Croatia's Dalmatian Coast: The New Riviera for Luxury Travellers

A destination guide from your PB Travel Angel

For a century, the Mediterranean's luxury story was written in French and Italian — Cap‑Ferrat, Portofino, the Amalfi Coast. But the most exciting chapter is being written now, in Croatian, along a coastline of walled cities, pine‑covered islands and water so clear that Jacques Cousteau called it among the purest he'd ever seen. The Dalmatian Coast has quietly become the new Riviera: all the glamour, half the pretension, and a sense of discovery the old names lost decades ago.

This is one of our favourite trips to build for travellers who want the Mediterranean at its most beautiful before the rest of the world fully catches on. Here's how we'd shape it.

Dubrovnik: The Pearl of the Adriatic

There is no gentle introduction to Dubrovnik. You arrive, you see the honey‑coloured walls rising straight from the sea, and something recalibrates. The medieval old town — a UNESCO World Heritage site, and yes, King's Landing to a generation of television viewers — is best walked at dawn, when the limestone Stradun is empty and glowing and entirely yours. Circle the city walls before the cruise crowds arrive; it's a two‑kilometre loop and the finest hour of the whole trip.

Stay at Villa Dubrovnik, a cliffside boutique hideaway of glass and stone with a private rocky beach and uninterrupted views to the island of Lokrum, or the grand old Hotel Excelsior, whose guest list runs from Elizabeth Taylor to visiting royalty. For dinner, book Restaurant 360° — a Michelin star set into the medieval ramparts above the old harbour, where Adriatic ingredients meet French precision beneath the stars. It's the kind of table that books out weeks ahead, which is precisely where we come in.

Split & the Diocletian Palace

Two hours up the coast, Split offers a different energy — younger, louder, gloriously lived‑in. Its heart is Diocletian's Palace, a Roman emperor's retirement complex from the 4th century that never became a museum; instead the city simply moved in and never left. Cafés spill from 1,700‑year‑old colonnades, laundry hangs above imperial stonework, and a cathedral occupies the emperor's mausoleum. It is history you walk through with a coffee in hand.

Base yourself within the palace walls in one of Split's heritage stays, and dine at Krug, the city's Michelin‑starred counter restaurant, where a dozen seats surround an open kitchen and the menu changes with each morning's market and catch. Split is also your gateway to the islands — the point where the coast fragments into an archipelago that is the real reason to come.

The Islands: Hvar, Korčula & the Pakleni

If the Dalmatian Coast is the new Riviera, its islands are the jewels. Hvar is the glamorous one — lavender fields and vineyards inland, a chic harbour town of Venetian palazzos, and a yacht set that rivals St‑Tropez. Stay at the design‑led Maslina Resort for mindful, farm‑to‑table luxury, or Palace Elisabeth on the old town's 13th‑century foundations. By day, slip across to the Pakleni Islands — a scattering of uninhabited coves reachable only by boat, and the finest swimming in the Adriatic.

Korčula, quieter and more intimate, is often described as a miniature Dubrovnik — a walled medieval town on its own peninsula, and the claimed birthplace of Marco Polo. Here LD Restaurant, inside the Lešić Dimitri Palace, holds the island's Michelin star, serving Dalmatian seafood with a refined Mediterranean touch and a view of the sea between courses.

The most romantic way to see all of it is by private gulet — a traditional wooden yacht, crewed and captained, drifting between islands, anchoring wherever the water is bluest. It is the single best luxury experience Dalmatia offers, and one we love arranging.

Food, Wine & the Slow Table

Dalmatian food is Mediterranean at its purest: grilled fish pulled from the water that morning, olive oil pressed on the islands, pašticada slow‑cooked for a day, and the famous oysters of Mali Ston harvested straight from the bay. The wines deserve real attention — the bold reds of Plavac Mali from the Pelješac Peninsula (the Dingač and Postup appellations rival anything in southern Europe), and the crisp white Pošip of Korčula. A morning in the Pelješac vineyards followed by fresh oysters at a harbour konoba makes one of the great food days in the Mediterranean, and the new Pelješac Bridge has put it within an easy drive of Dubrovnik.

Planning Your Journey

We build the Dubrovnik–islands–Split route as a 10–14 day trip, moving south to north by fast catamaran and private transfer, with a few days aboard a gulet threading it all together. A few notes worth knowing:

Croatia now uses the euro and sits within the Schengen zone, which makes it effortless to pair with a wider European itinerary — a natural addition for Australian travellers already making the long journey across. The coast is at its best in May–June and September–October, when the sea is warm, the light is golden and the crowds of July and August have thinned. Island beds are limited and the best ryokan‑quiet retreats book months ahead — reason enough to plan early, and to let us handle the tables and transfers that don't exist online.

The Last Word

The French and Italian Rivieras will always have their names. But Dalmatia has what they've lost — the thrill of a coastline still revealing itself, still generous, still a little bit secret. Come now, while it still feels like a discovery.

When you're ready, that's where we come in — to shape all of it around you. Consider it your trip, watched over.

Let your PB Travel Angel take it from here.

• ✈️ Plan your journey: pbtravelangel.com/plan‑your‑trip
• 🧳 Browse our curated travel kits: pbtravelangel.com/shop
• 💬 Talk to us: feedback@pbtravelangel.com