Croatia

We flew from Zurich to Dubrovnik with Swiss Air in the afternoon (3pm departure) and a 2.5 hour flight. Flying within Europe is like flying within Australia – you don’t need to be there 3 hours before your flight, probably only 1.5 hours and could get away with an hour depending on the airport size and time of the day for travel.

First stop when we arrived in Dubrovnik was picking up our car from Enterprise. I was so hesitant with booking cars in Europe because I had read so many horror stories online. For 7 days, the car hire cost only $282! This wasn’t with any additional insurance though, as we made sure we had car insurance covered in our travel insurance. Despite my reluctance with the car hire, the guy who served us was so friendly and reassuring, it really put us at ease immediately. When he greeted us, he said that I looked like someone who has done this before and of course he wouldn’t make me sign the paperwork without seeing the car first. The lady who showed us around the car then checked for any additional, unmarked damage and took photos, also adding the scratches that I had pointed out (like the rims). We took additional photos too just in case. The hold on the account though was something ridiculous (€1000), so make sure you have enough money in your account for that!

After picking up our car, we were on our way to our first destination in Dubrovnik (outside the city walls). The drive into Dubrovnik was incredible – the view of the city (with the orange rooftops) and the city walls as you’re driving down was priceless. Unfortunately there wasn’t anywhere safe to stop to take in the views. We are so glad we had accommodation away from the city walls as we found out there’s really strict travel zones which incur ridiculous fines if you enter them. We checked into our accommodation then ventured to the walls on a 20mins walk and grabbed dinner at Soul Kitchen. We found Dubrovnik restaurants to be comparable to Australia in pricing and definitely cheaper than Switzerland! The first night we got some vegetarian tacos and a vegetarian burger for about $60. We stopped by the supermarket on the way home, to find a residential cat sleeping on one of the cars (and absolutely no room between the cars to even walk through let alone open your car door [avoid parking here if you can]), and bought a few groceries. These ended up being insanelyyyy cheap!!! Chocolate, fruit, yoghurt, granola, cheese, and bread – all of which would have cost about $40 back home, only cost about $15 here.

The next morning we were excited to get a coffee again after only drinking instant coffee for a week. So after doing my research, we ventured into the walls (climbing up and down some very steep stairs in the process) and grabbed a coffee at Cogito coffee. Important to note: their Americanos are only served with one shot. So if you want two shots, you have to pay for an extra shot (at an outrageous price of €1.5-€2 per shot!!!). Or just ask for a double espresso. We then explored inside the beautiful city walls. The main street, The Stradun, is stunning – the flooring was these immaculate, polished limestone tiles that felt so smooth to walk on. While walking around, we managed to stumble across a really cool market where we bought local salt for everyone back home. One of the things we looked at doing, but decided against, was walking the city walls because of the cost – €40 ($67) each. If you get the Dubrovnik pass, it does give you access to museums as well as the walls, but we were very clear in our intentions for Europe that we didn’t overly care for the history of places. Our priorities were mainly walking around, shopping for souvenirs or gifts for people back home, beaches, coffee, and any other traditional hands-on experiences. So that is what we did in the afternoon – we grabbed an insane focaccia from Panini Bar Franco Romano and then walked 35mins to Plaza Belvedere. Before residing on the beach, we stopped at ‘the cattery’ which, you guessed it, was a place filled with cats!! We then found two other people who were trying to find the same beach we were, but with a car, so they offered us a lift to the beach. Unfortunately for them though, they had already driven through a restricted travel zone and undoubtedly copped a fine.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at this beach, getting some colour, before heading back to the walls where I grabbed another coffee from Life of Kawa. The shop itself was really cute, selling unique gifts, but not overly cheap. I think my coffee cost €5 ($8) for a black coffee. On our way back to the accommodation, we stopped by the super scenic basketball court within the walls to watch the sunset. Highly recommend visiting this if you’re in Dubrovnik. We made dinner (you guessed it, pasta!) in our apartment before heading out for gelati at Peppino’s Gelato Garden.  

We only had two nights in Dubrovnik so before checking out on the Wednesday, we grabbed a coffee from Cogito again and then got a few snacks for our 3 hour drive to Split. I still, to this day, do not understand the speed signs in Croatia. They say not to rely on Google Maps or the car’s GPS, but there’s also no signs that clearly indicate the speed. I mean, we got overtaken by a bus!!! But I was going by the last road sign which was 50km/h. Update: I finally realised that once you leave a town and there’s the town’s name with a cross through it, it means the speed limit is 80-90km/h. As soon as you enter a town, the speed limit is automatically 50km/h. They also have speeds for corners, but I think that is just the turning speed and not the actual speed limit. Hope that helps someone else who plans to drive in Croatia!

About 90minutes into our drive, we came across a lot of roadside stalls by the Neretva River Delta which were selling fresh juices and other citrus-based goods as this area is extremely fertile for farmers. We finally pulled over to grab a bottle of orange juice, only to be charged €10 for a 1L bottle! I would love to say it was the best orange juice we’ve ever had but it was not…it was extremely tart and well, probably not worth the $16! After another hour of driving, we got hungry again so decided to stop in a city called Makaska. But it was a ghost town. Jas was desperate for a toilet and the only one we could find required a euro coin to enter (and we didn’t have any cash on us). The cafes we went to were closed or didn’t serve food, so we ended up going to a supermarket with the unfriendliest staff, buying a roll and some sliced cheese and eating that. A disappointing detour to say the least.

We arrived at our Airbnb in the afternoon, checked in, and went out to explore Split’s old town which was about a 20mins walk from our accommodation. Split’s old town is a lot more open than Dubrovnik’s encased old town in which apparently only 1500 Croatians reside (due to overtourism numbers). The waterfront of Split’s old town, Riva Split, is lined with restaurants overlooking the beach. Be warned though, it isn’t the best place to relax due to the intense sulfuric smell! The other main street, Marmontova Ulica (Marmont Street), is made from white marble and again, is incredibly pleasant to walk on! After exploring for a bit over an hour, we decided on an incredible pizza place called Portas Pizza (yes I know, not very Croatian, but admittedly there wasn’t a lot of Croatian food that was vegetarian friendly!).  One of the highly rated restaurants in Split was Villa Spiza – a family run tavern which is extremely sought after for its handwritten menus and local produce. Unfortunately the local produce features a lot of fish and meat!

