CROATIA WITH EUROCAMP

It's not everyday that you're able to travel with your job, but two weeks ago I was and I've never been more excited to publish a post before.

Croatia is somewhere I have always wanted to go and I'm so happy I can now tick it off my travel list. From its gorgeous scenic views, deep blue and crystal clear waters and its very strange Kuna currency; I loved everything about my 7 days stay in Croatia and I am now sad to be home.

This year, I teamed up with Eurocamp who I have holidayed with before. You may remember a few years ago, I did a road trip through France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole Europe camping experience and have always recommended it to people to do at least once in their lives. 

After a short-haul two hour flight from London to Zadar with my sister, her boyfriend and my friend; we arrived at the airport and it was time to find a taxi. The exchange rate in the UK was really bad, so we waited until we arrived in Zadar to change up some money. The currency in Croatia is called Kuna and it's a really strange one to get to grips with at first. Basically, roughly £10 is 84 HRK, so expect to be paying what feels like £200 for a meal but is only actually £20 (169 HRK). 

Uber runs in Croatia and we found the trip from Zadar airport to Eurocamp's Camping Village Simuni would cost around 800 HRK with them, so I took off to talk to the taxi drivers outside to see if we could get it a little cheaper. At first, they quoted us 1300 HRK; but with a little flutter of my eyelashes, I managed to persuade the guy to get it down to 730 HRK. Job done.

The journey was 73km and took a little over an hour, but the views on the drive were stunning and totally worth taking in. We stayed near the local town of Pag, so we was able to see the stunning Pag Bridge, its beautiful blue waters below and the small town of Pag itself. 

Eurocamp is a great way to see and stay in Europe if you're on a budget. Depending on the budget you have, there's a wide range of different mobile homes that you can choose. If you're hardly going to be inside during your stay, you may want a classic mobile home. Or maybe you need a bit more room, so the Azure mobile home or bungalow style house is a perfect way to sleep all of the family. However, maybe you'd prefer to traditionalise your camping experience and use a tent or drive a caravan over to Europe. There's so many different options! 

Just over an hour later, we finally arrived at Camping Village Simuni and I checked us all in at the check in reception. The lady was really pleasant and welcoming and told us to walk over to the main reception to be taken to our mobile home. 

The staff at the main reception were also very friendly and we had a sit down talk with them. They explained what facilities the camp had to offer and pointed these out on a giant map we was given for future reference during our week stay. 

We was booked into a Classic Home and driven to it in a golf buggy. The mobile home is the most basic one with two bedrooms and one bathroom; but it's all we really needed as we planned on being outside and adventuring about as much as possible.

With its very own decking, outdoor dining area and two sunbeds, it is more than enough for 4 adults or 2 adults and 2 children to have a comfortable and satisfied stay. Inside, the van is fully equipped with kitchen equipment, toilet rolls and plates, cutlery etc. Bed linen and towels are also available for hire, but these are normally charged for.

We was placed right at the back of the camp on top of a hill, so we got the best views of the sunrise and sunset on the sea. The perfect view to see whilst indulging on a bowl of chocolate granola every morning. 

The camp itself is easy to navigate around; stretching over 35 ha (hectare). It is surrounded by evergreen oak and pine woods; giving you that true camping feeling that you would expect from a camping experience.

The town of Pag is only 12km away, but you could easily stay inside of the camp for however long you are there for. We didn't hire a car or take a trip outside of the camp, but I have done in previous Eurocamp stays. 

Eurocamp is great because everything you could ever need or want from a holiday is inside of the camp waiting for you. With a supermarket, restaurants, cafes and bars on site, sports, wellness treatments, water sports and activities for kids; it has everything you could possibly need to fulfil your holiday.

The supermarket also offers a recycling programme with its glass bottles. Every time you return an empty glass bottle of cider or beer, you would receive 2 HRK back. So, we naturally took advantage of this!

There are a few different beach bars where you can enjoy an ice-cream, cold drink or snack food. There's also a fish restaurant on site which is quite expensive compared to the pizzeria restaurant, but totally worth a visit if you have the budget to do so. 

