Dear Wanda, Mirela, Tia and Tasteful Croatian Journeys Team….

We have just returned from an amazing two week trip to Croatia and Slovenia, during which we traveled from Zagreb, into Ljublana in Slovenia, then Istria, and several other historic towns along the beautiful Croatian Coast until we finished up in Dubrovnik two weeks later.

Background:

My wife, Suzanne, and I attend the New York Times Travel Show held in January every year at the Jacob Javits Center in New York, with the specific goal of finding a partner who can help us plan and discover a new part of the world. Croatia was on our “prospect” list this year, along with a few other possibilities, but from the moment we met your team we knew our decision was made. Croatia in 2019, it was!

I still have the map you used to lay out a possible trip, and over the next several weeks we fine-tuned the itinerary so every day was filled with new discoveries

(For the benefit of any readers unfamiliar with the history of this region, it was in the very center of the Roman Empire going back to the first century. Well preserved or reconstructed Roman, Ottoman and Venetian Coliseums, Castles, Forts, Palaces, Churches are everywhere. If you love history, you will get your fill).

We started in Zagreb, the Capital……then drove (NOTE: we had professional drivers and guides everywhere) to Ljublana, the Capitol of Slovenia (who’s total population is only 2 million…and only 4.1 million is all of Croatia)…then, after two days, back to the Istrian Peninsula, along the Adriatic Sea coast. We stayed in the seaside town of Opatija, established in the 1920’s…(which reminded me of Cannes and Monte Carlo. Beautiful hotels, spotlessly cleaned streets and waterfront. Great shops…plentiful restaurants. Spent three full days exploring the amazing sea coast towns of Istria, including Porec, Rovini, Pula, Motovon (Truffle headquarters), and mountain top fortified cities.

Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Opatija

Motovun

Pula

We then headed off to Plitvice Lakes National Park (A World Heritage UNESCO site…one on many in Croatia) which features a series of lakes and amazing waterfalls viewed from an extensive network of beautiful trails.

From Plitvice, we drove to the coastal Towns of Zadar, Sibenik, and then on to Split…the second largest city in Croatia, with a waterfront lined with Palm Trees, al fresco restaurants, shops, etc. The Diocletian Palace in Split…the most prominent landmark…was built in the 1st Century, and it is beautifully restored. Hundreds of people are lucky enough to own and live inside the palace walls.

From Split we took the high speed Ferry to the Island of Korchula….and stayed at the first hotel built on the island. From Korchula we took another Ferry back to the “Peninsula” (mainland) heading to the town of Ston…with a stop on the way for a private wine tasting at a 500 year old vineyard. Ston is known for having the second longest wall ever built in the world (after the Great Wall), to protect itself from the Ottoman’s.

And then on to our last stop, Dubrovnik, a walled city …12th largest in the country, with a population of only 48,000

Dubrovnik

So while the itinerary was fabulous, what really impressed us more than anything else, was the flawless planning by the Tasteful Croatan Journey’s team. Wanda, the owner, is a native Italian (born in what is now Croatia) who lives in the US. Literally anywhere we went, everyone knew Wanda…to the point of giving her much of the credit for the dramatic increase in tourism to Croatia. Wanda knows every driver and guide we used, and trained most of them herself. At virtually every hotel we checked into, we were told that Mirela Benic (the in-country team member) had called the day before our arrival to insure that our reservations were in order and that we had the best room available (with water views, of course). Mirela even recommended the best restaurants in every town and made reservations for us at the ones we chose.

So bottom line….my wife and I highly recommend Tasteful Croatian Journey’s, and as I sat down to write this “review” I can honestly say there was not one thing I would change. But most importantly…if you engage the Tasteful Croatian Journey’s team, you will be working with professionals who truly care about every detail with the goal of insuring that your vacation will be one you will always remember as “one of the BEST EVER”.

One word of advice….Croatia is no longer a “secret”. As word spreads about its beauty and place in history, crowds during the summer months can be very large. We went in October..10/11-10/25 and in most of my photos there is an absence of people. AND, the weather was in the mid to high 70’s every day…with zero rainy days.

Lastly…we considered this to be a 5 Star vacation, but the total cost was very, very fair and reasonable.

Sincerely.

Jay & Suzanne Keay – Chappaqua, NY
October 2019

A PERFECTLY planned trip by Tia and Mirela – Visit Croatia made all the difference to my solo trip. Tia did a wonderful job taking the time to find out what my interests were and laid out the perfect itinerary for me – completely customized while being flexible enough to accommodate changes and my requests. Her hotel recommendation to stay at the Excelsior in Dubrovnik was amazing too – absolutely loved it.

The excursions planned from wine tasting day trips to sailing trips were all of great quality and the stops made including the wineries and restaurants were all of a high standard. All of the guides and drivers were fantastic – very professional and top notch.

Mirela was awesome with being available throughout my time in Croatia – incredibly helpful with last minute reservation changes and even asking Bibich winery to stay open as I was running late. The restaurant recommendations were all great!

The best part of Visit Croatia are the special experiences that come with their planning and recommendations. It was delightful drinking coffee with views of Dubronik from my hotel room (which I would not have booked without their recommendation), buying wine from some of the best vineyards in Croatia, being taken to a private herb garden and introduced to local honey farmers and pastry chefs by my guide in Korcula and just feeling very taken care of throughout!

Highly, highly recommend Visit Croatia and thank you again Tia and Mirela for making my solo trip perfect!

May Shen – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
August 2019

Tasteful Croatian Journeys created a beautiful, fun, relaxing, fascinating ladies trip.