On our walk back to our Airbnb, we stumbled across four incredibly cute kittens and their very protective mother! We spent about 30mins trying to entice them to come out and then proceeding to play with them on the sidewalk before finally venturing home (sidenote: there are a lottttt of cats in Croatia, it’s great!). When we got back to the apartment, we looked up boat tours for the next day. A lot of our planning for this holiday was done the night before, but with tours like this, I would advise looking at them further in advance because they do sell out. We managed to find one tour on Viator that didn’t go through Trogir, but went to the blue lagoon, a village, and another island. We booked the 2pm timeslot, but shortly after our booking, we received a text stating that they weren’t running the afternoon timeslot and asked if we wanted to go on the morning tour instead. Because we didn’t have many other options, we agreed and paid $214 (for both of us) for a 5-hour speedboat tour. In hindsight, we would have loved to have booked the 5-island and blue cave boat tour but they were all booked out when we were looking (we also thought we only had two nights in Split so the Thursday was our only day to book…turns out we had three nights so we could have booked it for the Friday…whoops). Also important to note – the blue cave requires an additional entrance fee on top of the boat tour, to be paid in cash, on your arrival. Depending on the season, it’s either €18 (during the off season) or €24 ($40) during the spring and summer season. You also are no longer allowed to swim in the cave given the high traffic that frequents the area.

On our way to the boat tour, we stopped at kava² to start our morning the right way (with a brilliant coffee) and this place did not disappoint! The boat tour started at 9am from the esplanade and took us to a cute village, Maslinica, 30mins away. The itinerary originally had us going to the blue lagoon first, but they changed the order of the day so we could go when it was slightly warmer, not that it made much difference! At our first stop, we ventured around the Martinis Marchi Castle (which is now a luxury hotel) while some others grabbed a coffee and a bite to eat. Admittedly we didn’t end up doing too much as Jas took some travel sickness tablets which worked a bit too well…so much so they actually knocked her out and she needed to take a nap haha. We stayed here for about an hour before getting back on the boat and heading to the blue lagoon – our first swimming spot.

IMPORTANT! Although May is a great time to visit in regards to it being less busy than the peak season, the water is FREEZING! I don’t mind cold water, actually, I love a refreshing dip, but that’s usually under the provision that there’s an opportunity to get warm afterwards. The water was apparently 16 degrees…fine for a quick dip, not okay for prolonged swimming. And this was the main snorkelling place too. Which was stunning given all of the fish, but limiting because of how cold the water was. When we were there, in mid-May, there were about 10 other boats there. In peak summer, apparently there’s over 200 boats in that same area!

After our swim, we tried to thaw out on the back of the boat in the sun…but unfortunately the 18 degree sunshine wasn’t doing much to dry our bathers nor warm our skin. I was freezing. Despite having a jumper, I couldn’t get warm. We had one final stop at Ciovo Island which was another place we were permitted to swim at yet no one did because they were still shivering from the previous swim! So we found somewhere to lie down and try to absorb whatever sun rays we could. We arrived back at Split around 2pm and went to grab lunch at Foccacina Sandwich Bar and our second coffee at KaKantun coffee. The focaccias were elite here so we only ate half before heading off to another beach (Plaza Obojena) in attempt to warm up in the sun.

For dinner, we cooked for ourselves but went out in the evening (after having a very warm shower!) to Emiliana Gelati – a highly rated gelati place. We were so glad that we had the extra night here as it just allows you to relax rather than having to pack up again and get back on the road. So for the Friday, we explored the Green Market after grabbing a coffee at 4 coffee and a cinnamon scroll and bread at Kruščić bakery – a bakery renowned for only using a few ingredients in their bread. The scroll was delicious, the bread, not so much. It was so dense that it was hard to eat…although nothing that a slathering of Nutella and banana couldn’t fix! Admittedly, we didn’t really know what to do with ourselves on this day as we didn’t have anything planned and it wasn’t really warm enough to go to the beach. So we continued to explore the shops, went to VEG (a plant based restaurant) for lunch and then to the café that our Airbnb host recommended…Kavana coffee. The view was excellent, the atmosphere and coffee? Not so much. It was a shisha bar so the indoors smelt of smoke. But we sat outside and I did some writing while Jas did some drawings. After politely getting moved on for taking up a table and only ordering one espresso, we went back to our apartment to make dinner again and watch a movie. Which we paused halfway through to watch the sunset at Marjan Hill and Teraca Vidilica and…visit the kittens again! Safe to say I was missing my fur babies back home.

Our original plan on the Saturday was to go to Krka waterfalls on our way to Zadar, but with entrance fees at €20 per person in spring and €40 per person in summer, we couldn’t justify it. Many people advised that if you had to choose between Krka waterfalls or Plitvice Lakes, they would opt for the latter because there’s a lot more to see and do so it’s better value for your money. Also, it was pouring rain. So instead, we grabbed a coffee at kava² again, had our dense bread for breakfast, and stopped off at Trogir to explore the markets and the old town in the pouring rain. The roads and footpaths were flooded so we didn’t stay too long – just long enough to buy some local salt for Jas’s sister and then drove on to Zadar.  After checking in to our Airbnb, we ventured out to explore the city including visiting an intimate (tiny) record shop and stopping at Kavi coffee to watch the men’s champion’s league final between Arsenal and PSG (in which Arsenal devastatingly lost in penalties). Our next stop was dinner at the Botanist – an incredible vegan restaurant with a really beautiful story about four brothers who started this restaurant. The food here was outstanding too – probably the best vegan burger I’ve ever had. After dinner, we waited for sunset to watch the light show and listen to the sea organ – a unique art piece designed by Nikola Bašić. On our way home, I managed to get hit on by a Croatian asking if Jas and I were mother and daughter, before being told that he could show me a ‘really good time’ later. Swerve. Despite this failed invitation, I never really felt unsafe in Croatia but I suspect if I was travelling alone that might be different.

