conferences_croatia
Table of Contents
traveling to Croatia for conferences
see also:
Introduction
- main airport and capital is Zagreb which is inland and north-east, near the Slovenia border
- Dalmatian coastal towns include:
- Pula
- Opatija
- cool-mild in early May with max temperatures ~18degC
- closest Croatian airport is Pula 100km away but flights only from Zadar not from Zagreb? and bus is 3.5hrs
- bus to Trieste is under 2hrs (however, Trieste airport is 1.5hr bus from Trieste to the NW) and then can catch flight to Rome or ferry to Venice
- bus from Zagreb airport is 4.5hrs! (car is 2hrs 184km)
- Ljubljana, Slovenia is 2hrs by car (just over 100km) to NE and there is a 2.5hr bus (the airport is a further ~45min by bus to north but only 25km by car)
- Rijeka
- Zadar
- Split
- 2nd largest city, pop 200,000, over 80% are Roman Catholic Croatians with the majority now being migrants from the rural hinterland areas
- city was founded as the Greek colony of Aspálathos in the 3rd or 2nd century BC
- Diocletian's Palace, built for the Roman emperor in AD 305
- became a Byzantine city after 751AD
- became a Venetian city in the 15thC, a heavily fortified outpost surrounded by Ottoman territory
- in 1815, became part of the Austrian Kingdom of Dalmatia until the fall of Austria-Hungary in 1918 and the formation of Yugoslavia.
- the third busiest port in the Mediterranean, most of the central Dalmatian islands are only reachable via the Split harbor
- 2nd largest airport in Croatia
- the southernmost integrated point of the Croatian Railway network
- In July 2017 Croatian firefighters battled to control a forest fire along the Adriatic coast that damaged and destroyed buildings in villages around the city of Split
- Dubrovnik
- founded in the 7th century as Ragusa with a Roman population and soon came under the protection of the Byzantine Empire
- became an important Serbian commercial outpost in the 12th C before becoming a Venetian town in 1205-1358
- most of the city was destroyed by fire in 1296 and a new urban plan developed
- it expanded in the 14thC thanks to the Serbian emperor selling it Pelješac and Ston and it became a slavic speaking town and from 14th century and 1808, Dubrovnik ruled itself as a free state,albeit as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire
- it became a major maritime trading republic in the 15th and 16th centuries until the catastrophic earthquake of 1667 which killed over 5,000 citizens, leveled most of the public buildings and negatively impacted the region
- in 1806, 3000 cannonballs fell on the city in the Napoleonic wars as result of a month-long siege by the Russian-Montenegrin fleets
- became part of the Habsburg Empire in 1815 and then part of Yugoslavia in 1918
- in 1979, the city joined the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sitesand an attempt was made to demilitarise it to prevent further damage, but in the wars of Croatia's independence in the early 1990's, the Serbs attacked it in 1991 with over 650 artillery strikes damaging some 56% of the Old Town's buildings and reconstruction in the old style was undertaken in 1995-1999
- annual Dubrovnik Summer Festival is a 45-day-long cultural event with live plays, concerts, and games
Dubrovnik
- Dubrovnik is situated on the Adriatic Sea at the southern end of the thin southern coastal strip of Croatia before it reaches Montenegro
- it is 585km by car (6hr drive) from Zagreb
- it is not accessible by rail
- Dubrovnik international airport is 20km to SE
- population 43,000 but high levels of tourism in the Old Town, especially from cruise ships has become problematic
- “Few of Dubrovnik's Renaissance buildings survived the earthquake of 1667 but enough remained to give an idea of the city's architectural heritage … The finest Renaissance highlight is the 16thC Sponza Palace ”
- 18thC St Blaise's church
- Close to the Pile Gate stands the Big Onofrio's Fountain in the middle of a small square
Getting there from Melbourne
- unfortunately, there are no one stop flights Melb-Dubrovnik, you must do the final leg to Dubrovnik from one of the larger European airports such as London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Athens, Zagreb, Belgrade, Istanbul, etc, although flights may not be on every day of the week and may be much reduced in service from Oct-Apr!
- No direct flights from Prague!
- Emirates:
- Melbourne-Dubai 17hrs
- Dubai-Zagreb 6hrs
- Zagreb-Dubrovnik 1hr Croatia Airlines
- Qatar:
- Melbourne-Doha 15hrs
- Doha-Zagreb 6hrs
- Zagreb-Dubrovnik 1hr Croatia Airlines
- Etihad / Air Serbia
- Melb - Abu Dhabi 14hrs
- Abu Dhabi - Belgrade 5.5hrs
- Belgrade - Dubrovnik 1hr Air Serbia
- Etihad via Rome:
- 5hr stopover in Rome
- Rome - Dubrovnik 1.5hrs (Croatia Airlines / Alitalia) only Wed 1115, Sat 1800, Sun 1115 in summer?
