Croatia: Part 1 - Day 1: Arrival in Dubrovnik

For the summer holiday of 2025, I spent 15 days in Croatia. I wanted to see more of nature and less of the city. I reached my peak of city visits last year when I was in Austria. I felt that the trip was not fulfilling when I left Austria. This year, my nature experience outweighs the city experience. We were at the beach, explored some islands despite with thousand other tourists, took many dips in the warm Adriatic sea and Korana river, hiked up a mountain to see the sunset, walked around clear blue lakes in Plitvice but no swimming allowed and did a short guided tour in a cave. We had clear weather during our travels but it was scorching hot. Thankfully, the dips in the sea and river cooled us down but we could not do that when were in Zagreb town. I thought that it will be less hot in August compared to July but it was not. I don't even know what the temperature was in July but it was about 34-36 degrees during our trip. Cloudless too. 

Here is how the travel route looked like for Croatia:

Fly to Dubrovnik (3 nghts) -- pick up rented car -- drive to Makarska (3 nights) -- drive to Plitvice National Park (5 nights) -- drive to Zagreb (3 nights) -- leave rented car in Zagreb

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 1

1/8 Day 1: Flight from Stockholm to Dubrovnik. Uber taxi to the accommodation. 

Costs
(1) Flight ticket Stockholm to Dubrovnik - Norwegian Airlines SEK795. We flew back with Polish Airlines.

(2) Uber from airport to accommodation - Shared EUR30 for 3 persons. EUR10 per person.

Accommodation
(1) Airbnb at Dubrovnik, 3 nights - Shared room EUR370,59 for 3 persons, EUR123,53 per person

Food
(1) Sandwich on flight - Panini with ham and cheese SEK97

(2) Dinner at Dubrovnik Beer Company - Crispy chicken in a wrap EUR9, Pago orange juice 200ml EUR5

The Story

01082025: Our flight Norwegian Airlines departed at 5.40pm from Stockholm. I was allocated a place with extra leg space. How lucky! I shared a panini sandwich on the flight as our flight was during dinner time. I did not want to break my wallet on the first day, so I shared a sandwich with my boyfriend. It was a budget flight, so no refreshments were provided. It was a smooth flight. We arrived on time at 8.25pm at Dubrovnik. 

Dubrovnik airport is small. There were many brochures in the airport, and even fan-shaped ones. This can only indicate how hot it can be and the brochures can be used to fan oneself. There are options to take the bus, taxi or Uber from the airport. The bus tickets costs EUR10 per person but it does not bring us directly to our accommodation, so we decided to call for a Uber which costs EUR30. Of course, we took Uber as it brought us directly to our accommodation.

The roads are narrow but wide enough for a single car for each direction. Our accommodation is located up on a hill. That was our first introduction to steps in Dubrovnik. It was a short flight of stairs up to our accommodation. Little did I know that I will be seeing more of stairs all over Dubrovnik... 

We checked in and had a short chat with our hostess. Our accommodation faces the sea and it has a balcony! Lovely view both at night and during the day. Our hostess told us that it is safe in Croatia with zero crime rate. There are cameras everywhere. 

There is a mini-fridge, an electric kettle, a cupboard and drawers in the room. 

The toilet and bathroom is outside the room. It is clean. It is a payment of EUR10 to use the washing machine. I was aware of this when I booked the place that washing machine is not provided. I did not need it during our first few days of our trip. 

After checking in, we went to Dubrovnik Beer Company for dinner. It is a 10-minute walk. I got introduced to a VERY long flight of stairs during this walk. I thought the stairs will never end. 

It is not just all beer in Dubrovnik Beer Company. There is food too. I took the wrap as it seemed to be the most affordable on the menu.

I made the right choice. I enjoyed my crispy chicken!

We got back to our accommodation by 11.30pm. I sat on the balcony and enjoyed the view of lights.  

Ålesund, Norway: Part 4 - Day 4 and 5: Tafjord, Trollstigen Visitor Center

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 4 and 5

6/7 Day 4: Drive to Tafjord and Trollstigen Visitor Center

7/7 Day 5: Flight back to Stockholm

Costs
(1) Petrol 18,46 liter at NOK28,69 per liter - NOK381 (SEK370,66)

Food
(1) Coffee break at Tafjordcafe - Coffee with refill NOK35 (SEK33,97), Cheese cake NOK60 (SEK58,23)
(2) Whale sausage at Trollstigen visitor center NOK149 (SEK144,59)
(3) Salami burger at Gategrill, Sylte town NOK99 (SEK96,07)

(4) Coffee at airport NOK39 (SEK37,84)

The Story

06072025 - Today, we enjoyed our breakfast slowly as we had no fixed plans and time to accommodate. It is a day for a roadtrip. I had my brown cheese and two eggs. It is so filling! It helps too that I had oats with yoghurt. I was not even hungry during lunchtime. Well, I finished my breakfast by 9.30am so it is not surprising I was not hungry during lunch.

We started our drive towards Tafjord at 10am. My friend wanted to see another fjord. We stopped at Stordal for a break for 20 minutes. She had coffee and I enjoyed the view. A lovely day today.

Beautiful views along the way. We stopped at a dedicated spot along the highway to take photos. 

Ålesund, Norway: Part 3 - Day 3: Geirangerfjord cruise

Here is a summary of what is spent on Day 3

5/7 Day 3: Geirangerfjord cruise

Costs

(1) Ticket for Geirangerfjord cruise - NOK1860 

(2) Ticket for Geiranger visitor center - NOK135 (cheaper by NOK20 when bought together with the cruise ticket)

 

Food

(1) Coffee on the ferry NOK30 (SEK29,12)

(2) Lunch from Fiskekaka - Fish cake NOK60 per piece x 2 = NOK120 (SEK119,46), Bacaluo NOK120 (SEK119,46)

(3) Ice-cream 1 scoop NOK40 (SEK38,82)

(4) Dinner from Jaf - Fish burger NOK115 (SEK111,60)

The Story

05072025 - Today, we go on a ferry cruise to Geirangerfjord, the reason for our trip. It is a whole day activity. The ferry leaves at 8.30am and reaches Geiranger town at 11.30am. We have 3 hours to check out the area. Then, we get back on the ferry again at 2.30pm and reach Ålesund at 5.30pm. During our discussions about the trip, we talked about staying in Geiranger and renting a car from this town but car rental and accommodation options were limited hence expensive. So, we agreed on Ålesund being our base. Geiranger is a lovely place for hiking. We could have stayed a night here to hike, if we had an extra day. 

As we were unable to have breakfast at the accommodation, we were given packed breakfast. Initially, we thought we had to book the packed lunch as we will miss breakfast but the staff told us that this is our packed breakfast so we did not need to pay. They offer packed lunch for NOK60. 

We drove to Ålesund town and parked at the open parking lot, the same place we parked on the first day, at Parkgata 18B. It is free today as it is a weekend! We had our packed breakfast in the car. We received four slices of bread, butter, jam, some slices of cheese and ham. I wished we got egg. 

From the parking lot, it was a 15-minute walk to the harbour. We were definitely not the first ones. Look at the weather! Blue skies and sunny! The ferry departed exactly at 8.30am.

The ferry is very clean. Toilets are cleans too. There were 3 toilets, where 1 of them is for handicap. We sat on the upper deck during the entire journey since the weather was good. Initially, many people sat at the upper deck, and when the view got boring as it was the same, and it got cold too due to the wind, many people shifted downstairs.