I remember the very first time I visited Dubrovnik in the summer of 2012 – I thought it was so stunning, it knocked my socks off! The moniker “Pearl of the Adriatic” seemed well justified. Since then, I had been wanting to go back and explore more of this country. So I was very excited when my husband and I finally decided to do a road trip in Croatia in July 2023. But unfortunately, I found that Croatia had changed for the worse in the past decade. It seems to have lost a lot of its charm and the ills of over-tourism has taken over.

We planned a 9-day itinerary flying into the capital Zagreb, renting a car and driving all around the country with a day trip to Mostar in adjacent Bosnia-Herzegovina.

THE PROS: Of course, Croatia is undoubtedly a very beautiful country. It has over a thousand miles of Adriatic coastline with deep blue and light turquoise waters, numerous islands and beaches (but pebbly, not sandy beaches). Also it is clean and safe – I didn’t see any homeless people or pickpockets/scammers waiting to prey on tourists. And natural treasures such as Plitvice National Park is something that’s not found in any other country and worth every penny of the $40 per person entry fee. I would highly recommend everyone to go experience the magic of Plitvice – but make sure to book a reservation to enter the park when it first opens in the morning (7 or 8 am) and start from the Southern Lakes, where the most picturesque jade colored pools and waterfalls are, and then work your way up to the Northern Lakes. The Southern Lakes will be so jammed with tourists by the afternoon that it will be impossible to walk along the boardwalk!

THE CONS: Many locations in Dubrovnik and Split were used as a backdrop for the famed TV show Game of Thrones (2011-2019, HBO), which in large part contributed to Croatia becoming a top tourist destination in the past decade. And I felt like that’s what those two cities have degraded to – a real-life TV set. The native residents of Dubrovnik and Split have been pushed further and further out of the historic town centers because landlords make more money providing short-term furnished rentals for tourists, so all the buildings have been converted to hotels or Air B&B type accommodations. Hardly any locals actually live in the historic core of the town and all the businesses in that area cater purely to tourists. So you will find nothing but the typical array of tourist trap restaurants, souvenir shops, gelato shops, etc. There’s no authenticity or local flavor at all. Very disappointing!

And of course, along with the traps of tourism comes, surprise surprise, the price gouging! I was shocked that the City Walls surrounding the Dubronik Old Town was now charging 35 Euros for entrance!! Yes, it does have some nice views up there but come on, the Louvre Museum in Paris charges 22 Euros and you can spend the whole day in there. Dubrovnik City Walls, you will spend an hour max! Even if you go first thing in the morning it gets scorching hot because there’s hardly any shade. And later in the day it gets so jam packed with tourists that you won’t even be able to walk around. I highly recommend getting the Dubrovnik Pass which includes entry to the City Wall, other museums as well as the public transportation: a MUCH better value.

Another thing that impacted our experience negatively was the heat. Croatia, like most of Europe, has been facing increasing temperatures and frequent heat waves in the summer. July 2023 was no different – the daytime temperatures were averaging 37C (98.6F) and it was just too dang hot. The sun is so intense during the day that all you want to do is lay around an air-conditioned space and not venture out sightseeing! But we trudged on anyway and we didn’t feel so well, probably from heat exhaustion 😦 We will think twice about traveling Europe in the middle of summer again from now on. I would definitely recommend against visiting Croatia (or any other parts of southern Europe for that matter) in the summer months.

And finally, I want to add that we found the quality of the food and the service in Croatia to be subpar to other popular European countries like Italy, France, Greece, or Spain, yet the prices were the same or even higher than those destinations. Also the portions were weirdly stingy – like a 9 euro glass of wine that barely had an ounce or two of wine in it at best, 6 euro glass of freshly squeezed orange juice that looked like it was leftover from someone else’s table, etc. I distinctively felt the indifference in the service, that the service industry people we came across at hotels and restaurants couldn’t care less whether we were satisfied or not. I didn’t get this vibe at all when traveling to any other European country in recent years and it was hugely disappointing.

So that’s my 2 cents – I definitely will not be going back to Croatia anytime soon, and NEVER AGAIN in the summer for sure. I hope this helps anyone thinking about visiting! Happy planning 🙂