Nathan's Insights

Tour Title: Croatia and the Balkans
Tour Company: G Adventures
Tour Leader: Nadya Ginzburg
Cities Visited: Budapest, Novi Sad, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Mostar, Kotor, Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split
Countries Visited: Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia.
Dates: Saturday 20 April 2024 to Saturday 04 May 2024 (Duration 15 days)
Tour Type: Classic
Tour Itinerary (PDF) and Journal Entries

Tour Type – Classic

G Adventures Classic Description: All of the highlights, culture, access, and I-can’t-believe-we-did-that moments, all at a great price.

This tour was part of long tour that I booked Eastern Europe, Croatia and the Balkans (Sunday 07 April to Saturday 4 May 2024). 

The first tour leg was Best of Eastern Europe (review here) which had a different CEO but also had 10 tour members (including Darby and me) continuing on to this tour.

Chief Experience Officer (CEO)

The CEO, more commonly known as a Tour Leader or Tour Guide, can assist you with almost everything you could need. 

Our CEO for this tour was Nadya Ginzburg. Nadya in between G Adventures tour runs her own private tours which I will likely try in the future.

Nadya has a wealth of knowledge and insights on the Balkans, her energy and love of travelling came though.

Nadya provided many great suggestions for additional activities (the Yugo Tour a particular highlight) and at most stops provided us with a long list of ideas for activities and good places to eat. I was impressed when Nadya organised additions to included activities like getting us access to the tunnels at the Petrovaradin Fortress.

Given Nadya had to lead a tour group that had already settled together (and really liked their last CEO) and had to integrate new tour members Nadya did very well.

Tour Members

This was a full tour group with 16 members (maximum is 16); Ivan, Richard, Kimberley, Susanna, Stephen, Carolyn, Alexa, Megan, Gerolf, Kayla, Cynthia, Theresa, Aaron, Dawn, Darby and me.

We had members from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. The group got on extremely well with the age ranging from 18 (my neice Darby) to retirees.

I found this group to have a good mix of ages and experiences the can do ‘let’s explore’ attitude was strong and new tour members Kayla and Dawn really bringing the wonder of experiencing as much as possible.

Included Activities

• G for Good Moment: DEŠA Women’s Centre Visit (Dubrovnik)
• Petrovaradin Fortress visit (Novi Sad)
• Kalemegdan Fortress visit (Belgrade)
• ‘Tunnel of Life’ tour (Sarajevo)
• Sea kayaking trip (Bay of Kotor)
• Scenic boat ride around Pakleni islands
• Diocletian’s Palace guided tour (Split)

Optional Activities

• Belgrade: Yugo Car Tour 50 Euro / 6000 Dinars
• Belgrade: Tesla Museum 500 Dinars
• Konjic: Tito Bunker Tour (side excursion before Mostar) 20 Marks
• Kotor: Walking Tour Guide Kotor 5 Euros
• Dubrovnik: Walking Tour Guide Dubrovnik 5 Euros

The above after the optional activities organised by Nadya for the entire group. I did a few other activities as well.

Accommodations

Budapest: Ibis Styles Budapest Center
A funky hotel with a Video Gaming Theme. Good speed wifi / internet. Good to fair included breakfast but can get busy. Is near both multiple train stations and multiple tram lines. There are also buses (which I didn’t use).

Novi Sad: Hotel Zenit Novi Sad
Small hotel. Decent wifi. Very low beds. Cold buffet breakfast (cereals, bakery items, ham, cheese etc) options plus toast. Very close to Main Street.

Belgrade: Hotel Bohemian Garni
Very large modern rooms. Air conditioning. No direct road access so short walk from drop off points over pebbles. Breakfast is by order so allow 45 minutes before needing to leave minimum (starts 8 am).

Sarajevo: Hotel Sahat / Hotel Astra Gami
Central Hotel. Nice rooms. Good wifi. Good buffet breakfast but got can very busy.

Mostar: Hotel Bristol
Nice central location. Big room, very comfortable bed. Variable internet speeds sometimes stopped. Included breakfast had lots of hot and cold options.

Kotor: Hotel Marija
Right in the old town. Reason size and accommodation. No lifts (rooms on three floors). Wifi / internet mostly worked. Laundry service at 10 Euros per bag. Good breakfast options.

Dubrovnik: Hotel Adria
This was a last minute replacement hotel. Very modern hotel. Fast internet. Nice sized rooms. Massive breakfast buffet options. Very far out from Walled Town of Dubrovnik, bus service close but can be up to an hour between services.

Hvar: Amfora Grand Beach Resort
Resort hotel with pools and coastline. Our room was far from reception and room numbering can be confusing. Ver expensive laundry service. Great buffet breakfast. Fast internet. You have to walk 10-15 minutes from the ferry to this hotel, your bag will be taken by delivery van however.

Split: Art Hotel
A nice hotel, we were all allocated rooms in the Annex area. Close to main attractions, friendly staff. Close to number of bakeries and supermarket. Wifi signal was weak but when connected it was good speed.

Highlights

From the included activities I really enjoyed the Petrovaradin Fortress, especially getting into the catacombs and seeing the multi layered defences. The ‘Tunnel of Life‘ tour (Sarajevo) really help me understand the Balkan wars in the 1990s and how hard life was for people during that time. The resilience was inspiring to see.

Sea kayaking in Kotor was a major and welcome change of pace. Spending hours on the water and feeling like I ‘earned’ the views was a great feeling.

Of the optional activities the Yugo Tour was amazing. Going around Belgrade to in this Communism era cars was the best.

Summary

When I booked my 4 week Eastern Europe, Croatia and the Balkans tour it was the second 2 weeks that I was looking forward to the most. I recalled the news stories about this region in the 1990s and I thought I understood what happened but listening to people who lived through the wars and seeing the bullet holes taught me so much.

The tour finished on the coastline of Croatia and more relaxing experiences, a very nice way to finished overall.

I’m glad I did this tour and it is a must for those interested in history, war and the evolving European story.