Campervan vs. Plane: Our 7-Day Escape to Zadar 🇭🇷
What started as a rainy, uncertain week turned into an unforgettable 2,020 km road trip in our campervan—with Croatia’s coastline as the final reward. Originally planning to hit the Overland Festival in Slovakia, our plans got washed out by bad weather forecasts and a stubborn spring cold. But instead of staying home, we pivoted.
Zadar was calling.
Flights were tempting—cheap and fast—but they came with compromises: odd departure times, pricey last-minute accommodation, and the logistics of traveling with a toddler. So we did what felt right. We packed up the van, loaded our tiny home on wheels, and hit the road Saturday evening with a full tank and an open plan.
In the end, our 7-day journey cost just 500 EUR for everything: fuel, food, and camping. No airport stress, no early wake-ups—just freedom, sunsets by the sea, and spontaneous detours. Traveling by van might be slower, but it’s richer. More personal. More flexible. And definitely more fun for a family on the move.
Would we do it again? Absolutely.
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Back in March, Lenka told me that she would have a week’s vacation in the second half of May, and I could plan something. When I later found out that the Overland Festival, which I finally wanted to attend, was to be held May 22-25, I was clear in my planning. We were going to go on a road trip across Slovakia and end up at the Nova Duchonka campground where the festival was to be held. Slowly we added children’s attractions, a visit to the zoo and some walks and sightseeing, both familiar and new to us, until a week didn’t seem enough time to do it all. The turning point came when the date of this trip was approaching and we were watching the weather day by day to see if we would have to change anything on our plans. And sure enough, we would. The weekend and the beginning of the week was supposed to be rainy, so we started to cut attractions and postpone the departure, first on Monday, then on Tuesday… But the forecasts started to spoil for the next weekend, when the festival was supposed to take place, and that started to worry us. We were counting on some showers, we would survive them, but we were discouraged by the night temperature, which was supposed to be between 5 and 10 degrees, which we already knew was not enough to sleep in the van.
The whole week started to fall apart and we, independently, thought to look for something else. Among other things, Lenka came across cheap flights from Košice to Zadar. Either from Tuesday to Thursday or from Tuesday to Saturday. I went about it a little differently and started looking which direction and how far we had to go to get to pleasant weather and preferably near the sea. And I also came to the conclusion that it would be best to go to Croatia, at least to Zadar, or even further south. When we exchanged these findings with each other, it gave us a little encouragement that this week off was not completely lost, but it also raised a lot of doubts and questions. We had to agree and decide whether we wanted to go by plane or by van, and therefore whether we wanted to go anywhere at all, because Oliver’s cold had started again, and it would also mean that I wouldn’t be attending the Overland Festival again, which I was really looking forward to, and hoped that I would at least go there myself if circumstances didn’t allow otherwise.
Sitting at home for a whole week with a sick hyperactive child and in bad weather outside would be like a punishment, so the decision was made that we would definitely go. We debated a bit whether it would be really more convenient to go by air, when Oliver would also have his first such experience on an ideal short flight. But cheap flights are not everything. With the return flight on Thursday, we figured it was on short notice, and again the return flight on Saturday would be as early as 5:55 in the morning, which wouldn’t be very pleasant either. I also didn’t like the choice and pricing of accommodation at such short notice when we would have spent at least 250 euros in those few days. I’ll get to the overall cost comparison, but I figured we’d just have to take the van, after all, that’s what we have it for. In that case, I was a little worried about Croatian restrictions and bans on wild camping, but I believed that the off-season was the right time to go and check it out for myself.
Ideally, we would have left after lunch on Friday to make the most of the time, but on the other hand, the van wasn’t even ready for the trip yet, and besides, I had already promised my dad I’d help him around the house on Saturday. Getting the van ready for a trip like this means cleaning up at least a little, getting the chemical toilet ready, scooping up 10 litres of drinking water and filling the 70-litre tank of utility water. Of course, it’s also loading up the clothes closet, packing up personal items, drugs and some electronics, getting the fridge ready, making sure we have everything in the kitchen that we’ll need for cooking, and also making sure we have everything in the garage, even things we might not need on such a short trip, but we’re just bringing along just in case. And so, we set off on Saturday evening, after we had everything set up and ready, and we decided to have dinner at home as well, so that we wouldn’t have to stop early.