They somehow managed to find a fabulous balance of terrific organized activities and free time all carefully within our price point and with every detail considered.

I heartily recommend them to anyone considering a trip anywhere in this broader region.

Many thanks,

Pam Appel – Summit, NJ
September 2019

Dear Paula Fertik,

Thank you! We are not too happy to be home and back to reality…

Croatia was fabulous! The country is beautiful, the people are so friendly, and we had an amazing time. Thank you and your team for putting together such an excellent trip. Every detail was accounted for, which made it even more special.

A couple of notes we have:
All the tour guides were wonderful – knowledgeable and personable. The 2 hour tours were just the right amount of time to get a taste of the city and learn about its history.

The bike tour was great! We had a wonderful day with the guide and saw the countryside firsthand.

The speedboat was so much fun! We had a great time with the Skipper, and he was able to show us some beautiful private spots/islands to stop and swim.

The drivers were all very professional. Almost all of them spoke English, and were able to tell us a bit about the trip as we were traveling. We had 1 driver who couldn’t speak English, so that drive was not as interesting.
There was also 1 driver who was trying to “entertain” us, which got tiring.

Plitvice Lakes is unbelievable – highly recommend it for your other clients. The hotel was phenomenal and we were sorry to leave!

Zagreb was a bit of a letdown after Plitvice Lakes, and we would have preferred staying in a more updated hotel. The Palace was very dated. It was not of the same caliber as our other accommodations during the trip.

The cooking class was lots of fun and we had a good day with the chef.

If we were to do the trip again, we both think that starting in Zagreb and finishing in Dubrovnik would make more sense. It would have been nice to have been able to relax at the sea for the last day or 2 of the trip.

All in all, it was one of our best trips ever and we thank you all so much!

Carla & Stephen P. – Fairfield, NJ
Paula Fertik, Alice Travel (Member of Signature Travel Network)
September 2019

Dear Wanda, Tia, Tara and Team,

Though I’ve been to Croatia a number of times, I wanted to enjoy the first time I visited with my children and extended family, and not be stressed with the planning and logistics.  Our trip and family reunion was everything I hoped it would be; the logistics were seamless, and our transfers stress-free.  I felt confident and secure from the moment we landed in Zagreb.  The hotels and restaurants were comfortable and accommodating, the guides highly knowledgeable and personable (they even engaged our teenagers!) and the overall experience highly rewarding. 

We made life-long memories.  I can’t say this enough –  Hvala Vama!

Danica Stanciu – Washington, DC
Steve Kobasic – Escanaba, MI
August 2019

I wanted to let you know that Sam and Alex just returned from their trip and had a great time in Croatia. They couldn’t say enough good things about the sail and especially the skipper. You made a very good choice there. They really liked the hotels and tours you set up for them. It all went off without any problems. You did a great job. Thank you very much

RT – Mattapoisett, MA
August 2019

Dear Wanda,

Thank you so much for all your help with our trip to Croatia. Everything was perfect. Your choices for accommodations were lovely and we especially enjoyed your restaurant recommendations. I would be remiss in not thanking your on the ground person in Dubrovnck. (I can’t recall her name). However she was very helpful and very responsive, especially when my father lost his passport in France. I would and will recommend your services if I come across anyone looking for assistance in Croatia.

Thanks again,

Claire – Barcelona, Spain
August 2019

Tara & Wanda,

We just returned from the vacation of a lifetime!  It’s hard to express just how much we enjoyed it. It was absolutely fabulous in every way!!!! Thank you for everything you did to help us plan the most extraordinary trip!  I will be sending MANY friends your way!!

Thanks again!

My very best

Amy – Wyckoff, NJ
August 2019

Dear Wanda,

First of all, I would like to thank you and your team at VisitCroatia for working on such short notice to put together an awesome itinerary for me and my 11 family members.  Thank you for taking such care in getting to know my family, our ages and interests, so you and your team could put together excursions at each port that would work great for my family.  Thank you for answering your phone and my emails so we could discuss questions the family had.  I remember calling your office to discuss some beach option, and your office offered wonderful suggestions and throughly answered all my questions.  Also, thank you for calling the cruise line to get the exact locations of each port, and making sure we would arrive safely back to the ship, on time, each evening. 

At every port each morning, it was fantastic to have a driver and a guide whisk us away to beautiful sites to enjoy for the day.  Also, it was wonderful to have peace of mind that the driver and guide were flexible at each port to change gears if we needed to alter the itinerary.  One day the driver was able to get a couple family members back to the ship early and another day we needed to make changes to our lunch reservations. All of these changes were seamless.  Speaking of lunch, thank you for making reservations at all the beautiful restaurants.  We were treated with open arms, all of our meals were delicious, and the restaurants were very accommodating to our dietary needs. 

We all had a beautiful and memorable time at each port and know this would not have happened if it was not for your expertise in planning with such detail and care for my family.

Thank you for helping us make wonderful and lasting memories. 

Sincerely,

The G family – Granite Bay, CA
July 2019

Dear Wanda and team,

Thank you for planning a wonderful trip to Croatia. Everything about the country exceeded our expectations, including the charming cities and towns, clean, turquoise water, fresh Mediterranean food, and most importantly, the friendly people we met. The restaurants, hotels and tours that you organized were perfect for exploring land and sea. We especially loved the catamaran charter your found us. The Adriatic Dragon and its crew, Marco, Davor, Marina and Ivana made our 20th anniversary an absolutely unforgettable experience! We look forward to returning to Croatia with our children in the future.

Warmly,

Jamie & Rob Taylor – Chicago, IL
July 2019