Kimkim Trip Reviews for Croatia

I recently had an extremely disappointing experience with KimKim Traveler, which failed to meet even the most basic expectations for a private guided tour service. Here's a detailed account of the issues I faced:
1. Lack of Private Tour Service: I specifically requested a private tour, expecting personalized pick-up and drop-off at my hotel by the guide. However, this was far from what I received. Instead of the promised door-to-door service, I had to arrange and pay for my own transportation to and from various meeting points. This was not only inconvenient but also contrary to what was advertised and agreed upon, leading to additional unexpected expenses.
2. Poor Itinerary Choices: One of the most disappointing aspects of the tour was the poorly chosen itinerary. Despite the plethora of well-known and significant places of interest in the region, the tour predominantly included visits to wineries, olive farms and yachts. While these might appeal to some, they were not what I was seeking in areas renowned for their beautiful scenery. Missing out on key historical and cultural sites left a significant gap in the travel experience I had hoped for.
3. Excessive Free and Easy Days: The balance between guided tours and free days was heavily skewed in favor of the latter. There were far too many "free and easy" days, with minimal guidance or planned activities. Out of 8 days of tour, 5 days were “free and easy” or “explore on your leisure”. This resulted in a lot of wasted time as I had to figure out my own plans without the local knowledge or recommendations that a guide would typically provide. It felt like I paid for a guided tour but ended up having to navigate and plan as if I were traveling independently.
4. Lack of guides for the trip: Except for the visit to Dubrovnik where a guide was provided for the walk in the old town, the information of all other trips were provided by the driver during the journey.
5. Lack of Personal Touch: The entire tour schedule was emailed before the start of the trip. We were expected to navigate the email (without any provided instructions) to find the pickup or meeting times for the next day's activities.
Overall, my experience with KimKim Traveler was far from satisfactory. The lack of personalized service, the disappointing itinerary, and the excessive free days and the absence of guides, all contributed to a feeling of frustration and regret. For a tour company that promises tailored and comprehensive travel experiences, KimKim Traveler fell woefully short. I would not recommend their services to anyone seeking a well-organized and enjoyable trip.

We benefitted greatly using Kimkim to plan such a big trip. Bruno was a tremendous help with all of the details (hotels, restaurants, drivers, car rental, walking tour guides and activities). He was also available and responded quickly to texts/questions via email before the trip, and using WhatsApp during the trip. Our drivers/guides were very friendly and, once they understood our sincere interest in the history and life in their country, were so interesting and informative. Mario and Oliver were great! While we drove ourselves a couple of days, having drivers and walking tour guides made such a difference to our experience since this was our first time to both Croatia and Slovenia. I feel like we learned more from them than just touring on our own. All of the hotels were very clean and conveniently located to where we wanted to explore. Besides breakfast each day at our hotels, we ate at restaurants for lunch and dinner. They were all very good (thanks Bruno!).

Activity Reviews

Private Guided Walking Tour of Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik

Quality of Experience

We started the day with a walking tour which was helpful in making our plans for the rest of our stay.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our tour guide, Marianna, was very personable and knowledgeable. She shared personal stories when we asked about her family and we learned a lot about the history of Dubrovnik and Croatia.

One-day trip to the Alps

Croatia

Our guide stopped at the most beautiful spots.

Quality of Experience

What a beautiful drive!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Oliver was a fantastic driver/guide. He chose beautiful spots to stop where we took great pictures. He picked a great place for us to explore and have lunch as well.

Transport

The vehicle was large and comfortable for the 4 of us (and our luggage).

Leaving Plitvice lakes - Rastoke visit- Zagreb

Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lakes are not to be missed. Even with some rain, we loved this park.

Quality of Experience

We loved our trip to Croatia and Slovenia! Bruno made it all easy, suggested great things to do, and touched base with us daily. I highly recommend working with him!
Highlights of our trip: Dubrovnik-what a charming, beautiful town; I would definitely go back; walking the city wall was amazing. Winery tour and wine tasting at Milos Vineyard-lots of fun. Plitvice Lakes-incredible scenery! Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj-so beautiful, like a fairy tale. Driving through the Alps-amazing vistas and our driver provided so much interesting information.
Marijana in Dubrovnik, Mia in Split and Irena in Zagreb were wonderful walking tour guides. They each knew so much history-both ancient and recent-about their country and respective cities.
Mario drove us from Zagreb to Bled and spent the day with us touring Bled and the castle, and hiking at Lake Bohinj; he was really interesting and shared stories, history and current information about Croatia and Slovenia.
Oliver spent the day with us, driving us through the Alps and ending the day in Ljublijana. He showed us not only the typical well-known places, but often took us off the beaten path to beautiful less visited sights. He shared so much history and current event information which we found so interesting.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Degenija

Rakovica

The hotel is well-maintained, beautifully landscaped and the food was wonderful. Probably one of our favorite dinners during our trip. The rooms are simple and basic, but the setting more than makes up for the basic rooms. We enjoyed sitting in the gazebo, sipping wine, and looking out at the amazing landscape.

