As the holiday season approaches, it’s time to take a closer look at one of our favourite European destinations: Croatia. One of Oliver’s luxury villas in Croatia is the perfect base from which to explore the medieval towns of Dubrovnik or Split, or just relax on a beach in gorgeous Istria, so we’ve handpicked six must-do activities and attractions in the ‘Jewel of the Adriatic’.
1. The Mummies of VodnjanThe Church of St Blaise, Dubrovnik
This quiet hamlet is a magnet for pilgrims, who come to see the preserved mummies of several saints at the church of St Blaise. The basilica also houses hundreds of priceless relics, including a thorn from Jesus’ crucifixion crown. You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the quiet beauty of this place, with the church’s stunning Baroque architecture a particular highlight.
2. Truffle Hunting
If you’ve a nose for these precious culinary commodities, head to the town of Buzet between late September and November and join an organised truffle hunt around the haunting Motovun Forest.
3. Zadar’s Sea OrganZabar’s Sea Organ, Croatia
A truly unique experimental instrument, the sea organ is a promenade of marble and stone steps that sits on the edge of this Roman town. Underneath the steps sit dozens of pipes, so that when the wind and water rush through the holes, the organ ‘plays’ music. Magical.
4. Cave Drinking in Dubrovnik
Once you’ve spent some time strolling through the cobbled streets of this beautiful walled city, head to the nearby village of Lapad and the subterranean Cave Bar at the Hotel More. Sipping a glass of lemon beer as soft music pipes through the stone walls is an enchantingly otherworldly experience.
Lemon beer..
5. Aqua Golf in Poreč
Not many golf clubs encourage players to hit balls into the water, but that’s exactly the point of Aqua Golf in Poreč. You don’t need experience: simply stand by the tee, gaze across the stunning harbour and aim for the Euphrasian Basilica on the other side of the water.
6. Skydiving Over VrsarVrsar, Croatia
The best way to see any country is from the air. Book a tandem skydiving tour over Vrsar’s green fields and picturesque houses, free-falling at speeds of up to 200km/h before pulling the cord and floating back to earth. On your way, watch out for the Koversada Naturist Campground and a beautiful Adriatic archipelago of unpopulated islands.
Enjoy your holiday in one of our luxury villas in Croatia! We’ve got a large range of luxury villas to choose from! To busy? Just contact our concierge team & they’ll help you to find the perfect holiday villa.
The Best Luxury Villa Rentals for a Summer of Sport
Next
Cider Tasting in Normandy: The Best Towns to Visit
Popular Articles
The 10 Best Beaches in Cyprus
Cyprus has beaches for almost every kind of holiday, from soft, pale sands and shallow family bays to turtle-nesting shores, watersports hubs, and quiet coves beneath cliffs. Better still, the island makes it easy to combine time beside the sea with ancient ruins, mountain villages, and lunches in coastal tavernas. The best beaches in Cyprus […]
The 10 Best Beaches in Mykonos
Mykonos may be known for its whitewashed lanes, late-night parties, and famous beach clubs, but its coastline has more range than the headlines suggest. Long sandy bays curve around the south of the island, while the north coast feels wilder, more exposed to the Aegean wind. The best beaches in Mykonos cover almost every mood. […]
10 Best Villas in Ibiza
The fabled ‘White Island’ is a place of many faces. On the one hand, Ibiza is renowned as a prime clubbing destination with a vibrant nightlife that’s a magnet for partygoers. But there’s more to the island than exclusive clubs and dancing ’til dawn! Further inland, you’ll find there’s a much more laid-back atmosphere among […]
Annual leave is one of the year’s more finite pleasures. Used without much thought, it can quickly disappear into the occasional Friday and a handful of Mondays. Place it more strategically, however, and the same allowance can turn four days away from your desk into nine or even ten days elsewhere. Easter falls early in […]
Sense and Sensibility: Where to stay for a Jane Austen-inspired escape
On 25 September, this year’s Sense and Sensibility will introduce Jane Austen’s razor-sharp wit and biting social commentary to a whole new generation of gooey-eyed romantics. Like Emma Thompson’s much-loved 1995 adaptation and the novel long before it, the new film promises fierce heroines, men whose charms cannot always be trusted and – of course […]
Venice Film Festival 2026: Where to Stay
Every September, Venice – a city already accustomed to grand entrances – becomes the stage for cinema’s most anticipated arrivals. First held in 1932, the Venice International Film Festival is the oldest in the world. Its 83rd edition runs from 2–12 September 2026 on the Lido, the long barrier island separating the Venetian Lagoon from […]
10 European City Breaks and Where to Stay
One of the great pleasures of living in the UK is its access to the rest of Europe. It is easy to forget quite how extraordinary it is until you hear it from someone who has crossed an entire ocean to get here. The distinctly American idea of “doing Europe”, which tends to mean a […]
7 Days In… Corfu
In the turquoise Ionian, just off the coast of Albania, lies Greece’s greenest island. Stand at the north-west of the peninsula at Paleokastritsa, and you will see the whole landscape open before you. Lush, green hills rise from every angle, their cypress trees fringing the rocky bay out into endless azure, the old monastery above […]
Solar Eclipse 2026: Best Places to Watch in Spain & Where to Stay
On 12 August 2026, the solar eclipse will sweep across Spain, coinciding with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower on the same summer night. Near sunset, the moon will pass across the sun, drawing a narrow band of darkness over the country. Hours later, beneath an almost moonless sky, the Perseids will reach their […]
Edinburgh Festival Fringe & International Festival 2026: What to See and Where to Stay
Every August, artists and visitors from around the world flock to the Scottish capital for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For a few weeks, the city gives over its lecture halls, churches, music venues, theatres and pub basements, turning them into stages for one of the year’s most interesting arts events. […]
7 Days in… Mallorca
The largest of the Balearic Islands has long worn its paradisiacal reputation with confidence. Along Mallorca’s south coast, there is white sand and calm, turquoise water. In the north, olive terraces and ochre villages climb towards the ridges of the Tramuntana, the mountain range that runs along the island’s north-west coast. Between them, pine-covered hillsides […]
The Odyssey: Where to Visit in Greece
In Book XII of the Odyssey, Odysseus’ men bind him to the mast of the ship, beeswax in their ears, as he listens to the song of the Sirens. No man, they say, has heard the tune and lived to tell the tale. But this is Odysseus; he has already outwitted the Cyclops Polyphemus, survived […]
England’s Most Beautiful Towns for a UK Escape
Take the train to St Ives and you see one of England’s most beautiful towns from above. The track runs high over the bay, carrying you past the pale sweep of Porthminster Beach and its turqouise waters, before the town appears in a jumble of whitewashed houses and cobbled streets. There is a feeling, in […]