Exceptionally, I decided to take the motorway at least through Hungary. The 10-day Hungarian vignette for our van costs around 25 euros, but I don’t regret it and I will probably make such an investment next time. The motorway journey through Hungary goes by awesomely, quickly, comfortably and even with plenty of nice rest stops available, it’s certainly a more sensible choice than trudging through lots of villages and along poor-quality side roads where there’s usually nothing interesting to see either. At one of the last rest stops before the Croatian border we pulled over at half past one at night, moved the already sleeping Oliver to bed and went to sleep ourselves. The next day, Sunday, we planned to cross Croatia, off the highways, by the shortest possible route to the sea. We can’t travel for a long time in one piece, as Oliver can’t sit up, he is always complaining about something and makes such transfers quite unpleasant. So, we make a lot of stops, either random short ones, or when we know we want to eat or have a longer break, Lenka tries to find in the maps or mostly in the Park4Night app at least some park, playground or something interesting where Oliver will have fun. It worked out great, by morning we were standing in some village where they probably had a reprieve, it didn’t end without crying and Oliver won a huge droning dinosaur, in exchange for a promise that we won’t buy any more toys this trip and that he will at least be content to sit still for a while. Then we ate somewhere in the woods near the playground and further on, while filling up, I was pleased by the price of diesel, 1.28 per liter, and I also noticed that fuel cost exactly the same at all the pumps. After lunch we had a longer stop at a beautiful park with a small lake, where we again had something to eat and went for a walk. Gradually, with other short stops, and at a rather slow pace on unpaved Croatian roads, we got almost to the town of Senj, where I didn’t want to look for a place to sleep, as I was still afraid of the ban on camping by the sea, so we parked at one of the many rest areas near a chapel and spent the evening and the rest of the rainy night there.
In the morning, we were deciding whether to go to the centre of this town, Senj, but in the end we decided that we didn’t have much time before lunch and that we’d rather take a trip along the coast towards the south and get closer to Zadar. Plus, Oliver has a toy radar and tourist shops full of souvenirs to thoroughly explore, so short stops in towns usually end in crying, bad moods and the assessment that we don’t have much of anything. That’s also why we opted for a longer break at one of the first options with access to the sea. We were very happy about it, and even though it’s still too cold to swim, I had to get my feet wet. Oh, and we had to interrupt Oliver’s enthusiastic frolicking several times to change his clothes and shoes, as he, willy-nilly, found himself in the water several times. It served its purpose, Oliver fell asleep on the way and we were able to enjoy the beautiful views and serpentines during a little more than two-hour journey. I also couldn’t help but notice the frequent signs prohibiting camping at rest areas or beaches along the road. But I understand it completely and I want to respect it. The Croatian coastline is terribly rugged, the beaches and parking lots or rest areas are small and even now there were quite a few cars. We could probably get away with parking like this at night with our van in the off-season, but I imagine it would be unbearable in the high season and the bans are justified. When Oliver got up, we took another break at the rest stop with just the camping ban. I also wondered how they were actually taking it, if you weren’t even allowed to park a caravan there, or if it would be a problem to pitch up and sleep there. From other countries I can see a clear distinction between parking and camping, but how the Croatians feel about it, I don’t know. But Croatia is probably not a very good country for travelling in summer outside of campsites. Anyway, I started to get a bit worried about where we would actually sleep around Zadar. Even though our van doesn’t look like a caravan at all, I could only imagine sleeping by the sea in some really remote place.
However, we wanted to spend the first night in Zadar in one of the car parks, where according to the Park4Night app it was possible to do it just fine. On the way to the centre, we had a look at one of these places, we could sleep there, but we didn’t like it very much and it wasn’t very clear if there was a charge for parking at night or not. We left it with the understanding that we would probably try to find something else later. We were now looking forward to the centre of Zadar, and Oliver in particular had had enough of sitting in the sofa again. I had already scouted out a paid parking lot almost in the centre ahead of time, I was just worried if there would be room for us. It turned out well, there was plenty of space and parking didn’t even cost much, this way it was only 50 cents an hour outside the high season and you could just buy a ticket from a machine on the street.