We dined at the pizzeria twice and enjoyed the second time more as the pizzas were quite salty the first time. A pepperoni pizza is 45 HRK, so it's really cheap and you obviously can't beat a pizza after a long day swimming in the sea, can you?!

The camp also has a whole bunch of different showers and toilets on side if you're tent/caravan camping or feeling impatient with one bathroom in your mobile home. There is also an on site shop that sells everything you could need for the beach. The staff there did seem to change their mind on prices on products every single day, so it may be worth haggling your way for a good deal on something. 

Camping Village Simuni is the first camp in the world with a salt beach. The Salt Beach has the three elements of Pag; oil, salt and stone. When you dry off after swimming in the waters of Salt Beach, you are left with a layer of salt on your skin. Really weird, but quite cool to witness first hand!

Salt Beach offers a number of wellness centres and Halotherapy; a natural method that directly affects the improvement of the general state of the body. Crystal rock salt is incredibly beneficial to health and mood. It is recommended to breathe in the air of the Salt Beach as it's rich in negative irons, so can help to improve fatigue, stress and irritability. 

Only one beach out of the six is sandy, so I would recommend buying some rock shoes from the shop if you're not used to rocks and large stones on the beach; aswell as spiky sea urchins in its waters. Buying rock shoes was the best thing I bought for the entire holiday, as they gave me much more confidence in walking in the waters and swimming out quite far. No worrying about what was unknowingly touching my feet!

The beaches have several wooden floats in its waters which you can swim out to and sunbathe on. We took full advantage of this every day and it was bliss; not to mention the best way to catch a tan. They do tend to get overtaken by children, so it's best to keep your eye on when they are free or head over to one early morning or midday when families return to their homes for lunch.

They have mosaic tile sunbeds available for free use all the way down the beach and straw umbrellas for shade. You definitely need to take a towel to put down on the beds as they get really hot from the sun. They also aren't they comfortable and do make your back achy, so I did place my towel on the floor a few times.

We never got the chance to find an umbrella that was free during our stay, so I would recommend getting down to the beach very early to nab one of those! There's not as many umbrellas as there are beds, so it would be nice to see a few more of these on the beaches for people who need shade during heat in its 30s. 

There's no rules on what time you need to leave the beach, so we was down there most evenings. It was so lovely to watch the evening sun set over the waters and enjoy every second of 'golden hour'.

On one night, we headed back down to the beach to capture the sunsetting in its very last moments and it was incredibly beautiful to witness.

The animation programmes have so much to offer for both adults and children. Children can enjoy kids club, discos, carnivals, a theatre, shows, musicals and face painting. Adults on the other hand have a lot of different things to enjoy all day long.

During the day for adults, there is an outdoor gym, pilates, yoga, aerobics, dance lessons, surfing, diving, catamaran school, nordic walking and cycling. There's also a wide range of sports available; including tennis, football, sumo games and beach soccer. 

When the evening hits Croatia, there's cabaret acts, comedy nights, music quizzes, live music and European themed nights. We got to see a fire show and firework display on a Wednesday evening at 11pm, which was spectacular. This also included a free BBQ serving pork rolls!

We ate at the Pizzeria and Beach bar a few times, but also used the kitchen facilities we had in our caravan and went self catering. 

The supermarket is really basic, so you need to have a rough idea of the meals you intend on cooking. We managed to make a sausage pasta and a few vegetarian meals; but they also have a limited amount of BBQ food  available, as each van is given their own BBQ to use. I recommend getting the food early in the morning as it does sell out quite quickly each day!

There are three different Eurocamps in Croatia, but Camping Village Simuni was definitely the right choice for us. It was a fantastic trip and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the camp. 

Once again, Eurocamp have performed excellently and I fully recommend staying at a Eurocamp if you're looking at holidaying or travelling in Europe. The people I went with had never stayed at a Eurocamp before, but are already recommending it to their friends. I have nothing but good things to say!

Thank you so much to Eurocamp for having us and you can also expect a vlog of our trip coming very soon! 

Disclaimer: Complimentary stay in Croatia for 4 people, was provided in exchange for an honest review on Being Ashleigh. All words, opinions and photographs are my own.