After spending the first half of our trip in Split, we were off to Dubrovnik, the center of Croatia’s unique history. Stone walk ways, worn smooth by centuries of inhabitants, surrounded by majestic walls, Dubrovnik is a sight unlike any other.
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Archives for 2015
Travel Notes: Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
The Plitvice Lakes are located a 4 hour drive north of Split. We spent an entire day there, and the photo above does a great job of explaining why it was worth the drive and the duration of the day.
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Travel Notes: Hvar and the Pakleni Islands
After a night in Split, we took off the next morning to start our island-hopping along the Dalmatian Coast. Our tour, booked through Split Excursions, departed from the dock by the main promenade. The speedboat ride from Split takes about an hour to Hvar. In late May, the water was still quite chilly. I highly recommend bringing a jacket along with a long sleeve shirt to wear, as the wind can get quite frisky. Once we arrived in Hvar, we met with a local guide who showed us around the old town, and then had a few hours on our own. …
Split, Croatia: Travel Notes
For the first stop in our honeymoon journey, W and I chose the very central city of Split Croatia as our connection to the rest of the Dalmatian coast. A few notes from our stay in Split:
- Split, as I mentioned, is a port city that has boats and ferries out to many of the visitable Croatian islands (Croatia’s nickname is sometimes “the Land of a Thousand Islands” because, true to form, there are 1,426 islands that make up Croatia, though only 46-48 are permanently inhabited.
Getting There:
- Even though Split is a travel hub, there aren’t many ways to get there from the air; we connected through Frankfurt on Croatian Airlines for both arrival and departure.
Split’s airport is teeny; the gate, baggage claim, and customs are all in the same large hall. Outside of customs, there are a few newspaper/convenience stores, a few currency exchange booths, and some tourism kiosks, but that’s about it.
Getting to Split from the airport (the airport is about 45 minutes north west of the actual city) is actually pretty simple; there were a few taxis and private transport options, but we chose the shuttle bus they have to Split proper, located right outside the airport to the right. It’s coach style, and decently priced (about 60 kuna for 2 people, so less that $10 USD total – you pay on the bus, either in euros or kuna). With a relatively large stable of coaches (there were 4 in line to take folks when we arrived), they do a pretty good job with frequency. The bus drops you off at the Split bus depot, which is basically where all tourists enter the city.
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12 Days in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta: The Budget & Itinerary
We’ve finally sorted through all our wedding stuff (if you’ve gotten married before, you know what I’m talking about) and I found a few spare moments last week to sort through our honeymoon photos. D and I are headed off to London and Paris later this week (in keeping of our wedding vows to act as one another’s travel buddies), but we’ve got a lineup of photos and details of all the places we visited on our honeymoon. In typical Darwin style, we’ll kick this off by sharing our full itinerary and budget for the 12 days we spent in Croatia, Montenegro, and Malta. Really I should just cross off Montenegro because we only went there for a day trip, but it’s worth a mention anyhow. A few notes in hindsight:
- Avoid transferring through Frankfurt if at all possible. We found the airport to be enormous and inefficient, with inconsistent security policies.
- In the name of transparency, we’ve shared the majority of our expenses (dining not included). We were on our honeymoon, so we felt it was worth it to splurge a bit on experiences (a la day trips vis-a-vis island hopping in the Dalmatian Coast). We kept costs reasonable on airfare and hotels by utilizing points wherever possible.
- Long story short: Prolong your stay in Croatia because it’s insanely beautiful. You’re probably okay skipping Montenegro and Malta if you’re short on time.
Click for the full itinerary, and check back for reviews on our lodging, dining, and travel experiences!
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Our wedding (and some of the honeymoon), through the lens of Instagram!
It’s been three weeks, but we still have so many memories from our special night. Although our official photos aren’t ready yet, check out some Instagram photos from our guests using the hashtag #darwinwed.
Note – some of the photos posted aren’t public, so unless you are friends with the poster, you might not be able to enlarge them! Enjoy! Hover/use the white bar on the bottom to page forward/back.