The journey
Dubrovnik walls, Plitvice lakes, and the Dalmatian coast before the season starts.
Croatia is Europe's most beautiful coastline — and in high season, also its most crowded. This tour is designed to move through Croatia in the shoulder season, when the Dalmatian coast is warm, the crowds are manageable, and the prices have not yet tripled.
Nine nights from Zagreb to Dubrovnik: the Habsburg capital, the extraordinary Plitvice lakes, the Roman city of Split, the islands, and the walled city of Dubrovnik. A route that sees Croatia as a country, not just a beach destination.
Day by day
The itinerary
Zagreb
Zagreb — The Habsburg Capital
Zagreb is one of the most underrated capitals in Europe: a compact, walkable Central European city with a strong café culture, excellent museums, and an upper town that has changed little since the 19th century. The Cathedral, the Dolac market, the Museum of Broken Relationships.
Plitvice
Plitvice Lakes — The Cascade
Plitvice: 16 terraced lakes connected by waterfalls, the water a shade of turquoise that does not appear in nature anywhere else in Europe. UNESCO World Heritage. The wooden walkways above the water, the boat across the largest lake, the silence of the forest above.
Zadar
Zadar — Sea Organ & Sunset
Zadar has Alfred Hitchcock's endorsement as the place with the best sunsets in the world — he visited in 1964. The Sea Organ: an architectural installation where the waves play music through underground pipes. The Roman forum. The Church of St. Donatus, built in the 9th century from Roman ruins.
Split
Split — Living Inside a Roman Palace
Split is built inside Diocletian's Palace — a 3rd-century Roman imperial residence in which 3,000 people now live, with restaurants, bars, shops and apartments in every room and corridor. Two days to explore it properly and take the ferry to Hvar or Brač.
Hvar
Hvar — The Lavender Island
Hvar island in the off-season: the lavender fields still fragrant, the old town quieter than it will be in July, the Fortica fortress above the harbour. The food is excellent. The wine — Plavac Mali from the Pelješac peninsula — is better.
Korčula
Korčula — Marco Polo's Island
Korčula: the walled medieval town that may or may not be the birthplace of Marco Polo. The Moreška sword dance. The local olive oil. The position at the end of a long, thin island above the Pelješac channel.
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik — The Pearl of the Adriatic
Dubrovnik: the walled city at the southern end of the Dalmatian coast, one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe, and now also one of the most visited. Two days: the walls in the early morning before the cruise ships arrive, the Dominican monastery, the Rector's Palace. A farewell dinner on the terrace above the old city.