On Sunday, we had a very early start in order to get to Plitvice Lakes before most of the tourist buses got there (around 10:30am) so we got up at 6 and left by 7. We drove to grab a coffee from the café we went to the day before, Kavi, as they were the only café that was open at 7am…only to find out that they weren’t open until 8 despite both their Google hours and hours on their door stating that they were open from 7. Good coffee was hard to find in Croatia so we had to make do with a terribly made coffee from a bakery. The drive took us about 2 hours because we opted for the scenic (and non-toll road) route. In order to know which car park to direct ourselves to, we had to first choose our walking route. Plitvice lakes has many different walking trails, perfect for all different levels of fitness and time constraints. After doing some research, we opted for Route H, a 9km walk starting from entrance 2.

Tickets can be pre-purchased before arriving and are again, not cheap. Twenty-three euro per person in the shoulder seasons (April-May) and €40 per person during peak season (June-September) whilst only €10 during the low season. When you buy your tickets, you have to select a time slot and you have an hour to enter during that time. We selected a 9am time slot and entered at about 9:45. Make sure you go to the bathroom or get rid of any rubbish before you start your walk as there’s nowhere along the trails for a toilet break or bins to discard of your rubbish.

The trails are really clearly marked so it’s hard to get lost! Route H starts with a shuttle bus to the upper lakes before you start descending along the trail over boardwalks and through incredible views. Honestly, Plitvice Lakes was as stunning as Switzerland. Everywhere you looked, the lakes were a pristine blue with luscious greenery around. You aren’t allowed to swim here (as it’s a national park – same now with Krka waterfalls) but the views are worth the money. It’s not something you want to rush either – we probably spent about 5 hours walking at a leisurely pace, stopping frequently to take in the incredible views (and to wait for others on the narrow paths to take in the views too). Because of the narrow paths, that’s why they advise getting their earlier in the day – to enjoy some form of serenity before it becomes overwhelmed by tourists. During this particular trail, you end up taking a boat across Lake Kozjak (which you would walk if you did the longer trail K) and end up at P1 by the lower lakes where you then continue the rest of your trek. We had our lunch here before finishing off the rest of our walk.

On our way back to our car, we grabbed a canned coffee (I grabbed a canned americano and Jas a disgusting caramel latte) as the local café didn’t look overly promising. We then commenced what was supposed to be a 2 hour drive to Zagreb but ended up taking us nearly 3 because we opted, again, for no tolls. THIS WAS A MISTAKE! We did this not just to save money (as we didn’t know how much the tolls would cost), but also because we didn’t know how the tolls worked and it was only supposed to add about 10mins on to our journey. The backroads we went on were not user friendly – no speed limits, very narrow, and not always paved.

We finally arrived at our final accommodation which we booked on Booking.com and it was incredible! A little flat at the back of a family’s house, where a Dad who didn’t speak any English, greeted us and helped carry our bags into the room. Not only was the apartment stunning, it also came equipped with an infrared light sauna! The hosts left us a platter of cheese and meats (which we obviously didn’t eat) and some bread, jam and butter. One of the most hospitable stays we had and only for $80 for one night too!

Before getting too settled, we decided to return the car at night rather than dealing with it in the morning. Reading online (which I would advise against), a lot of people recommend returning rental cars the night before rather than during after hours in the morning as you’re still held liable for the car even after you’ve returned it. I was concerned (because of what I had read online and past experiences with rental companies) that we were going to be accused of damage to the car that we didn’t do. So we opted to avoid this stress and dropped it off on the Sunday night then proceeded to walk 1.5 hours back to our apartment. It was such a warm and peaceful evening so the walk (surprisingly) went quickly.  

Because of our 6am flight to Trondheim, we pre-booked a trip with Lyft to collect us at 4:15am so that we would be at the airport by 4:30 – this was probably earlier than we needed, but we would rather that than stress about being late and missing our flight. Next stop, Ida! And Norway!

Travel notes summarised:

· Booking in May is great to avoid crowds, but not great to enjoy the weather. If I ever went back to Croatia, I’d advise going at the end of summer where the weather and water are warmer. A lot of shops also aren’t open in the shoulder seasons

· Groceries are cheap, but activities are not. Croatia has only been doing tourism for the last 20 or so years so they still aren’t sure how to price things – so they overcharge. Expect to pay €40 for a lot of activities you want to do – like the Dubrovnik walls, Plitvice Lakes, Krka waterfalls etc

· Coffee is very hit or miss and isn’t cheap either – their americanos (our long blacks) also only come with 1 shot so you have to ask for an extra shot…for usually another €1.5!!

· When looking at boat tours from Split, don’t leave it until the night before like we did as things book out

· Car hire – we went with Enterprise and it was seamless. Only $282 for a week but with a €1000 hold required. They also tell you to fill it up to 1/8^th of a tank on return too

· Driving is a bit chaotic – speed limits aren’t clearly marked and Croatians also don’t obey the speed limits

· Parks are VERY narrow – so avoid driving to supermarkets if you can to protect your hire car

· The drive from Dubrovnik airport into Dubrovnik and along the coast to Split is stunning – highly recommend this

· Make sure your accommodation comes with a free park! Paid parking becomes veryyyy expensive (especially in summer). We parked our car at our accommodation and didn’t use the car again until we left to make sure we avoided any chance of getting hit

· Cats are everywhere (a cat girl’s dream)

· Plitvice Lakes National Park is absolutely beautiful – this is a must if you’re in Croatia

· We stayed for 6 full days and I think that was enough for when we went. Perhaps if the weather was warmer, we might have wanted to stay longer but we couldn’t really enjoy the beaches which is one of the best things (we’ve heard) about Croatia

