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Dubrovnik's walled Old Town and harbour from the air
Waterfalls between the terraced lakes of Plitvice
The cascades of Skradinski buk in Krka National Park, falling into a green pool between thick trees
The Peristyle courtyard of Diocletian's Palace in Split
Blue light inside the Blue Cave on Biševo

Things to do in Croatia: 27 experiences worth the trip

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Photo: Akira Takiguchi, CC BY 2.0

Plitvice Lakes

Walk Plitvice Lakes on a set route and a timed ticket

Check dates and prices

Photo: Tesla Delacroix, CC BY-SA 4.0

Skradin, Krka National Park

Take the boat from Skradin to the Krka waterfalls

Check dates and prices

Photo: Skot, CC BY-SA 4.0

Split

Walk Diocletian's Palace from the cellars to the Peristyle

Check dates and prices

Photo: TimeTravelRome, CC BY 2.0

Biševo, near Vis

Time the light in the Blue Cave on Biševo

Check dates and prices

Photo: Pierre-Selim Huard, CC BY 4.0

Croatia is a long coast with an island chain in front of it and a karst hinterland behind, and this list follows that shape: Istria in the north, the Kvarner and Zadar coast, Split and the central Dalmatian islands, then Dubrovnik and the Pelješac peninsula in the far south. Zagreb and the Plitvice Lakes sit inland, two to three hours from the sea.

The planning truth that matters most is the summer squeeze. July and August fill the walls of Dubrovnik, the boardwalks of Plitvice and the island ferries at the same time, so the national parks that sell online tickets for a set date and hour (Plitvice above all) are worth booking first, and the walls are best walked at opening.

Off season the country changes: island ferries thin out, many beach bars and club venues close, but the cities, the Roman sites and the Istrian truffle autumn are at their best.

27 things to do in Croatia

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The city walls of Dubrovnik above the Old Town rooftops

Walk the full circuit of Dubrovnik's city walls

Dubrovnik

About 2 hoursNo booking needed

Walk the full ring of Dubrovnik's ramparts, 1,940 metres past sixteen towers and three fortresses.

Tours in Croatia
Waterfalls between the terraced lakes of Plitvice

Walk Plitvice Lakes on a set route and a timed ticket

Plitvice Lakes

4 to 6 hoursTimed entry

Walk past sixteen lakes stepping down through the forest over tufa barriers, and cross Lake Kozjak by electric boat.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Split with park entry and boatTicket guide
The outer ring of arches of the Roman amphitheatre in Pula

Stand on the arena floor of Pula's Roman amphitheatre

Pula

About 1 hourNo booking needed

Stand on the floor of a Roman arena built for roughly 23,000 spectators, whose full outer ring of arches still stands.

Tours in Croatia
The waterfront of Mali Ston on its oyster bay

Eat Mali Ston oysters beside the bay where they grow

Mali Ston

Half a day with the wallsNo booking needed

Eat oysters on the waterfront facing the farms where they grow, then walk off lunch on a 1,200-metre wall over the hill.

Tours in Croatia
Limestone walls of the Velika Paklenica canyon

Hike the Velika Paklenica canyon to Manita peć cave

Starigrad-Paklenica

Half a day to a full dayNo booking needed

Hike up the Velika Paklenica canyon to the park's only show cave, at 570 metres, and follow a ranger inside.

Tours in Croatia
The Peristyle courtyard of Diocletian's Palace in Split

Walk Diocletian's Palace from the cellars to the Peristyle

Split

2 to 3 hoursFree

Enter Diocletian's palace through vaulted cellars that copy the lost imperial rooms above, then climb into the Peristyle.

Check dates and pricesSmall-group guided walk through the palace
Zrće beach and its clubs near Novalja on Pag

Party on Zrće beach outside Novalja on Pag

Novalja, Pag

Book ahead

Dance from beach party into the night on a pebble strip where four open-air clubs sit side by side.

Tours in Croatia
Sea kayaks on the Adriatic below Dubrovnik

Sea kayak under Dubrovnik's walls to Lokrum island

Dubrovnik

Book ahead

Paddle below the sheer seaward side of Dubrovnik's walls and across to a wooded island reserve.