- Etihad via Munich:
- 7hr stopover in Munich
- Munich - Dubrovnik 1.5hrs (Croatia Airlines)
- from Athens 1hr45min:
- Croatia Airlines (daily departing around 1900hrs and return flights arrive Athens around 1900hrs except no flights on Fridays in summer), Aegean Air
- from Vienna 1hr20min
- Austrian Airlines
- from London 2.5hrs
- British Airways
Climate
- has a borderline humid subtropical and Mediterranean climate
- hottest month is August (temperature is 20deg min - 30deg max on average)
- coldest month is January (temperature is 5deg min - 12deg max on average)
- wettest month is Nov (72mm rainfall)
- driest month is July with 4 rain days and 26mm
- windiest month Feb
- annual rainfall 1000mm
- September
- average temperatures 17deg min to 25degC max.
- 7 rain days and 86mm rain
MEMC Congress 2019
- 22nd-25th Sept 2019
-
- 15km north of Dubrovnik (22min by car)
- 40km south of Ston (40min by car)
- 1BR rooms € 210-277 /night
- 2BR residences € 395-466/n
- shuttle services to:
- Dubrovnik airport (33km to the south, 40min by car)
- Split airport (227km to the north, 2hr 45min by car)
- Tivat airport (Montenegro) (83km to the south, 2hr10min by car)
Opatija Conf 2026
- Fly to Zagreb leaving Sat 2nd May?
- Drive from Zagreb to Opatija (2hrs)
- Conf 6-9th May 2026
- Drive to Zagreb via Slovenia
- Fly from Zagreb to Rome Fri 15th May
- cancellation policies:
- std Singapore $390 fee
- BC Singapore $260 fee
- Zagreb accom free before 1/5/2026
- car hire?
- NL accom ?
- Opatija hotel free before 3/5/2026
- Bled free before 6/5/2026
- Trieste free before 13/5/26
- Trieste to Rome flight ?
- Rome AirBnB free before 1/5/26
- Rome airport hotel booking.com free up to 4 days prior
Self-drive through Slovenia
- A self-drive from Opatija to Zagreb via Venetian coastal towns of Piran, Trieste, and then up into the Julian Alps via the Vršič Pass, to Vintgar Gorge, Lake Bohinj, iconic Lake Bled, the Slovenian capital Ljubljana, Logar Valley, and Ptuj covers under 800km with some 12hrs of car travel time - see https://maps.app.goo.gl/JaSGYZaRPvLKBQy28
- the 1611m elevation Vršič Pass was built by 10,000-12,000 Russian POWs in 1915-1917 and from 1918 to World War II, the Vršič Pass marked the border between Italy and Yugoslavia
- the road through the pass rises from Kranjska Gora, traverses the top of the Vršič Pass, and descends into the Soča Valley, via a series of 50 hairpin bends.
- it is closed in winter as the upper elevations of the road are rendered impassable by heavy snowfall.
- in WWI, the Isonzo Front / Soča Front / “southern front” along the Isonzo / Soča River as Italians tried to attack the Austrians and open up this route to Vienna
- half of the entire Italian war death total – some 300,000 of 600,000 – were suffered along the Soča River. There were 950,000 Italian casualties in the twelve battles.
- Austro-Hungarian losses at around 200,000 and 570,000 casualties in the twelve battles, but in the end, the Central Powers retained control of this important route to Vienna.
- total casualties in this region are said to have numbered 1.2 million including 70,000 soldiers killed by avalanches
- Ljubljana is a small friendly university city of population 300,000 so only really worth 1-2 nights stay unless it is used as a base for the above sight seeing day tours
- English is widely spoken in Slovenia
- currency is the Euro, tipping is not generally expected but does require cash to do so.
- generally safe although hikers or campers need to consider environmental hazards as well as a small risk of attacks from bears (mitigated by making noise so you don't surprise them), wild boars, wolves, or a viper snake bite, but more seriously is the risk of rabies from bats and feral cats (domestic dogs are vaccinated at birth), and risk of tick-borne encephalitis or Lyme disease.
- ticks are active in Slovenia from early spring to late autumn under the right conditions, with the peak time being from late spring to early autumn. They are hungrier in warmer weather.
- Slovenia has one of the highest if not the highest density of brown bear in the world so make noise to avoid surprising them - if you happen to meet one, don't yell (as this creates aggressive behaviours), talk in a controlled manner, slowly retreat, never run (unless you are only metres away from a car or house - bears can run 50kph and will rapidly catch you), if a mother bear is protecting cubs and comes to attack you, slowly lay down face downwards and she will generally leave.
- don't eat wild boar as high toxo risk (and perhaps hep E)
- NB. wild camping outside designated camp grounds is illegal
- travelers should have hep A vaccination as well as usual vaccinations prior.
- climate in May is cool to mild (usual maximums 18degC and minimums 10-12degC) but obviously much colder in alpine regions where snow will usually be still present at the higher elevations - highest peak is Mt Triglav at just under 3000m
conferences_croatia.txt · Last modified: 2026/04/03 08:55 by gary1