Best coffee places

· Dubrovnik – Cogito coffee (hidden at the back of the old town)

· Split – kava² and 4 coffee

· Zadar - Kavi

Food

· Dubrovnik – Soul Kitchen, Panini Bar Franco Romano, Peppini’s Gelato Garden

· Split – Portas Pizza, VEG, Focaccina Sandwich bar, and Emiliana Gelati

· Zadar – The Botanist

Switzerland

Country #2 – Switzerland. Our first experience? The Obb Nightjet. As I mentioned at the end of the last blog, there was absolutely no information online about anything relating to check in or the experience itself. All we knew was that we booked and paid for a shared sleeper cabin (about $220 for both of us which included a ‘breakfast’). We arrived about 30mins before our scheduled departure where the train was waiting for us at Amsterdam Centraal Station – we got on the train without anyone checking our tickets initially. As we walked into our cabin, there were two ‘couches’ and two bunk beds up the top. The only storage for suitcases was under the ‘couch’ or at the very top with the two bunk beds. We were confused though…there were 6 waters and 6 cookies but only…two of us. Oh no…are four more people joining us? HOW! The room was so small. If your suitcase didn’t fit under the couch (which mine didn’t) – it then had to sit in the middle of the room (taking up the limited space in the middle) and affecting where the ladder went. We asked the Obb Nightjet worker if we were expecting anyone else and he said yes, it was a full cabin. Someone was getting on at Nijmegen, one person in Düsseldorf and two* people in Köln). Oh shit. How’s everything going to fit?! *One person never made it on (thankfully!).

Anyhow, it ended up working out. You can request being in a female only cabin and we had some really lovely people. The lady who joined us from Nijmegen got so excited when she found out Jas and I were partners because, “I have a girlfriend too! I just broke up with my husband a few years ago and now I have a girlfriend.” She was also planning to ride her bike (albeit an ebike) from Switzerland back to the Netherlands – crazy. The other two who joined us were both hyper-intelligent – one a doctor from India who was trying to get credentials to work in Switzerland and the other a biomolecular engineer. The sleep is disrupted as you have people getting on and off throughout the night (not to mention sleeping in a room full of strangers), but it was a cheap and effective way to get from one country to the next. The journey takes 12 hours but you can sleep for most of it.

In the morning, you get given a freshly made coffee (or tea) and two rolls with butter and jam. This is also when you get to meet and talk to your other cabin buddies. There’s absolutely no space to open your suitcase so make sure you have your essentials in an easily accessible bag before you get on the train. There’s not a lot of storage but not everyone is travelling with suitcases (two of the three people who joined us didn’t have any luggage for various reasons). Despite not sleeping very much at all, I would definitely do it again. I ended up getting a lot of writing done (probably at the annoyance of everyone trying to sleep!).

Because we arrived ridiculously early in Zurich, we had a lot of time to kill before we were able to check into our Airbnb. We hadn’t decided what we wanted to do with public transport either – so we spent the morning exploring our options. You can either get a Swiss travel pass for 2, 3, 4 or 6 days, or a half-fare travel pass, or you could look at getting a Eurail pass. Because we weren’t catching a lot of trains in Europe, we decided against the latter. We ended up going into a tourist info centre and asked them for their opinion – they asked where we were planning to go and then explained how much those full fare trains would cost which was going to be more than a Swiss travel pass. And that’s assuming we didn’t do any other travel on those days. The lady serving us said that a half fare travel pass is only effective if you’re planning to be there for a month rather than just a week. So we bought the 6 day pass at about $720 each (!!!). Buttt – we definitely got our money’s worth / would have spent more if we hadn’t. It gave us free travel* anywhere in Switzerland and meant we didn’t need to worry about buying individual tickets for each train. It also gave us discount on cable cars and access to some museums for free. *Trains, trams, buses, and boats are included - although I think we got scammed having to pay for our ferry from one of our hikes as it was a ‘public transport’ run by a ‘private company’ so wasn’t covered with our travel pass.

Fun fact: the Swiss public transport uses an honour code. There’s nowhere to tap on or tap off, the assumption is that you have a ticket. If you don’t, and get caught, it’s a 100CHF ($180) fine (oh yes by the way, the Swiss have their own currency) and might get banned from using public transport again. Having said that, on a lot of our longer journeys, we did have our tickets checked. So it’s not a risk worth taking.

Food and coffee were ridiculously expensive in Switzerland…so we just didn’t do it. Well, we bought one black and one white coffee on the first day and it cost $20! On top of that? They ask you to tip too! No thanks. Because of the cost of everything, and because we were travelling on a budget, we didn’t eat out so can’t comment on any Swiss food. Grocery prices were reasonable though – we survived on banana porridge in the morning, fruit and nuts for snacks during our hikes, fresh bread rolls and Dutch cheese for lunch (which then became Nutella rolls when we ran out of cheese), and pasta with a tomato sauce for dinner (occasionally we would add beans too for protein). Also on the coffee – outside of Zurich, most cafes made their coffees from a Nespresso machine…another reason to not buy coffee in Switzerland!

We managed to kill about 4 hours before we asked the Airbnb host if we would be able to please check in early – which she generously allowed us to. We dropped off our bags and then went out to explore a little bit of Zurich – we were too tired to do much so we went to the FIFA museum which was included in our Swiss travel pass. Thankfully so as I would have been disappointed paying for it. It was really interesting, but had way too much information. And when you’re surviving on little sleep, it was the last thing we wanted to be doing!

Given our fatigue and dreary weather, we headed back to our room and started to plan our hikes for the week. What we quickly discovered though, was that a lot of the hikes we wanted to do were in fact closed…because they still had snow covering them. We had planned to do the four lakes hike in Flims, or the Stoos Ridge on the Thursday but couldn’t do either. (Things TikTok doesn’t tell you). So any hike you want to do that’s above 1600m in Spring, make sure you check that they’re open first.

