Career Break Travel: Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Split & Dubrovnik

Croatia is definitely not a cheap country to visit, especially tourist hotspots Dubrovnik and Plitvice Lakes! We first got sticker shock when we bought a drink while waiting for our Airbnb to be ready in Dubrovnik. The small bottle of aloe vera soft drink cost almost S$9!

But apart from the high cost of living, Croatia is such a beautiful country.

Croatia was our next stop after Hungary, and the sixth country out of 10 that we visited on our 3-month long career break trip.

Days spent in Croatia

A total of 8 days, with just 1 night in Zagreb, 1 night at Plitvice Lakes, 3 nights in Split and 2 nights in Dubrovnik

Highlights

• The beauty of Plitvice Lakes – The photos you find on the Internet do the real thing justice for once! The waters are really that turquoise on a sunny day! We spent 2 days exploring the huge area, and WJ managed to save a woman and her kid from a water snake.

They went onto a restricted area and WJ spotted a water snake coming closer to the little girl who was playing near the edge of the water. He shouted at them to get back and long story short, he saved the day!
Pretending to be in the Game of Thrones – To be honest, one of the main reasons we decided to visit Croatia was because of GOT. And we went to so many spots that were used in the filming of the series, even the out-of-the-way ones.

• Stroking our GOT itch – The locations we ticked off? Braavos, Meereen, the Red Keep and King’s Landing (Shame! Shame! Shame!)

Lowlights

The priciness of almost everything in summer – The amount we spent on accommodation in Dubrovnik and Plitvice Lakes really put a hole in our pockets!

Where we stayed

We only stayed for a night at Zagreb as we meant it to be a transition to get to Plitvice Lakes, and accommodation at the lakes were incredibly expensive.

Hotel Jezero at Plitvice Lakes although pricey, was worth it to visit the lakes. The stay also included a complimentary one-day extension to visit the lakes and a buffet breakfast.

The apartment we booked in Split was hugeeee. It had everything we needed – a full kitchen, a washing machine and plenty of space to hang our clothes to dry.

Our Airbnb in Dubrovnik was probably the only accommodation we had something negative to say for the entire trip. There were just too many clothes moths in the place! I’m not talking about 10, or even 15. Think 50 or more!

How much we spent in Croatia

Item	Expenditure
Accommodation	$836.35
Food	$199.99
Transport	$282.91
Attractions	$227.93
Miscellaneous	$58.03
Total	$1,605.20

We spent a total of S$1,605.20 for the both of us over 8 days.

Transport costs include the journey from Budapest to Zagreb.

Where we went next

Off we went on a 3-hour GetByBus ride to the postcard-perfect city, Mostar!