Šibenik
A stone city stacked up a hillside, with the UNESCO-listed Cathedral of St James at its heart — built entirely of interlocking stone, without mortar. Climb to St Michael's Fortress or Barone Fortress for the view over the channel.
Day trips
Two national parks, one UNESCO cathedral, 140 islands
Vodice sits in the middle of the best of northern Dalmatia. Almost everything below is a day trip you can start after breakfast and be back from in time to swim.
National park · approx. 30 min by car
Krka
The waterfalls everyone comes to Dalmatia for — a river cutting through limestone in a staircase of cascades, with boardwalks that take you right along the water.
Skradinski Buk is the famous stretch. Further upstream, Roški Slap is quieter and just as good, and boats run out to the tiny island monastery of Visovac. Go early or late: midday in July is both hot and crowded.
Entry from Skradin lets you arrive by park boat, which is the nicer way in.
Gallery
Krka, in pictures
National park · by boat from Vodice
Kornati
More than 140 islands, islets and reefs, almost all of them bare white stone dropping into extraordinarily clear water. There is nothing else like it in the Mediterranean.
Full-day boat trips leave from Vodice harbour through the season, usually with lunch on board and stops for swimming in the coves. If you would rather not share, skippered private charters are easy to arrange — tell us and we will put you in touch.
Closer to home
Half-day trips
Tribunj
A fishing village on a small island joined to the mainland by a bridge, with a maze of lanes, a working harbour and an annual donkey race that is exactly as unserious as it sounds.
Prvić & Zlarin
Car-free islands twenty minutes offshore. Prvić Luka and Šepurine are two tiny stone villages with a walking path between them; Zlarin is the coral island. Perfect for a slow day.
Lake Vransko
Croatia's largest natural lake and a nature park — a birdwatching reserve with flat cycling routes around it, and a viewpoint over both lake and sea at Kamenjak.
If you have a full day
Further afield
Zadar
Roman forum, the Sea Organ that plays with the waves, and the sunset Alfred Hitchcock called the best in the world. Worth staying into the evening for.
Split
Diocletian's Palace — a Roman emperor's retirement home that a whole city grew inside. Busy, but genuinely remarkable.
Trogir
A small UNESCO-listed island town of Venetian stone, easy to combine with Split or with a flight in or out of Split airport nearby.
Primošten
A photogenic old town on its own peninsula, surrounded by the dry-stone vineyard walls the region is known for.
Plitvice Lakes
The other famous national park — sixteen terraced lakes in forest. A long day, but many guests do it once and are glad they did.
Wine & olive oil
Small family producers around Primošten and the Šibenik hinterland do tastings by appointment. We can arrange it.
Driving times are guidance for the summer season and can be longer in August. Ask us before you book anything — we usually know which day of the week is quietest.
Base yourself here
All of it within reach, and a heated pool to come home to.