Explore Diocletian’s Palace with a Local Expert, entering its ancient cellars and threading through streets built into the Roman emperor’s former residence. See the Golden Gate and St. Duje’s Cathedral, originally Diocletian’s mausoleum.

Walk through Split’s Jewish Quarter to Narodni Trg and Fruit Square, where medieval and later buildings sit within the living city. Rather than a monument set apart, the palace remains the framework of Split’s busy Old Town.

Walk Dubrovnik’s limestone-paved Stradun with a Local Expert, passing Onofrio’s Fountain and St. Blaise’s Church. Visit the cathedral and Franciscan Monastery while exploring streets enclosed by the Old Town’s formidable defensive walls.

This UNESCO-listed city grew into a powerful maritime republic. Its churches, fountains and stone facades offer insight into civic life within the walls, while the nearby harbour shows why Dubrovnik’s position on the Adriatic mattered.

• 6 Dinner (D)
• 13 Breakfast (B)

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

Insight Vacations

Meet your Travel Director and fellow travellers over a hosted welcome dinner in Zagreb. Share a meal and wine while getting to know the group in Croatia’s capital.

This relaxed gathering offers a chance to hear about the journey ahead and begin exchanging stories with the people who will share it. It is a social occasion rather than a formal sightseeing activity.

Explore Zagreb with a Local Expert, walking past the Art Pavilion and Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in the elegant Lower Town. Pass leafy Zrinjevac Park and ride the 66-metre funicular up to the historic Upper Town.

See St. Mark’s Church and Lotršcak Tower before descending through the Stone Gate towards the main square. The route brings Zagreb’s 19th-century avenues and older fortified streets into sharp contrast.

Board the underground cave train and explore Slovenia’s Postojna Cave, a vast karst system shaped by water over millions of years. See chambers filled with stalactites, columns and delicate-looking mineral curtains, including the pale, five-metre-high stalagmite known as Brilliant.

Postojna pioneered underground railway tours in the 19th century. Its subterranean waters are also home to the proteus, or olm, an unusual amphibian adapted to life in darkness.

Step inside Pula Arena, one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world. Explore this first-century monument with your Local Expert and take in its imposing outer walls and surviving tiers, once arranged around a space used for gladiatorial spectacles.

The arena recalls Istria’s place in the Roman world, when Pula was an important Adriatic settlement. Its limestone arches still stand prominently within the modern city, making the scale of ancient public entertainment easy to grasp.

Wander the cobbled streets of Rovinj’s Old Town, which rises from the Adriatic on a compact Istrian peninsula. Discover lanes edged by pastel-coloured buildings, small shops and pavement cafés, with glimpses of the sea between closely packed houses.

Rovinj’s old quarter reflects centuries of Venetian influence along this coast. Its waterfront setting and narrow, irregular streets give the visit a different character from the grand Roman remains at nearby Pula.

Explore Plitvice Lakes National Park with a Local Expert, following routes through forest and beside the park’s interconnected lakes and waterfalls. Learn how water flowing through limestone continually shapes its cascades and distinctive lake basins.

This UNESCO-listed landscape is also a protected habitat. Hear how research, restoration and low-impact visitor practices help safeguard its waters, woodland and wildlife, adding an understanding of conservation to the park’s striking scenery.

Meet women from the Tara Community Center near Plitvice Lakes and hear about village customs, personal histories and the traditional handicrafts they make. The visit offers a personal perspective on life in the communities surrounding the national park.

Tourism income helps support this local gathering place and the women involved, including some who were once refugees. Their work creates opportunities for connection and income while keeping practical craft traditions alive.

Walk through Zadar’s historic centre, passing Roman remains and the market on the way to the waterfront. At the Sea Organ, listen as waves push air through pipes beneath the stone steps, producing changing tones with the movement of the Adriatic.

The route places an inventive modern landmark alongside traces of the city’s ancient past. Zadar’s waterfront is open to the sea and islands, making the organ’s sound inseparable from its setting.

