Croatia: Islands & Mountains

Fantastic trip- great combination of hiking, Brac island, and interesting cities. Fun to meet new people: our group ranged from 29-65yrs with Canadians, Americans and just 3 Brits.

This trip is an all round winner. It combines an excellent variety of daily walks, along with some fantastic sight seeing opportunities, and the chance if swimming almost every day. Highly recommend.

All the reviews provide great advice and insights - I recommend reading them and I'll try not to duplicate their excellent advice. It is a Level 3 hike, so it's not a stroll in the park on flat surface. You'll enjoy the trip more if you've put some training before hand. Look at Exodus' training advice. As Kathryn mentioned, the Dalmatian Coast is limestone so lots of different size rocks, and lots of going up, and down. Take good hiking boots and poles are really helpful. For the going up, work on your cardio so you're not winded and you can enjoy the views. For going down, work into you daily routine going down stairs. Forward and backward lunges using a bosu is also good to help strength your knees/quads for the descents. All of the hotels had access to swimming, so bring a bathing suit. There's nothing better than going for a swim after a long hike. The beach in Bol is lovely and it was so nice to just relax. Seeing Dubrovnik, Bol, Split and Starigrad were a nice "taste" of Croatia. It was also great to have a couple of nights in each location so you didn't always feel like you arrived and then had to pack up and go.

This is an excellent exposure to a lovely country. There is a healthy amount of exertion with beautiful scenery and challenging but not killer hikes. There is enough time to explore a number of the coastal towns, but each could use a full day or two on its own. The island of Brach was such a treat with it’s sleepy, but beautiful resort feel to it. Croatia was a wonderful country with friendly people, exceptionally clean cities and countryside and gorgeous scenery. I had a feel that we were visiting sunny seaside resorts from 60 years ago. I mean that in the best way, as the country does not (yet) have over the top big high rise hotels, with the fast paced scenes and crush of tourists. Lot of families enjoying the waterfront and great walks along promenades overlooking the beach. I loved the exertion of the hikes, but also loved the times to simply relax and wonder through the towns and along the beach. Also I was shocked by the amount of the populace that spoke really good English. If you like a good deal of exertion in a clean, friendly, beautiful country that still has a relatively understated tourist feel this is a great tour. (There are tourists, but in late May it was not a crush of humanity by any means)

A memorable and very enjoyable holiday. We hesitated to book initially as we weren't sure about Croatia and almost booked an Italian trip but are now so glad we did. The guide was excellent and gave us a real insight into the country and its people. We loved the walks all came with excellent views and the scenery was far lovelier than we had expected it to be.

Stunning scenery. Brilliant guide. Great walks.

This trip was an amazing trip - made so by the friendliest and most accommodating tour guide, great tour group, and beautiful trails and amazing food.

A great week of walking in a beautiful country!

Limestone everywhere! Be sure to wear good hiking boots. This rock can be jagged or super slippery. It comes in all sizes, large, small, crushed, pebbled. It's everywhere! And you'll be walking on it. There are very little earthed paths in this itinerary. That aside, I felt I saw a lot of Croatia on this tour. The hikes were varied, but most were ascending, to get the best views of Croatia's best attribute - the sea and the shoreline. Food was amazing. And our guide was the best guide I've had to date - and I've had a lot of guides. Ivan was proactive, considerate and he went out of his way to be available for all our needs - including arranging a doctor's visit for my daughter when she wasn't feeling well. From touristy Dubrovnik to quieter areas, such as Bol and Zadar, this tour offers the best of Croatia. If you are a hiker, I'd recommend this tour. Just be sure to wear good boots!

The first part of the week is a whistle-stop tour of some of Croatia's top spots (Dubrovnik old town, Bol on the island of Brac, Split, Skradinski buk waterfalls), with a walk each day and quite a bit of travelling. The remainder of the week is at one base, with longer, mountain walks in Paklenica National Park and a final few hours in Zadar before the plane home. Our Croatian guide was brilliant and gave us loads of insights into the history of the area, how the mountain people lived as well as taking us to an authentic Croatian restaurant, a mountain refuge and visits to local houses where we sampled local produce.