[DALMATIAN COAST, CROATIA] — Highly recommend you try and swing a sailboat charter in Croatia. You can backpack or ferry between islands, but having your own steam allows you to duck in and out of the thousands of islands along the Dalmatian coast. Me and my best friends and their kids chartered a big Turkish gulet to sail these beautiful waters and these are the best places to sail to in Croatia — at least that we found. Twelve people on a boat!
Honestly, I’d arranged this charter six months before and had been on travel sabbatical across Europe for four months, so didn’t do much planning at all for this trip, neither did the rest of us. It was actually so nice not to have to plan everything out in advance.
Each day, the captain Ogi would make suggestions on where we could sail, where we could swim and where we’d anchor each night. We didn’t book full-board because we wanted to have dinners in the villages. But there are options to have a full-time chef and be on your own in remote coves all over the place. We loved our choices.
These pics are a companion post to my gulet boat post, following along our route chronologically so you can get a feel for how you can visit a completely different place every single day, without leaving your boat. Here’s a quick little video I made to give you an idea of what it’s like to sail for a week in Croatia:
You pick up your boat in the surprisingly cool Split, then poke your way amidst the islands towards Dubrovnik, a beacon for Game of Thrones fans. The itinerary is your own, you only have a start and port and end date and port, the rest is up to you.
You can get a boat of virtually any size to match how big your party is. Regular sailboats, big catamarans, or what we chose, a unique Turkish gulet because of its big broad size. Or you can play in the party that is Yacht Week, a brilliant way for small young groups to meet other like-minded people of your age. Ohhh, if this was around when I was young…
If you’re skilled sailor, the waters are protected and calm mostly, but most boats come with captains and crew, if you want them.
When you have your own boat, you carry your house on your back, so you load in once and never have to leave. And then you get to visit a different island every day. It’s the perfect way to travel with a group.
Most charters and ferries all start in Split and sail down-wind. There’s a small airport there and easy to get to. Because it’s a port town, I had very low expectations thinking it’d be a bit not nice, but I was blown away.
The old town has one of the oldest group of Roman buildings, centered on Diocletian’s Palace, still operating in day to day life is here. In my Ancient Archaeology class in Rome, our professor raved about this place and he was right.
This warren of buildings was built in 300 AD and still mostly intact. You can walk on the exact stones Romans walked, not cordoned-off like a museum, as people have done near-continuously since.
It’s breathtaking for history nuts.
I couldn’t believe how well preserved a lot of the old city was, just as it has always been, for thousands of years. Diocletian’s Palace just was fantastic. A warren of alleys and crooked streets. Sure, touristy, but the backdrop was jaw-dropping. We only had a day here, but I would book a couple.
Plan to spend some time walking around the old city. Then go back. Forget about the hoards of people and just marvel in the buildings. There’s a gelato stand about every ten feet, but some great restaurants tucked in the ancient buildings.
My travel agent suggested we stay at Le Meridien, which I normally would pass on, but was easy and beautiful choice after a long flight. Plus, the boat would pick us up in their private harbor.
The best part is it was about half the cost of Le Meridiens elsewhere. Highly recommend.
It’s the island stop closest to Split. We picked up our boat at 5pm, with everyone getting squared away in their cabins, we had to quickly scoot across the archipelago to find a cool place to anchor for the night.
Postira was it. On the big island of Brač, the largest in the Croatian archipelago and a very old island going back to the Greeks and before. There’s only 13,000 residents on the island, the rest are tourists. But it’s big and people are spread all around.
Brač is big and most people come on the ferries and hit its many beaches all around the island.
Postira was a nice little harbor village. Turns gorgeous at night. When you charter your own boat, you carry your house on your back, so you can visit a different cool town every day and be back in your own bed each night.
The problem with Croatia is: every town is cool, you don’t want to leave.
We found this great place to eat, Konoba Gustrina, where they whipped out a table for all 12 of us. Highly recommend it. The perfect start to your trip.
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Another great thing about being on your own boat is that you load-in once, but arrive in a different place every day. No hotels. No suitcases. No “Let’s all meet in the lobby at 8.”
It’s like a constantly moving villa. Everyone gets up on their own schedule, no need to rush, ever. The portal is your TV, changing channels every hour.
Vis was another awesome town. If you look at the map, we scooted between the islands and ran out to Vis. Gorgeous harbor, right at sunset. This used to be a military island during Tito’s (not the vodka) dictatorship and was closed to the public for 50 years. There’s a lot to do on this island besides us just spending one night before moving on. Check out Adventurous Kate’s very detailed blog on Vis.
Heading to dinner is my favorite thing to do — well, other than every other part of the day on the boat. At 33 meters long, Queen of the Adriatic is about twice as long as even the biggest sailboats you can charter. Which means you can’t just tie up in port, cheek-by-jowl next the other dozens of boats. You have to anchor with the big boys outside the small harbors. We saw that as a plus.
Freshly showered and some happy hour buzz strapped on, few things were as fun as taking off to shore each night, giddy to explore a new town. The dinghy is small, so we had to do it Navy SEAL-style and send the first reconnaissance team ahead to start scoping out the town and figure out where to eat. Others would follow on the next wave.
Each island a little different, each restaurant offering a special experience. Always sitting outside, under the fresh air and ice cold Karlovačkos, the twelve of us often splitting a single huge grilled fish caught that day.
Once pleasantly watered and fed, our Recovery Team, Bruno the Chef, would slip in under the cover of darkness to pick us up and sneak us back out again. Out there, bobbin’, grinning at the full moon.
