After an amazing bus ride through the hills (and one incident of the bus overheating), I arrived in my last full stop on this wondrous vacation-- Novalja.
When I planned on coming here it was mainly for the Croatia Rocks festival, but I ended up enjoying the whole city. I stayed at the
Moon Rocks Hostel..it was significantly cheaper than the other apartments and I was not into spending a week in a shared room. When you travel alone its painful to have to pay the double occupancy fee...that's money that could be better spent outside of the hostel.
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| Moon Rocks is at the top |
This hostel was walking distance from the bus terminal and the city centre and it had a great bar. If I were to go back, I'd hope to stay closer to the city. It gets pretty dark and I like partying late on the shore; it would just be easier to stay there than trek back in the dark. Plus transit is easy to navigate and inexpensive.
The area is host to several festivals and I was coming in after
Fresh Island Festival. I feel like I should have come for that. It seemed to have a great line up of artists! I came for Croatia Rocks instead....I didn't even know the line up when I got there. In fact I had VIP and was not even given a programme...and I refused to buy it.
I think that sums up my Croatia Rocks experience...over paying..well suggestions of over paying since I did not take the extra bait. I am not sure if it is because it was the first time a Rocks festival came to Croatia or if it was just a poorly organized festival, it was not worth the ticket. Decent experience, but there are free replacements all over Zrce!
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| Euphoria, it got busier as the night went on |
The bus runs all
night and you can carry your booze with you. The festival bars cost more than the regular bars and I saw three other places to party. If you are looking for a budget time, I
recommend Euphoria. It is right on the beach as you get off the bus. It had cheap liquor and a stripper pole--can't go wrong. The
men aren't my cup of tea (way too young, for someone that loves the 40+
crowd), but I know women all over that would love it
..you know who you are..Euphoria had an awesome DJ..spinning some mix of 80s/90s to begin with then worked into more modern dancystuff. The bar had mega cocktails for 100k and special shot prices every night...oh and it's no cover and of course no dress code...
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| Aquarius |
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| Papaya |
There were also afternoon pool parties associated with Croatia Rocks. The wristband was supposed to get me into some awesome fun with well known DJs. It was sort of like this. There were only two clubs involved in the whole festival-- Papaya and Aquarius--so only two pool parties associated with the pass. They both had great DJs, but, honestly, only Papaya had a party. The other was a lounge with a wading pool.
If you are travelling to Novalja and do not want to spend money on some music fest, you can still go to the Zrce Beach. There is music all over and you can bring a picnic to the
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| Snacks and Giant Beer |
beach. Plus there are bars and little food kiosks all over. The beach is made of rocks..flipflops can be painful..but people do it... I recommend some canvas shoe cheapies and bring a yoga mat to sit on.
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| City Beach. Such clear water!!!! |
There is also a nice quaint beach at the city centre and some great bars over looking the Sea. I spent some time there and socialized with anyone that wanted to speak English. It was nice and a more laid back scene. I walked past another
hostel, that I might consider next time around...if I'm still rolling solo.
Overall an amazing time, despite any festival issues.
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| Sunset on my walk from the bus terminal |
I'll just note that I put in my complaint and they were taken seriously. It might be helpful for anyone else that had problems to email the sales team: sales@croatiarocks.com. It's the only way they can make improvements.
From here I did a 4h bus ride to Zagreb and then other 30min bus to the airport....then to my last night stay at the
Dream Hotel. What an amazing treat this place was! I was only there for my stop over, until my flight home so I didn't leave the hotel and cannot comment on how close it is to things to do. I enjoyed the restaurant and ate an amazing steak then had an awesome breakfast the next day. The breakfast was included and the airport transport was free. I paid about $80CDN for room and dinner...with wine. Madness!!!
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| I ate all of this...nom nom |
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| Ferry on the bus ride |
It was a dream vacation, but at some point I had come home...
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