My experience kayaking and river rafting in Croatia and Montenegro

In May this year I was lucky enough to get to go to Croatia and Montenegro on my very first kayaking trip! It was also the first time I was travelling alone, but as a soon to be 30 year old woman I figured it was about time and something I should experience. 

When I landed in Dubrovnik I saw a sign with my name on it, and off I went! I was driven to a tiny beach where a nice speedboat picked me up to go over to the island of Lopud. With the wind in my hair on the clear blue water I got my first real taste of summer for the year. When I arrived on Lopud island I was greeted by the one and only Amir, my tour guide for the week. He showed me my accommodation, a super cute room in a local’s family house. I ran straight to the balcony and screamed WOW (I think I scared Amir). It was the most stunning view I’d ever seen (and I’ve travelled around a bit)! 

In the evening we had a delicious welcome dinner where I met the rest of the group who were lovely.

It was a beautiful restaurant overlooking the sunset. I couldn’t believe I didn’t know about this place until last month! I was already planning my return.

The next day it was time to go kayaking. My first time! I was a little nervous but I got to go in Amir’s kayak, he just also happens to be a former national athlete in kayaking so I felt more than safe. We kayaked around the island to the beach on the other side where we relaxed and had lunch. I’m not going to go into details for every single day, but in short, I got more and more comfortable kayaking, and loved it. I was never scared to fall in. The water was so warm I thought even if I did, it would feel quite nice, and Amir would pick me up in no time.

One day we kayaked to the Blue Caves on an island close by where we got to jump from some cliffs and snorkel. It was breathtakingly beautiful!

After a few days it was time to leave Lopud, which I was quite sad about, but excited for Montenegro! We took the ferry over to Dubrovnik. It was a beautiful ferry ride, we even passed the village where they film Game of Thrones!

We had lunch in Dubrovnik, then we were off to Montenegro. We got driven in a van through the most beautiful scenery I think I’ve ever seen! They call it the “Grand Canyon of Europe” and as someone who’s been to the actual Grand Canyon - I agree. It was stunning. We passed through so many mini tunnels and stopped many times to take photos which I loved. The whole car journey took 3 hours.

We arrived to our accommodation by the Tara river on the Montenegro side, (just opposite of the river is Bosnia - Herzegovina,)  and once again I was speechless! We stayed in a beautiful new house which looked like an Alpine cabin. The restaurant was right next to it and overlooked the river below. There are no words that can explain how beautiful it was.

We had a great dinner and I decided to get an early night and rest up for river rafting in the morning.

The next day we had breakfast overlooking the river and it was the most delicious breakfast. Eggs, bacon and some fried bread that I was told is famous in Montenegro with home made jam. Everything is from the farm next door was my answer when I asked Amir how it could be so good…

Time for river rafting! And this I was proper nervous about because I have never done it before, nor did I think I would! As it was part of the package and due to my desire to get out of my comfort zone I just decided to go with it, and what would be, would be…

We got our gear (wet suit, helmet and life vest) then by the river we had a safety briefing and off we went! I was trying to film along the way (you can watch it here) but was very scared to drop my GoPro which can easily happen. Note to others or my future self - attach it to your helmet!

It was a little bit scary to see the big rapids and waves coming towards you, but scary in a thrilling way, like when you see a drop in a rollercoaster. I never felt unsafe or as if I was going to fall out.

We stopped along the way to take pictures by (in) a waterfall and this was on the Bosnian side which was a very cool surprise!

River rafting was SO much fun, and I cannot wait to go again! This was something for me that I had to try once to know how much I wanted to do it.

After rafting we had another amazing meal (freshly caught fish), then we went off on another adventure. We were driven for about an hour to see the top of the Montenegro mountains (they really are black) and still covered in snow! It felt like I was in the alps. We drove pass lambs and ponies, saw a rainbow, it felt like I was in a children’s book if that’s a thing, in the best way!

We took pictures in the snow and had a really lovely afternoon.

Then it was time to go back to Dubrovnik where we spent the last night. I was really sad to leave. It was fun to go solo, I felt comfortable and relaxed the whole time, but I kept thinking - I can’t wait to bring my friends and family and do this all over again next year!