Restaurant Pajoda was one of my favorite restaurants on our week in Croatia. Notably because it was our first big restaurant with a huge group of us with no reservations. We were all a bit stressed not knowing where to eat, or even if we could get in, but the guys treated us like Kings, said no problem and instantly threw together a table for 12 in a totally packed restaurant at prime time.
It was super easy to order, the guys always guiding us to the right things. “How many are you, twelve? I have special beeg grouper — holds arms wide — just caught today, you can all split it.”
It ain’t easy showing up unannounced with twelve people, anywhere. But in Croatia they’re used to charter boats arriving unannounced.
Everywhere we went, tables were whisked out of nowhere, set up on the sidewalk, chairs carried over the heads of diners, tablecloths whipped out and wrinkles smoothed with precision, like a French maid at The Ritz. Then candles, of course.
Everyone was so nice, so fun. Not cheesy tourist hucksters. Genuine. Proud to show us their great country. Everywhere we went. Food was simple, but awesome and always a great deal, from $20-40USD per, even with us drinking like sailors. Because we were sailors.
Because of its unique location, Hvar has been a key trading city starting with the Greeks, then Romand and really took off in the Venetian empire in the 1300s. Because it’s a big island with lots of beaches and a major ferry stop, Hvar gets a lot of backbackers, Hen Doos and ravers, with clubs and parties, so it’s one of the busiest ports/towns on the Dalmatian Coast.
We were just there for a sunset dinner and the back to our own party on the big boat. But it’s a gorgeous clean town, with a ton of restaurants, hills and forts.
Here’s the Trip Advisor page on Hvar.
Korčula was our next stop, after a long day slog on the water. Korčula was everyone’s favorite and a place we all wanted to come back to and spend more time. That’s what’s great about sailing, you see a different island every day, but get a great overview of where you want to come back to.
We all got out and split up to explore, agreeing to meet up for dinner later. It’s a busy little town and one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the Adriatic, with lots of shops and a ton of restaurants and bars overlooking the old walls. A lot of people come and stay here for a week, weeks or months at a time, there’s lots to do, many hotels and VRBOs.
Here’s the TimeOut page on Korčula. And the CN Traveller articles on Korčula.
One of the best things about sailing in Croatia is anchoring on a new island, taking the dinghy into a new town and everyone fans out. Roving the nooks and crannies, alleys and terraces, looking for the absolute best place to eat. There was a surprise around every corner, on every island. The hard thing was choosing just one.
Mljet. “I’d like to buy a vowel, please. ” Mljet is just a blast to say out loud. Especially with beer… which, miraculously, makes one more fluent. Whenever someone sneezed we’d say “Meeejet!”
Mljet is a big island with its own national park and was our next stop. A national park where you anchor in a quiet cove and go inland to visit crystal clear inland lakes. Like everywhere, people have been crawling all over this beautiful island since the Greeks and Romans.
It’s a quiet island, nothing but handfuls of sailboats and fishermen. But super still waters and calm breezes make it great for anchoring in the middle of a cove. These were the prettiest sunrises of the trip.
Here’s an article on Mljet on Lonely Planet.
In Mljet, you go ashore and then take a shuttle bus inland to the protected lakes. Then hike around to find the waters. After a bunch of hikes, you’re back on the boat for a nice long lunch. A perfect sunset every night. I loved how there are no bugs in Croatia. Not a single bite all week.
The distance between islands and destinations isn’t that far — the ferries make it from Split to Dubrovnik in a couple hours — but you zigzag in and out islands and stretch it out for a week. Always fun to stop midday and have a schwimbob, lunch and then a nap.
After a long day of sailing and stopping for swims, we pulled into the quiet Šipan and had the best dinner of our trip, at Villa Ruža, with an incredible table with the most perfect sunset views. Highly recommend you stop and stay here.
The little harbor is small and very quiet, which makes this restaurant even cooler. And this is right around the corner from Dubrovnik, so a great place to end your trip.
Unfortunately, I had an 8am flight out of Dubrovnik to fly to Corsica, so I only got a sunset drive-by before we anchored in Sipan for the night. I got dropped off at the docks at 7am and sped to the airport. Everyone else hung around for a couple of days and loved. It’s super crowded, but cool.
Nothing beats seeing Dubrovnik from the sea.
— Last visited July 2015; Post Updated Juy 2024 —
Here’s the listing for Queen of the Adriatic on the upscale Red Savannah website, looks like they’ve made even more improvements since we sailed her. Chartering Queen of the Adriatic for the week during peak season can be about $25,000 for the week, probably more now, which sounds like a lot, but when you factor in 12-15 people, six cabins with their own bathrooms, a crew of four, including a chef, a deckhand/bartender/waiter and even a masseuse, that becomes much more reasonable. Especially when you factor in that that includes abundant breakfasts, gourmet lunches and all the booze you can drink. Oh, fuel, taxes and other incidentals. So for about $2,000/person, you can live like an oligarch, sail with your best friends and go where you want to go. CANNOT be beat. Best trip I’ve ever had.
Here’s a great story on sailing in Croatia in the Wall Street Journal. Here’s a great resource article in the New York Times on chartering you own yacht. And a great article in Condé Nast Traveler. And an article on Forbes on why Fall is the best time to sail Croatia. And a good one from Sail magazine. And two articles from Time Out magazine. This one. And this one about nine reasons why the Adriatic is the best place to sail.
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