If you’re looking to spend one week in Croatia, you’ll have a number of options for how to spend your time in the country. The first thing we suggest you do is to check our Flights to Croatia section for details of which flights go where and book yourself on one of them. You can then:
1) base yourself entirely in that location – or nearby – for a week, enjoying sun, sea and relaxation (trust us, you may consider it boring now but it will become oh-so-appealing once you’re actually out there!)
2) base yourself in that location and make a few local day trips during the week
3) split your week half and a half so you get to visit two different places.
4) travel around, spending a night or two in different towns
If you’d like to take out some of the hassle involved in planning a holiday but want to make the most of the sights, activities or tastes of Dalmatia, Explorer Club offers weeklong “See All”, “Do All” and “Taste All” expertly-crafted itineraries, all featuring some wonderful experiences in this popular region of Croatia. They can also arrange accommodation in one of their stunning villas!
Here’s a bit more on all of the above options:
One Week in Croatia – Spending a week in one location
If you’re looking for a relaxing holiday where you get to spend most of your time sunbathing, lying by the pool or sea, sampling the local cuisine and a few drinks each night and dipping into a bit of culture every now and then – lucky you!
Take a look at our various area guides sections to see if there are any particular towns, islands or resorts that take your fancy. Then see how to get there in our Getting to Croatia section, and look up Accommodation too.
As another option, if you want to book a week’s holiday but are looking for something a little different, why not try a sailing or an activity holiday, such as cycling or kayaking? It’s a great way of travelling around a little bit – so you’re not going to be stuck in one place – but won’t require much travel planning on your part. And it’s a great way of seeing Croatia’s top sight – its coastline!
For some ideas on where to go:
- Dubrovnik (or nearby) – one week spent relaxing and seeing the sights in and around this amazing town
- On the Makarska Riviera – plenty of beach time, plus trips to Split and the local islands
- One of the Dalmatian islands – Brac, Hvar, Korcula would be the most popular choices, but Vis would be excellent for something much more laid back
- Somewhere close to Split such as Trogir/Ciovo, Primosten – ideal for making use of Split’s excellent transport connections, and great for plenty of day trips on the mainland and in the local islands
- One of the Istrian resorts (Rovinj, Porec) – R&R and the opportunity to sample Istria’s wonderful gastronomy and wines!
One Week in Croatia – One base with day trips
We’ve mentioned some of the suitable destinations above, but again, take a look at the area guides to see what region sounds best to you. Then, once you’re out there, you can alternate some relaxing days with day trips to local villages, towns, islands and so on.
Check out our various day trip guides: Day Trips in Istria; Day Trips from Split; and Day Trips from Dubrovnik. If you’re inland, see our Day Trips from Zagreb page.
One Week in Croatia – Split your week into two
This option is ideal if you’d like a couple of different experiences of Croatia, but don’t want to spend too much time travelling around. So, why not try:
- Zagreb then bus to Kvarner Riviera or Istria (fly out from Pula/Rijeka or head back to Zagreb)
- Fly into Split; ferry to Brac or Hvar…or both! (fly back from Split)
- Dubrovnik then Korcula by ferry (and back)
- Dubrovnik then Hvar or Brac by catamaran, then onto Split for a night! (fly back from Split)
One Week in Croatia – Travelling around the country
We know the drill – you’ve only got a week in Croatia, but you want to see as much as possible…right? We would probably advise one of the choices above rather than this type of one-week holiday, but trust us – we know how tempting it is to cover as much of Croatia as you can!
Travelling around a fair bit in a week is certainly doable, but you will spend quite a bit of your time on buses (or driving) and ferries so be prepared for this. However, here are some tips to make your journeys a bit less hassle:
- Try and make your week’s travel one-way – there’s no point returning back to where you flew in to (assuming you flew to Croatia) as this will just waste time. With more and more low-cost airlines flying to Croatia, it’s even easier to buy one-way flights and they’re not even going to be that expensive.
- Get early buses or overnight trains (e.g. from Zagreb to Split) so you can spend your travelling time sleeping!
- Croatia Airlines‘s internal flights can be pretty cheap if booked enough in advance. So don’t take the bus, fly! (For example, if you’re going from/to Zagreb and Dubrovnik or Split, or even between Split and Dubrovnik.)
- If you’re travelling along the coast, travel by ferry. A really beautiful way of seeing the coast, you can also say you’ve “sailed” part of the Croatian coast! (Well, sort of!)
Here are a few itineraries that might interest you:
- Split – Hvar Town (Hvar) – Jelsa (Hvar) – Bol (Brac) – Split
- Zagreb – Plitvice – Zadar – Trogir – Split
- Split – Hvar or Brac – Korcula – Dubrovnik
- Dubrovnik – Makarska – Brac – Split
- Pula – Rijeka – Novalja (Pag) – Zadar
Whatever sort of week you have in Croatia, we are sure you will have a truly wonderful time!