A guesthouse two hundred metres from the beach in Baška Voda, coach straight from Kysuce.
-12 %
This is the trip people come back to. Eight years running, in the case of Vlado from Skalité. The Jurić family guesthouse stands in Baška Voda, two hundred metres from a beach that is pebble rather than sand, which is why the water stays clear and never clouds up. Water shoes are worth it and cost seven euros in town.
The rooms are simple and clean: balcony, air conditioning, a view either of the sea or of the Biokovo massif behind you. Breakfast is a buffet, dinner is three courses, and Ivana, who cooks, does grilled fish on Wednesdays and pašticada, beef braised for six hours, on Fridays. The restaurant terrace sits under pine trees, so nobody eats in an air conditioned hall.
There is no programme. That is on purpose. Most days you do as you please: swim, sit on the promenade, sleep in the afternoon. Our guide Ivan stays on site all week and offers three excursions, which are not in the price because we do not want people who plan to lie on the beach paying for them. The first goes up Biokovo to Sveti Jure at 1762 metres and the glass skywalk, from which on a clear day you can see across to Italy. The second is a boat day to Hvar and Brač, home to Zlatni rat, the beach that changes shape with the wind. The third is Split, where the Diocletian palace is not a museum but a working quarter with cafés inside Roman walls. The coach from Turzovka takes about eleven hours and we travel overnight, so you do not lose a day at the sea. In July and August Baška Voda runs at 33 degrees and the town is full. In June and September the water is 24, there is room on the promenade and you pay ninety euros less. Decide by whichever bothers you more.
We meet at 19:00 in Turzovka, with pickups in Čadca, Žilina and Trenčín. The route crosses Hungary and inland Croatia and we reach the border before dawn. Two longer breaks, one around midnight near Zagreb. The coach has a toilet and air conditioning.
We arrive around ten in the morning. Rooms are only ready at two, so we leave the bags and head straight to the beach two hundred metres away. Check in follows in the afternoon, with the first dinner at seven and a briefing from Ivan on the optional trips.
A free day. Nikolina beach has shade under the pines, a sunbed costs 12 EUR a day and the grass is free. In the early evening you can walk the coastal path to Makarska, five kilometres along the shore, or take the small boat for three euros.
Anyone interested leaves at seven by minibus for Biokovo. The road has 42 hairpins and is not for people afraid of heights. The summit, Sveti Jure, is at 1762 metres and even in August it hovers around 15 degrees. We are back by two, with the afternoon at the sea. Cost 35 EUR.
We sail at eight from Makarska harbour. The morning is Hvar, with its fortress above the port, followed by a swim stop in open water. The afternoon is Brač and Zlatni rat beach. Lunch on board is included in the 55 EUR price. Back by six in the evening.
Nothing is planned. Rent a paddleboard on the beach for 10 EUR an hour if you want, or sleep if you do not. In the early evening Ivan usually takes anyone who is interested up to Konoba Danica above town, where they make their own fig brandy.
We leave at nine for an hour long drive. The Diocletian palace, the cathedral of Saint Domnius and the fish market, which opens at seven. Free time for lunch and shopping, back by five. The trip costs 25 EUR including the guide. The last shared dinner is that evening.
Breakfast and check out by ten. Bags stay at the guesthouse, so you get another half day by the sea, with a shower before the road. If you want, buy olive oil or lavender soap at the market from the growers themselves. We leave at 16:00 and reach Turzovka around three in the morning, and we will text you the exact time from the road.
We email you when the price of this tour drops. Nothing else.
Give us a ring. We built this trip ourselves, so we can answer things the itinerary does not cover.
+421 918 473 422 Get in touchEight days around southern and western Iceland cost me 1,480 euros in budget mode. Here is the entire spreadsheet, plus the comfortable version at double the price.
In Morocco taking photos is a social act, not just a technical one. Here is what ten tours taught me, including the day I got thrown out of a shop.
Dimensions, weights and liquids without guesswork. The routine I use on every tour, including the mistakes that cost me money.