Authenticity & Character

Location

rural setting...nice to get out of the city; amazing scenery

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bastion Heritage Hotel—Relais & Châteaux

Zadar

Such friendly staff! Definitely a highlight. Nice hotel with some "character"-felt quaint and cozy. Clean and comfortable.

Esplanade Zagreb Hotel

Zagreb

An incredible hotel! Beautiful and elegant. One of the nicest hotels we've stayed in. Very friendly staff. Nice outdoor terrace where we spent the evening with a glass of wine.

Grand Hotel Toplice

Bled

What an amazing setting! Looking out at the castle and the island in Lake Bled. By far the best view of any hotel on our trip. The hotel was clean and comfortable.

Hilton Imperial Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

The most "American" of all the hotels in which we stayed. Very comfortable. Great breakfast with friendly staff and nice outdoor seating available.

Activity Reviews

Private Guided Walking Tour of Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik

Marijana gave us a wonderful tour. I highly recommend her. She gave us so much information about the city and the history of the area. She also recommended restaurants which were very good. We felt that we learned a lot! Dubrovnik is a beautiful town.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Pelješac penisula and Ston + wine tasting

Dubrovnik

Highlight was the wine tasting. It was relaxing and interesting. Stopping in Ston for a bit is definitely worth it-we walked the wall, it doesn't take long, viewed the salt fields, and had lunch.

Split Walking Tour with a visit to Diocletian Palace

Split

Our guide, Mia, made this day. She was fun, full of knowledge, and entertaining. We were glad we had a day in Split, although we spent 2 nights (just because of logistics) and we all agreed that a shorter time would be enough.

Krka National Park - Zadar

Croatia

So pretty! Definitely worth the stop!

Leaving Plitvice lakes - Rastoke visit- Zagreb

Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lakes was in our top 3 favorite days of our trip. Although we had some rain during our hike, it was still worth it. The most incredible scenery! Rastoke was a fun stop along the way. A pretty stroll around the falls and river.

Private guided walking tour of Zagreb

Zagreb

Irena was such a great tour guide. There are many sights to see in the city and so much interesting history. Irena spent an extra 1/2 hour with us beyond our alloted tour time...she was willing to answer all our many questions!

Bled and Bohinj.

Croatia

Wow such a beautiful place! Mario drove us from Zagreb and provided so much interesting information about the region. We visited the castle, then he hiked with us at Lake Bohinj-just beautiful. That afternoon we visited the island on our own. While I think everyone should visit the island once, I would not go back should I visit the area again. The best part of the island is viewing it (and the church) from afar, it's fairy-tale beautiful.

One-day trip to the Alps

Croatia

Wow! Amazing, jaw-dropping scenery. Every turn revealed more and more beautiful vistas. Oliver was our excellent driver and he showed us not only the typical tourist scenes, but also took us off the beaten path to less visited areas. He pointed out a local restaurant for our lunch which was fun, and he shared so much ancient and recent history of the area.

Walking City Tour of Ljubljana

Ljubljana

This was the only activity on our whole trip which was disappointing. We all left the tour agreeing that our knowledge of Ljublijana was no greater than when we began. Our tour guide, Claudia, was not able to answer basic questions such as "what's the history of the castle?" She continually asked us where we'd like to go and what we'd like to do, rather than leading us and providing information. Our tour was to last 2 hours, but after wandering about for 1.5 hours, she acted like there was nothing left for us to do, and our tour ended early.

Ljubljana - Departure

Croatia

Our trip to Croatia was amazing! The scenery is awesome and the people are so friendly and with a crime rate the lowest in Europe, what's not to like?

Roberto and his team could not have been better, keeping us informed and providing updates throughout our stay. The Accommodations were great and the site seeing went without a hitch. In particular I'd like to thank one of Roberto's guides Marco. His time with us was memorable and he could not have been nicer. Definitely an asset to the team.

