Croatia’s popularity as a holiday destination has boomed over the last decade. And for good reason — the country is utterly spoiled when it comes to both natural and man-made beauty. Most tourists tend to congregate along the Adriatic — but with over 4,000 miles of coastline and more than 1,200 islands at your disposal, there’s plenty of scope to find a quiet corner of your own if you’re after a bit of sun and sea. The interior also sees far lower visitor numbers, particularly if you pull on a pair of hiking boots and head into the lake-studded mountains.

The London Times’ James Stewart has relatively recently offered the public the lay of the land when it comes to best things to do when in Croatia and summertime is by far the most engaging and popular. Hence, here is what The Times offer and I couldn’t agree mor, so I added some bits and pieces of my own.

1. Live the high life in Hvar

Hvar Town is Bardot-era St Tropez meets Ibiza, with the dressed-down rich stepping from superyachts to dine on the Riva, and sassy young things topping up tans at Hula Hula beach bar, then necking sundowners at Carpe Diem before heading off to a beach party. It’s a destination for beautiful people with a beautiful backdrop — a tiny, honey-hued Venetian town of film-set perfection. There are beautiful beaches just offshore too. Take water taxis to Palmizana island for glamorous lunches at Laganini, or visit Marinkovac island for tranquil bays.

2. Discover a Tuscan alternative

The interior of Istria looks all the world like Tuscany, yet it has none of the tourist numbers of its Italian cousin, or even the rest of Croatia for that matter. It’s a bucolic region of softly rolling hills carpeted in forest, orchards, olive groves and vineyards. On top of those hills perch pretty towns, with warrens of medieval stone houses linked by cobbled lanes and topped by churches. Be sure to spend time enjoying the bounty those landscapes produce, with truffles, wine, olive oil, sausages and cheese among the many spoils on offer in local restaurants.

3. Drive Europe’s best coast road

Croatia’s Adriatic Highway (D8) is to Europe what California’s Highway 1 is to the US — a road-tripping route of dreams down the coast. Spread across 350 miles between Rijeka and Dubrovnik, it passes five UNESCO world heritage sites, three national parks, and goodness knows how many beaches. You’ll need two weeks to do it justice, discovering coves such as Nugal near Tucepi, or diverting to backwaters including Dugi Otok island. Start midway at Zadar if time’s tight. Either way, rooms (“sobe”) in private houses are the road-tripper’s friend unless you’re camping — a cheap and often lovely immersion into local life.

4. Swim in Krka National Park

In January 2021 authorities at Krka National Park banned swimming at Skradinski Buk, a ridiculously gorgeous waterfall that was Insta-gold for influencers. One of the loveliest national parks in Croatia is once again a place of quiet natural beauty, with waterfalls cascading into sapphire pools, woods full of butterflies and cool lakes. Bring your cossie anyway, because a boat trip from Skradinski Buk goes to the Roski waterfalls in the upper park. These are also accessible by car and are arguably prettier than Skradinski Buk — and swimming is permitted. Don’t tell the influencers.

5. Discover emperor Diocletian’s Split

You can experience the romance of Split’s old town at the Unesco-listed palace of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Start at the Peristil, a former ceremonial palace square that is most magical at dusk, then pop into Diocletian’s octagonal mausoleum, now repurposed as a cathedral. Nearby, the cellars mirror the original palace footprint, and there’s a temple of Jupiter, dedicated to the Roman god. End on the Riva promenade: with cool bars and beautiful views, it’s Split in a nutshell.

An additional treat when in Split, next to the Temple of Jupiter, there is a short and narrow passage, the famous “Let me pass” street (Pusti me proć), the narrowest street in the World, and among the shortest as well. The narrowest, the shortest? Could be and could be not, however, it is certainly something you will always remember from your visit in Split.

Since you are in Split grab a ferry across to the Island of Brac. The most famous beach on the island of Brač is Zlatni rat (Golden Horn) located in Bol on the southern coast. It’s known for its distinctive shape, a golden pebble beach that extends into the sea, and is often listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. 

6. Play at Robinson Crusoe

The Dalmatian word “pomalo” (slowly, easy) — living free from strict ideas of time — is exactly what you want to achieve on a holiday, and you’re odds-on to experience this at one of the country’s refurbished fishermen’s houses, set on an isolated cove. This type of holiday is what the Croats call “Robinson” tourism — try Brac or Pasman islands, or the Kornati and Murter regions for the best examples. For ultimate escapism, book a simple apartment in a lighthouse, where solitude and sea views are guaranteed. The decision is how remote you would like to go. For luxury choose Marlera in Istria; for isolation there’s Palagruza, many miles offshore.

