Croatia, Italy and Nice

burdettn
Aug 28
5 min read

Updated: Sep 23

Where to visit?

Having travelled extensively around Europe, it was time to show the kids parts of Europe. So we decided on a trip from Brisbane, Australia to Manchester(UK) for an overnight stay then on to Split, Croatia for 4 days, then Naples for 3 days, Rome for 4 days and finally Nice for 3 days before returning to Manchester and a return flight back to Australia. Flights were taken between Cities mentioned apart from Naples and Rome where we took the train.

18/06/25 Brisbane -> Singapore

As we had gathered enough points on our AMEX card we were able to travel in Business on Singapore airlines. So our first stop was the business class lounge at Brisbane airport. The lounge itself is ok with being special, very similar to a priority pass business lounge but it helps to pass the time and the food was ok and slightly better than next door's priority pass lounge.

Then it was time to start boarding...

Boarding the plane we were joined by a helper dog who was very well behaved on the 7 hour flight to Singapore.

The food was excellent ...

Singapore -> Manchester

After a brief 18 hour stop in Singapore, and a visit to Singapore Airline business lounge it was time for the next flight to Manchester.

20/06/25 Manchester-> York -> Manchester

Landed in Manchester then went straight and hired a car after a nice relaxing sleep in business class. Drove to York and back again.

Back To Manchester for an evening curry

21/06/25 Manchester-> Split (Croatia) - Jet2

Another day another flight, another airline. We too an early morning flight Manchester to Split which took around 3 hours. On arriving at the airport in Split we took the bus to the city centre then a taxi to out hotel. This turned out to be twice as expensive as what it should have been (dodgy taxi driver who made up a random fare). I advise getting an uber from the airport to your hotel (unless you're staying in the city centre - if so get the convenient bus). However, we first had to navigate business lounge (priority pass) at Manchester airport

We eventually arrived at our Air BnB at "Put Znjana 14F, 21000, Split, Croatia"

We were able to hire electric scooters and bikes for free

And went for a local pizza in the evening (restaurant Dalmatino)

22/06/25 Split

The next day 22nd was spent relaxing, investigating Split and Diocletian's Palace and in the evening watching fireworks near theAirBnb.

23/06/25 Split-> Dubrovnik (Day trip)

We decided to do a day trip to Dubrovnik with Viator, who arranged everything 6 people cost AUD$760.

The journey to and from we stopped at "Deak Coffee and wine bar".

The journey to Dubrovnik

At Dubrovnik

Evening meal

24/06/25 Supetar Croatia

We caught the ferry to Supertar (after sprinting for the ferry as it was confusing to find the dock). the ferry was very full. We hired cycles on the island.

In the afternnon we had lunch back in Split

At 23:30 in the evening we flew to Naples. There is no business lounge for priority pass holders at Split airport yet. We arrived in Naples and our hotel; Napoli Svelata, had organised a pick up for us which was a bit late but the was understandable due to the traffic madness at the airport even so late at night. Our hotel was in a great location, easy access to walking to restaurants etc Corso Umberto I 217, Port of Naples, 80138 Naples, Italy

25/06/25 - Day trip to Pompeii, Sorrento and Positano from Naples

We bought another trip through Viator for AUD$651. We had our own Mercedes Van and driver take us first to Positano then Sorrento and finally to Pompeii. Pompeii was last as they said it would be quieter to visit around 2/3pm. Which it was, no queues!

First stop Positano and a quick stop at the (strong) lemon wine stop.

Next stop Positano for a walk around town centre and a pizza in the main square

Finally the highlight ... Pompeii. We bought entrance tickets through tiquets.com for AUD$105 for 2 adults and 2 youths.

In the evening we went for a short walk from our hotel to a popular street restaurant for pizza etc

26/06/25 - Walking above and below Naples

We eventually found the entrance to the underground tunnels in Napoli. Took around 1.5 hours but was worth every penny. In the evening we found a Chinese Restaurant close to our hotel. It was a good meal.

27/06/25 - Train to Rome

After a relaxing train journey 4 first class tickets cost AUD$126 abd took 2 hours 38 minutes. On arrival we checked into our AirBNB which was a delightful old, large apartment within walking distance to the train station and the colosseum. We took a hop-on-hop-off bus and went around twice before heading to a restaurant for an evening meal.

28/06/25 - Cinque terra

The next morning was an early start as we headed to Cinque Terra which we wanted to see in the day. So we caught the 6:30am train from Rome which took 3 hours to La Spezia. From there we bought a tourist day pass to travel between the 5 tourist towns. The tourist towns of Cinque Terre are the five Italian villages of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.

Our favourite town was Riomaggiore. The train was a bit delayed on the way back and took around 4.5 hours. So the trip was easily done in a day even though many reports said it was not possible.

29/06/25 - Walking around Rome, Colosseum, Forum, Parthenon etc

We walked and tubed it around Rome all day. Seeing some of the major highlights

30/06/25 - Vatican City

Our Final day in Rome was spent walking around again. This time to Vatican city and the Sistine chapel. It was a long walk through lots of museums to get to the Sistine chapel. Remember to always buy a "jump the queue" ticket. It was very useful and buy online first otherwise they sell out fast. It was so hot that the tramac paths were actually meting and sticking to our shoes.

1/07/25 - Nice, France

After an early flight with EasyJet, we took the tram from the airport to our Airbnb. If you get the free tram out of the airport to Grand Arenas Station then get a tram ticket as at the airport it will cost 10euros but only 1.70 ay Grand Arenas.

2/07/25 - Monaco

The next day we caught the train to Monaco, and in the evening caught up with Julian and James for a bite to eat

3/07/25 - Saint Tropez, Frejus, Cannes

We hired a car from Nice airport and drove to Saint Tropez and then took the scenic route back to Nice, stopping at Frejus. By the time we arrived in Cannes we had a puncture and had to call Hertz which after several hours (due the fact they couldn't call Australian mobile numbers) the car was picked up and we got a free Uber courtesy of Hertz back to Nice.

4/07/25 - Nice ->Manchester (KLM)

The next day we flew back to Manchester getting ready to get our flight back to Brisbane. Our flight went via Amsterdam for a few hours which was horrendously busy and the transit took a long time partly due to passport control and partly as there were no directions listed. In Manchester we went back to the University for Chinese, did laundry and also visited the Trafford Centre.