Walking and Cruising Southern Dalmatia is an enticing combination of a gulet cruise with hikes through some of the region’s most beautiful landscapes. Ancient forts, beautiful towns, great castles and churches line the trail, and our guides will use them to bring the country’s rich and turbulent history to vibrant life.
A series of highlights await you day by day. At Ston, you’ll walk atop the unique 5-km (3-mile) wall, the longest linear defence in medieval Europe, built in the 14th and 15th centuries to protect a landscape of prime agricultural land and precious salt pans in one of the Adriatic’s most important wine-growing regions. On Mljet, a network of hiking paths and tracks will offer you an ever-changing set of vistas, taking in sea, lakes, hills and valleys. Near Orebić on the Pelješac peninsula, you will discover a mighty Iron Age citadel, a long-forgotten centre of tribal power, set on a remote and wild plateau high above the sea. On Hvar, you will explore the Stari Grad Plain, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where local farmers are using the same tracks and maintaining the same field boundaries that their ancient Greek forebears laid out when they colonised the island 100 generations ago: a living archaeological landscape. On Brač, the monastery of Blaca with its white plastered roofs sits in a silent valley far away from the travails of modern civilisation, reachable only on foot.
You will also experience this magnificent stretch of Croatia’s coast through its delicious local produce: a cornucopia of delights await: fresh seafood, fine wines and superb meat and cheese dishes. Travelling aboard a traditional and elegant gulet, you’ll have the pleasure of anchoring in beautiful bays and coves and picturesque harbours, the perfect way to discover the Dalmatian coast.
We embark in Marina Baotić near Trogir about 20 minutes from Split airport. Welcome drinks and dinner on board.
I would like to book, what else do I need to know?
For information not covered below please refer to our FAQ’s or contact us directly on info@petersommer.com
Arrival and Departure Information
Arrival Airport – Split (SPU)
Departure Airport – Dubrovnik Airport (DBV)
We plan for the gulet to leave Marina Baotić near Trogir, (approx. 20 minutes from Split Airport) at around 17:00. Embarkation is from 16:00 onwards. You are more than welcome to arrive earlier to drop off your bags, but please be aware that the crew will be busy cleaning and tidying making everything ready for your group so you may not be able to settle in to your cabin.
If you arrive at the gulet after 17:00, we will do our best to enable you to join the tour at a later time and place.
Please Note: Departure time can be subject to change depending on weather, harbour or other conditions.
Disembarkation in Slano Bay, near Dubrovnik (approx. 40 minutes from Dubrovnik Airport) is around 09:00. We will arrange local transfers from Split airport and to Dubrovnik airport on the first and last day of the tour.
Booking Flights If you are staying in or connecting via Zagreb then the easiest way to get to and from the gulet is to fly. The main domestic airline in Croatia, Croatia Airlines, has a wide selection of flights .
Please note: Flights are subject to change. Please contact the airline for exact details.
If you prefer to book with a travel agent, we are happy to recommend specialists in a number of countries around the world, please contact our office for more details.
Travel Insurance We consider adequate travel insurance to be essential. You should ensure that you take out a suitable policy, to make sure that your trip is properly covered.
Visas
For UK Nationals, travel to the EU will change from 1 January 2021. Please check the current situation regarding visa requirements before you travel. You can find more information online here.
Citizens of EU countries, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not need visas to visit Croatia. Visitors can visit Croatia for up to 90 days in any 180 day period. For more details, please visit the website of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Further information about the Walking
Unlike our standard gulet cruises, there is a significant amount of hiking on our Walking and Cruising Southern Dalmatia tour in Croatia. We believe that is what makes it unique. The hikes we do are across some of the most fascinating islands in the Southern Adriatic archipelago and take in some of the region’s most beautiful landscapes. Please be aware that the terrain is often uneven, rocky, and rugged, and many of the paths are have loose stones underfoot and there are occasions when the landscape we are passing through can have some prickly vegetation. You do need to be fit with a good sense of balance. There are some long stretches of uphill and downhill hiking. It is not a walk in the park, and you do need to be used to hiking off the beaten track.
Across the week, we cover distances up to approx. 8km/5 miles per day (approx. 4 hours), but it is not really the distance that you need to bear in mind, but the terrain. We take all the hikes at a leisurely pace, with some wonderful sites and great swims thrown in for good measure. Of course, the beauty of being on the gulet, means that it is perfectly possible for guests to skip a day’s walk if they so wish, and simply relax on the boat. If you fancy putting your feet up and resting for a day, that is perfectly possible. So, if you wish to lie back and read a book or have an extra swim, you can.
Zagreb If you are planning to stay in Zagreb before or after your gulet trip please get in touch. We’ll be happy to help with suggestions on things to see and do.
Custom Tours If you are thinking of extending your trip in Croatia please contact our office for further information.
