Ultra Europe Festival in Split, Croatia 7 – 9 July 2023
Ultra Europe will take place in the lovely coastal city of Split in Croatia. Over 150.000 visitors will make another great party festival.
Ultra Europe will take place in the lovely coastal city of Split in Croatia. Over 150.000 visitors will make another great party festival.
Adriatic cruises run from May to the middle of October. See Split, Hvar, Korcula, Dubrovnik, Elaphiti Islands and many more.
Dubrovnik’s nickname is Pearl of the Adriatic and one of the most visited destinations on the Adriatic coast. It is a beautiful city with some of the best medieval architecture you’re likely to see – the walled city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979, making it among the earliest destinations to receive this accolade. It’s believed, in local lore, that Dubrovnik was founded in the 7th century. The town began to grow and prosper under Byzantine Empire rule, then between the 14th century and 1808, it was ruled as a free state. During the 15th and 16th centuries, it reached its peak and many buildings in the old city date from this period. The old town is the top attraction, but there are beaches in the city too if you’d like to combine sightseeing with lazy days on the beach.
The Old Town is by far the best and most visited attraction in Dubrovnik.
Whether you appreciate it for the historical value – it is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in the world – for the architecture itself, or simply for the pleasant ambience and atmosphere it has, you’ll love Dubrovnik’s old town!
Contained within walls, the old town of Dubrovnik has remained compact and, therefore, easy to get around on foot.
By foot is the only way to get around the old town.
A pleasant place to walk but a bit challenging for anyone with mobility issues.
Simply wandering around the many streets is an excellent way to spend an afternoon. Still, if you want to visit many of the landmarks and monuments, you’re going to need more than a day to appreciate them fully.
If you are stuck for time, consider walking along the city walls. They wrap around the old town providing excellent views into the city on one side and the water on the other and go for 2 kilometres.
Along the way, there are various forts to see, too, including Minceta Tower and St John Fortress.
There are numerous churches, several palaces, the old harbour, and a few museums to pop into while exploring the old town, and when you need a break, stop in one of the many restaurants, bars or cafes.
There’s life outside the old town too, so if you have time, explore some other parts of the city.
Take the cable car up Mount Srd, for example, and enjoy a fabulous view over the whole city.
The cable car runs from just behind the old town and takes only about four minutes to rise to 412 metres. At the top, there’s a restaurant and a small store.
You can take a ferry to the nearby island of Lokrum and visit the fort, monastery, botanical gardens and naturist beach. The defence on Lokrum is another place that provides excellent views of Dubrovnik.
As well as the naturist beach on Lokrum Dubrovnik has a couple of other beaches for a lazy day – Banje Beach is closest to the old town, or Lapad Beach is about 3.5 km from it.
Over 1000 hotels or apartments in Dubrovnik range from low budget up to the highly luxurious. Those that are closest to the Old Town are always the most desirable and pricey.
Hotel Excelsior is one example of a 5-star hotel in Dubrovnik that is just 5 minutes walk from the Old Town, while The Pucic Palace is right in the Old Town, set within the 18th-century Baroque palace.
Hotel Dubrovnik Palace is another five-star hotel situated at the Lapad Peninsula just outside town with a private beach and a scuba diving centre.
In all, Dubrovnik has seventeen 5 star hotels to choose from and many more 4 star hotels.
Dubrovnik is somewhere between the Mediterranean and a humid subtropical climate because while it is hot and sunny, the summers do experience more rainfall than most Med cities.
The average high in July and August is 28C, so it’s hot but not too hot here, cooling to an average low of 21C overnight.
July and August are the driest months of the year, so visiting at this time is recommended.
The streets will be quieter in May and June, and rainfall is still not problematic during these months, though it does pick up the other side of summer, particularly in October and November.
Still, Dubrovnik benefits from over 2,500 hours of sunshine per year which is impressive!
Dubrovnik Summer Festival is the largest and best known annual festival in the city. It’s held over 45 days between 10 July and 25 August and features many dance performances, music, theatre and opera.
The performances are trendy so you should try to book tickets in advance if planning to attend.
Website: Dubrovnik-festival.hr
The Carnival in Dubrovnik is also worth a visit if you plan a journey here in the wintertime.
is set just off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea.
It’s a wonderful island that will appeal to many different tastes – great for hiking, but it’s also the perfect destination for a relaxing holiday too with its wonderful weather.
And you can combine any visit with culture, history and sightseeing because there are several historic and beautiful towns to visit.
This long, thin island features beautiful rolling hills, vineyards, olive groves and pine-clad hillsides that rival anywhere in southern Turkey or Italy.
In addition to many independent accommodation offerings – bed and breakfast types – the island of Hvar has a large selection of hotels.
The two main places to stay are Hvar Town and Stari Grad, and in the former, there are around 130 properties.
Traditionally, hotels have been a little more basic and affordable on Hvar than on the mainland, but this is changing now as the island becomes more popular.
The boutique Riva Hvar Yacht Harbour Hotel is perfectly located if you’re arriving by boat or yacht.
Check out the fabulous Amfora Hvar Grand Beach Resort (pictured above).
There are also some cheaper alternatives and apartments to choose from.
So there should be something for any budget.
Stari Grad has far fewer places to stay but could make a nice, quieter alternative to Hvar Town.
