The summer of 2024 marked the start of our European Road Trip from Leicester to Croatia (and back). We had wanted to visit the country for many years but had thought that it would be too far to drive and too expensive to fly as a family of six. After several summer holiday road trips to France and Lake Garda in Italy we finally decided that Croatia would be do-able in the car.
We planned a 25 day road trip which took us through ten countries with the highlight being 7 nights in Croatia. You can find out more about our route and the other places we visited along the way on the post below:
After 11 days driving across Europe, visiting Efteling, Prague, Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Zagreb, we were ready for a relaxing beach holiday on the beautiful Dalmatian Coast.
We stayed at Amadria Park Camping Trogir which is just eight miles from Split Airport. At the time our children were 17, 13, 9 & 9 and we met up with two other families who had flown over from the UK.
Holidaying on a camp site, in a mobile home, has been our go-to summer holiday for the past 8 years (since we had the twins and became a family of six). We love the freedom of having our own ‘home’ and outside space and a relaxed atmosphere amongst other families from across Europe with plenty to do on site for the kids, both young and old. As the camp site lanes are quiet with very little traffic it is safe for the children to play and explore, visit the parks, games rooms and football pitches.
Croatia & Trogir
- Croatia is a country of around 3.9 million on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
- Declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and joined the European Union in 2011.
- Flight time between the UK and Croatia is approximately two and a half hours.
- The Croatian currency is the Euro.
- Trogir – a small coastal town to the west of Split with population of around 11,000.
- The historic centre of the town is situated on an island and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- Mediterranean climate with average high temperatures of 31 degrees in July and August.
Amadria Park Camping Trogir
Site and accommodation
The campsite is terraced on the side of a steep hill with fantastic views of the sea and nearby islands.
There are a mix of touring pitches, mobile homes and apartments. We booked direct with the camp site and stayed in a ‘Family 3 Mobile Home’. The size and layout was great with three good size bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was the best mobile home that we have ever stayed in.
The camp site was really clean and the staff at reception very welcoming. Having booked direct, we even had clean sheets and towels etc delivered twice during the week which we weren’t expecting. We would definitely recommend booking direct rather than through Eurocamp or similar travel company.
The facilities on site included a small supermarket, games rooms, sea-front bar, café and restaurant, pizza restaurant and takeaway. There were also a number of small tourist shops and kiosks selling gifts, snacks, beach toys, inflatables etc.
The beach and pools
There is direct access to the beach from the camp site which is made up of fine pebbles. Being on a steep hill, the beach was also quite steep and narrow though and it was difficult to find a comfortable spot to relax. There are sunbeds and daybeds on site which can be hired.
The sea was warm and lovely to swim in although it did get deep very quickly. The water is crystal clear and we did quite a lot of snorkelling and playing on inflatables which we purchased on site.
We did find some wider beaches which were less steep approximately 1km walk either way along the coast which would have been more suitable for families with smaller children or less confident swimmers.
The outdoor swimming pools were relatively small for the size of the camp site and these were very busy during the day. We did manage to get some sunbeds around the pools in the afternoons but the layout meant that you couldn’t see all areas of the swimming pools from the loungers so someone had to keep a close eye of the youngest children either at the side of the pool or in the water.
We had a lot of fun playing and cooling off from the heat in the pool but with eight children in our three families, aged between 9 and 17, a larger pool complex with water slides would have been welcomed by all.
Inflatable assault course
The camp site does have an inflatable assault course on the sea which was available at an extra cost. The children were desperate to have a go and we booked a slot one afternoon and everyone brave enough had great fun scrambling around and jumping off the high platforms into the sea below.
The tickets for this were relatively expensive and we only paid for the children to have a go for an afternoon. The operators were really good in letting us swap the kids life jackets for adult sizes though so that the Dads could all have a go once the children were exhausted, at no extra cost.
The local area and Trogir
Having spent eleven days travelling and site-seeing on the way to Croatia we were happy to spend most of the week relaxing on site and didn’t feel the need to explore the local area too much (we also had another 8 days of travelling and site-seeing on the journey home to look forward to). Nevertheless, we did go off the site for several meals in the local villages and in the centre of Trogir.
Although there was a mini-supermarket on site, having the car with us meant that we were able to visit a local supermarket a short drive away to stock-up with ice creams, drinks and food for breakfast and lunch. There was a local supermarket and a Lidl less than ten minutes away in the car. We found that the on-site mini-mart was a lot more expensive than the off-site supermarkets.
Leaving the back gate of the camp site there is a small bay a short walk along the coast with a number of local restaurants where we enjoyed some delicious evening meals. We did find it a little difficult (and stressful) trying to get a table for 14 people but we persevered and the cuisine was great and the service friendly and welcoming.
One evening we booked Ubers into Trogir and after exploring the narrow winding streets of the town centre, we had a few refreshing beverages on a small square dominated by a medieval church before finding a restaurant which could seat the 14 of us.
On another afternoon we drove into Trogir and had a long walk around the local market, marina and old town. After purchasing some souvenirs and ice cream we stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the castle and quay where there were a number of super-yachts and island-hopping holiday boats moored.
Overall Opinion
Our holiday to Croatia did not disappoint. We had a really relaxing holiday with good friends in an absolutely beautiful country. The weather was hot, the camp site was clean, modern and with friendly staff.
We had some great meals out with our friends enjoying the local cuisine, including local sea food, wild boar, pizzas and pasta, spent time together as a family and with friends playing games (cards, UNO, rummikub and Genius Square) and enjoyed beer, wine and prosecco on the decking outside our mobile homes in the evenings. We made memories on the inflatable assault course and snorkelling in the sea – seeing lots of sea cucumbers and sea urchins in particular.
We would definitely recommend Croatia as a family holiday destination and we hope to go back and explore other parts of the country in the future. Trogir was a great small town and the Amadria Camping site well situated for the airport and for exploring the local area. The only disappointing aspect was the size of the pool and lack of water slides – although we were aware of this when we booked.
Holiday Run
When away from home I love to get out and go for a run around the sites or local countryside. I run a lot at home around the same few routes so it is really good to go for a run with more interesting sites to see along the way.
I managed to get out on a number of early morning runs during our stay along the pedestrianised paths on the sea front. Leaving the campsite to the east, the road led straight through a small forest with trees on the slopes of the hill right down to the sea water before the landscape opened up with a flat section walkway along empty beaches and past many beachfront restaurants and hotels.
It was very hot, even before 9am, and after a few miles I was glad to come across an outside shower on the edge of a private jetty which I used to cool down before heading back home. Finishing the run at the campsite with a swim in the Adriatic before heading back for breakfast with the family was a great start to the day.
You can find details of my route on Strava on the following link – holiday run Trogir
About Us
After the shock of finding out that we were expecting twins in 2015, one of the first things that we realised was that …we’re gonna need a bigger car!
We’re a family of six with two girls and two boys aged 17, 14 and 9 year old twins.
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