• 4 Dinner (D)
• 9 Breakfast (B)
• 1 Lunch (L)

• Travel by funicular in Zagreb • Enjoy a gondola serenade in Venice
• Visit Postojna Caves • Pula Arena
• City tours of Zagreb, Ljubljana, Krk, all with Local Experts.
• Welcome Dinner in Zagreb • Farm-to-Table Lunch in Krk • Celebration Dinner in Venice 

Insight Vacations

• Hand sanitizer is freely available on board for you to use throughout the day.

• Business class coach with extended leg room
• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a welcome dinner at a local restaurant in Zagreb. Share regional dishes and get to know the small group that will explore the northern Adriatic together.

Croatia’s capital draws on Central European and Croatian culinary traditions, making this hosted meal an introduction to the places and flavours of the journey. Conversation around the table sets an easy, convivial tone for the tour.

Explore Zagreb with a Local Expert, walking through the Lower Town past the Art Pavilion and Zrinjevac Park. Ride the city’s historic funicular from Ilica Street to the Upper Town, where St. Mark’s Church and Lotršcak Tower speak to an older Zagreb.

In operation since 1890, the funicular covers just 66 metres. Its short climb makes the contrast between the Lower Town’s 19th-century avenues and the Upper Town’s fortified ridge especially clear.

Walk Ljubljana’s riverbanks and squares with a Local Expert, discovering the bridges that connect its compact historic centre. See Plecnik’s Triple Bridge, City Hall and the Baroque Cathedral of St. Nicholas, with Ljubljana Castle rising above the rooftops.

The walk reveals a capital shaped by its riverside setting and by architect Jože Plecnik, whose 20th-century designs helped give the city its distinctive civic spaces. Bridges, markets and church facades offer a close-up view of everyday Ljubljana.

Cross Lake Bled aboard a traditional wooden pletna boat to reach the island at its centre. Climb the steps to the Church of the Assumption and, if you wish, ring its celebrated wishing bell.

Boatmen have long used pletnas to carry visitors across this Alpine lake. The island’s church and bell are bound to a local legend that grants a wish to those who sound it three times. This is one of two included Lake Bled experiences; choose the one you prefer.

Visit Vila Bled, a former presidential residence set beside Lake Bled. Take a seat on its terrace for coffee and a slice of kremšnita, the layered cream cake closely associated with the lakeside town.

Views stretch towards Bled Island and the surrounding hills, recalling the lake’s long appeal as a place to pause and take in the Alpine scenery. This is one of two included Lake Bled experiences; choose it as an alternative to the pletna boat and island visit.

Ride an underground train into Postojna Cave, then explore on foot among stalactites, stalagmites and limestone columns. The train carries visitors deep into a karst system with more than 20 kilometres of surveyed passages.

Postojna has welcomed visitors since the 19th century and was among Europe’s first caves to introduce an underground railway. Its water-shaped chambers also offer insight into karst geology and the unusual habitat of the proteus, or olm, an animal native to these subterranean waters.

Explore Krk Town with a Local Expert, following stone lanes through its walled historic centre. Visit St. Mary’s Cathedral and view Frankopan Castle, once associated with one of Croatia’s most influential medieval noble families.

The island town carries traces of Roman settlement, medieval rule and Venetian influence in its buildings and street plan. Its cathedral grew from an early Christian basilica, offering a tangible link between the Adriatic island’s ancient past and its living town centre.

Enjoy a farm-to-table lunch at a family-owned Krk winery, with seasonal island ingredients paired with local wine. Taste Žlahtina, the white grape variety closely associated with Krk, alongside dishes rooted in the island’s culinary traditions.

The winery setting brings together the people, produce and vineyards behind the meal. It is an opportunity to experience Krk through its food and wine, with flavours shaped by a landscape between the Adriatic coast and the island’s cultivated interior.

Discover Pula’s Roman heritage with a Local Expert, including a visit inside the Pula Arena. Stand within one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres, whose surviving outer walls still convey the scale of a venue built for gladiatorial games and public gatherings.

The exploration also takes in the Temple of Augustus on the former Forum and the Arch of the Sergii. Together, these landmarks show how Roman civic life shaped the streets of this Istrian coastal city.

Travel by boat along the Giudecca Canal as your Travel Director introduces Venice from the water. Take in historic palazzi and views towards the Doge’s Palace and St. Mark’s Square, landmarks of the city’s former maritime republic.

Approaching by canal shows why boats remain central to life in this lagoon city. The waterside perspective brings its grand facades, working waterways and centuries-long connection to Adriatic trade into a single view.

Watch Murano artisans shape molten glass during a visit to a traditional workshop. See how heat, breath and practiced movements turn the material into delicate forms, while learning about the skills required to keep the craft alive.

Venice concentrated its glass furnaces on Murano in the late 13th century, and the island became renowned for specialist techniques refined over generations. This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience offers a close view of a living craft and the people who practise it.

Glide through Venice’s canals by gondola, passing beneath small bridges and alongside historic facades. From the low vantage point of the boat, details of the palaces and waterways come into focus away from the city’s busier walking routes.

Gondolas have carried people through the lagoon city for centuries, their slender shape suited to its narrow canals. The ride offers an intimate perspective on a place where water is part of the street network and the city’s enduring identity.

Gather with your Travel Director and small group for a celebration dinner in Venice. Share a final hosted meal and conversation about the Croatian, Slovenian and Italian places explored together.

Venice’s setting brings the northern Adriatic journey to a fitting close: a city whose history was shaped by the same sea linking its ports, islands and coastal communities. The occasion is as much about the company around the table as the destination itself.

Explore Opatija’s seafront promenade on an organised outing from the Rijeka area, with an opportunity to try coastal specialties at a local restaurant. Walk beside the Kvarner Bay and take in the resort town’s shoreline setting.

Opatija developed as a fashionable Adriatic retreat in the Habsburg era, a legacy still visible in its villas and promenades. The combination of a coastal walk and local dining makes this a distinct evening excursion, at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Meet members of Soncek, Slovenia’s Cerebral Palsy Association, and learn about its Care and Work Center in Ljubljana. See how adults with disabilities create artwork and handcrafted items through adapted employment and community support.

This MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience centres on the people and skills behind the work, rather than a souvenir purchase. The visit supports Soncek’s commitment to greater inclusion and connects directly with the United Nations goal of reducing inequalities.

Join a traditional dinner at Pr’ Krac for an introduction to Slovenia’s rural food heritage. This organised evening experience offers a chance to sit down over local dishes rather than dine independently during your time in Ljubljana.

The focus is on the cooking and convivial atmosphere associated with the Slovenian countryside, providing a different perspective from the capital’s riverside cafés and squares. This optional experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.