Sailing the Adriatic Sea Tour: Elaphiti, Mljet, Hvar, Split, Korcala & Markaska Riviera

We are a couple in our upper seventies who recently returned from a fabulous 10-day private tour of Croatia. Of the many places we have visited around the globe, Croatia is among our favorites. The country offers extraordinary national parks, a gorgeous, dramatic coastline, warm, friendly people, great food, and a cosmopolitan culture with a rich history. The weather was splendid in late May.

Zicasso's travel specialist worked closely with us to put together an itinerary that was truly perfect in terms of the pace and the types of activities we like to do. She is a great listener and truly understood our concerns as senior travelers. We were very pleased to meet her for breakfast at the end of our trip. Although we had not been directly in touch earlier during the tour, we had the sense that she was checking in with our guides along the way, just to make sure every detail was attended to. When the Meštrović Museum in Split was closed while we were there, she arranged for us to have a private tour, just one example of her thoughtfulness.

At every phase of the tour, we had wonderful drivers and guides. All were extraordinarily interesting individuals, willing to share their personal experiences and opinions about the complicated and painful history of recent decades. We feel we learned a great deal and came to admire the resilience of these remarkable people. Despite great hardship, they remain positive and optimistic, and are very proud to introduce their culture to visitors.

We visited Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, and Mostar, and had walking tours of each. Truly every place we visited offered highlights. Among our favorites: Plitvice Lakes and Krka National Parks (the two are quite different and both are worth seeing); the Meštrović Museum in Split; walking the walls of Dubrovnik; an incredible Middle Eastern lunch following a trek to the historic bridge in Mostar; the Sea Organ and Greeting to the Sun in Zadar; lunch featuring prawns buzara at a harborside restaurant on a glistening day in the Elaphiti Islands. Indeed, too many fine restaurants to mention!

In sum, Zicasso's travel company created a superlative tour for us, for which we thank our travel specialist and her marvelous team.

Zicasso’s travel specialist was very attentive to our personal preferences in planning an unforgettable honeymoon. Her knowledge of the area allowed us to have a diverse itinerary, which included city and hiking tours with personable local guides, a flexible skipper trip with options to snorkel and visit islands and caves, and a chef's table to sample local cuisine with a personal chef. We had the opportunity to stay in Dubrovnik, Hvar, and Split at high-quality hotels in convenient locations.

She was very responsive and connected us with drivers, our skipper, and guides to assist with coordination. Overall, the trip was made stress-free thanks to the personalized itinerary, recommendations, bookings, and ferry/park tickets provided ahead of time.

This was the perfect family vacation! We started in Split and ended in Dubrovnik, with stops in Hvar and Korčula. Zicasso's travel specialists planned the perfect trip and when we ran into a few hiccups with our flights being canceled, they were accessible and helped change our plans.

We truly enjoyed every activity they planned for our family. The hotels they picked were perfect. I would definitely use this travel company again to plan another Croatian trip. My kids said it was their favorite family vacation.

Zicasso's tour company is fantastic. They designed a perfect custom itinerary for us that included boating, hiking, biking, wine tasting, and much more. Our days were filled with interesting activities and meeting some of the most lovely people as our guides.

Though there were too many highlights to list them all, a few unexpected ones were a cooking class near Split that included shopping for fresh ingredients, snorkeling, lunching off a luxury boat near Hvar, and lunch at an oyster farm.

We had the most lovely guide in Dubrovnik who works for the tourist board and gave us the insider's guide to places in the old town. We even had an authentic meal, one that takes days to prepare, outside of Hvar. There is so much to love about Croatia. This tour company will help you find it.

This is a summary of our thoughts on our recent trip to Croatia that was created by Zicasso's travel specialist. Overall, we had a really great time.

The hotels that the travel specialist chose for us were terrific. The rooms in our hotels in Split and Dubrovnik were spacious and very comfortable. In fact, the location for all three hotels was excellent. In Split, our hotel was right where the action was. It was a great location. The hotel rooms at our hotel in Hvar were small, but otherwise very comfortable, and the location was fantastic. The travel specialist correctly chose our hotel in Dubrovnik outside of the Old Town. It was not within walking distance of the Old Town, but travel by cab or Uber was very easy and our hotel was beautiful. The breakfast spots in each hotel were beautiful, which was a lovely way to start each day.

At each point in the trip, the arranged rides were right on time and very helpful. The vehicles were all excellent. We had a variety of excursions and the quality was variable. Our first full day in Split we had a food tour mid-morning after we had had a full breakfast. That kind of tour would have been much better in the afternoon. Our guide did not give us very much history of Diocletian's Palace, which we would have enjoyed, but touring the palace was still a delight.

The trip to Krka National Park was beautiful, as well as the brief walk in Šibenik on the way back to Split. Our guide was very knowledgeable and pleasant.

The ferry rides from Split to Hvar and then Hvar to Dubrovnik were uneventful. Transfers to and from the hotels also were smooth.

The tour of Hvar was interesting, although it seemed to be stretched out to get us to our dinner destination at a set time. That particular meal was mediocre and the subsequent trip to a small winery was also not a highlight. That trip could have been done in a shorter period of time and we would have been happy to pick our own dining location. The itinerary read, "Enjoy your authentic Mediterranean meal," but it really was not special.

We were disappointed that we could not see the Blue Cave or the island of Vis, but the weather really did not permit it. The itinerary was clear that weather conditions might affect the itinerary, which they did, but the skipper did his best to keep us relatively close to shore. We were still able to go swimming at a protected cove and had a nice stop at a beautiful winery, which made up for not getting to the cave and Vis. Unfortunately, at one point two of us got seasick and after lunch those two went home to Hvar by taxi. The other two of us had a great afternoon boat ride back to Hvar.

In Dubrovnik we had an excellent guide who showed us the Old Town and guided us to the cable car ride to Mount Srđ. We had a one-day Dubrovnik Pass, which, frankly, was a waste of money. We had toured with our guide and then did the cable car, so there really was not any time to avail ourselves of the things that the Dubrovnik Pass would have given us. If it helps for future planning, we really did not need the pass.

We, as a group, had different feelings about the trip to Montenegro. We did not realize how long the trip actually took. It's a long drive there and back. One of us thought it was worth the effort; the others did not. Our guide was very good. If we had understood what was involved in traveling back and forth, I suspect we would not have pursued the trip. It was relatively late in our tour and a day of rest or a trip back to Dubrovnik would have been a better use of time (and then we would have used the Dubrovnik Pass!)

The last day touring the Elaphiti Islands was also affected by rough seas. Again, it was no one's fault, but we did not get to see everything we had hoped for. That said, our skipper was excellent. We learned quite a bit about Croatia and Croatian life from him, and we had a nice lunch on a beautiful island.

One recommendation that we would like to make relates to tipping. We were very happy to tip everyone along the way, but we had not planned for this, so we were a bit short on the euros that we had brought with us. We would recommend that the travel company include an approximate total of the tips for the trip. That would have been very valuable.

All told, it was an excellent trip, our second Zicasso trip in two years. Thanks!

Overall, our trip was well planned and brought different views to Croatia with each destination we visited. The 3 destinations (Dubrovnik, Hvar, Split) provided us with a different view that allowed us to truly experience the country's culture and highlights.

Zicasso's travel agency had wonderful activities that allowed for a more personable experience. We particularly enjoyed the Karaka boat tour, Hvar wine tasting and island tour and Krka park tour. The tour guides were experienced, interactive, and knowledgeable.

Overall, it was easy to communicate our needs and questions. Would be easier to just use email instead of the portal.