Croatia

It's been a while since we last went to Croatia and we are planning a trip down towards the end of the year. We are hoping to offer a tour there in September 2016, which will also take in Slovenia.

Night-time on the Croatian coast.

Croatia for use seemed to fall into three main sections: coast, city and lakes. I like to keep the blogs short and sweet so I will limit myself to the coast for this post and look at the cities and lakes in future weeks!


We limited our trip on this occasion to the Istrian Peninsula on the north west coast going down as far as Pula. As a matter of interest, to get right down to Dubrovnik (popular with the Brits) you need another 8-9 hours of driving including a 10km jaunt through Bosnia! We decided to save that for another trip.

The coastline down as far a Pula is beautiful and very reminiscent of Italy and even boasts some Roman remains to rival them. For example, the coliseum at Pula is more complete and probably more spectacular that the one in Rome! The coast itself is dotted with pretty villages, multi-coloured houses, sandy beaches and a warm Adriatic sea.

Pula Coliseum.

There is plenty of coastline and campsites to go at here with many of the sites providing direct access to the beach. We would avoid July and August as it gets very busy, with May and September providing plenty of heat but much smaller crowds.

We stayed a few kilometres north of Pula at the large, but well-located and well-equipped Bi-village, just a short walk from Fazana:  http://bivillage.com/en/

More information: http://www.pulainfo.hr/en/

Austrian Alps

Massive panorama and mist on the Alps.

Our interest in the Alps was revived at the NEC Motorhome Show when we got chatting to a couple of site owners who had stands at the show. It's been over three years since we last went down and we are hoping to offer a tour there next year, to go a little further afield into Austria, to include Switzerland (and squeeze in a quick stop off in Lichstenstein.

This part of the Alps is commonly referred to as the Austrian Alps or the Central Eastern Alps, that extend into Switzerland and into Italy and Slovenia. We don't ski so our interest is in visiting to hike, bike or generally just take in the amazing views, quaint local towns and fresh air.

The highest peak is the Glosslockner, which is drive-able on an amazing High Alpine Road. For the active there is the option of a cable car and then hiking trails part way up the 3,900 metre mountain: www.grossglockner.at/en/. 

The waterfall in Malta, Austria.

The area is characterised by dramatic peaks, lush valleys and glacial lakes. For a bit more hustle and bustle, popular towns to the west of the country include Innsbruck and Salzburg, both highly recommended. www.tyrol.com/innsbruck 
http://www.salzburg.info/en/

The capital Vienna is probably on most people's bucket list but it considerably further east - around 500km in fact. Vienna is so far west you are almost in Slovakia. Bratislava (Slovakia's capital) and Vienna are actually Europe's closest capital cities (just 50 miles apart). http://www.wien.info/en