A PERSONAL GUIDE BY IRENA BARTOLEC
Not a tourist guide. The places I actually go.
My homeland is truly special. I know everyone says that about where they’re from. I’m saying it anyway, because it’s true.
Croatia is not a country that reveals itself quickly. The coastline will dazzle you immediately — the Adriatic is genuinely that colour, it’s not edited, but the real Croatia, the one that gets under your skin and stays there, takes a little longer.
What I’ve written here is not a comprehensive guide. It’s a personal one. These are the places I go back to, the things I tell my friends when they ask where to actually go, and a few personal preferences.
Start anywhere.
Stay longer than you planned.
Eat more than you think you should.
Have a glass of Croatian Wine.
Dip the bread in local Olive Oil.
Croatia is one of those places that makes you rearrange your return flight.
DALMATIA
The coast. The islands. The place most people mean when they say Croatia.
SPLIT
Split is where most start their journey on the coast line. It’s a living Roman city — people have apartments built inside the walls of Diocletian’s Palace, which is either the most insane or the most wonderful thing in the world. The palace was built in the 4th century as a retirement home for one man. It is now a city centre where you can eat breakfast, buy groceries, and catch a ferry, all within the same ancient walls.
Walk it before 8am when the light is golden and the cruise ship crowds haven’t arrived. Go to the fish market at Pazar. Drink your coffee on the Riva and watch the locals walk past with the particular unhurried energy of people who live somewhere genuinely beautiful and have stopped being impressed by it.
Split is also your launchpad for the islands. The ferries and catamarans leave from here — Hvar in under an hour, Brač in even less, Korčula in a few hours, or Vis at the end of a longer journey that is completely worth it.
THE ISLANDS
HVAR
Hvar is beautiful and it knows it. In July and August the old town fills with yachts and people who want to be seen near yachts. I love it anyway — the lavender fields in the interior are extraordinary and the restaurants off the main square are genuinely excellent. My advice: go in June or September, rent a scooter, and drive away from the port.
BRAČ
Brač is quieter than Hvar and more grounded. The famous beach at Bol — Zlatni Rat — is genuinely as beautiful as advertised, even if you’ll be sharing it. The island also produces some of the best olive oil in Croatia, and the stone from its quarries built everything from Diocletian’s Palace to the White House. A humble island with good credentials.
KORČULA
They claim Marco Polo was born here. Whether or not that’s true, the old town is one of the most beautiful in Croatia — a miniature Dubrovnik without Dubrovnik’s crowds or prices. The island is long and green, the wine is excellent (try the local Grk), and the evenings have a pace that makes you forget what day it is. In the best way.
VIS — my personal favourite
Vis is a longer ferry ride from Split. Two and a half hours, give or take. Go anyway.
The island spent decades as a Yugoslav military base and was closed to foreign visitors until 1989, which means it missed the development boom that changed everything else on the coast. It still feels like time stopped there. The towns are small and unhurried. The water is extraordinary. The food is yummy and authentic.
If you happen to be there during the fishermen’s feast — the Komiža Fishing Festival in August — you will have one of those evenings you talk about for years. Boats, fires, local wine, the whole village involved. Go.
Vis is the island for people who have had enough of Instagram and want Croatia to feel like it did twenty years ago. It does.
ŠIBENIK — MY ABSOLUTE NUMBER ONE
I visit Šibenik every single summer. I have been doing this since my childhood. It is my favourite city.
I say that knowing most people put it lower on their list than Split or Dubrovnik, and I find that baffling. Šibenik is a medieval city built entirely from local stone. The cobblestone streets, the Cathedral of St James (a UNESCO site that genuinely deserves it), the way the light moves through the old town in the late afternoon.
Walk the cobblestones until your feet ache. Eat at Šešula — it is a fish fast food place and I mean that affectionately. Fresh fish, fried simply, eaten outside, very cheap. It is where locals eat and the best thing you’ll have all trip.
Go to Tvrđava sv. Nikole — Saint Nicholas Fortress — built on a tiny island at the mouth of the Šibenik channel. In summer they hold concerts and cultural events there. Tvrdava sv. Mihovila- Saint Michael Fortress is a must for hot summer nights concerts as well. The views are among the most stunning I’ve seen anywhere in Croatia, which is saying something.
