Definitely walk the city walls, the view is incredible. Same with the cable car. Banje Beach is a great place to hang out and swim that's right next to the old city. Beaches are rocky so keep that in mind with your shoes. The whole city is expensive relative to the rest of Croatia, and drinks at popular spots are expensive relative to anywhere. If you're looking for a cool dinner that's not very expensive because it's about 10 minutes by uber up the mountain from the old city, check out konoba dubrava. If you want food cooked the traditional way under the iron bell you need to order at least 3 hours before you want to eat. You don't see much drinking on the streets in Croatia but in old Town there will be stands selling drinks to go. I enjoyed the Irish pub called the gaffe. From what I saw of clubs Revelin is definitely the place to be If you're a game of thrones fan you can Google all the sites yourself that are in the old city and just find them that way. In general when looking at restaurants anything that says 'konoba' means traditional Croatian style. Hop the boat over to lokrum if you have time but I don't know how much time you actually have in the city itself. Y'all trying to party and sightsee or more sightsee?
Thanks for the writeup. Looking to do both, but at the same time enjoy the beaches and just relax. Any insight into renting your own boat? A few years ago in Hvar, my friends and I were able to skipper our own dingy boat from island to island but I haven't been able to find anything similar to this without it being €250+.
There aren't dingys available around the old city. Tons of ads everywhere for boat rental without a price so I assume you can negotiate that but it's still going to be expensive, that whole place is. Cable car and walls don't take very long, cable car is much quicker than the walk around the walls is, as it's one view point instead of hundreds. I'd do the walls and/or the cable car when you wake up then hit the beach. The bar/restaurant/club right there gets a good younger crowd as does the beach. Can get jet skis, boats, kayaks, and all that right there
I also enjoyed Cafe Buza in Dubrovnik, it's a little bar on the outside of the wall of the old city. It's also solid at night
I thought that was alright. View is cool for a beer or two, but I also didn't go at night and it wasn't as warm as the better seasons for dubrovnik are
Arkadin Keef ohhaithur and others who have been to the area recently, this is the rough draft itinerary we've put together for July. Interested in your thoughts. Our vacations tend to be pretty active (much more hiking, kayaking, rafting, canyoning, etc) and not much laying around. We're planning to rent a car and drive from spot to spot, and based on geography and flights Dubrovnik seems like the logical start/end point. Sucks that we're going to miss Slovenia but we're already getting to several different places and most of the drives are around 4 hours already. July 10 Depart USA July 11 Arrive Dubrovnik July 12 Dubrovnik July 13 Dubrovnik July 14 Drive to Durmitor Nat'l Park, Montenegro (stop at Ostrog Monastery and other places along the way) July 15 Hiking in Durmitor July 16 Tara River Canyon white water rafting July 17 Mostar, Bosnia July 18 Plitovice Lakes July 19 Plitovice Lakes July 20 Split July 21 Canyoning in Zadvarje, Croatia July 22 Depart Dubrovnik July 23 Fly back to USA
You don't really need two days at plitvice unless you just want to stay there. Or get in at night and stay the night, so the lakes the next day and leave. I'd recommend krka National Park as well, and I think you would really like zadar. The city history is cool, it's gorgeous, pretty cheap, and the sea organ and ode to the sun are worth the trip alone.
I like it but agree with Ark. One day at Plitvice. You're also wasting a day driving imo. Four hours to get from Mostar to Plitvice then probably down to Split to sleep. Long day. Just go to Split, enjoy the day, do a day trip to Plitvice the next day, day trip to Zadvarje.
In Athens and Santorini, almost everyone in hotels / restaurants / shops did. Only exception we found was this crazy metalworker down a random alley in Athens. We did most of our communicating via grease pencil on his shop table and ended up buying some copper cups from him.
Europe folks: I thought I saw somewhere before that a lot of places over there, especially Iceland, you have to have a PIN to go with your credit card now. Is that true? I was just assuming my Sapphire Reserve would be fine over there
No, only if it's enabled on your card. You'll be fine just signing. In other news...fuck the Euro it's up to $1.10 today and I'm leaving for France in a week.
Not in my experience. Its all Chip, Contactless, and Apple Pay for the most part. Theyre also anal about having the back of your card signed.