I spontaneously created a Reddit account and asked what hikes were open in early-mid May from Zurich and had some really helpful, quick replies (I recommend using this any time you have questions that need an immediate answer). We settled on Walensee and are so happy we did! It was a really easy walk – a little bit of incline and decline but nothing strenuous at all. It took us about 2.5 hours to do 10km and maybe another 30mins for lunch and photos. The best part? You’re walking along the bluest blue lake the entire time! (It’s true, photos really don’t do Switzerland justice).

After we finished this walk, and because we had a travel pass, we thought we would try to tackle one of the other hikes a Reddit member suggested – Mt Rigi. Even though the sun is up until 9pm, the cable cars stopped running at 6pm – MAKE SURE YOU LOOK THIS UP BEFORE YOU GET STUCK! After a long and slow 45mins cogwheel ride up (which was not overly exciting to be honest, but means you don’t have to hike up only down!), we started our hike at 4:30pm. We quickly realised we weren’t going to make it the entire way before 6pm so we did half the walk (5km) and caught the last cable car from Klosteri. The thought of being stuck on a mountain in Switzerland, hungry and tired, really didn’t appeal to either of us. The views at Rigi Klum were stunning though so we’re still glad we caught the slowww cogwheel train. After a big day of hiking, we caught the train back to our accommodation ready to check out the next day.

Our next stop was Zermatt – right near the bottom of Switzerland (and a long, expensive train ride there – but one in which we had already paid for!). Navigating to our accommodation was…a challenge. The buses no longer ran conveniently to the accommodation which left us hiking for 20mins on an incline with all of our luggage. 10/10 would not recommend. And to top things off, during our research in Zurich, we found out that the hike we really wanted to do (and the one that was a ‘must do’ in Switzerland) was, you guessed it, closed. Our host recommend an easier stroll up to Zmut where we could see the Matterhorn (Toblerone mountain) the entire time. Admittedly we were so sore from the day before that this probably worked in our favour. And the shorter walk meant we had more time to spend with our host – a lovely French woman who was so generous and kind. One of the things we had read before booking this place was that they offered (for a fee) a cooked dinner or a cooked breakfast but that we all eat together regardless of whether the host cooks for us or we cook for ourselves. We opted for the breakfast and cooked ourselves pasta for dinner. Our host generously offered us her leftover Ratatouille to put on our pasta and my godddd it was so good! So much better than our bland tomato sauce!! And for breakfast?! French crepes, an omelette, fresh bread with jam and butter, orange juice, and coffee – all for only 13CHF ($22 each). This was the best start to our Saturday.

We only had the one night in Zermatt and that was enough – it’s definitely a town set up for skiing so somewhere I’d consider going back to to do just that…if I could ever justify some of the prices of the country! We were then on our way to Interlaken. We dropped off our luggage at our (very nice) accommodation and went out to explore Grindelwald. We only had the afternoon so thought that was the best way to maximise our time. We ended up buying return gondola tickets (for 38CHF [$68 each]…and that’s with a 50% discount!!) but in hindsight, maybe we could have purchased only one way 1) to save money and 2) to walk through the meadows. But we knew we had at least a 1.5 hour hike to Lake Bachalpsee at the top so we probably didn’t have time for a 3 hour trek up.  The view at the top, at ‘First’, was absolutely insane. Swiss alps, everywhere. There’s a really short cliff walk at the top (which we did, much to Jas’s distress and fear), with incredible views. But if you’re hiking to Lake Bachalpsee, it’s not necessary as you get stunning views the entire way to the lake. Despite the hike being ‘open’ you were walking on a path surrounded by snow. But it wasn’t that cold? We managed in our shorts and a light jumper. It took us about 1 hour before we reached Lake Bachalpsee which was, you guessed it, frozen. Still stunning though. We had our lunch. I made a snow angel. Then fell over in the snow (that was cold). We then caught the gondola back down (and missed all the cows ☹) and train back to our accommodation.

One of the things we were desperate to do was to swim. We made a pact that we would swim in every country we visited (regardless of the temperature!) so we found a swimming spot and went there for a quick (refreshing) dip before having our pasta pots for dinner (we didn’t have a kitchen at this accommodation and were strictly told no cooking…so hot water and pasta it was).

On Sunday we bought our fresh rolls for the day and went to start the hike to Lake Oeschinescee. Because we indulged in the gondola the day before, we decided we would hike up to this lake (and save ourselves $70 each [even with our discounts]). It was a 50mins hike up with a steep (very steep) incline for the first 2kms – it’s about a 450m incline over 4.5kms. By the time we got to the top, we were sweating. But it was freezing. The lake itself was stunning. We had the option of hiring a rowboat for the hour, for a bargain of 38CHF ($70) – which we obviously declined. Instead, we grabbed a warmed pretzel from the café at the top, had some fruit, and began our descent down. One thing we didn’t plan for? Was how bloody cold it was at the top! After this, we decided to visited Lake Blausee. Honestly, this is something you could skip. It cost 13CHF ($23) entrance fee (more because it was the weekend) and it was this tiny lake filled with so many tourists like ourselves around the outside. It does include a complimentary boat ride on the lake though where you can see all the trout. It was really pretty, but probably not worth the money. And admittedly, we didn’t care too much about the trout farm either (sorry). It would be a really nice place to have a picnic – your entrance fee gives you permission to stay there for as long as you like and there’s playgrounds too. So it is a good outing for the family. So too was Grindelwald-First the day before – they had ziplining, a glider, and then karting down the mountain (but be prepared to pay just as much for these activities as you did for the gondola up there…even with a Swiss travel pass).

If cows are what you really wanted to see in Switzerland, Grindelwald is your best bet. Otherwise, there’s a lot of cows between Kanderstag and Frutigen if you wanted to walk between the two towns or catch a bus halfway and walk a little bit (it’s a 10mins bus ride between Oeschinescee to Blausee so I’d recommend doing both in the same day).

