The 4 Best Ways To Get Off The Beaten Path In Croatia

Croatia was a hidden gem for a long time and known only to intrepid travelers that knew where the deals were. These days, Croatia is not such a secret and gets a lot of tourists every summer. Sometimes the crowds can ruin a vacation by making it stressful. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to get off of the beaten path in Croatia or do something different than staying in a Croatian private villa.

When everybody is lining up to take their pictures of Dubrovnik or crowding the beaches in Dalmatia, you can be doing something far different and getting much more out of the experience. In this article, we will go over some of the lesser-known things to do in Croatia.

1 - Get on the water

One of the best ways to see Croatia is from the sea. The coastline is dotted with small islands and coves that are not accessible to most tourists. You can often find beaches only reachable by boat and have the place to yourself.

You can also sleep on the boat and not enjoy the starry Adriatic sky and cool breezes, but you will also be far from the hotspots full of tourists. Rent a boat with 12knots and enjoy Biograd after you’ve spent the day diving into the turquoise waters with none of the tourists that have gone back to the cruise ship.

There are options to do a bare charter if you are capable of sailing yourself or to have it captained and crewed if you are not much of a sailor.

2 - Do some truffle hunting

The Istrian peninsula is sometimes called the Tuscany of Croatia due to its physical resemblance and the ethnic Italian minority there. In addition to that, there are truffles galore that are much less expensive than their Italian counterparts. If you’ve ever wanted to do a full meal with truffles all over everything then this is the area to do it.

There are also truffle hunting tours that you can do complete with a guide and his truffle-hunting dog. At the end of the hunt, you will be treated to local delicacies and the truffles you just found.

3 - Wine tasting

Croatia doesn’t have the same reputation as Italy or France for their wines, yet they are every bit as good. There has been a wine culture there for thousands of years.

Getting away from the crowds is easy when you go on some winery tours. You can get exposed to some of Croatia's finest wines that you’ve never heard of.  There are wineries all over the country so it’s not hard to find some no matter where you’re staying.

4 - Go ruins hunting

Roman history buffs will have a field day exploring the ruins in Croatia. There are some fine examples of Roman architecture still existing in places like Pula and Split where the city center was built inside the abandoned emperor’s palace. There are many in the off-the-beaten-path areas that only locals know about so ask around to see some hidden gems if you love history.