Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
I'm accustomed to staying in hotels. But a few years ago, I found all the hotels in
Dubrovnik booked up. With some trepidation, I stayed in a soba ...and I'll never go back to
a Croatian resort hotel again. I've made it my mission to convince you to sleep in sobe, too.
Note that sobe aren't as common or as much of a good value in Slovenia as they are in
Croatia, but the Slovenes have their own cheap option: tourist farms (turisti č ne kmetije). At
these working farms, you can get a hotelesque room, plus breakfast and dinner, for a sur-
prisingly low cost. For more on tourist farms, see here .
Hotels
For most travelers, Croatian hotels are a bad value—the soba and apartment options ex-
plained earlier offer much more bang for the buck. You basically have two options: over-
the-top, fancy, overpriced splurge hotels catering to the international jet-set crowd; or run-
down, communist-era, overpriced resort hotels desperate for a renovation. Whether old or
new, Croatian hotels all seem to carry on the old Yugoslav aesthetic of mass tourism. That
means crowded “beach” access (often on a concrete pad), less-than-enthusiastic staff, a
travel-agency desk selling excursions in the lobby, corny live music in the lounge a few
nights each week, and a seaview apéritif bar. More money buys you a friendlier, more pol-
ished staff and newer decor.
The hotel situation is more straightforward in Slovenia and Bosnia, which have a wider
rangeofsmall, reasonably pricedhotels.While youwillfindafewcommunist-era holdover
hotels in resorty parts of these countries, they don't dominate the scene as they do in Croa-
tia.
Hostels
You'llpayabout$25-35perbedtostayatahostel.Travelersofanyagearewelcomeifthey
don't mind dorm-style accommodations and meeting other travelers.
Hostels are a relatively new concept in Croatia. Official Hostelling International (IYHF)
hostels are usually poorlylocated, inbadrepair,andinstitutional, while independent hostels
are loosely run, tend to attract a youthful party crowd, and are grungier than the European
norm. If you need a cheap bed and aren't into the party scene, you'll probably do better
for only a little more money by sleeping in basic private accommodations (rooms in private
homes with shared bathrooms, described earlier).
Slovenia has a more appealing range of hostels. For example, one of Europe's most in-
novative hostels is Ljubljana's Celica, a renovated former prison (see here ) .
In each town, I've tried to list the best-established, most reputable hostel options, both
independent and official. But this scene is evolving so fast that avid hostelers will do
better getting tips from fellow travelers and searching sites such as www.hostels.com ,
www.hostelworld.com , www.hostelz.com , and www.hostelbookers.com .
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