Tours in Croatia
Istrian truffles on sale in the Mirna valley

Go truffle hunting in the Motovun forest

Motovun forest, Istria

Half a dayBook ahead

Follow trained dogs through damp oak woodland as they find Istria's black and white truffles, then taste what they turn up.

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The Zlatni Rat spit seen from Vidova Gora

Swim off both sides of Zlatni Rat beach on Brač

Bol, Brač

A full day from SplitFree

Swim off either side of a pine-topped pebble spit whose tip moves with the wind and current.

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St Lawrence's Cathedral on the main square of Trogir

Walk Trogir's island old town from the cathedral to Kamerlengo

Trogir

Half a dayNo booking needed

Walk a Hellenistic street grid on a small island, from a carved Romanesque portal to the walls of a Venetian fortress.

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The Cetina river canyon above Omiš

Raft the Cetina river canyon above Omiš

Omiš

About 4 hours with transfersBook ahead

Float the calm stretch of a deep river canyon behind Omiš on easy rapids, ending at an old mill turned restaurant.

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The Euphrasian Basilica complex in Poreč

See the 6th-century mosaics of the Euphrasian Basilica

Poreč

About 1 hourNo booking needed

Look up at 6th-century apse mosaics where the bishop who built the church holds a model of it among the saints.

Tours in Croatia
Hvar's Spanish Fortress above the houses of the town

Climb to Hvar's Spanish Fortress for sunset

Hvar Town

1 to 2 hours with the climbNo booking needed

Climb above Hvar's rooftops to the fortress that saved the townspeople in 1571, and watch the sun set behind the Pakleni islands.

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The saltwater lakes Veliko and Malo Jezero on Mljet from above

Cycle and swim around the saltwater lakes of Mljet

Mljet

A full day from DubrovnikNo booking needed

Cycle round two saltwater lakes, swim from the shore and take a solar boat to a monastery on an islet.

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Steep Dingač vineyards above the sea on Pelješac

Taste Plavac Mali in the Dingač vineyards on Pelješac

Pelješac peninsula

A full day from DubrovnikBook ahead

Taste Plavac Mali grown on a slope that climbs from sea level at about 45 degrees, in some 2,800 hours of sun a year.

Tours in Croatia
Blue light inside the Blue Cave on Biševo

Time the light in the Blue Cave on Biševo

Biševo, near Vis

A full day from Split, half a day from KomižaBook ahead

Duck through a low opening in a little boat into a cave lit blue by sunlight bouncing off the floor.

Check dates and pricesShared speedboat from Vis town to Biševo's Blue Cave
The stone Cathedral of St James in Šibenik

Count the 71 stone faces on Šibenik's Cathedral of St James

Šibenik

About 1 hourNo booking needed

Walk round a cathedral built entirely of stone and count the 71 carved heads, thought to be portraits of Dalmatians of the day.

Tours in Croatia
The Riva promenade in Split with its palms and the harbour

Join the evening walk on Split's Riva

Split

An hour or an eveningFree

Join the whole town on the korzo, the evening stroll along the waterfront, as the palace facade lights up behind the café terraces.

The walled hill town of Motovun above the Mirna valley

Walk the Venetian walls of hilltop Motovun

Motovun

2 to 3 hoursFree

Walk the intact Venetian walls of a hill town, looking over the Mirna valley and the Motovun forest to the four corners of Istria.

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Bare limestone islands of the Kornati archipelago

Snorkel the clear water of the Kornati islands by boat

Kornati islands

A full day by boatBook ahead

Swim and snorkel off a boat in very clear water among 89 bare limestone islands, islets and reefs.

Tours in Croatia
A klapa group singing in Omiš

Hear klapa singing in Split's palace and konobas

Split

No booking needed

Stand inside the domed Vestibule as a klapa group blends unaccompanied voices into one sound, or join a konoba's klapa night.

Lotrščak Tower on Zagreb's Upper Town

Climb Lotrščak Tower in Zagreb while the cathedral towers are rebuilt

Zagreb

About 1 hourNo booking needed

Be at the top of a 13th-century tower over Zagreb's rooftops at noon, when the Grič cannon fires from a window below you.

