Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' Croatia and Slovenia

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I grew up with "Lonely Planet," taking an adventure trip almost every summer, but for my most recent vacation around ex-Yugoslavia, I decided to carefully compare what was on the market. I chose Rick Steves not only because it covered the most ground with the smallest amount of pages and weight, but also because it had the best balance of historical background, dining and lodging recommendations, and comparative evaluations of tourist sites that helped me to prioritize what to see in the few days I had available. Note that this book also has a good 70-80 pages on Bosnia and Montenegro, which are very easy to access from Southern Croatia (especially by rental car). I especially appreciated the book's comprehensive digression on how the present republics evolved out of the old Yugoslavia; Rick Steves is not only informative but remarkably balanced in his description of the Tito years and of the recent conflict between Serbia and Croatia. These issues are still on the mind of everyone you will meet out there.
Couple of quibbles: Rick Steves seems to appeal to middle-age travelers, and his nightlife suggestions should rarely be trusted! The language section is tiny and inadequate. And the maps are approximate, carelessly drawn, and missing from some major towns. On the other hand, the Tourist Information in each town will give you detailed maps for free. So, over all, I am happy I made this choice.

I just returned from a 15 day trip in the former Yugoslavia. My friend and I had Lonely Planet, Eyewitness, Rick Steves and Bradt guides with us for the various countries we were visiting. Hands down the Rick Steves guide became our travel bible as it was helpful, informative, easy to understand and perfectly portable. Not a day went by when we did not utilize it multiple times and others on our tour began using it as well. It covered every single place we went in detail (the other guides did not) and by the end of the trip we had visitied almost every place covered in the book, including Bosnia and Montenegro. The restaurant suggestions were all spot on as well and really helped since in many places there are so many places that it was hard to determine which one to choose. The other guides were good, provided more detailed maps and glossier pictures, but none of them even came close to the quality of information provided by the Steves book. If you are going to visit this part of the world then this book is a must have to take with you.

In preparing for a trip to Eastern Europe I picked up this book out of curiosity, although I was not planning to visit either of these two countries. Now I am! Rick Steves' enthusiasm for historical and natural sights, as well as for the people here, has opened a whole new world of interest for me. I only hope the countries are as fascinating as the book.

As in all of his books, Steves states his approach to travel clearly: he doesn't cover everything in both countries, just the "best" places, the best according to him, of course. If your tastes and orientation align with his (interesting, moderately priced travel, including as much local immersion as is reasonable), then you can rely on his books to provide the wonderful backbone of a great trip. For visiting places other than his "best" you will want a more comprehensive guide book, like Lonely Planet, in addition to (rather than instead of) his.

-Lynn Michelsohn, author of Roswell, Your Travel Guide to the UFO Capital of the World!

I carried this book through out the western Balkans and it never steered me wrong. It was easy to navigate and effortless to use. In contrast to other guidebooks, the print was easy to read with no small print to squint at. The itinerary suggestions helped me utilize my limited time in the best possible way. The restaurant reviews were spot on. I highly recommend this guidebook.

Absolutely wonderful, as expected. Another winner from Rick Steves!! This area is relatively new to tourism, but this guide is excellent and has information that is greatly useful!!

Rick Steves' guides were always my go-to guide when I travel throughout Europe. I do not go to Europe without it. This one, however, missed the mark. You can barely tell that Rick was even in Croatia or Slovenia. It seemed like someone from his staff wrote it.

For those not familiar with Rick's style, the strength in Rick's lies in his ability to cut to the chase on the highlights and gives you tips and suggestions on the best way to see them. It saves you time and ensures you see the highlights in the countries visited at the best time. I've always had much success following him and his suggestions.

But in this book, you don't see much of his style shine through. I don't think he wrote most of it. Take for instance, "Rick's" recommendation on how to explore Plitvice Lakes. If Rick was writing, he'd tell you that for those with time constraints, hit the upper lakes first and then the lower lakes and then explain why. This guide did not mention that or give any other suggestion. This is odd for Rick's style of book so I think this book may have been written by an associate.

I didn't compare this book to others written for the area. I usually look at the Eyewitness and Fodor's guides too but I didn't get them for this trip as I was running short on time and what a mistake that was.

First time I went to Europe since using Lonely Plant "On a Shoestring" series many years ago. Many (favorite) LPs to many Asian and Latin American countries later, I picked up this and the Budapest guides by Rick Steves, and - they were a revelation.

Engagingly written, first-hand, very useful and practical (even the hand-drawn maps), excellent background and historical information, easy to read, funny at times, packed with very useful suggested walking tours and itineraries - but what really sold me were his suggestions of really packed sunrise-to-sunset roadtrips, like from Dubrovnik to Montenegro, or to Mostar in Bosnia. As I glanced through the pages that included text like "I would leave at 8 in the morning and go ..." I could easily see myself writing the same guide for my friends to places I know very well, and when I actually drove these loops around Croatia, the book proved to be right on, and the author's voice - almost like of a trusted friend's.

The nightlife suggestions may be a bit tame and the restaurants sometimes skewed toward white tablecloth yet somewhat soulless places, and of course these guides are written by a traveler strictly for travelers - not by a local or an expat, who may potentially have some deeper insights - but overall for me as a traveler these guides proved to be priceless, particularly for a short vacation-length trip. I even kept reading the parts I didn't have time to read after returning from the trip.

UPDATE: A friend borrowed this guide for a similar trip, and wrote this:
"Much better then Lonely Planet - the guy actually has opinions while Lonely planet is so wishy-washy about all skippable places. And the history portion is much better."

We followed Rick's Book for 23 days late April-May and had a wonderful time. Truly like having an expert personal guide riding in the back seat. The good advise on how to rent a car without cross border charges paid for the book. We used a local company HM-Rent a car.HR .Good price and brought the cars to our hotel and picked them up there.