After returning back to our accommodation, we had mentioned to the host’s family the day before that we play/played football (as we saw one of the kids in a Barcelona shirt in the photos) – the parents asked if we would play with them on the Sunday so that’s what we spent our Sunday afternoon doing. And honestly, what a place to play football! Swiss alps in the background, meadows surrounding you, and the best part?! FRIENDLY CATS THAT LOVE YOUR ATTENTION! We really enjoyed our evening with these kids and then proceeded to have some great conversations with the hosts themselves (they were former professional skiers for Switzerland and are now mental coaches for the national curling team). A great ending to our Swiss experience. The next stop – Croatia!

Travel tips and points

• Plugs

  • they are different from the rest of Europe!

  • they use a 2 or 3 prong plug, but they’re thinner than the European ones

  • we were fortunate the Airbnb we stayed at had adapters we could use, but I wasn’t able to charge my laptop or use straighteners (the adaptors are for EU to Swiss)

• Download the SBB app for travel - it consolidates all the schedules for all trains, buses, and trams in a really easy-to-use app

• Trains also don’t have charging ports – which I find wild given how modern this country is and how long some of the trains are (2+ hours).

• Switzerland have their own currency (Swiss Franks CHF) which is in between a euro and a pound. so we basically just multiplied everything by 2 and subtracted 10% e.g. 10CHF = $18AUD

• The Lindt chocolate museum is booked out weeks in advance

• The Swiss travel pass is definitely worth it

  • on some of the longer trains, like the Glacier Express, you still have to pay for a seat reservation (which is like $60 lol)

• Some Airbnbs require a tourist tax (same in Croatia and Italy)

• Accommodation

  • make sure you book somewhere with a kitchen! Unless you like spending money haha

  • book somewhere close to public transport too (nothing worse than lugging your luggage around or up hills…as we’ve experienced twice already)

  • the public transport system in Switzerland is elite, so you could stay anywhere close to the train lines and you’d be fine

• Works on an honour system for tickets

• Take coins (euros are okay too) for your hikes - sometimes they have little huts with refreshments where again, it works on an honour system, and you put the money in the box and buy drink or a snack

• A lot of shops (yes, even grocery shops) are closed on Sundays

• Zurich seemed a bit dull, but maybe that was influenced by the weather

• Zermatt is definitely set up as a skiing town

• Interlaken is a really nice town, but very touristy

  • you can swim in the lakes (Interlaken literally means between lakes) but not in the rivers because of the currents

• Check whether hikes will be open when you travel! A lot of hikes are still closed in May/early June

• Bring warm clothes for your hikes – the summits can be freezing (literally)

Europe Travel Blog - Holland

Welcome to my European travel blog! I’ve been taking notes along this trip of every country and city we’ve visited – accumulating everything from where to eat, where to grab a great cup of coffee and how public transport works (plus anything else that might be worth noting). Prior to our trip, we had all our accommodation booked and paid for as well as all our flights (just not our flight home because of the situation in Iran…seems that in 3 months nothing has actually changed on that front). We hadn’t booked internal trains and buses, same with experiences as we wanted to see how we were feeling prior to these. Having said that, we were also travelling on a budget – we tried to work within $200 each a day ($10k each [$20k total] for 7 weeks) which includes all travel, accommodation, and food costs. We had booked most of our trip within this budget, $10k for accommodation and flights, leaving us to work with $100 each a day. So first destination – Holland.

Holland was first on our trip as we learned that the tulips are only in bloom for a mere 3 weeks of the year starting in mid-April (depending on the weather of the spring season) and it ends around the start of the second week in May. Keukenhof – the popular tulip farm has its final day on the 11^th. Because of this, I booked my flights to arrive May 1^st (leaving April 30^th) and Jas would meet me the next day – I did this to give me a day to adjust to jetlag. Given the war in Iran, my original flights were cancelled so I paid a bit more ($1900) to fly via San Francisco in America. Would I recommend this? Not really. From when I got to the airport on Thursday (5:30am Adelaide time) to when I got to my accommodation – it was about 44 hours of travel. I was knackered. I had a 6.5 hour layover in San Francisco which was painful – cost me nearly $30 for a toasted sandwich too! I also went into a panic because I forgot to organise my ESTA well in advance. I applied for it 60 hours before my flight (they recommend applying at least 72 hours before your flight in case there’s a delay in the approval). After intense feelings of panic (and self-loathing), it came through after a few hours ($60 just to transit through America…at least it’s valid for 2 years if I ever want to go back to the US). My recommendation? Don’t leave this to the last minute!

After arriving at Schiphol airport, I then caught a train to our accommodation. In Holland, you don’t need tickets. There’s a thing called OV pay where you just tap on and tap off whenever you go somewhere – just make sure you tap off!! You can get an OV card, but it’s something like $10 and isn’t necessary – prices are the same regardless if it’s on the OV card or on your debit card. What we didn’t realise when we booked this Airbnb was that despite being in Maarssen (just outside Utrecht), it’s not a very accessible street. The instructions our Airbnb host gave us was to either call an ‘in demand bus’ an hour before you need it, but only from a Dutch number, to collect you from the bus stop…or walk 30mins with your luggage to the accommodation. So it took me nearly 2.5 hours from when I landed to when I checked into the Airbnb. I was hungry. Exhausted. And had no easy way of getting around. Except by bike. Fortunately our accommodation generously provided us with bikes so after having literally no sleep, I got on a bike and navigated myself into Utrecht. I found a café (that Google maps said was only a 20mins bike ride away but ended up taking me closer to 35!) and had a coffee before heading over the street to a vegan restaurant. Starving, I asked the server which dish he recommended…I got one confit potato with this truffle sauce. It was delicious but my god, it did not curb my hunger! That’s what you get for going out to a ‘vegan’ restaurant. Now for the cycle back. By this stage, I was beyond exhausted. I was frustrated. Tired. Hungry. I was so worried that the location of our Airbnb was going to taint our experience of Holland – the one place I was most excited about visiting given my heritage and connection to my Oma.