7. Walk the walls of Dubrovnik

To experience Europe’s finest baroque citadel at its best you need to travel smart. First, check cruise ship arrival times on the port website. Then ignore received wisdom, which would suggest touring the 1.5-mile city walls when they open at 9am — the time cruise passengers come ashore. Instead watch street life on Stradun over coffee, then visit the Franciscan Monastery, perfumed by orange trees. Go for a long lunch and perhaps a drink at Buza bar, looking over sea cliffs. By 5pm temperatures and crowds will have eased — ideal for strolling round the circuit and gazing over roofscapes at dusk.

8. Tour two islands for the price of one

The maths of family island-hopping is simple: plenty of variety, plus no ferry queues, equals happy kids. So, visit Cres and Losinj, linked by a bridge in the quiet Kvarner Gulf region. Cres is ancient and romantic: walk Roman footpaths in the wild north; see griffon vultures soar around Beli village; and scoff gelato beside the harbour of the medieval Cres Town. Your base, however, should be Losinj. The Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef’s favourite holiday destination has smart hotels in the colourful Mali Losinj harbour, and pine-scented coves on the Cikat peninsula.

9. Raft through hidden Croatia

Inland Dalmatia is like another world compared to the coast. It’s quieter and wilder — an ancient land of mountains gouged by canyons. Rafting country, basically. Croatian specialist Raftrek leads tours of the Zrmanja River, inland from Zadar by canoe or pack-raft — you tumble over rapids (grade two in summer, two to three in spring and autumn) and drift in emerald pools seemingly designed for swimming. Day trips are fun. To grasp the river’s beauty, however, book a multi-day trip — you’ll camp under the stars by the banks, the only sound the chuckle of the river.

10. Salute the sunset in Zadar

Alfred Hitchcock adored Zadar; he thought the sunsets more striking than those of California. The small Dalmatian city has managed to gentrify gently, without losing its history or relaxed atmosphere (or its easy access to sleepy islands nearby), and its sea promenade has the world’s only sea organ — a pipe organ played by the sea, with waves producing rippling chords. A solar-powered installation, Greeting to the Sun, adds a trippy light show. At dusk the two pulse in a hypnotic, never-to-be-repeated moment that makes sunsets with Balearic beats seem a bit naff. The sky blazes. Islands sink into the dusk. Cocktail, anyone?

11. Live Mamma Mia! fantasies in Vis

In 2017 Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and pals danced and sang during the filming of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again on Vis island. Now it’s your turn — my my, how could you resist an island that has evolved into a boho-posh bolt hole? Spend a holiday discovering exquisite harbours such as Komiza, beaches such as the showstopper Stiniva (arrive by 10am), and beach restaurants including Stoncica, Pierce’s favourite during filming. Elsewhere, the food scene is outstanding: choose Roki’s for rustic soul; Pojoda in Kut for its delicious dishes; or Lola for romance.

12. Visit Marco Polo’s Korcula

They say Marco Polo was a local, but that’s obviously rubbish — if it were true then he’d never have left Korcula. All those lovely things you picture of Adriatic holidays — sunshine, beaches, sapphire seas and delicious wine — come together here. Korcula town is a walled citadel like a Lilliputian Dubrovnik. The Lumbarda peninsula has vineyards that grow a grape from antiquity, grk; try it at a tasting at the family vineyards, of which there are a few on each side of the road that cuts through them in a straight picturesque line. You’ll want a beach too. Pupnatska Luka has pearly pebbles and beautiful water. Smaller Bacva is quieter.

13. Go off the radar in Sibenik

North Dalmatia’s Sibenik remains unknown to most Croatian visitors, but its Cathedral of St James is a UNESCO-listed Renaissance masterpiece, the cupola blazing with light and the exterior carved with comedic busts (locals who refused to fund the build, the story goes). Found in the old town, the colour of ivory, there is the Michelin-starred Peligrini restaurant. Vintage passenger ferries take 40 minutes to reach Prvic, an island fringed by beaches. Put it all together and you have a terrific day trip.

