Rijeka is place to see and discover (Rijeka)

Member Name: samanosuke74

Product:	Rijeka
Date:	07/11/06 (730 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great place to visit with lots of things to do and beautiful landscape

Disadvantages: A bit windy in winter

Rijeka is situated on the Kvarner Bay and it is the main port and centre in north-west part of Croatia, as well as third biggest place in the country. It is positioned on a perfect spot, surrounded with mountains
of Gorski Kotar (popular winter resort in Croatia) on north of the city and beautiful Kvarner Bay on the south.

Rijeka (in Croatian language literally means “river”) is named after, guess what, a river called Rijecina.
Although some might prefer Fiume which is Italian word for river. Rijeka was part of Italy during WW2 and there is a huge Italian minority in Rijeka, so if you are fluent in Italian you should not have a problem to communicate with people. They are proud of their inheritance and they like to call themselves “fiumani” which is a local slang, (“fiuman” for a male and “fiumanka” for female) but also well know around whole Croatia. So if your Croatian is not good, then speak Italian, you can’t go wrong.

To get to Rijeka is best if you take a plane from Stansted Airport to Pula Airport, which is only 1 hour drive on new modern motorway. Ryanair recently opened flights to Pula 3 days a week (Tue,Thu,Sat).
During summer period (between April and October) there is Easyjet flight between Luton Airport and Krk Airport which is only 30 minutes from Rijeka, situated on island of Krk. There are regular bus connections as well as taxi from Krk Airport to centre of Rijeka or if you prefer to drive, you can rent a car at the airport at your convenience.

Also, if you are traveller from capital Zagreb, there are regular coach and train connections to Rijeka and only takes 2 hours of travelling on new modern motorway (a little bit more on train though). I always find exciting to travel between those two cities because you pass through some of the most beautiful continental parts of Croatia.
If you choose a car then be prepared to take some nice photos on your journey.
There are many rest spots along the motorway where you can enjoy coffee, meals do some shopping or just stretch before heading further down the road.
Bus is around 160 kunas (£16) one way, and train could be the same price, depends on what class you choose.
On motorway you pay road fee around 52 kunas (£5) which is a bit expensive, but with the price of petrol you would came up to the almost same price if you use coach.

Back to Rijeka. Once when you get to the city, the best place to stay is hotel Bonavia, situated in centre of town. Although it might be more expensive option, hotel offers the best what you can get in Mediterranean cuisine. If you are not ready to spend to much on your accommodation then hotels Jadran or Continental are perfect for you, and the service is also good, so you won’t get disappointed.
However, my personal recommendation is to get private accommodation. It will not cost you much, you can get lots of reviews around Internet about private accommodation (I am not suppose to put any links here) but do a little research and see it for yourself. People are friendly and hostile and they will make sure that your stay is enjoyable.
Some might offer bed and breakfast, which is rare type in private accommodation in Croatia, most of them will offer service with all meals included or you’ll have to take this onto your own responsibility.

When it comes to food, you can’t go wrong in Rijeka. There are lots of nice restaurants, pizza places, snack bars and traditional bakeries with fresh tasty bakery products.
It is really what do you prefer, but I do recommend pizzas. They are just good as in Italy. Pizza in this part of the world is better and prepared with more passion then those you get from Pizza Cut or similar places. There are no chains of restaurants in Croatia, most of the owners have one or two so anywhere you go you’ll get an unique food prepared by one chef and that is a beauty of dinning in Croatia. Once you get your favourite place to eat, you’ll always get back there.

I can’t go further in my review of Rijeka without mentioning Opatija, small town on western outskirts of Rijeka, but Opatija is story for itself, and deserves separated review. It is called “a jewel of an Adriatic” and there are so many reasons why. I am sure that one of my next reviews will be dedicated to Opatija.

Anyway, I hope you didn’t mind my little jump to another theme, but that is just because of fact if you go to Rijeka you have to go and visit Opatija for yourself.

There are plenty bars and night-clubs in Rijeka. It is lively place in summer, and if you wonder around Korzo, which is main street in centre, you’ll find plenty places to enjoy your drink, chill out with ice-cream or just have a little rest after shopping.
People in Croatia like to have long coffee breaks; it is very usual to see many people sitting outside when weather is nice and enjoy conversation and have nice cup of cappuccino,
It is very important way of socialising. If you live in Croatia, it is common that someone will call you during the day to find out if you whether you can go for cup of coffee and have a little chat.
People are not used to plan this in advance. They organise it quickly and they enjoy it.
That’s why you see them so many around during the day sitting in cafés.
However, most of them probably just have their lunch break at work.

Nightlife is great in Rijeka. There are few nice lounge bars, pubs and regular bars with very nice interiors, friendly staff and good atmosphere. River Pub, Phanas, Opium Buddha Bar, Hemingway, Kosi Toranj, Dva Lava are only few that you might want to visit.
Most of them play modern music (not commercial chart though) but if you prefer house, jazz, rock , lounge they always have something to offer.
Oh yes, River Pub organises karaoke sometimes if you are into that.
Try Croatian beer in this places, it is good quality and very rich in taste. One pint is approximately 15 –20 kunas (£1.5 - £2).
I recommend Ozujsko, Lasko and Karlovacko Pivo (pivo is Croatian word for beer). But don’t forget wine, this is something that you need to try in Croatia. There and hundreds of good sorts of white, red and rose wine. In Rijeka, every bar, restaurant or night-club will have huge selection of wine. Don’t miss that, it will be sin to leave without enjoying at least few glasses of this pure pleasure.

Ok, Rijeka is not all about clubbing, drinking and eating, although it is important feature of what city offers to you.

If you go there in summer (which is the best time to visit Rijeka), you’d wonder how to get onto those beautiful islands, which are visible from most of the clear spots around city.
One of them is Krk (remember the airport?), which is absolutely right place to seek your summer adventure. However, Krk will be one of my next reviews very soon.
For now, just to let you know that that there is a regular catamaran service from Rijeka harbour to island of Krk and islands of Cres and Losinj. They will be also all covered in my reviews very soon.

If you prefer to stay in Rijeka, and have sunbathe on near beach go to Kostrena, little town between Krk and Rijeka. Kostrena is newly build tourist place, and not far from Rijeka town. It has huge parking space and sea is very clear so you can swim without fear of pollution. Generally, Croatian beaches and especially sea are very clean. People are very proud of that fact and they will always highlight this in every conversation about heir country.

Perhaps, Kostrena will be the best choice if you look private accommodation, not far from centre of town, again far enough from crowd when you need your peace.

There are so many things that can be written about Rijeka and surroundings and I am pretty sure that will come back to them once I write other reviews about Opatija, Krk, Losinj, Cres, Istria...
It is a special place where clash of continental architecture and Mediterranean design make an unique style that everyone who visit the place, admire.
See it for yourself, climb to Trsat, visit Trsat castle just above the town on a beautiful cliff arisen in the middle of old town of Rijeka, enjoy the view, smell the air and feel the presence of history while observing this lively place full of energy.
Rijeka is in constant transition from old to new modern place. But the old spirit of centuries will always stay there and tell you the story of real Fiume and it’s turbulent past.
Surely, Rijeka is today vibrant and modern place to live, desired place of many young people in Croatia and abroad, and definitely places to live in.

Summary: Rijeka is becoming recognized as one of main places to see on Adriatic