Croatia for three generations: Zagreb, Plitvice, Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik

Arrive in Zagreb

Zagreb Airport to your hotel in the centre of Zagreb

• Early welcome dinner
• Nuit : Zagreb
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Then we walk to a local restaurant for an early welcome dinner at about 6 pm, with smaller plates for children, so the youngest are in bed in good time after the flight.

Compris

• Pick-up at Zagreb Airport (ZAG), with child seats on request
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Early welcome dinner

Zagreb's funicular, Rastoke and Plitvice

Zagreb to Rastoke, then Plitvice Lakes

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Plitvice Lakes
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

After breakfast a licensed local guide takes us up to the Upper Town on the funicular, running since the 1890s and a ride of under a minute, which saves the grandparents the steepest climb. The Lotrščak Tower stands at the top, and a cannon is fired from it every day at noon, so we time the walk to be nearby. We stroll the cobbled lanes of Gradec to St Mark's Church, whose tiled roof shows the coats of arms of Zagreb and of the old Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, then through the Stone Gate. A sit-down coffee and juice stop on a café terrace gives everyone a rest before we walk down to Dolac market, where farmers sell fruit and honey under red umbrellas.

Après-midi

Just after noon we drive about an hour and a half south to Rastoke in Slunj, where the Slunjčica river tumbles through old watermills into the Korana, for a sit-down lunch by the water. It is then half an hour to our hotel near Plitvice, with the rest of the afternoon free.

Soir

There are few places to eat near the park, so an early dinner is included.

Compris

• Zagreb Upper Town with a licensed local guide: the funicular, Lotrščak Tower, St Mark's Church and the Stone Gate
• Dolac market
• Rastoke watermill village in Slunj
• Sit-down lunch in Rastoke
• Early dinner near Plitvice Lakes

Plitvice Lakes early, then Split

Plitvice Lakes National Park, then south to Split

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Split
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

We are at the gate when the park opens, about 7 am in summer and 8 am in spring and early autumn, on tickets booked for the first entry slot, because the boardwalks fill by mid-morning. Plitvice Lakes, Croatia's oldest national park and listed by UNESCO in 1979, is a chain of 16 lakes stepping down through beech and fir forest, held back by barriers of travertine that the water builds as it flows, so each lake spills into the next in small falls. With a park guide we follow a family route: the boardwalks of the lower lakes to Veliki slap, at 78 m the highest waterfall in Croatia, then the electric boat across Lake Kozjak and a short loop of the upper lakes, where children spot trout in the clear water.

Après-midi

By about 12:30 we are out for a sit-down lunch near the park. Then it is just under three hours south by motorway, with a break halfway, reaching Split by late afternoon in time for a swim or a rest.

Compris

• Plitvice Lakes National Park entry on the first slot, with a park guide
• Electric boat across Lake Kozjak and the park's panoramic train
• Sit-down lunch near the park
• Drive to Split with your guide

Diocletian's Palace, then the beach

On foot in Split, then Bačvice beach

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Split

Après-midi

The visit is about two hours, finished before the midday heat. Lunch is your choice, then the afternoon is for Bačvice, the shallow, sandy town beach about 15 minutes on foot from the palace, or a short taxi ride for anyone who would rather not walk in the heat, where locals play picigin, a splashing ball game, in water only knee to waist deep.

Soir

The evening is free on the Riva.

Compris

• Diocletian's Palace with a licensed local guide: the cellars, the Peristyle and the Cathedral of St Domnius
• Afternoon at Bačvice beach with your guide nearby

Activités en option

• The cathedral bell tower (extra, price shown at booking)

Car ferry to Hvar, via Stari Grad

Split by car ferry to Stari Grad, then Hvar town

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hvar
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

We drive our vehicle onto the morning car ferry from Split to Stari Grad, about two hours across the channel past the island of Brač, with the bags staying on board with us and time on deck to watch for dolphins, which are sometimes seen in these waters. Stari Grad was founded as Pharos by Greeks from the island of Paros in 384 BC, and behind it lies the Stari Grad Plain, listed by UNESCO in 2008, where the stone walls laid out by those settlers still divide vineyards and olive groves. A local guide walks us along the harbour to Tvrdalj, the summer house the poet Petar Hektorović built in the 16th century around a fishpond, where grey mullet still swim.