Take the boat ride through the Šibenik canal. Order wine at one of the old town bars in the evening. Sit at Azimut with the crowd when you’ve had enough of quiet.
Šibenik is the place I go when I need to remember why I love Croatia. It has never let me down.
DAY TRIPS FROM ŠIBENIK
Krka Waterfalls
Krka National Park is 30 minutes from Šibenik and it is spectacular in the way that only waterfalls in a canyon can be. The Skradinski Buk waterfall is the centrepiece — a wide, terraced fall you can walk around on wooden boardwalks. Go early in the morning before the tour buses arrive.
Kornati Islands National Park
Kornati is an archipelago of 89 bare, dramatic, lunar-looking islands in the middle of the Adriatic. No towns. No cars. Almost no trees. Just stone and sea and silence and occasionally a small konoba on a remote island where someone has anchored their boat and ordered a grilled fish.
George Bernard Shaw allegedly said that on the last day of creation, God desired to crown His work and thus created the Kornati Islands out of tears, stars, and breath. I don’t know if that’s true but it sounds right.
ISTRIA
Croatia’s Tuscany. We say that ourselves, and we mean it as a compliment to us, not to Tuscany 🙂
Istria is the heart-shaped peninsula in the north of Croatia. Think rolling hills, vineyards, truffle forests, hilltop medieval towns, and taverns that have been making the same pasta for generations. If you’ve been to Tuscany and loved it, you will love Istria. If you found Tuscany too busy and too expensive, you will love Istria even more.
MOTOVUN
A walled medieval town on top of a hill above truffle-oak forests, with views across the Mirna valley that will make you reach for your camera and then put it down because no photo will do it justice. The International Film Festival held here every July is one of the best in the region. The truffles are the real thing — buy them from local producers, not gift shops.
HUM
Hum claims to be the smallest town in the world. The population varies between 17 and 30 people, depending on the year and whether you count the cats. Walk through in ten minutes, eat at the one restaurant, buy a bottle of biska (mistletoe brandy). Done. Extraordinary.
PULA
Pula contains one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world — not one of the better ones, one of the best ones, full stop. Built in the 1st century, still standing, still used for concerts in summer. Eat your ice cream on the Roman ruins like everyone else. There’s no other way to do it.
ROVINJ
Rovinj is the most romantic town on the Istrian coast and it is fully aware of this. Coloured houses stacked on a peninsula, cobblestone streets too narrow for cars, a church at the top of the hill with views that justify the effort entirely. Go in May or September. In July and August it is very busy, which doesn’t ruin it but changes the feeling.
ISLAND LOŠINJ
The island with the special energy. I’m not being vague, it genuinely has one.
Lošinj has been known for its healing air since the 19th century, when Austro-Hungarian physicians began sending patients there to recover from respiratory illnesses. The island has an extraordinary density of aromatic plants, over 1,000 species, including wild herbs that have made the air measurably different from the mainland. Aromatherapy before anyone called it that.
The Austro-Hungarian aristocracy built their villas here and the island retains that slightly elegant, slightly faded quality of a place that was once a resort for people of means. Mali Lošinj is the main town; Veli Lošinj is smaller, older, and even more beautiful.
The waters around Lošinj have one of the largest bottlenose dolphin populations in the Adriatic. If you go on a dolphin-watching trip, you will probably see them.
Lošinj feels like a secret, and we like it like that.
ZAGREB
The capital. Underrated. Give it a night.
Most people fly into Zagreb and straight out to the coast. This is a mistake.
Zagreb is a Central European city in the best sense : Austro-Hungarian architecture, a serious coffee culture, excellent museums. The Dolac market is open every morning and is one of the great city markets of Europe. Have a brunch at Broom 44 where my friend Klara creates delicious menus. The Museum of Broken Relationships is one of the best small museums I’ve been to anywhere. Take a handkerchief.
Zagreb rewards curious, slow-moving people. If that’s you, stay two nights.
PLITVICE LAKES
Not optional. If you go nowhere else inland, go here.
