Croatia’s fabulous mishmash of cultures – from ancient Greeks to Romans, Venetians, Austrians, Hungarians and Italians – has left a rich legacy all around the country. You’ll see it in the Venetian architecture of Rovinj, Korčula, Dubrovnik and Hvar, the Habsburg townhouses of Zagreb and Opatija, and the ancient Roman ruins of Istria and Dalmatia. You’ll taste it in the delicious cuisine where the Adriatic and central Europe meet and mingle.
You’ll hear it when top-flight performers bring their magic to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Split Summer Festival and the baroque music festivals of Korčula and Varaždin. Sultry Dalmatian summer nights echo to the sound of polyphonic klapa singers whose a cappella music makes the skin tingle. The klapa festival in the beautiful Dalmatian coastal town of Omiš every July is one of the summer’s unmissable events.
Croatia’s 10 Unesco world heritage sites – eight of which are cultural ones – give you a tantalising taste of the country’s heritage. Dubrovnik is the biggest draw, its pedestrianised old town a warren of marble alleyways, Renaissance and baroque palaces, and 14th-century monasteries – all ringed by magnificent medieval and Renaissance walls. Game of Thrones fans will immediately clock a few of the series’ locations – the Minčeta Tower on the city walls, the hulking 15th-century Fort Lovrijenac just outside the fortifications (where Shakespeare plays take place in the summer) and the broad sweep of the Jesuit Stairs, where the famous walk of shame scene took place in the series.
