Croatia Recommendations?

Going to be in Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik in June, would appreciate any recommendations for places to stay and restaurants. Thanks in advance!

Bumping - any advice out there?

This may be out of date as we did this trip 4 years ago, but we enjoyed our meals at these restaurants.
Split - Konoba Matejuska
Dubrovnik - Otto Taverna, Taj Mahal, Azur

If Krka is not in your plans, definitely go there. We enjoyed it much more than Plitvice. Hope this helps!

We loved our stay at the Antique Hotel Split. Basically feels like you are staying in Diocletian’s Palace. Small place with only a few rooms but well attended and great location.

I am sure I have some restaurant recommendations for Dubrovnik and Split but need to go back and check. Will post tomorrow.

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Thanks for the thoughts - please keep them coming!

We really enjoyed Zuzori in Dubrovnik for dinner.

+1 for Zuzori… enjoyed Konoba Jezuite very much. https://www.jezuite.com

Dining outside at the Old Town port/inlet is a nice experience as well too, especially at night.

Also planning a trip right now and happy to trade notes. In Dubrovnik, Pantarul comes recommended for dinner. Just outside Zagreb, a small town called Samobor has a winery/vermouth-ish/mostarda producer called Filipec that is supposed to be really interesting - and they happen to be next door to a pastry cafe that is famed for their Kremsnite cake. In Split, someone else recommended Paradox wine and cheese bar.

Bibich near Sibenik (an hour from Split) is at the top of my list as far as wineries go, but I’ve had lots of others recommended by a Croatian chef friend.

I gotta be honest with you. I didn’t find anything particularly charming about Split. I couldn’t wait to hop a ferry to an island.

In Dubrovnik, I think it’s totally worth the hassle and cost for sunset dinner at Panorama. I can’t remember the food, but the view is really great. We stayed at a private apartment. It was very nice but a bit of a climb. I can check the name if you’re interested.

Chris - if you would check the name, that would be great. The other recommendation I have received is to stay a little bit outside the center of the city proper in Dubrovnik to avoid the crush. Does that make sense?

My friend from Dubrovnik recommended staying in Lapad area - near the old town, easily accessible by bus (frequent and cheap), mostly on the water. Fresh Sheets was recommended if you want to be in the old town.

No luck so far. I’ll keep searching cuz I’m a bit curious if I can locate it. It was an upstairs apt maybe 3-4 minutes uphill from the Pula gate. The are was great; quiet, great views, and reasonably priced.

A quick search on TripAdvisor shows a ton of sobe/apartments that would fit your bill.

I kinda agree about not staying right inside the walls, but no need to stay so far you have to take a bus, IMO. I’d look for something with a little terrace and a view of the Old Town

Dubrovnik

Tavulin Wine and Art Bar was a pretty fun little spot for a glass of wine and some cheese

Split

Very good wine and cheese bar with a rooftop patio.

Articok was an excellent meal in Split

Sunset Cruise-Polaris Split was definitely worthwhile. Beautiful sunset cruise around Split with beer and wine and live music. We loved this.

Thanks for all the recommendations!

We were there (as a family) last summer and had a great time. I liked Split more than Chris did. I got some recommendations from Leo Frokic prior to our trip. Two restaurant highlights:

Bistro Ciba in Split was great- small, casual, great food, very busy. We were very obviously the only tourists in the place. I would make an effort to go there.

Mali Bar in Zagreb is also fantastic- it was also pretty casual, but the food was along the lines of a very good tapas bar, simple but refined. Excellent. My wife & I wanted to go back there our second night in Zagreb, but we were overruled by the kids and went elsewhere.

As an aside, if your itinerary isn’t etched in stone and you have time, Rovinj was just about our favorite place in Croatia (disclaimer: we elected not to go to Dubrovnik)

Rovinj is really cool, but it’s very well loved. Check crowds in June and possibly book early. That said; It’s pretty magical early AM and late at night.

Similar thoughts on Plitvice NP. Amazing, but get there early during the Summer tourist times.

Loved Proto in Dubrovnik. Fantastic seafood and charming people.

Cheers!
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Bit out of date - but traveled to Montenegro/Croatia in 2014 for 2 weeks in May/June with stays in Kotor, Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and Rovinj. Traveled with some friends who were on a tight budget, so mainly stayed at small Air B&B apartments - none worth recommending. For me the restaurants were all pretty average - but we were not looking for fine dining on this trip. One of the best things we did though was to invest in an excellent guiding service - they arranged private guides/driver for us in each of the locations and this added a lot to the experience. The company we used was Private Guides Team - coordinated by Matt Tomasevic (privateguidesteam@gmail.com). All the guides were locals with graduate school education - very informative and helped to avoid peak crowds and such. For Dubrovnik - if you stay in the town - it actually clears out each evening when the cruise ship passengers return to their ships. Oddly I think it may only be 20% inhabited by locals - most of the buildings have been converted into tourist stay apartments and the real locals live outside the town and come in for work. I loved walking around in the evenings there - very beautiful by moonlight. From Dubrovnik we did a day trip to Mostar one day - which was very interesting but more somber than fun. The ravages of war were still quite evident there in 2014 (not sure how it is today). Split is a much more lively and inhabited city with lots of local life - we stayed at an apartment inside the walls of Diocletian’s Palace. Highly recommend doing a day trip from Split by ferry to the island of Hvaar. We went with our guide and he brought the car on the ferry - so were able to tour the perimeter of the island which is just beautiful. One of my favorite meals there was a little shack by the side of the road - where the owner grilled squid just pulled from the sea that morning. If you have the time a trip to Plitvice National Park was also a favorite, but it is a bit out of the way. I would skip Zadar - the sea organ was not that impressive and not a reason for a detour. We also loved the Istria area and found Rovinj a relaxing and enjoyable place to end our trip. Day trips for olive oil, truffle and wine tasting are all very easy with this as a base. Have a great time!

Marie - thank you for the recommendations. The guides sound great and right up our alley. We are actually spending a couple of nights on Hvar.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts.

Literally on the phone tonight taking about this trip.