The majority of places in Stari Grad, and a large number in Hvar Town, are actually self-catering apartments rather than full-service hotels.
Set on the northern side of the island of Hvar, opposite Hvar Town, Stari Grad is the other major tourist destination on the island.
Those who have visited claim that Stari Grad doesn’t hold quite the same appeal as Hvar Town, but if you’re interested in history and culture, then you should definitely take the time to visit it anyway.
The town’s history is impressive after all – it is the oldest town in Croatia and one of the oldest in Europe.
It was settled by Greeks who came here from the island of Paros in 384 BC.
Later the Romans inhabited the ancient town, and later still the Slav people.
The Slavs named the town Hvar, but when the island’s capital was moved to what’s now known as Hvar Town, this town became known as ‘old city’ – Stari Grad.
Today the town is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Stari Grad Plain, which is an agricultural landscape recognised by UNESCO for its cultural importance.
Those first Greek colonists set up the ancient agricultural plain in the 4th century BC, and today it is still used in largely the same way as back then.
It’s amazing to think that the walls that divide the land, and the water collection system, actually dates back to Greek times and has been meticulously maintained over a period of twenty-four centuries!
You can hike into and around this area to get a look at the ancient way of agriculture yourself.
The main crops cultivated back then and still to this day are vines and olives.
While exploring, you should look out for the remains of several Roman period buildings, as well as a couple of Illyrian forts.
The old town is centred around the agricultural plain, while there was a newer section of the town built by the Venetians in the 13th century.
The Venetians offered protection to the people of Stari Grad as long as the town on the southern side of the island (now Hvar Town) was expanded so that the Venetian fleet could use it.
The Turks attacked Stari Grad in the 16th century, and many buildings were destroyed, but rebuilding quickly began.
Now you’ll find a good selection of buildings with medieval Renaissance architecture dating from just after that period.
There are numerous churches to visit, and on the edges of town is a castle built as a fortified summer residence for Petar Haktorovic, a Croatian poet.
Today it is a well preserved Renaissance-style building with an interior courtyard that contains a sea-water fish pond.
There’s no airport on the island of Hvar so you’ll have to arrive by boat.
If you’re chartering a luxury yacht around the Adriatic, this scenic island should be one of your planned stops.
There is a yacht marina named Riva in Hvar Town or several other places you could stop offshore.
Most of the visitors coming to Hvar will arrive on the ferry from the mainland.
There are two options – the slower car ferry takes around two hours and arrives near the ancient town of Stari Grad, or the faster hydrofoil service that takes about an hour and arrives at Hvar Town.
This service comes from Split on the mainland.
Suppose you prefer a more personalised, luxury service. In that case, there are a couple of other options – the Dalmatia-Express is a 24-hour boat service from Split or the airport, or there’s the Adriatic-Express which offers a similar high-speed transport option.
Hvar is hugely sunny and benefits from a wonderful Mediterranean climate.
On average, in a year, the town of Hvar has 2,800 hours of sunshine and 7.7 hours a day, compared to Dubrovnik, which has a respectable 7.2 hours.
July and August are the busiest months because they have the best weather – an average high of 29C and low of 21C, and only minimal rainfall.
June’s temperatures are very similar, while September is just a couple of degrees cooler but does experience more rainfall.
For a quieter atmosphere come in the winter; it’s mild, but typical of a Mediterranean climate, this is the wettest time of the year.
Known simply as Hvar but often called Hvar Town or Hvar City to distinguish it from the island of Hvar, this city is the largest on the island and its top tourist destination.
The beautiful streets, architecture, coastal location, and surrounding hills and mountains make Hvar Town a very scenic place, and it’s busy in the peak summer season without being too overcrowded.
When visiting Hvar Town, here are some of the top things to see and do.
The giant town square (known locally as Pjaca – meaning Piazza) is the heart of the town, and it’s easy to see why!
It is the largest town square in the Dalmatia region, measuring 4,500 square metres, the whole of which was paved way back in 1780.
Various buildings are lining the square, but all beautiful in their ways – they date from the period between the 15th and 17th centuries and include St Stephen’s Cathedral.
This cathedral has soma parts that date back as far as the 14th century, but with additions from the following three centuries, the cathedral has many different infusions of architecture.
Other significant buildings to see include the Bishop’s Palace, the Paladini Palace, and the Hektorovic Palace, which remains unfinished.
The Loggia (Loza) is a magnificent building, and it has more Venetian influences in its architecture. Along with the clock tower, this is all that remains of the former Governor’s Palace.
The Town Walls of Hvar date originally from the 13th century though there have been some alterations and additions in later centuries.
You can get a view of the walls if you look up toward the fortress as they stretch from here down to the square, where some houses and buildings have been built into the walls.
The fortress itself, known as the Spanish Fort, dates from the 1580s when a new defence had to be built following the destruction of the old one due to a gunpowder explosion.
If you have time to venture a little farther outside of Hvar Town, there are several other charming places to visit.
To the south of town, a cape is a Franciscan Monastery and church, built in the late 15th century to the Renaissance style.
There is also a Renaissance style country home to the east of the town, built in 1530.
This is a lovely historic home to visit and was the summer home of Hanibal Lucic.
You can visit the house as it is preserved as a museum and set among beautiful gardens.