Was in Pula Saturday (and missed West Brom), what do you want to know ?
Been to Split three times, one of my favourite cities to visit!
How long are you going for? Depending on the length of your trip, I would recommend the following:
- Wandering around the old city (Diocletian's Palace) and just getting lost, also listening to 'Klapa'- Croatian barber shop style groups you'll find dotted around, the acoustics in the ruins are absolutely incredible (see this for a little example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnb7G-revKc)
- Get one of the local free walking tours, where you pay what you want at the end. In my experience these are far better researched and much more engaging than an expensive pre paid tour, as the guide needs to keep you interested to earn as much as possible! They're also normally delivered by locals who can recommend the best restaurants/cafes!
- Walk up Marjan Hill for the best panoramic view of the city, a half an hour or so walk but its breathtaking and free.
- Wander around to the quieter beach over the Marjan Hill side of the bay front- the busier sandy beach is ok, but very crowded in good weather.
- Visit a fish restaurant and get a seafood platter, ask tour guide/hotel/airbnb owner for recommendations
If you have a week or so I would also highly recommend:
- Getting a boat across for the day to Brac about 60 - 90 minute journey), particularly Bol beach which is iconic- you'll probably recognise it from postcards! Can hire Quad bikes if you want to get about that way, the Olive Oil they make on the island is incredible and well worth picking up.
- Similarly, going over to Hvar for the day is well worth it. It's a party Island by night but you can get great tours of the Island which is known for its Lavender. You can get an airbnb of good standard very cheap (about 20/30 EUR for the night) so you could also stay the night in Hvar Town if you want, although Split is fantastic I think 3/4 days of actually being just in the city is probably enough.
- Hiring a boat from the port in Hvar. There are about 20/25 very small Islands about a 20 minute small boat ride away, and you can rent a boat for the entire day (just have to bring it back before the sun goes down) for about 40/50 EUR. You can then just anchor anywhere around these islands and explore them at your leisure- great beaches and rocky areas, there's also a restaurant on one of the islands accessible only by boat serving fish caught literally minutes beforehand.
- Get some Cevapcici- spiced meatballs eaten with flatbread and onions.
- If you are hiring a car and fancy a drive then Dubrovnik is well worth it, as is a trip to Mostar in Bosnia. Easy to cross the border and you absolutely have to do the 'Death of Yugoslavia' tour which takes you through Bosnia's history from 1945, through the reign of Tito and the relationship with the USSR right up to the Bosnian war, including trips to an old underground cave where military weapons were secretly stored to key sites of the Bosnian-Croat and Bosnian-Serb battles. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowU...Travel-Mostar_Herzegovina_Neretva_Canton.html
- If you're going to be in Bosnia, the Kravica waterfalls are also simply stunning and very good value for a whole day out!
I'll have a think about a few more places I'd recommend but please PM me if you want any more specific info on the above
The Amphitheatre and Roman bits were pretty good and there's some reasonable beaches (Croatian beaches !) 10 mins drive or bus away from the centre. I am afraid I drove in and out so don't know much about trains. It's not huge so a day or two would probably cover everything.
I've flown in and out of Pula airport a few times but tend to hire a car and drive somewhere (last couple of weeks spent in Umag, Rabac and Krk). Car Hire is cheap and there are lots of unspoilt areas once you get out of town. Prices are really good with a meal for two with wine being 250-350 Khuna (30-40 quid). The local Istrian wines are very good. Prices are up about 20% on this time last year - Cheers Nige and Boris
