Greece, Croatia or Portugal

Anonymous wrote:We found Slovenia to be a less exciting Switzerland. It was snooze-worthy after seeing the spectacular sights in Bosnia and Croatia. We really loved Croatia. It was spectacular. If you have extra time after Croatia, I'd add on Bosnia, Serbia or Budapest. All three are more interesting than Slovenia. Sarajevo, in particular, is amazing.

Slovenia is for natural beauty- not city visits so much.

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02/25/2018 15:44

Subject: Greece, Croatia or Portugal - Summer 2018?

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Anonymous

We went to Portugal last summer and loved it - the kids (11 and 8) want to go back.

We went with my parents, so had to please both older and younger. Lisbon and nearby sights, then Algarve, then Fatima, the Coimbra, then Porto, then back to Lisbon. We did not hit some of the must sees (Sintra, for one) but loved every minute. Lonely Planet was a good guide for Portugal and covered a lot of kid friendly stuff.

One afternoon my parents were tired and we went to Zoo in Lisbon and the kids had a really good time. Wish we had gone to the aquarium, but we were more in the Zoo neighborhood and had only a short time and it was great.

It was crowded and hot, but most people speak at least a little english and there are good things for tourists - uber worked in the cities (but not out of the city at all) and some nights we did Air BnB and that was fine. Twice we hired tuk-tuks (they're like fancy, bigger golf carts with a driver who acts as tour guide) to take us around. Ton of fun.

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02/25/2018 18:03

Subject: Greece, Croatia or Portugal - Summer 2018?

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Anonymous

Love LOVE Croatia but summer is brutal. Avoid Dubrovnik while the cruise ships are in...picture Metro Center during rush hour when there's a 30-minute delay to get a picture of how packed the streets are. Seriously uncomfortable and difficult to move.

If you insist on Dubrovnik in the summer, stay well out of town and take the bus in for a day trip. Check out Cavtat as an option. And rent a car to do day trips to Montenegro and Bosnia.

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02/26/2018 10:49

Subject: Re:Greece, Croatia or Portugal - Summer 2018?

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Anonymous

I'm the PP from 11/27/17 (haven't checked this in a long time). We went for two weeks. The travel between places was not bad at all; totally doable. We went by car between some places (hired a driver) and took the ferry along the coast.

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02/26/2018 10:59

Subject: Re:Greece, Croatia or Portugal - Summer 2018?

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Anonymous

I'm from Croatia and obviously love it. If you want to do touristy things, go to Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar, etc. If you want the beach time go to small towns.

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02/26/2018 20:17

Subject: Greece, Croatia or Portugal - Summer 2018?

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loved Croatia- not sure about PP raving about food. Go for the sights.

Lol. I was thinking be same.

NP but we absolutely loved the good in Croatia. It was much better than the food we had in Italy. We absolutely loved Croatia.

You have me reminiscing about Croatian cherries. Every morning we’d go to a coffee shop for coffee and a pastry and then a fruit/vegetable market. It was early June and cherry season. Heaven. The market in Split was especially good (and cheap). Had some really good fish during our time there too, although a handful of subpar meals as well. You do have to be discerning in Dubrovnik.

June was fine but I hear it gets very hot so plan accordingly. I would think the islands would be slightly cooler. Definitely be mindful of the cruise ship schedule in Dubrovnik. I can’t recall the website but there was somewhere you could look up the schedule of when boats were coming in and their capacity. The difference between a “light” and “heavy” day was very noticeable, and that was several years ago so I can only imagine it has gotten worse.

Plitvice Lakes is a must.