The old centre of Zadar is entered through a huge limestone gate with a large statue of a winged lion. I was further impressed by the very nice, smooth and shiny stone pavement we walked on. We stopped at the very first bakery and bought some pastries for Oliver. He, in turn, was most interested in the windows of the souvenir and toy shops, and probably most interested in the shop that sold bathtub ducks of various shapes. We must have been in this shop 10 times in the whole time. Oliver got to see and name every single likeness, he knew most of them himself and of course wanted to buy from each one. We didn’t allow that of course, but I have to admit that this idea of selling stupidity with the lowest cost of production for the most money is a really good one. We also made it to a nice square with an ancient church and a bunch of ruins, where a street guitarist and singer added to the atmosphere. We always indulged in ice cream as we wound our way through the streets, 2.50 for a huge scoop, which was usually enough for one, as Lenka or I didn’t always fancy ice cream and it would have been too much for Oliver alone. At sunset we always moved on to, for me, the most interesting attraction, the Sea Organ, where I could sit and relax with the setting sun and the wave-generated rumbling sound of the organ for much longer than was possible with a fidgety child. But of course, it was an experience for Oliver as well, and we enjoyed it quite a bit in those few days. After sunset, another installation stood out again, this time a huge circle of solar panels that charged during the day and created a light theatre after dark. Oliver and the other children, who were still running around and having a jolly good time, liked it best. As the time progressed, we reviewed the planets of the solar system, as in addition to the sun there were also planets depicted on the sidewalk in the appropriate scale, said hello to the lady who sold handmade decorations and Oliver liked her very much, and then on the way to the van we still passed through another nice square with five wells. This is kind of what each of the four evenings we spent in Zadar looked like, we just changed bakeries, ice cream parlours and here and there we discovered a new alley.
The first night, after returning to the parked van, we still didn’t know where we were going to sleep. We had one place in reserve that we had already checked out, but I wanted to find something better. According to the P4N app, we arrived at the tennis courts, where tennis was still being played, even though it was after 10pm. On the summer terrace next to the courts, we attracted the attention of about twenty people drinking beer or other drinks, also the parking lot was almost full of cars, but since there was still one space, I assessed that it was much better than the parking lot before. It was well past the hour, Oliver should have been asleep by now, so we’d sleep here, even if we were parking a bit diagonally. After a quick evening routine, with Lenka and Oli already asleep, I heard increased noise and movement from outside. Here and there I watched what was going on, and around eleven o’clock in the evening we were all alone in the parking lot, no one was sitting on the terrace either, and thus all the players or members of this tennis club had left. Now our van parked there diagonally on the edge of the car park must have been shouting a bit, but in the morning several cars and vans arrived with builders remodelling some house on the other side of the road and again I knew it was perfectly OK to park here like this and I would have no problem returning for another night. There was no need. The next day, after a classic evening walk through Zadar, we went to explore another place found via P4N that I hadn’t noticed before. And that was it. A huge car park, quite close to the centre, right next to the police station, where everything from wrecks, trailers and cars to vans, trucks and caravans were parked. Exactly the sort of place where, if I can find where other travellers are parking and it’s apparently OK, I’m glad I don’t have to be alert in the evening and can relax, quietly, with my headphones in my ears. Anyway, the parking lot got even more crowded in the morning and I was a little worried about getting out of it. I managed to make it, and for the next two nights I preferred to park a little further away, where there was also more space available. Again, though, I wondered what it would be like here in season. And sure enough, we might not find anything free here in the evenings, or the locals might not like not having anywhere to park during the day, and I imagine the police are doing something about that here.
And what did we do during the days? It became a routine for us to stop at a petrol station in the morning, where I also filled up when I needed to, but mainly there was no problem to get clean water and pour dirty water into the canal. It rained all day one day, so we planned to shop for local food and supplies so we’d have something to eat for lunch and dinner, and spent the rest of the day in a huge shopping mall that also had rides for the kids, WIFI, toilets, you could eat there, and while Oliver slept in the car in the parking lot, Lenka had time to go run some shops as well. When it was nice, we looked for an interesting place, either by the playground or the beach, where Oliver could run and play and also where we could park well, preferably in the shade, so that we could cook and Oli wouldn’t be too hot during his midday nap. There are many such places around Zadar and it would take us a very long time to explore them all.