Tina did an exceptional job of putting together an amazing adventure for a family of 4 (2 adult sons). The activities were wonderful, the hiking guides were superb. The actual rental units were fantastic and unique. The locations were perfect. We enjoyed especially amazing views in Hvar and Dubrovnik. The central locations in Rovign, Split, and Zadar were perfect. We managed 3 beautiful hikes, 2 day long boat rides, river kayaking, truffle hunting, mountain biking, national park visits, a rental car, multiple ferries all without even a hiccup. Well done Tina. Well done Kimkim. Thank you.

I so appreciated Anna-Maria's help in organizing our trip to beautiful Croatia. She did an amazing job adjusting to our requests and was responsive to our needs day to day. She was wonderful and I would recommend her to anyone who is planning a trip to Croatia!

Saran was a gem that I found on the website. It was a trip for a family of 3, we had our 21 year old daughter with us. So it had to be the right balance of free time vs arranged tours.. Sarah created a great itinerary that even our daughter said, ok this is not bad 😭. But kidding aside, Sarah patiently changed the itinerary and listened to my needs. She was also available all the time on what’s up when I was asking her questions. Everything was arranged to perfection. We loved Croatia and will be back with our friends !!

This was my first trip to Croatia and I loved it. Robi was instrumental in helping us organize our self guided trip and with his help we experienced Croatia in a way I suspect most people do not. One of our major goals was to see the country in a local way that many visitors don’t. From the onset, being met at Zagreb airport, we were in good hands. We travelled for two weeks visiting Istria, Hun, Plicvik Lakes, Zadar, Split, Ston and finally Dubrovnik. Each area was unique and Robi was in touch each day to answer questions and provide useful suggestions as to what to do. I would recommend Robi to anyone wanting to visit this beautiful Dalmatian coast.

We had never heard of KimKim Travel Agency and were not sure what to expect, and boy were we surprised! They are outstanding! We were assigned Antonia as our travel agent, who worked with us to build an extensive itinerary for our private tour of Croatia. Every single tour guide and driver that Antonia assigned to us were exceptional – Ivana in Dubrovnik gave us our first Croatian history lesson; Mladen drove us to Perast & Kotor, Montenegro and taught us so much along the way, and Vasilija gave us wonderful tours there. We had Ivana in Split, who was charming and lovely and spent a lot of time with us at Diocletian’s Palace. Grgo was our tour guide on the island of Hvar and that was a great tour – his Mom cooked us lunch! From Split to Zagreb our driver was Duje and he was awesome – you can tell he loves his country! Duje took us to Krka National Park and Plitvice Lakes as well, and gave us a commentary on everything we passed. At Plitvice Lakes our guide was Petra and she was excellent – she clearly has so much love for her Lakes. Finally, in Zagreb, our guide was Kristina – she took us on a food and culture tour and it was so good! We had some good treats and a lovely walking tour of Upper and Lower Zagreb. We could tell that each guide and driver were so happy to be showing us their country – they were personable and amiable, and just a delight to be around! Antonia was so easy to work with and was extremely responsive to all our questions. She checked on us throughout our trip, and gave us real-time updates and information as our itinerary changed. We would highly highly recommend both KimKim and Antonia for all your Croatia travel needs! 10/10

Our Slovenia/Croatia trip was so amazing and beyond our expectations! Nikola did an exceptional job in planning, orchestrating and following up on everything, start to finish. He listened attentively to the kind of trip we wanted and worked to make it all perfect! We especially appreciated the evening before check ins and availability 24/7! In Slovenia we had a car which was loads of fun for exploring and making it an adventure. The side trips in both Slovenia and Croatia were especially enjoyable: the beekeeper, Skocjan caves, truffle hunting, cycling tour, wine and food tour, Ston oyster experience, cooking dinner on a local farm. Accommodations were perfect and we especially loved the winery in Bale, hotel in Hvar. All in all ours was a great trip ! Than you, KimKim and Nikola for a truly remarkable memory!

Bruno did a fabulous job helping us design a perfect Croatia coastline itinerary — and was patient when we needed to make a few changes in the plan. He provided great suggestions on how to spend our limited time in the cities we visited, including restaurant suggestions. The places we stayed were just what we asked for. He arranged wonderful guides — Ana in Dubrovnik and Mia in Split — who were personable and knowledgeable…and knew just how much detail we could absorb. Bruno also arranged drivers to take us from city to city, with some stops along the way. He stayed in touch with us each and every day, and when we asked to change the pick-up times, he made it happen. We could not have asked for a more meticulous planner. Our trip was amazing, and much of the credit goes to Bruno’s guidance.