By the time I got back to the ‘farm’ (that’s literally a) how far away it was from the city and b) what it was)), I was ready for bed but my host invited me to the lake nearby. So I joined her and forced myself to stay awake until 10pm. A long sleep in in the morning before intending to travel 2.5 hours back to the airport to meet Jas. On my way, I stopped off at a beautiful café called Dagger Coffee (Zijdebalen) but had to cut it short as Jas arrived early. Honestly, having someone travelling with you alleviates 99% of your stress because all of a sudden, a problem shared is a problem halved. Immediately after meeting Jas, everything was okay again. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve found your person. They settle you. They’re like a home away from home.

Dagger Coffee, Utrecht

Instead of going back to our accommodation, because it was so far away, we dropped off our bags at a luggage storage shop using the app Radical Storage - it cost about $10 for the one suitcase. Despite claiming it was a 5mins walk, it was closer to 10mins with Jas’s suitcase and because we couldn’t find the shop – turns out it was just a kebab shop that stored her bag out the back for a few hours. We then found a café called 30mL while we were walking and grabbed a bite to eat there. We were slightly constrained by time as we needed to find a café with wifi to watch the Arsenal Lyon semi-final at 3pm. A lot of cafes we went to didn’t have wifi (and were lowkey rude when we asked them if they did) – I get it, a café is a place to disconnect. And normally I do, but Arsenal!! We ended up finding Cupp, a really nice café in the centre of Utrecht. We had to pay 2 euro an hour to use the wifi (the waitress then didn’t charge us for the second hour because her boyfriend was an Arsenal fan too). She also let us stay a few minutes past closing just so we could finish the game (unfortunately Arsenal lost). As the café was closing, we were greeted by a walking rave. Yes, you read that right. A rave on wheels. Blaring music. Thousands of people. Punk, gothic, and emo clothing surrounded us. Nothing like a bit of a cultural experience!

After exploring the city, we then had to pick up our luggage earlier than we had hoped (7pm rather than the 9pm we had booked because the shop closed). We grabbed a bite to eat at Eazie – a chain restaurant that sells customisable, healthy poke bowls which was exactly what we were after. We then got an Uber from the last bus stop back to the accommodation (fuck walking 30mins with luggage in the heat!). We then hopped on a bike and visited the lake the host had taken me to the night before but this time, we actually went for a swim! Early May = fresh water temperature! After we got back to the farm, we then planned our Sunday. We wanted Monday to be the day we went to visit my Oma’s house so Sunday was our day for ‘experiences’. We had Anne Frank booked at 10am (we had booked this a few weeks in advance, logging in at 10am Holland time (5:30pm Adelaide time) to get tickets.

Cycling to the lake during sunset

In the morning, we rode our bikes in the rain to Utrecht and just locked them up close to the station. There is secure ‘parking’ under the station but, you need an OV card! So we just found a bench with other bikes and locked it up there. Both bikes were there when we got back in the afternoon.

Given that the Anne Franke museum was about a 20mins walk from the station, we grabbed a coffee from Black Bird on the way (really good coffee). The museum itself was such a worthwhile experience – everything was very well curated and there wasn’t too much information nor too many people to navigate through. My experience was probably aided by the fact that I had just finished reading Anne Frank’s diary on my way to Holland so everything was really fresh in my mind. After Anne Frank, we had a few hours to kill before our lunch booking at Box Sociaal – a café run by Australians. In the interim, we explored De 9 Straatjes…in the pouring rain. This is a super pretty area amongst the canals with lots of boutique stores. The food we had at Box Sociaal was elite and has ended up being one of the best breakfasts we had on our trip. Jas had a baked bean bagel and I had a really filling breakfast burger.

Our next stop was heading to Tours and Tickets at Centraal Station for a trip to Keukenhof. We booked these tickets online from Viator and managed to get them for a cheaper price (maybe because it was the start of the last week). There were a few experiences we were tossing up between, like the Tulip Farm or the Tulip Barn – both of which offer very different experiences – but we decided on Keukenhof because it was so late in the season and thought the other places wouldn’t still have an abundance of tulips. And we are so glad we did. A lot of the tulips had already started to be cut, BUT there was still a lot to see and we were more than happy with when we went. And most importantly? Keukenhof wasn’t busy at this time. A lot of reviews recommended either going first thing in the morning or going later in the afternoon and we decided on the latter. A lot of the crowds had gone by then. Important to note though that despite the park not closing until 7pm, a lot of the shops (and food places) closed at 6pm. We really wanted some chips before getting dinner later but…we were too late. Fortunately the café just before the bus was still serving food and we grabbed a small bite there. A 45mins journey back to Centraal Station before catching the train back to Utrecht and cycling home. We ended up just buying some falafels and baguettes to have for dinner (budget travelling!).

On Monday, we road our bikes again into Utrecht (we were becoming seasoned pros by this stage!). We then left them outside a café called ‘t Koffieboontje – a really neat café that served great coffee and little filter sachets for coffee which I thought was a really cool gift idea (and marketing tool). We then caught the train to Nijmegen where we met my Oma’s cousin’s daughter, Irma. I’m currently writing this many weeks after experiencing it, but this was probably one of my favourite days of the trip. Irma met us at the train station with her husband Rob before taking us to where Oma grew up in Nijmegen.

When we arrived at 44, emotions were high. Irma saw that there was someone inside so knocked on the door and explained the situation. She explained that this was the house my Oma had grown up in when she was a child and that I was here from Australia to visit. The beautiful lady, Aletta, generously let us inside and allowed us to walk around the house and take as many photos as we’d like. I was so excited when I saw she had cats! My Oma would have loved that too. Thank you Aletta for allowing strangers into your home and letting us see a glimpse into my Oma’s life when she was younger.

