Croatia Travel Blog

Archive for November, 2009

If you build it they will come–play golf in Croatia. Except ‘they’ haven’t yet been flocking to play golf on the 18-hole course just opened by the Kepinski Hotel Adriatic in Savudrija. The Istrian coast is not exactly balmy in winter so the Kepinski folks may have to wait until spring before the greens are full of golfers. Still, the mammoth spa and wellness centre attached to this luxury hotel should attract guests throughout the winter.

Now Dubrovnik wants in on golf tourism. Golf legend Jack Nicklaus helped design the Kepinski course? Today, golf legend Greg Norman is presenting his design for a golf course atop Srd Hill overlooking Dubrovnik’s Old Town. The project would be worth nearly 900,000 euros if accepted and Mr. Norman would stand to gain significantly as he is one of the investors.

As in Istria, the golf course would be part of a vast luxury resort targeted at the most well-heeled travellers. Golf courses are heavily dependent on the tourism that they are designed to attract because, as it turns out, very few Croatians play the game.

Read more about golf in Croatia or more about the Kepinski Hotel Adriatic.

Since my last post in September on flights to Dubrovnik more airlines have issued their 2010 schedules on flights to Dubrovnik.

The British low cost company Jet2.com will inaugurate  flights from Manchester to Dubrovnik. From 26 April until 31 October it will operate service twice per week. New  flights between Edinburgh and Dubrovnik  will operate from 26 April until 3 October.

Norwegian Air Shuttle is introducing in 2010 a  weekly service between Dubrovnik and Copenhagen.

Germanwings will inaugurate in 2010 a weekly service between  Dubrovnik and Hamburg.

Several airlines are increasing the number of flights on already existing routes to Dubrovnik. Spanish national airline Iberia which announced that the  Dubrovnik – Madrid route will operate five times per week instead of this year’s three times per week. Vueling, a Spanish low cost carrier, will operate daily flights from Dubrovnik to Barcelona throughout the summer. Lufthansa is increasing frequencies on Dubrovnik – Munich route to twice weekly in the next summer season, as well as Finnish airline Blue1 which will operate twice weekly on Dubrovnik – Helsinki route throughout the 2010 summer season.

See more on flights to Dubrovnik and on cheap flights to Croatia.

It was one of Croatia’s more grandiose infrastructure plans. The idea was to construct a bridge connecting the Peljesac peninsula with the mainland thereby eliminating the need to drive through Bosnian territory. What? Bosnian territory? Yes, the Dayton Peace Accords signed in 1995 provided that Bosnia-Hercegovina should have an outlet to the sea. Bosnian territory extends down to the port of Neum which means that you must pass through Bosnian territory if you drive the coastal road from Split to Dubrovnik.

Although it worked well, Croatia became uncomfortable with the arrangement and came up with the idea of bypassing Bosnian territory by building the aforesaid bridge. It was to be four lanes wide and the second longest bridge in Europe. The plan came under criticism almost immediately as an expensive boondoggle design to line the pockets of politically-connected contractors.

Now with the Croatian economy sagging, plans for the Biggest Bridge have been put on the back burner. The government has just announced that construction will be slowed and a new bridge is not likely before 2015.

So for now, get your passports out for when you pass the Bosnian checkpoint at Neum. See more about driving the Croatian coast.