Robert was wonderful, he was so patient with helping us plan our trip . He then supported us and was in constant contact with us every day for 2 weeks
Pero the local guide in Split and Antea in Dubrovnik were both very knowledgeable friendly and taught us a lot
We loved our trip and it was all thanks to Robert and all his planning and being there for us
Thank you

Nikola with Kim Kim was so great! Our trip in Croatia to Blue Cave was canceled due to weather in the morning. He jumped through hoops to get our schedule rearranged, and we were able to go to Blue Cave the next day! He was very accommodating and worked with all of our requests! This was a mother daughter trip and we are very active, Nikola found us several adventures!

Our guides were all fabulous! I wish I could remember their names! They all had great personalities and were a wealth of information. They always shared personal insight beyond what the script was, and had great advice for a good approach to the rest of the day! They were very personable and shared their personal experiences with us. We had a female guide in Dubrovnik who was a trained geologist, and female guide in Split who showed us the water falls, and a female guide who did a fabulous tasting tour of the "green space" their farmers market.

Hotel Review

Hotel Bellevue Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

Loved this hotel! Gorgeous views of the sea, light and air space, nice and roomy! The staff was helpful, and the hotel had good amenities. It was within walking distance to some excellent restaurants!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Gourmet Experience at Local Winery

Croatia

This was our lunch stop after the waterfalls, very worthwhile and so much more than we expected! Four course lunch paired with each of their wines, along with education. The hostess was very friendly and interesting!

Ston Oysters Experience & Wine Tasting

Croatia

If you love oysters, this is a must do! In addition to eating several fresh oysters, they prepared mussels for us too! And of course wine! Great education on how they are grown and harvested.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Words cannot adequately describe our time in Budapest, Croatia, and Montenegro. Jo and Stasa were amazing guides, and Tina was our guardian angel through several mishaps (none of which were her fault). This was a once in a lifetime adventure for us (mother and daughter) and Tina made sure everything from the accommodations, to the tours, the private transfers, and the places we visited were perfect. Thank you a million times over!

Using a trip-planner company was a new experience for me. In my extensive travels, I've done all the planning; therefore, relinquishing control was tough. Now, forever more, I want Tina and kimkim to do it all! Tina was my travel angel, with unbelievable patience and determination to get it all just right. And she did! She is so friendly, understanding, compassionate, professional, and dedicated! She matched us with Jo, for our private guide in Zagreb, who was an absolute joy, so smart, enthusiastic, sweet, and friendly, and wow, does she know history! The same can be said about Stasha, our amazing and brilliant guide in Split, with whom we spent many delightful hours.

Every lovely accommodation was a perfect match for our personalities.

This trip, such an important one for my daughter and me to experience together, did not have a single glitch. Everything planned and handled by Tina and kimkim, and I do mean everything, was perfect. This, in large part, to Tina being a world-class listener and hearing--really hearing--what I want. And oh, did she deliver.

Finally, what she provided within my budget was astonishing. What can I say but an immense, heartfelt thank-you to Tina and kimkim.

With gratitude,

Dee

This was my first experience using KimKim and Bruno did not disappoint. He was able to create an itinerary tailored to my interests. He curated a wonderful experience for me and was available both before and during the trip to answer any questions. Bruno gave me spot on restaurant and bar recommendations which I really enjoyed.

Hotel Reviews

Best Western Premier Hotel Astoria

Zagreb

Good location. Decent breakfast. Friendly staff. For people from the US, Best Western is much much nicer hotel chain outside the US.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Within walking distance to all major sites

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Slamič

Ljubljana

The hotel staff was very helpful, to include pulling out the rental car for me when it was time to leave. I like that they had you order breakfast the night before to reduce food waste.

Authenticity & Character

A small hotel experience

Location

Easy walk to any of the sites.

Staff

Friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Valamar Riviera Hotel & Residence

Poreč

Beautiful view from my room window. Very good breakfast. They also offered early evening snacks/drinks.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

My stay was during the odd time of too early in the season to turn on the AC despite it being very warm during the day. I couldn't leave the window open to cool the room down because of the street noise.

Hotel Degenija

Rakovica

Hotel staff was very friendly and helpful. Easy drive to the park. Cheapest hotel on the trip for laundry.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Quick drive to the park entrance.