After the visit, we went back to Irma’s father’s house where we had a delicious ‘Dutch’ lunch – fresh rolls, Dutch cheese (incredible!), a vegetarian capsicum paste (yum), coffee, and orange juice. Lunch was scrumptious but the company was what made this day so special. Irma showed me a few photos of her Mum (also called Ria) and shared how difficult the past 12 months had been. The grief still very raw for the both of us but I think we bonded over our mutual love for our ‘Ria’s’. After lunch, we said goodbye to her father and took a drive to see where her mother had chosen to be laid to rest. A beautiful spot amongst nature.

After visiting her Mum, we were then asked what we wanted to do – but we really had no plans. A few ideas were thrown around but none that really interested us until Rob said, ‘How about we go to Germany?’ Jas and I looked at each other – ‘Germany? How far away is that?’ ‘About 5minutes.’ So across the border we went until we found a bakery to have some coffee and treats. I messaged my brother straight away and said guess where we just went!

To finish off the day we went and explored Nijmegen city before saying our goodbyes to Irma and Rob. Their hospitality, patience, and warmth are what made the day so memorable and one of our favourite days of the entire trip (at least for me). We finished off the day with dinner at Café de Plak – a hip place recommended to us by our Airbnb host before heading back to Maarssen to pack up our bags.

On the Tuesday, we had the entire day to explore Amsterdam as we didn’t have to catch the train until 8pm. So we paid about 20 euro ($35) to store our two suitcases and backpacks (in the back of a souvenir shop) for the day before venturing out to explore Amsterdam again. First stop? Coffee! We caught the train to a place just outside de Pijp market called Back to Black. The highlight of this place was that they had ‘Bob de Straatkat’ in the café (A Street Cat Named Bob) – one of my all-time favourite books. Next we went to the markets to try a freshly made Stroopwafel and my God, you have to try these fresh! We just got the basic caramel flavour and the freshness makes all the difference. A lot of the stalls were very touristy, but we managed to pick up some delicious nuts and Dutch cheese – and the best part? The cheese didn’t need refrigerating! Perfect for our travels in Switzerland. After de Pijp, we headed up north to Zaandam to see the Lego houses and grab a bite to eat at Bagels and Beans – a chain restaurant but the food was actually really good. We continued on to Zaanse Schans to see the windmills (windmolen in Dutch). This was a lovely walk from the train station (the smell of chocolate permeated the air!) and a stunning walk around all the 8 windmills. Be conscious of when you visit as there’s many tourist buses that stop here – the paths are wide enough though that you can avoid most of the walking tours. Lastly on our travels we had a few vintage stores to visit – Holland does vintage better than any other country we’ve visited! Mainly because they were affordable haha. We found the coolest Adidas trackies at a very affordable $27 (op shops in the city centre aren’t really a thing – they’re called ‘vintage’ stores and the prices reflect that).

Before heading back to pick up our luggage, we stopped off at the grocery store (Jumbo) to pick up supplies for Switzerland. We had been forewarned that Switzerland was veryyyy expensive – so we thought we’d negate that by buying groceries (pasta, tomato sauce, oats, fruit, chocolate). We headed to the train station in search of our ‘Obb Nightjet’ – no information was given on the website about where to go or how early to get there so we asked the tourist checkpoint for some assistance and they were very helpful in their directions. But, I’ll save the recount of our experience from the night jet in my Switzerland post. In the interim, here are a few more snaps from our time in Holland:

Holland has been one of my favourite places we’ve visited – maybe because of the history associated with it, but the country in itself has such a nice feel about it. The Dutch are really friendly and almost everyone speaks English. We really liked Utrecht probably more than Amsterdam – Amsterdam was very crowded and touristy whereas Utrecht felt more authentically Dutch (maybe because we were riding bikes to explore it!). Holland has also had the best coffee / café scene that we’ve experienced in Europe. Special thanks again to Irma and Rob for being great tourist guides – and Aletta for being so generous in welcoming us into your home. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be back as a football coach.

For anyone who likes to skim read, the key points from our Holland travels are summarised below:

• Do less, explore more – and walk everywhere! Utrecht and Amsterdam are extremely walkable cities

• Get a bike and ride

• Don’t trust Google maps travel times on the bike. Unless you’re Dutch, it’s probably going to take you longer.

• You can’t use your phone while cycling either. So invest in a phone holder (or ask your host if they have one).

• Expect to pay about $7 for a basic black coffee

• Tulip season blooms for a very short period in the year (middle of April to first week of May) – plan accordingly!

• Tap on and tap off for public transport (OV cards aren’t necessary)

• The cost of transport within cities is cheap, but between cities can be more expensive (about $30 return from Utrecht to Amsterdam…a 20mins journey)

• Location is everything - unless you’re happy to be out all day, every day

• Holland has some very cool op shops (vintage stores)

• The Dutch love it when you try to speak Dutch (everyone speaks English) and the people were very friendly

• May 4^th is Remembrance Day where they hold 2mins silence at 8pm (literally everything and everyone stops at 8pm, including public transport)

• May 5^th is Liberation Day  

• Jumbo and Lidl are the cheaper supermarkets, Jumbo having the biggest variety

• Albert Hijn is a more upmarket grocery store 

Coffee places visited:

• Koffie Leute Brauhaus

• Dagger coffee

• Cupp (east side)

• Blackbird

• ‘t Koffieboontje

• Hummingbird

• Back to Black

• de koffieschenkerij

  
  

Cafes/Restaurants

• Broei

• 30ML

• Box Sociaal (need to book)

• Bagels and Beans

• Eazie

• Café de Plak

Activities

• Anne Frank (can only book 6 weeks in advance but can find extra tickets on Tuesday mornings 10am Dutch time)

• De 9 Straatjes

• Keukenhof

• de Pijp markets

• Lego Houses Zaandam

• Windmills at Zaanse Schans

• Cycle!

Things we might have done with more time (and a bigger budget [most museums have about a $35 entrance fee]):

• Canal tour

• Anatomy of the human body museum

• WWII museum in de Bos (Nijmegen)

• Van Gogh museum

• Upside down museum

• Edible sweets 😉