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The Church of St Euphemia on the hill of Rovinj's old town

Climb Rovinj's old town by Grisia to St Euphemia's tower

Rovinj

Half a dayFree

Climb Rovinj's steep artists' street past galleries and studios to a bell tower whose copper saint turns with the wind.

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Omiš at the mouth of the Cetina canyon

Fly the eight-line zip line over the Cetina canyon

Omiš

About 2.5 hoursBook ahead

Fly eight cables across the Cetina gorge, the longest a 700-metre run, up to 150 metres above the canyon floor.

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The cascades of Skradinski buk in Krka National Park, falling into a green pool between thick trees

Take the boat from Skradin to the Krka waterfalls

Skradin, Krka National Park

Half a day to a full dayBook ahead

Ride the park boat up the river from Skradin to a wide staircase of travertine falls ringed by boardwalks.

Check dates and pricesDay trip from Split with the Skradin river boat
The Dubrovnik cable car climbing Mount Srđ above the Old Town

Ride the cable car up Mount Srđ above Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

1 to 2 hoursNo booking needed

Ride up in under four minutes and see the whole walled town laid out below you like a plan, with the islands beyond.

Tours in Croatia

Plan your trip

  • When to go

    May, June and September give warm sea, open ferries and fewer people than July and August, when Dubrovnik, Hvar and Plitvice are at capacity. Plitvice's summer ticket costs €40 from June to September against €23 in April, May and October. Club season on Zrće and the island boat trips run mainly from June to September. October suits Istria, where it is the peak month for white truffles, and the coastal cities stay pleasant into November. In winter many island services and seasonal restaurants close.

  • How many days

    Ten days covers a first trip along the coast: two in Dubrovnik with a day for Ston or Mljet, three in Split with day trips to Trogir and an island, one for Plitvice on the way north, and two in Istria. A week is enough for one region done well, Dalmatia from Split to Dubrovnik or Istria plus Plitvice. Island hopping eats time: plan on half a day for each crossing once you count the ferry queue.

  • Getting around

    Buses link every coastal town and are the default without a car. Catamarans and car ferries connect Split with Brač, Hvar and Vis and Dubrovnik with Mljet; summer timetables are much denser than winter ones, so check them before fixing hotels. Since July 2022 the Pelješac Bridge takes the coast road around the short Bosnian strip at Neum, so driving from Split to Dubrovnik no longer needs two border checks. A car pays off in Istria and for Plitvice and Paklenica.

  • Money and entry

    Croatia has used the euro and been part of the Schengen area since 1 January 2023, so there are no passport checks from other Schengen countries and no currency to change if you hold euros. Cards are accepted almost everywhere, but carry some cash for island buses, small konobas and parking machines. Many park and monument tickets, from the Dubrovnik walls to Plitvice, can be bought on the official web shops in advance.

Questions travellers ask

Do you need to book Plitvice Lakes in advance?

In summer, yes. The park sells online tickets for a chosen date and entry time and encourages visitors to buy ahead, and from June to September the day ticket costs €40 (€25 after 16:00 in June to August). Off season you can usually buy at the entrance, but the online ticket saves the queue.

How long does it take to walk the Dubrovnik city walls?

About two hours for the full 1,940 metre circuit at a steady pace, longer with stops. The walk runs one way, anticlockwise, and the ticket also covers Fort Lovrijenac. There is little shade, so go at opening or late in the day.

Can you swim at Plitvice Lakes?

No. The park's rules forbid swimming anywhere in the national park. For a swim near waterfalls, the Cetina canyon above Omiš and the coast are the closer options.

What is the best month to visit Croatia?

June and September are the best balance: the sea is warm, ferries run on summer timetables and crowds are lower than in July and August. May suits hiking in Paklenica and Plitvice, and October suits Istria and the cities.

Is Croatia in the Schengen area?

Yes, since 1 January 2023, the same day it adopted the euro. Travellers arriving from another Schengen country face no routine passport control, but carry your passport or national ID card anyway, since airlines, ferries and hotels ask for it.

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