This blog post is a featured submission from one of our awesome subscribers! James and his girlfriend recently got back from an amazing trip to Croatia, and they were nice enough to share their story — along with some beautiful photos!

My girlfriend and I took a trip to Croatia, with short stops into Italy, Montenegro and Spain. It was an AMAZING trip full of adventure, great food, and an plenty of relaxation time.

We started in Rome for three days before moving on to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This city has a nice combination of old and new, as modern experiences are mixed in with Dubrovnik's Old Town and lifestyle.

We stayed in an Airbnb about a two-minute walk from the Ploce Gate of the Old Town. This ended up being an outstanding location and made it easy to get to Old Town, as well as access the Dubrovnik city bus lines.

Old Town is a primary attraction in Dubrovnik, as it is enclosed by stone/brick walls. It holds museums, restaurants, bars, shops, churches, art, and much more. You can access Old Town by walking through two gates, as there are no cars allowed within the walls. It is a one-of-a-kind town!

Outside the walls, there are many beaches around Dubrovnik. The water is crystal clear and many of the beaches have a combination of sand and small pebbles/rocks. We chose to walk about 20 minutes from Old Town to go to Sveti Jakov beach, as it is slightly less crowded than the most popular beach called Banje. This ended up being a great decision, as it was much quieter and relaxing than Banje beach, which is located right outside of the walls of Old City.

At Sveti Jakov beach, there is a restaurant and bar where you can purchase food and beverages, as well as the ability to rent lounge chairs and umbrellas.

We spent one day visiting the Island Lokrum which is located right off of the coast of the Dubrovnik Old Town. You can purchase ferry tickets at the Old Town docks or rent kayaks and journey over there. During our time there, we went to a couple "beaches" (mostly rocky areas but swimming areas), hiked the island, and explored. If you enjoy the outdoors, this is a quality way to spend a morning or afternoon.

With the border of Croatia and Montenegro only 40 minutes away from Dubrovnik, we chose to take a bus to the bay town of Kotor, Montenegro.

If we did it all over again, we would have just rented a car to drive there. The bus was late and completely packed, so it was not a good start to our trip to Kotor. However, once there, it ended up being a nice day and interesting town to explore.

It is similar to Dubrovnik with an Old City enclosed by walls and beaches around edges of the bay. We had one of our best meals of the trip at a place called Tanjga, which was located two blocks north of the Kotor bus station. The food was extremely fresh, and the serving sizes were massive. We each ordered an entree, but we easily could have just shared one.

When back in Dubrovnik, we hiked to the mountaintop to watch the sunset. The hike was approximately 45 minutes long and a little bit physically demanding. If you would prefer to not hike, you can buy tickets to ride the Dubrovnik Cable Car which is really popular. We rode the cable car on the way down which was both scenic and convenient, as you can see the entire city and it drops you off about two blocks north of Old Town.

Overall, our entire trip was fantastic, with Dubrovnik being the focal point. We both highly recommend going to Dubrovnik and exploring everything the area has to offer!

Contributing Author Credit: James Haring, @jharing40