I am traveling to Croatia and Slovenia at the end of April and into May. What follows is the path my trip will take. Each location I am staying at is in BOLD, and day trip locations are in italic. I am driving to all the locations so stops between are possible as well. Obviously, I will need to heavily moderate to avoid making this a terrible trip. So here are the questions. Any locations that you consider must stop at or simply recommend as good options? Any breweries to keep an eye out for on menus? Any beer-related can't miss experiences? Any must-try beers, even terrible ones for perspective or some sort of historical context? Zagreb Lake Bled Julian Alps Logar Valley Rovinj Pula Motovun Plitvice Lakes Split Dubrovnik
It's been quite a few years since I have been to either of those locations. When I was there it was standard Balkan style lagers, Lasko' Pivo, Union, etc.,(craft beer hadn't taken off yet). I have read that Zagreb craft beer scene has grown w/ plenty of options. As far as Slovenia, I would suggest researching Ljubljana. I assume being the largest city in the country, it would provide the best craft options, (plus, it's a very nice place to visit). If you're interested in non-beer adventures & enjoy history, I would highly recommend a visit to the town of Kobarid in western Slovienia , on the Italian border. The Kobarid area was in the middle of the WWI eastern front & holds so much history from that time. There is an outstanding WWI museum in Kobarid & many sites to visit around the small town. Hemingway's Farewell to Arms novel was based on his time spent in the area during the war. Enjoy your trip, all of the locations/cities you have chosen are beautiful, (Bled & Dubrovnik are absolutely picturesque).
In Zagreb, Pivnica Pinta, Tolkien's House, and The Beertija all look like quality options. Beer-wise, I can recommend Kabinet and Valjevsko (draft/can only). Carniola Brewery is near Lake Bled in Žirovnica.
Seems like a good itinerary. I'm from Zagreb and things have changed a bit from my last report. Best places in town are Ambasada and Goblet beer shops and Valhalla bar which is located right in the city center. You can drink in both Ambasada and Goblet since they have room to sit and beer on tap. Valhalla can be stuffy if you're sitting inside (they do have a patio) since smoking is allowed. Medvedgrad Ilica is one of the pubs from Medvedgrad which is considered to be craft before craft here in Croatia. Beautiful beer garden in the back. Mlinarica brewpub is easily reachable from city center and worth visiting, good food and beer. Breweries are scattered in the suburbs, but reachable by Uber/Bolt. Zmajska has a nice taproom. New Garden brewery taproom might be opened before your visit. As far as the breweries go look for Nova Runda, Pulfer, Zmajska. I'd be more than happy to have a beer with you and walk you through some of this places. I did some beer blogging and know most of the brewers and people from beer community. Also if you want to trade some beers or can bring some as proxy please let me know. I'll write something about rest of the places later on.
Not sure what your route in Slovenia is going to be. Reservoir Dogs has a nice taproom. Consider visiting Postojna or Skocjan cave. Hoppiness in Koper is a good bar. San Servolo brewery in Istria should be a nice place. Don't expect ]superb beers though. Consider visiting Majerovo Vrilo after Plitvička jezera. There is a very good pizzeria there called Ruspante. Not that familiar with Split. Tap B and Screws & Brews look like solid places. There are Dubrovnik Beer Company and Glam Cafe in Dubrovnik.
Funny you mention it, I have Kobarid as a potential stop on the day we are driving around the Julian Alps. I wanted to check out Bovec kitch'n for food and have a beer from Thirsty River in Bovec, maybe grab one to go for the car train later. I do enjoy WW history, particularly I. I had planned to stop and try to see Fort Kluže and Hermann as well as the open-air museum at Kolovrat. Also plan on hitting the waterfall near Kobarid.
Bovec is a neat little hipster town, it reminds me of small scale Colorado ski villages. Very outdoor adventure community!! It is on the mountain drive from Bled to Kobarid. The Socha River & waterfall outside of Kobarid is absolutely beautiful w/ its aqua green color. Enjoy your trip, you're headed to a fantastic area. Please report back on your adventures.
Seems like you’ll have most of Croatia well covered in this trip and tour. I stayed in Rabac, a small and gorgeous coast town in Istria a number of years ago. Pula was good too, and the Plivitze lakes and falls are a must seen although be sure to be ready for a long and difficult walk. Worth the efforts for sure. Well, I know this isn’t the LonelyPlanet forums and I’m supposed to talk more about beers and breweries. I certainly had quite some pivo then of which I can’t remember the names, and nearly eight years later the craft scene as most everywhere must be different and probably better too. All I remember re: beers was sitting on a terrace and asking for whatever Pivo the bar had and never was disappointed.
I meant to follow up on this sooner, sorry it took so long. Trip was great. Slovenia was really special; such great natural attractions and two great WWI sites. Like I've heard from others, Bled is nice, but the other lake South of it was better. Croatia was also pretty great. From Zagreb to Rovinj to Plitvice to Dubrovnik, so many great sites of all sorts to enjoy. I could go on forever about the trip, but almost all of Croatia lived up to the hype and then some, and Slovenia is super under hyped (get there while you can). Beer Met a solid gent in Zagreb and traded some great beers. As I was warned, there is a clear difference between most places serving beer and the few places really into beer. Local, craft etc, 95% of the time you'll get something you may not be familiar with, but ends up being pretty similar to the rest and boring, often owned by some big beer company. But, when you do find the real beer places, both places, especially Croatia, have some legit great beers. Most of these are in the big cities, but if you look hard you can find them other places. It feels like a frontier beer scene that is getting good, but also learning and experimenting. The breweries involved clearly have a passion to grow the scene. My favorite place was Glam bar in Dubrovnik. Small and half way up one if the many small side alleys. Frequent changes to the selection and plenty of true craft options. Went there every night and had at least 3-4 different beers. Best I tried, Garden Brewery Imperial Salted Caramel & Chocolate Biscuit Stout and Nova Runda Mojito Berliner. Also an Italian snuck in and amazed, Alder Beer. Here is a link to my Instagram post about the beers if you want a little more detail. https://www.instagram.com/p/CduDQ4wrfpD/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Thanks again for all the advice and feedback.
Just a bump - I will be Dubrovnik for 8 days starting early October. Any more suggestions on Beer, restaurants, can't miss experiences, please let me know. Thanks!
