Memories on My shoestring : 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.