In September, 2003 we traveled along the Croatian coast from Zadar to Dubrovnik. Actually, our first stop was in Bled, Slovenia, where we stayed in a camp next to Lake Bled, and took a walk to Vintgar Gorge (see gallery). The gorge itself is a 6km walk by the creek.

Then, heading for the seaside, we stopped in Plitvice National Park – whenever you are in Croatia, it's a must see! The NP has 14 lakes connected by hundreds of waterfalls (see gallery). You can't swim here – to do that, you have to go to Krka National Park, which has somewhat less lakes, but a much higher volume of water streaming through (see gallery). The lakes' water is unbelievably green, and there is trout by the thousand (no fishing permitted). You should hike from entrance 1 to the boat station, ride the boat, then walk up to station 3, and then you can take the bus back to the main entrance (1). The boat ride is included in you entrance ticket.

Krka (see gallery) is similar to Plitvice in having a large number of lakes and waterfalls, but it has a much higher volume of water, and you can get in the water here :-) The best time to go is late spring or early summer, when the volume is highest. Seeing two of these NPs right after each other might be too much, so we suggest visiting one of them on the way there, the other one on the way back.

We hit the shore at Zadar, then headed South, to Murter, Sibenik (see gallery), Trogir, Split, Makarska, some of the islands and finally Dubrovnik. For us, Makarska was the least interesting, but we immediately fell in love with Dubrovnik. All the other places above are beautiful, and well worth a visit. Zadar, Sibenik, Trogir and Split all have large and scenic old towns, all of them located next to the shore, with marinas on the main streets, some of them part of the World Heritage. Once you visited Diocletian's palace in Split's old town, don't miss the Solana ruins above the city (gallery). Biokovo is one of the highest peaks on the Dalmatian Coast, just above Makarska, and it offers a great view of the coast from a bird's view, you can't get from any other place. To reach the top you have to ascend a long, narrow (!) road, and there are quite a few (about a dozen) parking places on the top. As an alternative, you can ride a bike, provided you are a rather professional rider. The road starts just outside Makarska, ask for directions at the gas station.

From Murter, you can take an all day boat ride to Kornati Islands National Park. These islands are rarely populated, most of them look like piles of rocks, but it has a very special atmosphere. Most of the excursions contain lunch at one of the islands – they are well worth the price. See the gallery "Kornati".

We took the ferry to Hvar Island, and then followed the long, winding road: from one end to the other, it’s an 80km ride, and the road is hardly wide enough for a single car – sometimes you meet trucks coming up ahead... For a while it felt as if we were on the Moon: the landscape is rocky, with small, dry bushes all around, and many a time you pass marks of recent bush-fires: the rocks and trees are charred to black. After a few kilometers we had enough, and considered turning back, but managed to go on to Hvar town. Everything changed there: we visited the castle, and seen huge cactuses on the way there. The castle was cool and the sight was refreshing, and from there we picked a place in the harbor, where boats were rented. So we rented a boat of our own (after a heavy bargain) and puffed our way to a small, deserted island, where we spent the rest of the day. We anchored in Hvar harbor just before sunset, and started back to the only campsite we’ve seen: halfway back the road. We got there well after dark, but it was a nice surprise again: the campsite was built on a steep hillside, had a number of terraces, and we had one of our own, with our own porch and kitchen, running water and electricity. In the end, we remembered Hvar as one of the best places we’ve seen in Croatia.

For us Dubrovnik (see gallery) was the prize of the trip. We rented an apartment just south of town, went swimming there, and hit the road into town every day. We wandered along the narrow streets, sat down in the harbor and watched the boats, visited the Maritime Museum, took a walk on top of the city walls, and went swimming right below them.