Tours in Croatia

Walk the waterfront in Split on a summer evening and you will see how Croatia actually uses its coast. Nobody is rushing anywhere. People claim a bit of the promenade, a table under the palms, a ledge by the water, and stay there until the light goes. The country is long and narrow and mostly facing the sea, and almost everything about how people eat, travel and spend their weekends follows from that.

Start with the Adriatic, because it is the reason most people come. Split is the usual jumping-off point for the islands, and the harbour is a daily tangle of ferries, sailboats and day boats heading out to Hvar, Brac, Vis and the smaller islands beyond. The water is clear enough that swim stops are half the point of any trip out. Take a towel and a jacket for the ride back, because the air cools fast once the sun drops. A boat day here can be as loud or as quiet as you like, and the loud version, with a DJ, a dancefloor and a swim in the Blue Lagoon, is a very Split way to spend an afternoon.

Back on land, the old town in Split is a place you walk through rather than look at. Stone lanes, small bars tucked into corners, squares that fill after dark. It is a good place to be out at night, and a good place to be shown around by someone who knows which door to push. A guided night out here takes the guesswork out of it and puts you in a group before you have finished your first drink.

The rest of the country is worth the detour. Dubrovnik's walled old town sits on the water at the southern end, Zagreb has its café-lined streets and markets inland, and Istria brings truffles, olive oil and hill towns to the north. We do not have tours in all of these yet, but a local guide can take a request for any of them. Ask, and we will see what can be arranged.