We had one more unresolved need, and that was a shower. There were a few options to try, none of them ideal, but I was hoping to figure something out and just make it work somehow. We didn’t want to go on the highway and there were no showers at the small gas stations in the towns. We didn’t have any luck with showers at the few beaches we visited either, and maybe it’s because the beaches here are rocky and not sandy, so maybe there aren’t even showers most of the time in Croatia like we’re used to. Plus, it would still be too cold to shower outside. It would also be cold when showering somewhere behind the van, but most importantly you would have to go to some secluded place, and that would cost a lot of time. I was considering one more option, and that was to visit a sports centre, spa or gym where I could work out and shower there too. This left me with a few questions, like how much it would cost and how we would sneak Oli in. But even now I was lucky with the P4N app, where I discovered a huge marina just south of Zadar where the showers should be free to use and there should only be a parking fee. Arriving at the large car park, where there were barely 5 cars, there was still no one enforcing the parking fee of 5 euros for the whole day, and apart from an empty booth there was no machine or option to pay this fee. We discovered that there is also a beautiful, and of course now empty, beach and playground. But first we went in search of that shower. Already on the way we noticed a huge fenced area surrounding the marina with hundreds of boats, sailboats, catamarans and yachts. People wrote in the comments that the staff at the complex were helpful and let them take showers with no problem. As we walked around the grounds, we noticed the back gate was open, so we went in through it. There weren’t many people moving around, just some workers, cleaners and even a German caravan was camping there, which I thought was unusual, but maybe they had a boat moored there, because there were several cars parked there with license plates from different countries, so I figured it was people who had boats parked in the compound. And apparently there were large restrooms for these people as well, where there were toilets, sinks, and showers. Everything was very nicely laid out, clean, and nobody was there. I found it a little strange that we were using it like this for free and illegally, especially when from the women’s showers, through the otherwise complete silence, we could hear Oliver screaming and freaking out. At least we would be less conspicuous here in the summer season when there are more people around. But everything turned out well and nobody noticed us. We liked this place so much that before leaving Zadar we spent one more day there, and this time a full day, when Oliver slept there for lunch, we also cooked, looked at a huge luxury yacht, played on the beach and finally took a shower again. I also spotted two couples of backpackers during that time, apparently sleeping in their cars, who had come there expressly for that purpose as well. I even told myself that we could have easily stayed the night, despite the camping ban, as even on our second visit the same cars were still parked there. But we always preferred to go back to Zadar for the evening, after all, there was at least something to do there after dark. Anyway, it was another good experience, and from now on, when we travel by van, when we look for a shower, we will definitely look around the big ports, where perhaps there should be showers.
