My first weekend trip of the semester was one for the books! If you’re new around here, welcome! My name is McKenzie better known as Styled by McKenz and I am a senior Fashion Merchandising student at Kent State University. This semester I am studying abroad in Florence, Italy while simultaneously taking advantage of every free second, traveling every chance I can get.
This weekend my roommates and I ventured off to Split, Croatia for our first full weekend trip and it was quite a success. We are still new to the whole “traveling around Europe” thing so we ended up booking our trip through Bus2Alps, a widely known travel agency amongst Florence’s study abroad students. They design discounted student trips to all kinds of destinations—Greece, Amalfi Coast, Morroco, and more.
I’m sitting down today to share all of the details of our weekend trip including what I wore, where we stayed, our full itinerary, and more. I’ll be posting these every weekend here, so stay tuned.
TRANSPORTATION
As I said, we’re still new to the “traveling around Europe” thing which is one of the main reasons we booked our first weekend trip with Bus2Alps. Each tour comes with roundtrip transportation from the Florence bus station, Piazzale Montelungo, and is led by a few twenty-something travel guides who speak English. Most people on your tour will be fellow study abroad students so this is an amazing way to meet new people from other programs.
Croatia is pretty far; we left Florence Thursday at 7:30 pm and arrived in Croatia at 7:00 am Friday. Thankfully the bus is rather spacious so we were able to stretch out and sleep the whole way there. There are bathrooms on board and they stop every four hours at a rest stop so that everybody can get up and walk around for a bit. We took the same bus back Sunday, arriving back in Florence around 10:30 pm.
WHERE WE STAYED
In addition to transportation, Bus2Alps also handles the housing aspect of things. We stayed in a hostel called En Route which was about a 10-minute walk to the beach and city square. This was our first time staying in a hostel so we were a little unsure of what to expect.
Our room had twenty different people in it, all of whom were traveling with Bus2Alps. We each had our own bunk area and a locker to store our belongings in. Bathrooms were communal, similar to how they are in a college dorm so I recommend bringing shower shoes and your own towel. It wasn’t the most ideal living situation but for two nights, we made do!
Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of it but it was relatively clean all around.
WHAT TO DO
Bus2Alps provided two optional activities for Friday, zip lining and white water rafting. The girls and I opted out of both and instead spent our free day by the beach. We’re trying to soak up every second of sunshine we can before the fall weather rolls in. The beach was just a ten minute walk from where were staying which was so ideal.
Beach Day
As soon as you reach shore there is a sandy beach however it wasn’t the prettiest and it was packed full of people even at ten am. We walked left until we hit a few different beach clubs and ended up paying roughly $20 for a chair and umbrella all day long. We were away from everyone and had the best view of the water. It was so peaceful!
Although over here there was no place to walk into the water, so to get in, we had to use the ladder or just jump. Despite being early September, the water was surprisingly still super warm, so we spent most of the day swimming in and out + relaxing in our chairs. There were a few beach bars around us however, drinks were nearly $20 a person. I recommend bringing your own drinks and snacks if you want to save a bit!
Explore The City Center
That evening we got dressed and headed into the city square. I’m not sure what I expected of Croatia, but this certainly wasn’t it. There was a beautiful street with all kinds of stores including popular favorites like Zara and Raybans mixed in between different restaurants and local artisans. We made sure to stop by the water to grab some pictures. It was gorgeous over here, especially as the sun was going down.
Dinner @ Skalinada Seafood & Steak
We ended up sitting down for dinner at a super cute spot we found along one of the side streets called Skalinada. This seafood and steakhouse had a ton of protein options which was just what I needed. I ended up getting one of their shrimp pastas and it was delicious. A super light pink sauce and thick noodles that were super yummy. I was a big fan; the girls all got seafood gnocchi!
Gelato Run
You know me; no day is complete without gelato. I can’t remember the name of the spot I stopped at but I ended up getting one scoop of mango to tie me over. It was delicious per usual. Lauren convinced us to stop and get a drink too. So fun!
Boating Tour
On Saturday, Bus2Alps was offering an optional boat tour for an additional 75 euros. I can never say no to a day on the water so, of course, we hopped on. We docked bright and early at 9:00 am and did not get back home until 7:00 pm so you definitely get your money’s worth + lots of time in the sun.
We spent about two hours sailing before making it to our first stop. We took so many pictures and mingled with some of the girls from other study abroad programs.
Our first stop was to the Blue Lagoons. This gorgeous “island” is only reachable by boat with an incredible seating area, a small shore to pop in and out of the water, and a few different restaurants. We had two hours here so we were able to get into the water and tan for a bit. This was also where we ate our included lunch—you could get chicken patty or fish + they served bottomless wine. It was truly so beautiful over here; I wish we could have stayed longer.