Rick offers informed judgments on the important sights. Perfect for a first visit. He does not try to offer a comprehensive, detailed single Country guide and criticizing him for that is unfair. He saves months of research by giving excellent advice on the "must sees".
There is no accounting for some people's taste (or right wing politics) and no one could bat a thousand but Rick is the best by far at what he does. We are experienced World Travelers and have come to trust and appreciate Rick's advice. Five stars for sure!

Six days driving around Slovenia was barely enough. Vintgar George is a walk not to be missed. The self-drive over Vrsic Pass, the Soca front, Kobarid and the Karst, were all memorable. We saw both caves. Skocjan's "Hall of the Mountain King" impressed me but my wife much preferred the easier walk, train ride and the beauty of Postojna.The "best tip" was the Hudicevec Farm. We never would have found it ourselves. Friendly family, bright room, excellent ample food, good house wine and a perfect base for two days to visit the caves, Lipica and Piran.

The train from Ljubljana to Zagreb,was the way to go. One day at Plitvice is plenty. On advise from a Croatian friend we skipped Istria and went to Zandar instead. Rick should consider adding it. Island walled City with Roman past. The only worthwhile tip we got from Lonely Planet was that the world's only sea organ there would be memorable and it was. The best meal we had on the trip was also there at Kornat, on the harbor.

We found Havar over priced and "touristy". A few hours would be enough. Korcula was great. Took a tour of the Island, which was well worth it. Rick's tip to use Korkyra Tours for the transfer to Dubrovnik did not "pan out". We booked an 8AM departure but found out on arrival that was changed to 6:30AM. Apparently the other three people had an early flight and did not want to wait for the 9AM ferry so they changed the schedule, which we did not appreciate. We did not want to get up in the dark and Korkyra had no help to offer except a 1,200 Kunas taxi. We found Petar Belic 091 569 3270 Badij2@net.hr. a taxi driver who took us for 900. Still a lot of money, but worth it for door-to-door service at a reasonable hour. The travel agency on the corner across from the market was much more help.

The "side trips" Rick recommended "made" our trip. Mostar and the stay in the Historic Bay's house was a great travel experience. The film about the bridge was a good tip. Mostar and the Bay of Kotor were Highlights of our trip. The art in the Lady of the Rocks church was special, the one Euro tour a bargain and the guide refused a tip. Two cruse ships were in and Kotar Town was a mess, no parking and hordes of clueless people
creating traffic jams ,so we did a "crawl by", and drove on. A break, because gave us enough time to enjoy Cetinje, which we thought necessary to get a sense of the Country. Nice University town with shady side walk cafes. We enjoyed the National Museum and the portraits of the King's daughters.

Sarajevo was beyond the scope of Rick's book but we included it. The pedestrian street is a time trip from 13th Century Turkey through WWI Vienna. The old City had real Bosnian BBQ food and Copper smiths and we learned about the years the City was under a siege that cost 10,000 lives. We recommend adding a one-night swing from Mostar to Sarajevo and back to the coast to your trip for a better understanding of Bosnia.

The last three days we stayed in Cavtat, which was a perfect base to enjoy Dubrovnik with a short (expensive) taxi trip to fly home. The 45-minute boat trip from Cavtat, is the only way to approach the city. We stayed at the Iberostar with a balcony view over the bay, very pleasant and relaxing way to end the trip. The dinner buffet was excellent.

We read a number of books about the Balkans, but Rick's was the one we carried with us and relied on throughout our trip.The sections on Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina were perfect for an introduction to those countries and a real "bonus".

Our trip to Eastern Europe (Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia) was too ambitious. Having been spoiled on northern European and Japanese trains, Rick misses the point completely. The distances between cities became a problem, despite careful planning. FIRST CLASS RAIL is the same as SECOND CLASS RAIL for all intent and purposes and the train schedules are absolutely horrible and slow. As a result, if one is not to rent a car (which is expensive and can difficult when you get to cities like Split - eg parking), then the recommendation should be to use DISCOUNT air travel, such as Wizz Air or GermanWings. That is, fly from Budapest and spend the night in Germany and then fly down to Ljubjana on super fares. The long trip across Hungary was not memorable - no food, no air conditioning, dirty train, and little scenery until you got to the beautiful country of Slovenia (when it was getting dark, of course). Then we made the fatal error of traveling from Rijecka to Pula - almost 4 hours by train that stopped at every country road crossing!

The real problem with the book is the bus travel within Croatia. Rick does not give you the logistics and realistic or pragmatic information. You will find it almost impossible to buy a bus ticket on the Internet (unless you know the language and can figure which bus line will do the journey). Bus companies don't accept credit cards. You buy the ticket at the station (hoping for space) and must wait two or three hours. Sitting around Dubrovnik's bus station away from the beaches and old town was not enjoyable. The buses are usually NOT express, meaning that they will take the winding, coastal highway. They stop frequently to pick up and discharge passengers. The 115 km trip between Dubrovnik and Split was easily five hours. At one point, we had 70 km signpost but we didn't take the toll road. So, the next signpost said 118 Km!

The accommodations and restaurants are good advice. The attractions are competently described.

Steves spends a lot of time talking about the ferry service but he needs to get more serious with the buses.

Rick & Co. does a great job of laying out what a visitor must see and do given different lengths of stays. Rick also brings up interesting places to visit. I hadn't thought about visiting Bosnia, but giving his suggestion of Mostar ended up being quite a delight on my vacation. It gave a completely different and intriguing flavor to my vacation that I hadn't anticipated. His restaurant recommendations are half bad either. Couldn't have made the trip without this book!