Podstrana - Split - Omis

I wanted to share some of the highlights from the places we visited in Croatia. Although we only stayed for four nights, we were lucky to explore a few of the surrounding areas.


After extensive research, I decided to book Villa Pinocchio which is in the town of Podstrana. We flew into Split airport and Podstrana was a 30 minute taxi ride away. The hotel kindly arranged a taxi for us at a cost of roughly £30 one way. For our return journey, we actually used Uber and this was only £22.


I'll start of by explaining the area of Podstrana as this was our 'base' in Croatia.


Podstrana

As mentioned before, Podstrana is only 30 mins away from the airport. It is also only a 20 minute bus ride into the main area of Split.


The buses are fairly regular (run every 20-30 minutes) and pretty cheap (roughly £1.20 pp. each way). You can buy a ticket on the bus and sometimes these need validating.


The area of Podstrana is located directly on the Adriatic coast. The beaches are man made and pebbly (so bring your water shoes). The sea was relatively calm whilst we were there and it does gradually get deeper the further out you go (go figure...).



The area mainly has small family run b'n'b's as well as a few larger hotels. One of which is the La Meridien Lav Split which is a stunning five star hotel with it's own private marina for all those super yachts.


The area has a number of restaurants which are mainly seafood or Italian restaurants. There is also a few supermarkets (mainly the Ribola chain) as well as an excursion company which also hires bikes (£8 for six hours).


Overall it is a pretty quiet area but it has everything you'd need for a short break. We found a great place called Beach Bar Lungomare (say hi to Lulu the dog) which sells cocktails by the litre for roughly £12.


The area is great if you want some beach time but are also keen to explore Split centre. If you're heading to the Split area for more than three days then I'd say this could be a good base for you.


Split

Moving onto Split now. Although we wanted to explore the historical area of Split and see all the beautiful Roman ruins, we also wanted more than just a 'city break' hence why we didn't want to stay in a small hotel located in city centre.


The hotels in Split are nice and traditional however there's no beach in Split centre (it's on the sea but only boat trips/ferries) and most hotels don't have a pool. Some people won't mind this but I wanted the opportunity to swim in the sea and cool off in the heat.


We headed into Split one morning and found that within maybe four hours, we'd seen all that we needed to see. Diocletian's Palace is the main place we wanted to check out. We wasn't sure what to expect but it was beautiful. Lot's of little archways and allies led to the main bell tower and cathedral. We paid the £2 to climb the bell tower which dates back to the 13th century.


The views from the top were breath-taking but I must admit, I was a tad scared of the height and the rather low railings.




Split has lots of little bars and restaurants. Again the main cuisine is seafood and Italian. They are also fairly reasonably priced. Of course those directly along the waterfront or in the main square tend to be more expensive but overall we paid £25 for a main meal and a beer/wine each.

I must admit the shopping was not particularly exciting. Thankfully it wasn't full of the usual tourist tat but it also didn't feel like there was anything worth buying (which speaks volumes from the self-confessed shopaholic). We did find lots of stalls selling lavender products and jewellery made from Adriatic coral though.

Most of the excursions leave from Split centre. The boats obviously from the main waterfront and other trips from the various offices. What I found very odd was when booking an excursion, they do not pick you up from your hotel. I've always been used to being picked up directly from the hotel and dropped back so this was a surprise to me.

If you only had two nights in Split then I'd say to stay in Split centre. That way you can soak up the atmosphere at night (apparently they have live music in the main square) and simply wander around and take it all in. However, if you have a longer trip and like the beach then Omis should be your choice.

Omis

I had briefly read about Omis on Trip advisor however it was only a place we would visit if we got the chance to. We loved Omis so much that we ended up visiting it twice during our stay.

Omis is located 41 km from Split airport so would take roughly an hour to get to. On our first trip to Omis, we decided to hire bikes and cycle there. It was only 13 km from Podstrana and it took roughly 45 minutes to get there. The second time we opted for the bus which took about 30 mins (not much quicker than the bike with all the stops!).

As soon as you see the rocky mountains against the green gorge and blue sea - it's heaven. Omis has various shops, restaurants and bars. It has a lot more to offer than Podstrana.


There are two Forts in Omis. Mirabella Fortress is probably the first one you'll see. It sits pretty overlooking the town. You look up and think it's nice and easy to get to. It is quite steep and getting right to the top did require a harsh talking to (they seriously do not know anything about health and safety here) however the views were worth it. It cost roughly £2 to explore.


The second Fort, Starigrad Fortress, is a sneaky one. I didn't actually see it at all to begin with. Peter did and wanted to find it. After cycling (ok part cycle and a lot pushing the bikes up hill - thanks Peter) we came to a tiny sign staying Fortress. We locked the bikes up and set off on foot.

After walking up steep steps for about 100 meters I looked up and realised just how high we had to go, the air promptly turned blue. After giving myself another harsh talking to, we continued on. The hike was approximately 3km to the top and I believe 300 meters high.

Although it was blistering hot, it was really worth the effort. We of course had to pay an entrance fee (only £1.50pp) and were greeted by a lovely man who also sold water (thank god as I was starting to ration our supply).


Other than the lovely (albeit hard) hikes, Omis also has a stunning gorge where you can rock climb and raft down the river. It also has the most stunning coast line. There is another large island opposite so the sea is incredibly calm and also sandy. You could walk out pretty far before it got deeper so this made it a lot safer for children.


Omis had a traditional holiday resort feel to it but without the tacky tourist. A lot of the people there were locals or seem to be from Germany and Italy. I feel bad saying this but thankfully there wasn't large families of noisy Brits.

I would happily visit Omis again. I think the kids would have an amazing time playing in the sea and enjoying the gelato.

Croatia had been on my 'country list' for a few years now and I definitely wasn't disappointed. I always assumed I would do a sailing trip around Croatia and although we did a boat trip to the blue lagoon and a lovely little island which name escapes me, I wasn't that impressed.

Having been on quite a few different boat trips on holiday before, I have been spoilt seeing some gorgeous places and snorkelling in some great locations. Maybe other places in Croatia are better for sailing than Split but either way it was a great experience.