Staff

super helfpul

Cleanliness & Comfort

Skradinski buk

Skradin

Least favorite hotel of the trip. A little run down. Staff wasn't rude but weren't exactly friendly either.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Easy walk to the boat to enter Krka park

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

My room was very run down. There were stains on the carpet. The bathroom shelf was broken. They hadn't refilled the soap in the bathroom.

Royal Ariston Hotel

Dubrovnik

The only hotel I stayed at that was outside of town requiring a bus ride. Very crowded breakfast after 8am. It is part of a larger complex of hotels.

Authenticity & Character

Big chain with tons of people staying.

Location

Just because of the required bus ride

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Kastel 1700 Boutique Hotel

split

Can't beat the location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Right in the heart of the city.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The breakfast area was a little cramped but still good.

Activity Reviews

Zagreb - Arrival

Zagreb

Went smoothly

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Bled and Bohinj

Croatia

Well worth the drive. Paid parking at the all the locations so pay attention.

Quality of Experience

Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle Tour

Croatia

The Caves were truly impressive. It was a little confusing to redeem the voucher for a ticket because after waiting in the line, I was sent to the group ticket area but after that was worked out, easy.

Quality of Experience

Private Guided Walking Tour of Dubrovnik Old Town

Dubrovnik

As a resident inside the walls of Dubrovnik, Ana had a unique perspective to share having grown up in the city.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Ana gave me a lot of suggestions for activities and restaurants.

Private guided walking tour of Zagreb

Zagreb

Bruno did an excellent job covering the major sites offering plenty of suggestions for me to follow up on during my own time.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Rovinj and Pula

Croatia

Wear appropriate shoes for walking on tiles. Slippery when wet.

Quality of Experience

Inland of Istria - towns on hills and truffle country

Croatia

While I didn't find any truffles on my hunt, I enjoyed the experience of learning about the process and being out in the forest. The meal post hunt with all the various truffle related foods was fun.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The staff at Pietro and Pietro were great.

Leaving Istria, visit Opatija and arrival to Plitvice lakes

Croatia

Hum and Opatija were nice little stops to break up the day of driving. Plitvice Lakes were beautiful. I wish I had stayed a little longer and hiked more.

Quality of Experience

Krka National Park - Split

Croatia

I took the boat to the park entrance and then decided to walk back to town. It was an easy hike. The views from Ozidana Caves were amazing but the steps a little brutal in the beating sun.

Quality of Experience

Pelješac penisula and Ston- triple atraction.

Split

This was my first day without the rental car so I was able to relax a little more. I enjoyed the wine tasting and having fresh oysters at lunch.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Duro was an excellent driver and guise

Transport

Montenegro Day trip from Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

I enjoyed going to Montenegro, it is definitely a different experience to both Croatia and Slovenia. There were several cruise ships in port making it very crowded in a few locations.

Quality of Experience

Very crowded even in the beginning of May

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Baldo was very knowledgeable on the region and had personal stories to share of his experience living in Montenegro.

Transport

Goodbye Dubrovnik

Croatia

The driver to the airport was ontime and friendly.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

My wife and I wanted to let our travel agent Bruno help us plan our weeklong Croatia trip, which started in Zagreb, visited national parks and a winery, and historic cities in the Dalmatian Coast. Bruno was very helpful in providing the perfect itinerary after listening to our preferences. We had the rental car delivered to us and drove from Zagreb to Plitvice National Park, which has more waterfalls than I thought was possible in one place. We then went to Krka park, which was also beautiful. Then we visited Zadar, Split, Hvar, a winery, and Ston, on the way to Dubrovnik. Each place was unique with a fascinating history and a beautiful and unique experience. Bruno booked us at perfectly located and comfortable hotels, a mix of mostly 4 and 5 star places. He arranged for walking tours with very knowledgeable guides. It was great to learn about the history and also get a local’s perspective. His restaurant recommendations were all truly excellent. During the trip, Bruno was incredibly responsive, replying to my WhatsApp messages within minutes. I highly recommend Croatia and using Bruno to help plan and book it.

Anna Maria was very responsive and planned a great highlights tour of Croatia! The transportation was wonderful to have and the hotels she chose were all super! We especially loved our tour w Josepina in Zagreb- learned lots about the country and enjoyed the culture!

