It is not often that we return to places in our travels but when we decided to book a trip to spend time with Britt's family, we thought Dubrovnik would be the perfect spot to start our vacation together. Though we were there during a busier time and with Dubrovnik's popularity only growing each year, the city was still as beautiful as ever. With spots to swim—off the town or by the beach—and plenty of streets to get lost in while exploring, we were happy to show a place that we loved to our loved ones. It will be a trip we all remember forever!

After four days in Dubrovnik, we picked up a car and set off for Korčula. We broke up the drive with a stop in Ston, a small town at the base of Croatia’s Pelješac Peninsula famous for its defensive walls that crawl up the surrounding hills. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to climb the walls, but we strolled the town and grabbed lunch at Stagnum (spaghetti Bolognese, cheese pizza).

This summer brought us to Croatia for the fourth time in as many years, noteworthy this time for three reasons: (1) we were returning to a favorite spot (Dubrovnik, the focus of this post), (2) our visit happened to coincide with Croatia’s run to the World Cup final, and (3), most important of all, we were travelling with Britt’s parents and sister!

I have to admit that it has been tough to recap our trip to Bosnia and Croatia while in the middle of winter. These photos, videos, and stories have me aching to return—to go swimming again and feel the warm sun on our skin. I'm just going to have to close my eyes and pretend until July when we make our way back to Croatia—we just can't get enough! This past trip was the perfect mix. Starting in Bosnia where we learned further about their deep history, visited beautiful mosques and quaint villages then ending in Croatia by sea to swim and wander was perfect. It is a trip that we will never forget!

You could spend your whole time on Hvar in Hvar Town, but the island is one of Croatia’s largest and boasts sights of all kinds worth exploring.

For our first venture out of Hvar Town we took advantage of the busses (operated by Čazmatrans) that crisscross the island to get to Stari Grad (literally “Old Town”, as historians believe it’s Croatia’s oldest town). The old town is laced with picturesque cobblestoned lanes and dotted with some interesting sights (the pool and gardens at Tvrdalj Castle—which is more of a villa than a castle—and The Church of St. Peter and Dominican Monastery). We were excited to see that Fig Cafe—a restaurant we first discovered in Hvar Town—had a location in Stari Grad as well and sat down for lunch (burrito, yogurt, granola, fruit).

Split is Croatia’s gateway to the country’s many islands, offering ferries of all shapes and sizes to the rocky chunks of land that dot the Adriatic Sea. While we enjoyed our three nights in the city, our end goal was to pick up a ferry to Hvar, one of Croatia’s largest and most populated islands. Friends of ours that had visited Hvar had only good things to say about it, so we went in with fairly high expectations. Within seconds of stepping off the ferry and taking in the view of the bobbing sailboats and yachts in the shimmering sea along the neat cobblestoned promenade up toward the imposing fortress perched on the hill above, we were in love! It is damn near impossible not to immediately fall in love with a place like this. Our Airbnb was a mere minute’s walk to the square and harbor, but tucked just enough away for peace and quiet in the evenings.

Hands down, Croatia is one of our favorite places to travel to. It has a beautiful mix of culture and adventure! For our third visit, we decided to spend our time in Split and Hvar (which we will get to soon!). After our time in Bosnia, we took a bus from Mostar to Split to kick off the second half of our trip. While in Split, we enjoyed wandering around the old city, eating delicious food, taking some time to relax at the beach, and going off on a day trip to Trogir. Our time there got us back to remembering why we keep coming back. The people are friendly, the food is delicious, the history and the old architecture surrounds you, and you can't beat being by the sea. It was a wonderful first few days back in Croatia. Next up, we jump on the ferry to finish our two week adventure on the island of Hvar!

We dropped our car off in Mostar and hopped on an Autopoduzeće Imotskibus bus for the 5-hour ride to Split. (Most car rental agencies won’t allow you to pick up a car in Bosnia or Croatia and drop it off in the other.) The ride went by surprisingly quick, especially on the gorgeous seaside stretch from Makarska. On arrival in Split, we strolled from the bus stop to our Airbnb, walking the Riva Promenade along the way. After recharging with a banana split from BananaSplit in Split, we set off to see what the city had to offer.

Over the past couple weeks we have been recapping our road trip through Croatia and Montenegro from back in June on the blog. You can catch all those post here. It was the perfect start to our summer as we eagerly jumped into the ocean, soaked up the sun, and explored all the beautiful towns along the coast. For this trip, we've divided our video moments into two parts so today I'm here to bring you through our first few days of the journey. We flew straight from London to Dubrovnik and settled into the old town for our home base. Dubrovnik is picturesque and just plain beautiful so we were sure to wander around and see as much as we could. We also took the opportunity to do a private boat tour out of the harbor which brought us to Cavtat and the island of Lokrum. This was our second time to Croatia and we both admit that we are absolutely head over heals in love with it. I can say with confidence we will be back!

Okay, I have to admit that this post—really, this video—was supposed to be edited and ready about 3 months ago. I have plenty of excuses to why that didn't happen. Some are even legitimate, I promise. But with all that aside, I am so excited to finally be able to put this beauty out there to let you in on the second half of our Slovenia & Croatia Road Trip.