From there we set sail and about an hour later we made it to Dalmatia where we had an hour and a half to explore. We spent the entire time in the water swimming around, playing mermaids, and having handstand contests. The view was insane over here!
The rest of our boat tour was spent taking advantage of the bottomless bar on board and singing karaoke. Of course, the girls and I had to finish with Country Roads playing. It was a blast but boy were we pooped when we got off that boat. Needless to say, our night ended as soon as we got back to the hostel.
Krka National Park
Sunday morning we packed up our stuff from the hostel and loaded onto the bus. We made it to Krka National Park, our last stop of the weekend. We had four hours to explore these beautiful rainforests and waterfalls. This part of the trip reminded me so much of my time in Hawaii.
It was pouring so we ended up buying ponchos and spending part of our time exploring their area of food stands and souvenir shops. I got a Nutella crepe that was actually delicious and a postcard to keep up with my traveling traditions.
We said goodbye to Croatia and then hopped on the bus for the remainder of the day!
WHAT TO PACK
I wasn’t quite sure what to pack for Croatia because honestly, I wasn’t quite sure what we were going to be doing. I definitely overpacked but here’s what I actually needed/recommend bringing with you:
- swimsuit— On both Friday and Saturday I spent almost the entire day in the water. My white swimsuit was from Zaful and my pink floral one was from Kotomi. Lots of compliments on this one; it was my favorite!
- button up— Those same two days I wore a white linen button-up and a pair of denim shorts over top of my swimsuit as we were walking to and from our final destination. This seemed to be the norm as it’s what almost every other girl was wearing too, lol.
- beach bag— Don’t forget a tote of some sort to bring your belongings in. I’ve been using this straw tote from H&M almost every weekend since we got here. It’s one of my favorite pieces by far!
- portable charger— For pretty much all of these weekend trips, you need, and I mean need to bring a portable charger with you. These are lifesavers after a day away from your hostel as everyone’s phone is dying. I recommend getting an Anchor charger as they charge twice as fast as an Apple cord and have a huge battery life that lasts several uses. One of my best travel investments.
- shoes you can get dirty— On this Bus2Alps trip, everyone goes to the waterfalls. It says bring sneakers but what it really should say is bring shoes you can get dirty. I had my brand new white Converse on and it ended up being wet and muddy the entire trip. I so wish I had other shoes on that I didn’t care about ruining.
Friday night I wore the cutest pink bodysuit from Amazon with a white mini skirt. This bodysuit is an amazing dupe for my Skims bodysuit and is half the price. With my tried and true gold lace-up sandals (sadly years old) and my favorite crossbody purse, this was the cutest outfit for a dinner downtown.
For Sunday’s trip to the Krka waterfalls, I wore my all-time favorite workout romper from SheIn. I have this in four different colors now and it is hands down my favorite piece of clothing from them. This is an amazing dupe for the popular Aritzia romper that’s nearly $100 more. It sculpts and shapes, making you look amazing + it’s super comfortable for a day on the go. Cannot recommend this enough! I paired this with Converse and my Lululemon belt bag, another travel must-have!
TO NOTE BEFORE TRAVELING TO CROATIA
A couple of things to know before traveling to Croatia—they use their own currency called kuna. One kuna is equivalent to 13 American cents, therefore roughly 8 Kunas + $1. They are, however, transitioning to be a part of the European Union, meaning by January of 2023 they will adopt the euro. Most places here only take cash so make sure you come prepared. If you happen to forget, there are ATMs on every corner where you can exchange your money.
Most restaurants and stores have prices listed in both kunas and euros to make things easier to read.
They also have their own language, Croatian which is spoken by almost the entire population. However, like in many European countries, most people speak English too and can communicate with you on a basic level which is super helpful! We didn’t run into any communication issues while here!
WATCH THE WEEKEND
Want to see what our weekend in Croatia looked like on camera? I vlogged our entire trip and am sharing on YouTube today. Be sure to hit the subscribe button and stick around so that you don’t miss out on more travel vlogs every single week. xo
Well, that’s a wrap on our trip to Croatia! We had an amazing time and a shockingly smooth first weekend away. I’ve got a booked and busy September with trips to Venice, Germany, the Amalfi Coast, and Paris on the calendar.
Stay tuned for all of the fun. I’ve been a bit delayed with getting these blog posts up so if you’re interested to see what we’re up to in live time, make sure you’re following me on Instagram @styledbymckenz. Until then.
With love, McKenz
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