14. Discover the Zagorje’s rustic soul

From late October much of the coast closes down — your cue for a long weekend around the capital Zagreb. After two days exploring this handsome old town, shopping and drinking a lot of coffee (a local obsession), go north. Between the capital and Varazdin — Croatia’s best Habsburg town, with baroque mansions in icing-sugar colours — there are ramshackle farming villages, small vineyards, lovely walks and country inns. This is the enchanting Zagorje region: folksy, yet-to-be boutiqued to the eyeballs, and at its best during the autumn grape harvest. Stay at Vuglec Breg.

15. Avoid crowds at the Plitvice Lakes National Park

The Plitvice Lakes National Park, a world heritage area, is the most popular park in the country, with lakes and waterfalls in a shifting palette of turquoises and emeralds. The trick to escape coach-tour crowds is to start your visit in the wilder Upper Lakes above Entrance Two — arrive at 9am and take the free sightseeing train to Okrugljak Lake. After five hours pottering along the paths — passing lakes, waterfalls and shady woods — return to the Lower Lakes for 3pm, when most tours depart. Better still, book a private hiking guide.

16. Holiday at the edge of the world

Croatia’s most popular destinations are in Dalmatia. Lastovo isn’t one of them. Visited only by the determined — arrival requires two ferries — this is an island nature reserve at the edge of the world; a place adrift in time as much as in location, 30 miles off the Adriatic coast. Capital Lastovo Town is a nicely ramshackle village of stone houses and sleepy cats. The lobster restaurants cater mostly to yachties. If you’re looking to do nothing more pressing than sleep, eat, stroll and swim you’ll fit right in.

17. Do Gladiator impressions in Pula

The Colosseum in Rome receives seven million visitors a year. The 1st-century amphitheatre of Pula — a three-tier stunner that’s among the six largest surviving Roman arenas in the world — receives 450,000. If ever you hankered to do Russell Crowe Gladiator impressions in a near-intact arena that once held 23,000 people, this is your place. The fascination of Pula is that, like Rome, it’s very much lived-in, its ancient Roman monuments part of the streetscape. Temples stand on squares, triumphal arches span shopping streets. But does Rome have tiny pine-scrubbed coves as stunning as Galebove Stijene near by? It does not.

18. Sail the Dalmatian Coast

The best way to leave the crowds behind — sail away from them on your own skippered yacht. Plenty of companies will take you out on a multi-day nautical adventure from the Dalmatian town of Trogir. Highlights include weaving through the largely uninhabited Kornati islands, stopping at coves only accessible by boat, and calling in to Mljet to explore its lovely little villages and forested national park. Or try kayaking with the local specialist Malik Adventures. When night falls, there’s nothing to do but weigh anchor in a sheltered bay, lie back on deck and stare at the stars.

19. Skinny-dip like King Edward

Visiting with Wallis Simpson in 1936, King Edward VIII removed the royal trunks in Kandarola bay, so scandalising the British press that it chose to censor that detail from accounts of his visit. Medieval Rab Town is a gorgeous pipsqueak city with Venetian roots. Romance fills the lanes like the peal of church bells. The Lopar peninsula has ten sand beaches, a rarity in a country of shingle. CNN once named one, Sahara, among the world’s top 100; but that’s probably because it didn’t visit Ciganka. All in all, a fine holiday choice.

20. Escape Dubrovnik

It’d be foolish to come to Croatia and not visit the gorgeous walled town of Dubrovnik — but you’ll quickly see that everyone else has the same idea. For respite, hop on the public ferry to the Elafiti Islands. The journey is a little over an hour, but you’ll find an entirely different (and quieter) Croatia when you disembark. There are six main islands here, two of them car-free. Come to sunbathe on sandy beaches, ogle some of the handsome villas built by the Venetians in the 15th century, and eat seafood recently pulled from the Adriatic at waterside restaurants.

21. Explore UNESCO-listed wetlands

Lying near the Bosnian border, the wetland region of Lonjsko Polje feels a world apart from the rest of Croatia. The flooded river plain, best explored by boat or along wooden walkways, is home to unique flora and fauna, including white-tailed eagles, falcons, otters, spoonbills and turtles. Come summer, you’ll find visitor numbers rocket with the arrival of thousands of white storks. These nest on the roofs of the charming wooden houses the region is famous for: head to the villages of Cigoc, Krapje and Muzilovcica to see the best examples.

Prepared by Ina Vukic