a simple breakfast at Barba. We headed down to Stradun, which is the main street in Dubrovnik; we walked around a bit, taking it all in as we searched for the ticket office to get tickets to visit the walls of the old city. If you can, get your entry ticket the day before; we waited in line about 25 minutes to get our tickets, and thankfully there was no cruise ship docking that day; it might have been longer. If you are visiting in summer, pack breathable clothes; wear comfortable shoes; wear sunscreen; don't forget your sunglasses and have water with you. We did about 75% of the wall before giving up; it took us about two hours; we stopped for pictures and videos and also had a small break to hydrate. I recommend planning three to four hours for the wall. After the wall, we made our way to Lady Pi Pi for a seafood feast (check restaurant times as they close between the lunch and dinner service), and we were one of the last ones to be seated. Make sure to follow along on my stories as we had a unique dining experience. Note - if the event of rain, the restaurant may be closed, so call ahead before making the trek here. After lunch, we went back to our Airbnb for an afternoon nap and planning out the rest of our itinerary. We spent the evening on Banje beach which was peaceful. We finished the day with an aimless, pleasant stroll in Oldtown, and after our lunch feast - there was no room for dinner (except for a gelato). We ended the night at a lovely wine bar in the old town - Malvasija Wine Bar.

Day 4 (Thursday). After asking locales, we settled on taking a tour to the Elafiti Islands; this is a collection of six archipelago islands, but the tours only cover the main three - Kolocep; Lopud and Sipan. Three of the Islands are said to be car-free. I spent a lot of my day on work calls and did not have time to enjoy our stops. We returned to Oldtown to pick up our luggage to head to our fourth and final Airbnb of this trip. The hosts recommended the Taj Mahal - a Bosnia restaurant within a short walk from the property - the food was IN-credible.

Day 5 (Friday). We spent the morning exploring the beach area of Lopud and around the old town before heading to Lokrum. A cruise ship was docked on this day, so it was a perfect day to be away from the city. Lokrum is an island in the Adriatic Sea, a short distance from the town of Dubrovnik, Croatia. If you are a fan of GOT, the throne/chair is supposedly located here. My advice if you are visiting in summer, take the morning shuttle as it gets sweltering. Shuttles leave from old town every hour. See this post for more pictures of our time exploring Lokrum.

We returned in the early evening to explore other parts of the old own we missed on previous visits; we found a great gelato spot - Dolce Vita; stumbled on what we later found out was the Jesuit Staircase in GOT (we are not GOT fans). We also visited the Ethnographic Museum Rupe. We would have loved to visit Rector’s Palace, but we were running late for our dinner reservations. We had an early dinner at Restaurant Kopun (go early or make reservations). There is a church across from the restaurant I recommend visiting. After dinner, we stopped by the Ploce gate; it was very crowded, so we did not spend a lot of time here. We took the bus back to our Airbnb, where we spent a quiet evening getting ready to head back home. We ended the day at the Cave bar more at Hotel More - I enjoyed our time here, and we made a friend. I could not ask for a better way to end our time in Croatia.