We loved our trip to Croatia and Slovenia!
Croatia | May 16 - May 26, 2024

S
Sondra J.
Dallas, TX | Reviewed on May 30, 2024

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
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
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 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
Krka National Park - Zadar
Croatia

So pretty! Definitely worth the stop!

Leaving Plitvice lakes - Rastoke visit- Zagreb
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
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.
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
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
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
Ljubljana - Departure
Ljubljana
Local specialist: Bruno Martinović
Bruno
Bruno Martinović
Local specialist in Zagreb | Replied on May 31, 2024

Dear Sondra,

thank you very much for the review.

I'm glad to hear that you had a great time in Croatia and Slovenia and that you liked all the guides. It was a pleasure to work with you on planning the trip.

Thank you very much for the feedback regarding the accommodations and especially the restaurants.

I hope we will stay in touch and I wish you all the best.

Best

Bruno

Thank you very much for the feedback regarding the accommodations and especially the restaurants