Après-midi

After a sit-down lunch in Stari Grad we cross the island, about 25 minutes, to Hvar town, our base for two nights. The afternoon is free for a swim at the hotel pool, if it has one, or at the pebble coves a short walk from the harbour.

Soir

Your guide suggests early dinner places on St Stephen's Square.

Compris

• Car ferry from Split to Stari Grad with our vehicle
• Stari Grad with a local guide: the harbour, Tvrdalj and a view over the Stari Grad Plain
• Sit-down lunch in Stari Grad
• Short orientation walk in Hvar town

The fortress, then a boat to the Pakleni Islands

Hvar town to the Fortica, then by boat to Palmižana and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Hvar
• En bateau

Matin

We go up to the Fortica, also called the Španjola, early in the morning while the path through the pines is still in shade; those who would rather not climb ride up with our van. The fortress was built above the town in the 16th century, when Hvar was an important Venetian harbour, and children can look out from the walls and peer down into the old prison cells. From the top you see the harbour below and the Pakleni Islands spread across the sea. Back in town we board a taxi boat for the short crossing to Palmižana on Sveti Klement, the largest of the islands, where pine woods run down to small coves and the water is clear enough to see the stones on the bottom.

Après-midi

Swim, look for small fish and crabs in the shallows, or sit in the shade, then sit down together for a long lunch near the water. We are back in Hvar town by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free for a siesta or an ice cream on the square.

Compris

• The Fortica (Španjola) fortress entry
• Return taxi boat from Hvar town to Palmižana on the Pakleni Islands
• Time to swim on the Pakleni Islands
• Sit-down lunch at Palmižana

Across Hvar to Ston, then Dubrovnik

Hvar town to Sućuraj, car ferry to Drvenik, the Pelješac Bridge to Ston, then Dubrovnik

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Dubrovnik
• Environ 4 h de route

Après-midi

Walk a short stretch, then sit down to lunch at Mali Ston, with oysters for those who want them and plainer dishes for those who do not.

Soir

It is about an hour on to Dubrovnik, arriving at about 5 pm, with an early evening walk down the Stradun.

Compris

• Car ferry from Sućuraj to Drvenik with our vehicle
• The walls and salt pans of Ston
• Sit-down lunch at Mali Ston, with an oyster tasting for those who want it
• Early evening walk through the Pile Gate and along the Stradun

Dubrovnik's walls, then Lokrum island

On foot in Dubrovnik's Old Town, then by boat to Lokrum

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du soir
• Nuit : Dubrovnik
• En bateau

Après-midi

Lunch is your choice, then a boat from the old harbour takes us to Lokrum, fifteen minutes away. Peacocks wander under the pines, and a small salt lake called the Dead Sea gives younger children calm water to swim in.

Soir

We are back for an early farewell dinner together at about 6:30 pm.

Compris

• Dubrovnik city walls entry at opening
• Short Old Town walk with a licensed local guide, with the Franciscan monastery cloister and pharmacy museum
• Return boat to Lokrum island and the island entry
• Early farewell dinner

Activités en option

• Cable car up Mount Srđ (extra, price shown at booking)

Depart from Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik to Dubrovnik Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 30 min de route

Matin

The last morning is free until your transfer.

Après-midi

With an afternoon flight there is time for an early swim at Banje beach, just outside the Ploče Gate, with a view back to the walls, a look at the morning market on Gundulić Square, where farmers from the Konavle valley sell figs, lavender and dried fruit, or a last ice cream on the Stradun before the day's visitors arrive.

Soir

Your guide checks every family's flight times the evening before, and our driver takes you to Dubrovnik Airport (DBV) at Čilipi, about 22 km and half an hour south along the coast, whatever time you fly, with the same child seats as on day 1. Many families add a night or two at the end. Ask us when you request your trip and we can add extra nights at the same hotel in Dubrovnik, or quote a day across the border to Kotor in Montenegro as an extension.

Compris

• Drop-off at Dubrovnik Airport (DBV)