Plitvice Lakes National Park is one of those places that does not need selling. Sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls, cascading through ancient beech and fir forests in the heart of central Croatia. The water is a colour that should not be possible; turquoise into emerald into deep blue depending on the minerals, the angle of the light, the time of day. UNESCO World Heritage since 1979. The oldest and largest national park in Croatia.
Arrive early. I mean this. The gates open at 7am and if you are there at 7am in peak season you will walk wooden boardwalks over water so clear you can see the bottom ten metres down, in near-silence, with morning mist still sitting in the trees and almost nobody else around. By 10am the same paths feel like a queue. Both versions are beautiful. One of them will stay with you differently.
The park has two entrances and several trail circuits ranging from two to eight hours. The lower lakes are more dramatic; the big waterfalls, the main boardwalks. The upper lakes are quieter and wilder. If you have a full day, do both. If you have half a day, do the lower lakes and accept that you will want to come back.
Plitvice sits two hours south of Zagreb and two and a half hours north of Split, right in the middle of the country. Most people visit on a day trip from the coast. I think that is a shame. The park is extraordinary at dawn and at dusk, times you will not see if you are driving back to Split the same evening. Staying nearby for even one night changes the whole experience.
The waterfalls have been falling since before anyone thought to photograph them. Spending time here has a way of rearranging what feels urgent.
🌲 We are hosting our Forest Escape retreats here this summer
Our Ashtanga Yoga Retreat (15–19 July) and Women’s Circle (18–22 August) are both based at Ekodrom Estate, just minutes from the park entrance. Morning yoga, farm-to-table meals, and free afternoons to walk the lakes at your own pace; slowly, with no itinerary and nowhere else to be.
PRACTICAL NOTES
The things worth knowing before you go.
When to Go
My honest answer: May, early June, or September. The sea is warm enough to swim, the prices are lower, the crowds are thinner, and the country shows you its real face rather than its tourist face.
July and August are magnificent and very busy. Worth experiencing at least once, just book early and accept that the popular beaches will be shared. Plitvice are stunning in every season.
Getting Around
Rent a car. I cannot stress this enough. The places worth visiting require wheels. Driving is easy, the roads are good, and the coastal road between Split and Dubrovnik is one of the great drives in Europe. Ferries and catamarans connect the islands reliably, book in advance in high season. Choose Smaller roads, like legendary Magistrala, our costal road from the 1950. Driving there can be slower, but the scenery is worth it.
Currency & Money
Croatia joined the Eurozone in January 2023. Everything is in euros. Cards are accepted almost everywhere. Keep some cash for markets and smaller konobas.
Safety
Croatia is one of the safest countries in Europe to travel, including for solo female travellers. Violent crime is rare. Use the common sense you would use anywhere and you’ll be absolutely fine.
A word about the Galeb (the Seagull).
The Dalmatian coast has a particular subspecies of local man. He is handsome, he is charming, he has a boat or knows someone with a boat, and when you sit down at the beach bar he will look at you as though you are the most beautiful woman he has seen in his thirty-five years on this earth.
He is called the Galeb. The Seagull. And like the seagull, he is everywhere, he is confident, and he will eat your chips if you give him the chance.
Do not fall for “you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He said it yesterday. He will say it tomorrow. You will end up either heartbroken or moving to Croatia 😉
Both outcomes have happened. I know people for whom both outcomes have happened.
Enjoy the conversation. Accept the compliment gracefully. Do not give him your number until at least the third time you see him in the same week.
(I say all of this with enormous affection for the Dalmatian man. Some of my favourite people are Dalmatian men. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.)
ONE LAST THING
If you’re visiting Croatia this summer and want a base that lets you go slower than a tourist and deeper than a traveller, our Forest Escape retreats at Plitvice Lakes are designed exactly for that.
🌲 Forest Escape Retreats — Plitvice Lakes, Croatia
Ashtanga Yoga Retreat: 15–19 July 2026
Women’s Circle: 18–22 August 2026
Any questions about the retreats or about Croatia generally, hit reply. Talking about this country is one of my favourite things.
Enjoy every single minute of it.
With love,
Irena
Born in Croatia. Still surprised by it.