"Thank you, Tina." These are the words my daughter and I said throughout our amazing Croatia Trip. Tina was our KimKim agent.
From the beginning, Tina asked questions and made suggestions that were clearly in line with our interests, schedule, and budget. From lodgings, to excursions, to recommended wanderings, it was all perfect.
While on the trip, Tina responded immediately to last minute questions (how much to tip??) with clear and encouraging advice.
We loved every bit of the trip but our favorite experiences were the Truffle Hunting in Istria and the sailboat adventure in the Zadar Archipelago. We finished the trip with a couple of lazy days in Split and Zagreb where we were able to wander and learn about the local community.
To quote my daughter (26 years old), "trip of a lifetime!"

Daniela and Robi created an unforgettable experience.

We lost our passport. Daniela and Robi immediately jumped, contacted everyone and had the hotel staff look for it, and got the driver to bring the passport to the airport!! From the time we alerted Daniela on the What's App within 10 minutes the superior staff at Hotel Marul (Maia) and our driver (Simon) found the passport and had Simon back on the road driving the passport to us. Unbelievable assist and save.

The What's App group chat between us and Daniela and Robi was fantastic. I can't express how awesome this communication tool was for our trip but I will try. I downloaded our entire group chat of 1 week's time into Microsoft Word (without photos or links) it became a 34 page document. 34 pages !! (9,000 words, for context this review is 823) That's 5 pages of fully written out directions, recommendations, questions, answers per DAY. And it doesn't include all the photos or links, the links were so easy. BAM I have the address and the walking/riding/biking/driving directions instantly.

As I try to describe this level of service, all I've come up with is highest end / white glove / concierge service. Daniela and Robi had our every concern and acted more like family or friends. We cannot thank them enough.

Daniela crafted a perfect trip. That isn't fair. Daniela crafted a dozen perfect trips for us as we kept changing our minds until we settled on an itinerary. Even then small additions were added and dropped day by day depending on our energy level. Daniela took the time to get to know what we wanted and the trip really proved how much effort she put in.

Robi was our tour guide on several occasions and translator on several occasions. I'm semi-famous for asking hundreds of questions (note the 34 page What's App group) and Robi handled each historical fact, each TV reference and more over and over. He also gave me some great video links to watch for more info. My personal highlight was learning about Ston, walking the walls of Ston and the fresh out of the sea oysters at the oyster farm. Incredible. Our day at Plitvice Lakes was my second favorite, a 37,102 step day for us on our Fitbits. BTW I tried to talk my wife out of doing Plitvice but she begged and Daniela urged we go, so glad we did.

Gordon, dropped our car off and picked it up from us. Made life very easy. Company was Lutar I think and they gave us a wonderful car.

Steve, apartment rental via Marul Hotel. Poor guy, I needed help at midnight and he drove over to help.
Simon, security and driver at Marul Hotel. Drove us to the airport and then drove back and forth again to drop our missing passport.
Maia at Hotel Marul, found the passport within 9 minutes of Daniela calling her. Thank you !!

Other notables. Šibenik, we walked the 3 fortresses. Western history would have been very different if this battle went another way. Dubrovnik what can we say, it's a must see for a reason. Split and Diocletians Palace was my wife's favorite, I loved it as well. If we go back we would like more time in Split.

Hard to explain. We had the country to ourselves. Roads were sparsely used, getting meals was easy, the worst crowds were very modest and often we felt we purchased some exclusive package. For example, our cooking class is normally 20. In April, it was just the 2 of us. Another example, I drove into the automated toll booth lane which I could not use and spent 2 minutes figuring out the problem. (btw, Daniela had warned me about this as I reviewed my notes) Normally by now there would be 10 cars behind me trying to get thru the toll. Nope, I merely went 50 meters in reverse and went into the next toll lane. The highway was empty, go ahead and drive it.

Language: Everything, and I mean everything was available in both Croatian and English, every sign, every menu, everything. We only met 1 person who spoke limited English the entire trip and he ran the Oyster Farm and we had Robi with us to translate. Although, honestly even here we could have gotten by.

Hotels. Location, location, location. Perfect, everything was within walking distance. The Hotel Marul and the Hotel Degenija and its nearby restaurant (Plivitice) both stood out as high end experiences. Hotel Skradinski buk was cute and we loved the staff and the perfect walking distance to the boat to Krka. Probably our favorite breakfast as we got to interact with other guests if we wanted to and we did.

Airports Split and Dubrovnik so easy, so empty, and everyone speaks English.

Could I say more, yes, will you read it, no. So that's it....