Discover Trogir, a coastal town founded by Greek settlers in the third century BCE. Explore its compact historic centre and admire the Cathedral of St. Lawrence and Renaissance Cipiko Palace among its closely grouped stone buildings.

Successive Greek, Roman and Venetian influences are visible in the town’s streets and architecture. Its small island setting concentrates centuries of Dalmatian history into a walkable old centre, recognised by UNESCO for its preserved urban fabric.

Cross the Adriatic by ferry to Hvar Island, spending time on deck with views of clear water, neighbouring islands and the Dalmatian coastline. The approximately two-hour crossing gives a sense of the channels that have long connected Croatia’s island communities.

On Hvar, enjoy a panoramic orientation between the ferry port at Stari Grad and Hvar Town. See how the island’s inland landscape gives way to its harbourfront, with stone settlements set among Mediterranean vegetation.

Weather permitting, board a private boat on Mali Ston Bay for views of the Pelješac shoreline, its villages and vineyards. Sip traditional Croatian brandy while crossing the sheltered water, where shellfish farming is part of local life.

Meet an oyster farmer to learn how oysters grow on ropes suspended in the bay and how they are harvested. Taste freshly opened oysters or mussels with a glass of Dalmatian wine for a direct introduction to the region’s sea-to-table traditions.

Sail across Dubrovnik’s bay for a view of the walled city from the water, weather permitting. Spend time on deck photographing its fortresses, harbour and rocky coastline as the light changes over the Adriatic.

From offshore, the scale and placement of Dubrovnik’s defences become especially clear. The cruise offers a perspective distinct from a walk inside the Old Town, with the city’s pale stone standing out against the sea.

Share a hosted celebration dinner in Dubrovnik with your Travel Director and fellow travellers. Enjoy Croatian dishes together and exchange favourite memories of the country’s capital, national park, coast and islands.

Local flavours, accompanied by wine and grappa, make this a fitting occasion to reflect on the journey. Unlike a routine hotel meal, the dinner is a group gathering centred on the places and experiences you have shared.

Visit Kumrovec, the birthplace of Josip Broz Tito, on an optional excursion from Zagreb. Explore the village associated with the man who led Yugoslavia for much of the 20th century and consider how his life connects to the region’s modern history.

Kumrovec lies in the countryside north of Zagreb, offering a contrast to the capital’s city streets. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Dine in a traditional konoba near Split, choosing an optional evening centred on Dalmatian hospitality. A konoba is a local tavern where regional food is served in an informal setting, offering a way to encounter the coast through its cooking.

The experience provides an alternative to dining independently and an opportunity to spend the evening with fellow travellers. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Explore more of Hvar Island on an optional visit to Stari Grad and Vrboska, two settlements that reveal a quieter side of the island beyond Hvar Town. Stari Grad’s historic landscape is UNESCO-listed, while Vrboska is known for its small harbour and stone buildings.

Visit a local wine cellar for a tasting accompanied by regional specialities. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Travel from Dubrovnik along the Montenegrin coast to Kotor, a historic port beside the deeply indented Bay of Kotor. Take in views across the water, photograph the surrounding mountains and discover some of the area’s layered history.

Kotor’s fortified old town forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reflecting centuries of maritime connections and Venetian influence. This Optional Experience is at additional cost and bookable on tour.

Follow a Local Expert through Korcula’s walled Old Town, crossing its main square to visit St. Mark’s Cathedral. Pass the Town Museum, Bishop’s Palace and Town Hall, and see the ruins associated by local legend with Marco Polo’s birthplace.

The town occupies a small peninsula facing the mainland. Its fortifications, narrow streets and Venetian-era details reveal how Korcula developed as both a defended harbour and a centre of Adriatic trade.

• Top-rated dining, from farm-to-table to local restaurants
• 4 & 5-star stays
• Business class coach travel, and ferry journey