Croatia injections?

[Alidoll]

Public transport exists but isn’t great (there is now a motorway up the Istra peninsula but previously the roads were a bit of a nightmare for cars and took ages to get anywhere). Buses in Pula are fine (so if you stay just outside the city). Further north, not so good. Dubrovnik has buses to towns nearby (we stayed in Cavtat across the bay). Took the boat over (NOT recommended if it’s even slightly windy!) but took the bus back.

You can do lots of tours so don’t need a car (we never booked one the entire time we were there).

Tours in the North include;
- catamaran to Venice from Porec. Even if you’re staying in Pula, you can go on that tour.
- Rovinj (pretty town on a hill then boat trip
- Lake Bled - whole day tour and you go over to the island which has loads of steps!
- Postonja caves (really beautiful) and Lipica Stud Farm (where the breed the Lipizzaner stallions). They even put on a show which is stunning if you like horses
- there’s another tour round the bottom of the peninsula to a town at the other side (sorry can’t remember it’s name offhand)
- boat trip to the islands off Pula

From Dubrovnik there was also a couple of tours. I wasn’t as enamoured with the south. Yes Dubrovnik is pretty but outwith the town, Cavtat looked run down. The hotel was from the Soviet era and our first room had water pouring down the wall the first night it rained (this was meant to be a 4-5 star hotel). There just didn’t seem to be as much going on either but that’s my personal preference as I had a young daughter so wanted lots of things we could take her to see.

I’ve stayed in Umag (when it was Yugoslavia as a kid with my parents)
Porec - nice little town (stayed here twice)
Pula - on the outskirts
Cavtat - opposite Dubrovnik

I liked Porec the best as had shops and restaurants for wandering and the water offshore was clear. It’s not a sandy beach but there are inflatables at some places you can pay to play on / dive off plus canoes etc to hire. There’s also a small motorised train that travels along the coastal path from the hotels into town which is fun for the kids (and if you’re feet are sore from the walk into town!).

We used Jet2Holidays and they were brilliant. The rep at Porec is a Scottish lady who married a local and has been there for 20 yrs or so. She’s lovely and very knowledgeable. We stayed at the Hotel Medeteran (think that’s the spelling). It was quiet and the buffet had a lot of options if you go half board.

Hope this helps