Arkadin tjosu Your standard chip card will work fine in most places, BUT Certain kiosks/terminals require a pin. I was with 3 people in Europe recently and none of our CCs (CSR, etc) were working in transit machines to buy tickets. Happened in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Thankfully I had my Schwab debit card with me. Bought tix fine with that debit card in a pinch, but called the number on my CSR to add a pin for those use cases. After adding the pin, it worked at transit stations normally. As far as Iceland goes, I never encountered kiosks set up to require a pin YMMV.
Room 15 did you follow through with your ayahuasca ceremony? Did you go to Iquitos? Other than domestic, my next international trip is going to be NYE. Was looking at Spain, but did NYE in Europe this past year and would like to avoid the cold. Thinking about flying into: -Quito -Bogota/Medellin (whichever is cheapest) -possibly La Paz then either exploring Columbia, or going to get weird in Iquitos for a few days. Maybe Chile?
Wife has relatives in Norway that her family has stayed in touch with and her best friend is living in Glasgow. Plan on getting to all corners of the globe eventually.
I did not experience the pin thing in England. Same with France or Benelux. Spent 3 weeks around those countries in April. It will be rare if u run across it.
West Coast to Tokyo is pretty damn cheap through the Chase Portal that time of year... PJP3 and Big Apple Duck and other people that have been to Japan---what time of year did you go? Would 7-8 days be enough, or just a tease?
I went late september. Weather was good but a bit rainy. Not too hot. My girlfriend just went in March for Cherry blossoms and it was a bit on the cooler side but I know lodging was more expensive bc of the cherry blossoms. 7-8 days would be enough to do Kyoto and Tokyo but I wouldn't stretch to any more places than that.
Didn't personally experience any in UK. Have not been to Ireland or Norway. I would recommend setting up one ahead of time. Just not worth the risk for your card to be declined and have to scramble to find an alternative method of payment.
I just went (4/21-5/5) and it was awesome. It rained twice but was otherwise really pleasant weather. We saw the tail end of the cherry blossoms in Tokyo and Kyoto, and they were in full bloom up in the mountains, but it was the greenery that really stood out to me. As for timing, you could certainly do Tokyo and Kyoto in 7-8 days. You could also just do Tokyo and take day trips to Mt. Fuji and Kamakura. Tokyo is like 3 New Yorks so there's a ton to see. We had three nights on the front end and two on the back end in Tokyo and still feel like there's a lot more to see. My favorite part of Japan was just exploring and soaking it up. The culture there is amazing - it's as different from the US as Thailand is, but it's totally first world.
Yea I did. Didn't do it in Iquitos, flew into Pucallpa and then went to a lodge from there. If you're really looking into it let me know, id have plenty of advice to give.
I wanted to do it when I was in Peru, but had just got done hiking and wasn't in the right mindset. Have had many friends do it and talk about how life-changing it can be, if done in the right environment and with the right prep. Really want to go get lost in the Amazon for a few days over a few ceremonies.
I would say the main thing is to understand it's not a drug and not a fun trip to go do with buddies. I only did one ceremony, next time will be a week there if I can get it.
I would def do that shit though. Wish you didn't have to go to sketchy ass South America to participate
Do you guys have any suggestions for international bachelor parties? Most of the group will be in their early 30s and more into day activities than night activities. We did Oktoberfest a few years ago and it was the perfect speed. Now we're thinking of doing Fruhlingfest, which is the May version of Oktoberfest that's supposed to be way cooler due to the far fewer #s of tourists. If I'm going to Europe, I'll want to go for a week and a week is a long time to spend in Munich drinking beer, so we were thinking of maybe going to Rome/Amsterdam/Barcelona to party for a few days and then go to Munich from there. What other places should I be considering? Colombia?
When I was in Reykjavik there was a bachelor party there and they seemed to be having fun. They kinda sucked though.
My Chase worked fine last year except at the self serve gas stations. Lots of gas stations close early. You'll need a card with a PIN or you'll need to get a gas card.
osprey 46 on sale for 96 bucks. https://slickdeals.net/f/10141064-osprey-porter-46-travel-backpack-on-clearance-at-rei-for-96-xx
Since we are now on this subject (and I know it's been brought up before), but which backpacks do you guys prefer