Sibenik - Solo

Why did I choose Sibenik?

Croatia has been on my list for a while, however, a delicious looking hotel popped up on Voyage Prive (those dastardly enticing cookies) in Sibenik which was an hour away from the incredibly popular and well attended, Split, that hooked me in and got the research started. I liked what I saw. Sibenik (pronounce it Shibernik), in central Dalmatia, Croatia.

 

 Five things to make you want to visit Sibenik

1. Only five cities in the world have two UNESCO monuments. Sibenik is one of them.
2. Sibenik features in Game of Thrones
3. The food is fantastic and not overpriced (unless you manage to get a table at pelegrini.hr
4. You can sip wine beside the ocean while drooling over the £50-200million yachts
5. This Riviera Island trip. You can book this trip either as a tour and there are many places available offering this which is approx. 65-80 euros pp, or you can book a private trip with a skipper for 400-500 euros. Nice if there are a few of you, or you want privacy and choose your own schedule!

 

Extra: A great addition to this list, but predominantly if you are staying where I stayed, is the sunset yoga. I saw this going on the first night I arrived and set out to find out more. It is not run by the hotel, so these Divine Yoga Studio are the people to contact who are super helpful. I actually damaged my back and saw they did massages too, so I had a massage in this same location, which was unbelievable!

 

Where to stay

I stayed at D Resort, on the peninsula. This is quite a uniquely designed property and looks as good as the pictures. It is a 10-minute taxi away from the town, but the hotel does provide a water taxi to get there quickly and in style. They are happy to provide tips on where to go and stick around to wait for you in quiet times.

It is right on the harbour which provides great scenes and snooping opportunities at the unbelievable super yachts, safe ocean swimming opportunities and less tourist waterside traffic. Both pools are stunning and offer great photo opportunities, but it was a shame the roof top bar was not really in full swing.

It is quite swanky and pricey, but if it comes up on one of the discount sites, like I got, it made it incredibly reasonable, in comparison!

dresortsibenik.com

 

Solo Travelling

Solo travelling is a great experience and can open you up to meet some incredible people and see more as you are making all the decisions, unencumbered. I’m not a stranger to holidaying on my own, but I am definitely more sensible and cautious these days!

Overall, during my trip I felt safe. The taxis and Ubers were all very friendly and helpful. Most people in the cafés and restaurants were super friendly and keen to tell you about where they live and what to do during my stay. I’m a huge reader so sitting in a bar or going for a meal on my own is a regularity, but I actively try to not look completely closed off and actually take in what is going on around me.

One of the main issues with this trip being a solo venture was that certain trips I really wanted to do became a lot harder, namely Krka National Park and the Zipline at Čikola River Canyon. Going on your own is not just a case of getting a taxi, you need to hire a driver for the whole day as the locations are too remote to assume you can get an Uber back or even get a taxi to come out and get you when you are ready. This made it expensive and you also didn’t know how busy it would be when you got there, potentially in the middle of nowhere on your lonesome. I did consider hiring a moped, as this was cheap and easy, giving me total freedom, but evidently riding a moped once 25 years ago in Thailand, didn’t fully provide me with the necessary knowhow to ride on busy roads in Croatia. I was surprised at how anxious this made me feel, I’m not used to feeling limited in my travels. In retrospect, I could have planned this better beforehand.

 

Useful bits and bobs / Tips

• Download Wolt or Glovo if you fancy a night in for your food deliveries
• Around the Cathedral and the back streets are very slippy when it has rained!
• I flew into Split and considered getting a bus to the town centre, because you can, but then opted for the much quicker and not extortionate taxi which took a third of the time!
• https://www.sibenik-tourism.hr/

 

Books to take with you

We read to know we are not alone. – C.S. Lewis 

I Like Big Books And I Cannot Lie...