For my birthday this year, we decided that we wanted to head to a beach. The closest beach to us (within driving distance) is in the Netherlands. As much as I love the Netherlands, the water was still much too cold for my liking, even in early June. We found some affordable tickets on Ryanair to Croatia, which itself is a very affordable location, and off we went to spend four days on a beach relaxing.

We booked an apartment at the Horizont Resort in Verdula which claimed to be beachfront and sported a nice pool to boot. When we arrived, we found the resort was simply sprawling! there were apartment buildings scattered throughout trees and walkways. We were lucky that our apartment happened to be right in front of the mini-mart as well as a casual restaurant. The apartment itself was one bedroom, a bathroom with a shower, a living room, kitchenette and attached dining area. The sofa was also a fold out bed. It had a balcony as well that was huge and also had a few chairs and a table for lounging outside. We paid only €186 for the entire stay.

We decided to head out and explore the rest of the resort and find the beach. When I say sprawling, I mean sprawling. It was very long walk to the pool area from our apartment. We walked along the beach, which wasn’t really beach in the usual sense. It was a series of cliffs that were flat on the top and jutted out into the ocean, which splashed against them. There were spots that had pool railings built into the rocks to help you get down into the water. The sight was different than anything I had ever seen before, and while not the beach I was expecting, it was very beautiful nonetheless. We did find a nice, broad, open expanse of rock were the water splashed up over the top and created small tide pools of water. We took our daughter there, who has just recently turned one, to play in the small puddles of water.

 

 

We finally found the pool which also had seating areas that included rentable lounge chairs on one side and big comfy sofas and tables on the other. Food and drinks were available as well. There is the main pool, then also a wading pool for children. Most things there were for rent, like the lounge chair, umbrellas, even towels. We weren’t entirely sure, but it even seemed that you had to pay to use the pool. I can’t really be sure because the translation of the sign was a bit difficult to understand. Either way, I was determined to find a beach.

We walked all the way back around along the waterfront, passing a few places that were under renovation and a restaurant overlooking the ocean, and we finally came to a pebbly beach (which is pretty common for beaches in Europe). We hung out there for most of the day, snorkeling and playing.

The next day we took a walk over to Hawaiian Cove Beach, passing a few other beach inlets with bars and play areas set up. The walk was about 20 minutes, but I had seen pictures of Beach Hawaii and I wanted to see it in person. We took a sunshade as well since it was pretty hot and the sun was strong. Beach Hawaii isn’t a huge beach, mostly an inlet type area, but it was beautiful! The water was crystal clear and warm enough for swimming. With goggles, I could clearly see little fish swimming underneath me and the water was quite buoyant so floating was very easy. So you can guess where we spent most of the day!

The next day, and our last full day, we took a boat tour up the coast of Croatia. It was scheduled to rain some later in the afternoon, so we booked for that day since laying on a beach may not be as fun in the drizzle. I should have taken a photo of the company we went through for the boat tour, as I can’t remember now! We were approached by a gentleman when we were walking through the resort and he asked us if we would like to sign up for the tour. We were skeptical at first but after talking to him and seeing his credentials we agreed and paid a very small deposit for the bus ride from the hotel to the boat, where we would pay the rest upon boarding. It was a day-long trip that included lunch, a tour of the inlet up the coast, as well as two stops in other towns in Croatia. We paid about 500 kuna, which was about $70, for the three of us.

After seeing the inlet (which boasted many the nudist colony) we had our seafood lunch then made our first stop in Rovinj. This was my favorite stop. The city was absolutely beautiful! We found a hidden spot to stop for a quick drink as well. Although the boat offered a tour guide for the city, we decided to go off exploring on our own.

Our next stop was the port town of Vrsar. We walked the waterfront, grabbed some ice cream, and even took a quick dip in the water.

Afterwards, we boarded the boat and headed back to Pula.

Pula was a great trip, especially since it was pretty affordable. I would recommend a trip there is you need to escape to a beach but don’t want to break the bank!