When we would go home was mainly determined by the weather, as it was supposed to start raining during the night from Thursday to Friday and the bad weather was supposed to last the whole Friday. But we didn’t expect such a harsh night. After midnight, a huge droning thunderstorm came through and it was lightning nonstop for several hours. We had never experienced this before in the van, even the feeling of being so close to the lightning was something I have perhaps never had in my life. We were taking it all in through our big sunroof, and even a little bit of water started leaking in through the side door. Lenka was properly scared and we didn’t get much sleep that night. Luckily it wasn’t cold and we slept a bit longer in the morning. Friday morning, we had the classic stop at the gas station and the store and by the time we got out of Zadar, it was lunchtime. By evening we wanted to get somewhere to at least make a rest stop in Hungary, and since it was still raining, we only had one short stop at a mall and then a longer stop at IKEA in Zagreb, where we walked around a bit, shopped a bit and had dinner. Finally, we reached the Balaton, where we wanted to start the next day. Saturday was already nicer, but it was blowing terribly on the Balaton, so we just drove around a bit and I discovered and saved some other nice places with the possibility of sleeping in the van when I finally arrive on the Balaton in nice weather one day. The previous day spent almost entirely in the van had taken its toll on Oliver’s mood and he didn’t want to eat anything properly. So, I promised him his favourite ‘meat in the hand’, as he calls it, and that is chicken drumsticks. Ideally, they would have been grilled, but that wasn’t an option, and since we passed a KFC on the way there, I figured we’d go there since he’d had it once before and I knew he’d like it. Unfortunately, it was just closed and under renovation, so as a backup plan we opted for a big Tesco, which as always in Hungary also has some Chinese restaurants. We had something there, but it wasn’t much and Oliver barely ate some rice again. We at least bought some pastries and decided to go to Budapest for his nap, where I wanted to go to a big park with playgrounds, which we knew only from photos so far. Again, I found super parking for our van, even free on the weekend and definitely handy for visiting downtown Budapest sometime in the future, as we just need to change to a tram that can get us everywhere. However, we were very close to the park and we walked this time. We were surprised by the number of attractions, booths, games and performances that we didn’t expect at all and later found out that they are already having a Children’s Day celebration there this weekend. It was great, we really enjoyed it and Oliver was a bit happy again, although again he was tempted by the many toys and silly things he couldn’t have. The playgrounds themselves are awesome here too and we spent several hours in total there, and could have done a lot more. But we had to keep going and especially still take care of Oli’s tummy, because it was obvious that he wasn’t quite himself and he was definitely very hungry. In the end, we did stop at KFC for the promised drumsticks. On this day I was rather regretting the money wasted on expensive and poor-quality food, whether at the Chinese restaurant before or now at KFC, but we had a busy schedule, somehow there was no time or mood for cooking, and once in a while it hopefully won’t kill us. At least Oliver was finally fed and in a pretty good mood. Full of adventure, we set off for the last two-and-a-half-hour drive home, arriving happily just after 10pm.
As I said at the beginning, I will try to summarize the total cost of this trip and compare it with the estimated cost of a similar trip if we went by air. Let’s start with the journey – we covered 2020 kilometres and burned 223 litres of diesel, which came to 292 euros. The Hungarian vignette was less than 25 euros and parking in Zadar cost us only 6 euros in total. Since we didn’t have to pay for accommodation or camping, the second biggest item was food. We made two major purchases at Lidl, which cost us a total of 129 euros, but I have to say that the second purchase was before we went home, and we brought a lot of the stuff home and gave it away or consumed it later. I can also include smaller purchases of groceries, coffee and the like, which came to 73 euros. This figure is mainly spoiled by the food we bought on the way home, where we ate at IKEA, KFC and a Chinese restaurant, which could definitely have been avoided. So, in total we spent 525 euros this week. The only things I didn’t count were Oli’s two toys (20 euros), a purchase at IKEA, which has nothing to do with the trip, and ice cream and pastries bought in the centre of Zadar and paid for in cash, so I don’t remember exactly how much it was, but it was certainly no more than 20 euros. Even if we were there by air, we would definitely indulge in this as well. Speaking of which, the flights with one luggage would have cost us about 150 euros and accommodation 250 euros, which is 400 euros in total. I don’t know if we would have been able and willing to cook anything at the apartment either, and how efficient we would have been overall with spending on food and restaurants. Add in some airport transfers and transport around the city, and I can say with near certainty that it would have cost us the same at best, but probably more than what we spent travelling with the van.
But was it worth it? So much driving, plus with a fidgety baby in a car seat, the weather wasn’t exactly ideal either, we didn’t even go swimming and basically didn’t get much done. Driving isn’t a problem for me, I’m still enjoying it and I have to say that Oliver’s stamina and behaviour have improved quite a bit compared to last year, and I believe it will only get better as time goes on. Plus travelling by van is an adventure, it gives us freedom, we get to know and experience so much more than if we went by air. It forces us to spend time outdoors, makes it easier to plan Oli’s midday naps and helps us maintain a healthy diet when travelling. We then get rewarded with little things like shopping at IKEA that we don’t have at home, or unexpected surprises like celebrating Children’s Day in Budapest. So yes, it was well worth it and as long as the opportunity is there, I want to and will always prefer to travel in our camper van.
