Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

We recently toured Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina under the organization of Ala and her team. On our first day, we arrived at our mountain chalet in the pouring rain, with all our plans cancelled. Within no time, Ala used her local network to arrange a visit to a small family-run dairy farm. With their grown son translating, the parents welcomed us and proudly showed their traditional cheese-making process, with samples of course. They had never hosted visitors before! It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Ala knew we were looking for less touristy and more authentic experiences. She chose unique places for us to stay, especially an 18th-century authentically furnished Ottoman house and a boutique hotel within an archeological site. She arranged four different guides, all of which were excellent, for a variety of tours. In each case the guides were eager to share local gems beyond the well-known attractions. One of our favorites was sitting in a charming family-run restaurant, eating traditional Bosnian foods and hearing stories of our guide’s life growing up in Bosnia.

We can’t thank Ala enough for sharing her knowledge and experience to create such a memorable trip!

Catherine Olsen sailing in Hvar, Croatia.

Catherine Olsen sailing in Hvar in mid-September. Photo: Traveler Paul Bennett

We travelled from Mostar in Bosnia to the Croatian coast for a week’s holiday following a Documentary Film Festival we were attending in Sarajevo. Unfortunately for us, we hit the tail end of the unseasonably heavy rains & flooding in Central Europe mid-Sept so the first half our trip was not as sunny & warm as we anticipated. Our trip was arranged by Ala and her team. The guides, drivers & boats Ala arranged were exceptional, the town of Mostar extremely beautiful, but based on the accommodation that’s presently available in Mostar, we’d recommend making it a day trip rather than an overnighter.

We took a private boat transfer from Split to the island of Hvar, & stayed in the beautiful Maslina resort just outside the town of Stari Grad. The hotel was a short walk from a lovely swimming beach, & a free 5 min shuttle ride into the town of Stari Grad which luckily for us was celebrating a wooden boat festival, so the streets were filled with locals & some of Croatia’s top musicians.

We also had the good fortune to experience our WOW Moment on a sailboat… a great windy day on the ocean with a seasoned sailor/skipper who not only took us to an idyllic cove to swim off the boat,
but to a fabulous little restaurant that’s only accessible by boat, where we devoured a local grilled fish for lunch. Made us want to come back for more!

Silvia’s team helped us create a magical vacation. We have travelled extensively but never to this destination. We landed in Ljubljana, the gorgeous capital city of the small country of Slovenia. It is very picturesque and not heavily toured. We had a guide and driver take us to Lake Bled; sadly it poured but we could tell this area is stunning. We then went to Rovinj and the Istrian countryside. Again, it was quiet, historic and charming. Split was the next destination, again a beautiful ancient city with amazing old walls, think Game of Thrones. Split can get very crowded when cruise ships arrive so be warned the streets can be full. Split has some very good restaurants and it is fun to wander the cobblestone streets.

We then went to the island of Hvar and Maslina Resort. Hvar is truly out-of-this-world gorgeous and that property is stunning. We proceeded to drive to Dubrovnik from here but had a WOW Moment on the way. We went to the town of Ston, got picked up by an oyster farmer named Dennis, and taken to his small operation. We literally had oysters and mussels that were plucked from the Adriatic Sea 30 minutes prior. They were the best oysters I have ever eaten.

Dubrovnik is awe-inspiring. Centuries-old thick stone walls make up the fortress of this small city. We walked the wall with views of the sea to our right and views of the town to our left. One can spend days wandering and strolling the old town taking in the wonder of centuries of history. Hotel Excelsior was located a short walk from the gates of the old town, and the accommodation was very nice. We ate at a few excellent restaurants savoring the fresh fish.

Exeter provided us with outstanding tour guides, excellent Mercedes Benz cars and drivers. Every detail worked perfectly. We learned a tremendous amount of history, took in natural beauty, ate well and loved this trip. Caution, it can get crowded, I would advise against coming in the summer. The climate is wonderful. I wonder why the season literally ends October 15?

We traveled to Croatia with a group of 9 and had a spectacular time. Ala and Andjela did an expert job of balancing all of our preferences and creating an itinerary to work for everyone. September was an ideal time to travel as it was not crowded and the weather was perfect. It was warm enough to swim (for some!) but not too hot. We spent 2 nights in Split, 2 nights in Hvar, and 3 nights in Dubrovnik. We started the day in each new city with a walking tour, which I highly recommend, as a way to understand the history and culture of the city while getting to see key sites. All of the tour guides were excellent. A good tour guide makes all the difference.

Some of the highlights included a bike tour across the island of Hvar and a private boat trip to the Elaphiti Islands. Ala and Andjela helped us make all of our restaurant reservations and they were ideal, covering a perfect mix of traditional, scenic, and gourmet selections. We had no major disruptions on the trip but it was comforting to know that Ala and Andjela were just a phone call away if anything went awry. They were so on top of things they even called us to alert us that our car to dinner would be late due to a traffic accident and arranged with the restaurant for a later arrival. They also delighted us with an upgrade to a private boat transfer instead of the ferry.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip and were pleasantly surprised that it went off without a hitch even with such a large group. It was a great example of the value of great trip planners!

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