Discovering Dubrovnik & Hvar: A Luxurious Journey Through Croatia's Jewels
Coming out of the Covid-lockdown I started searching for countries we could visit without a necessary quarantine on the return to the UK, as well as country with no special quarantine requirements on arrival there. It was also important for me to be able to fly there with one of my preferred airlines - British Airways, Qatar Airways or Emirates (airlines I would trust for on-board Covid safety measures/cleaning). Despite there being quite an extensive list of non-quarantine countries for the UK, surprisingly trying to marry up countries I wanted to visit, which were new, along with being able to actually fly there soon I came to the conclusion quite quickly that it was going to be Croatia, a country that has been on my list for some time.
Initially I was thinking of just making this a long weekend, but with so many great locations within Croatia it became clear quite quickly this would be better placed for a longer break. I soon identified that Dubrovnik and Hvar would make a good two-centre option. I found there was an online form to fill in for arrivals, but it took me ages to find it again so it’s here if anyone else is thinking of visiting.
Actual Detailed Itinerary:
Day 1 Overnight at my all-time favourite on-site airport hotel, Hotel Sofitel London Heathrow. You can read my last review here.
Day 2 British Airways flight BA 2680 London Heathrow to Dubrovnik (scheduled 2hr 45mins)
Stay Villa Dubrovnik
Day 3 Dubrovnik
Day 4 Dubrovnik
Day 5 Dubrovnik
Day 6 Catamaran ferry from Dubrovnik to Hvar - two options; 7am (Catamaran Jelena with Jadrolinija ferry company or 4:30pm departure (Catamaran Krilo Star with Kapetan Luka ferry company). Journey takes between 3hrs 15mins and 3.5hrs
Stay Palace Elisabeth, Hvar Heritage Hotel (out and out choice for there)
Day 7 Hvar
Day 8 Hvar
Day 9 Hvar
Day 10 There are scheduled ferries from Hvar to Split - both ferry companies have multiple times throughout the day (journey takes just over 1hr).
Having spotted though that the Hvar hotel chain (Suncani, of which Palace Elisabeth is part of that chain) can arrange private transfers (as well as doing scheduled shared services) I am going to book their Sea Thunder private speedboat option from Hvar to Divulje port , with onward private car to Split Airport. Other, more expensive, boat options are available too here).
British Airways return flight BA 531 (scheduled 2hr 40mins) from Split to London Heathrow.
Useful website links:
Airlines:
British Airways https://www.britishairways.com/travel/home/public/en_gb/
Qatar Airways https://www.qatarairways.com/en/homepage.html
Emirates https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/
Hotels:
Sofitel London Heathrow https://all.accor.com/hotel/6214/index.en.shtml
Leading Hotels of the World https://www.lhw.com/
Villa Dubrovnik https://www.villa-dubrovnik.hr/en/
Suncani Hvar Group https://www.suncanihvar.com/
Palace Elisabeth, Hvar Heritage Hotel https://www.suncanihvar.com/palace-elisabeth-hvar-heritage-hotel.html
Grand Luxury Hotels https://www.grandluxuryhotels.com/
Other:
High speed ferry: Jadrolinija https://www.jadrolinija.hr/en/ferry-croatia
High speed ferry: Kapetan Luka https://www.krilo.hr/en/
Sunvani Hvar Transfers https://www.suncanihvar.com/suncani-hvar-hotels-transfers.html
Croatia Tourist Board https://croatia.hr/en-GB
Online health form https://entercroatia.mup.hr/
