I had the absolute pleasure of photographing a tour for my FAVEEEEEE travel company, Koda Sail, this summer. This was my third go around with Koda Sail, traveling the world with the best crew. They are a company with a “young professionals” geared age range, typically for travelers in their 30’s and 40’s, with less party-centric tours. Exactly what I’m looking for at my age! The one I specifically traveled on is called the Northern Explorer, which runs from Dubrovnik to Split. This trip included a one week stay on a boat, with a chef onboard, double rooms with your own bathroom, lots of included meals, activities, and even more optional excursions to add on like white water rafting, zip lining, etc. WHAT A WEEK. I traveled with my best friend and we started in Dubrovnik a day early, and finished up in Split and stayed a couple extra nights there, as well. This was my second trip to Croatia, but I got to see 5 new places, and do a WHOLE lot more than I did the last time I was there. Plus, seeing Croatia by boat is truly the way to do it.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Cliffside bars, endless staircases, walking the historic city walls (hello, King’s Landing), eating lavender gelato, and discovering rooftop pool bars. We met our group here for the first day, and we were off for our sailing tour!
Korcúla, Croatia
For only the second stop, this turned out to be one of my favorite islands. It has a Venetian history, so TONS of Italian influences in this small island. The food was incredible, and so was the wine. We did a wine tasting, wandered the local shops, and watched the sunset. This place was SO charming.
Mljet National Park, Croatia
We rented bikes and rode around this entire island, or maybe even just part of the island, but we spent many hours exploring this stunning national park. The waters were SO blue it was almost unfair to the rest of the water in the world. We stopped for a swim, crossed a lot of bridges, had to carry our bikes a few times, and stopped at the end for a drink. Normally on the Koda Sail tour, you port over night in this island, but we had some inclement weather showing up, so our captain diverted us for the night and we managed to avoid the bad weather!
Makarska, Croatia
Because we didn’t stay in Mljet, we got to stay for two nights in Makarska, which, luckily, ended up being another one of my favorite stops. This island looks like something out of a dream. This is also the location where we had a lot of fun excursions including some family dinners, lots of free time to wander, shop, eat affogatos, and we even went zip lining in the mountains, as well as white water rafting. This was my first time zip lining and WOW, what a location to try it for the first time. White water rafting here was nice and (mostly) calm, too. We LOVED our guides for the white water rafting, we were laughing the whole day. At night, we ventured to this cool bar that was literally inside of a cave on the beach next to the port. I even ran into old travel friends and got to spend time with them here!
Bol, Croatia
Bol absolutely blew me away. We arrived at the most gorgeous sunny hour of the day and as soon as we walked away from the port, we found the cutest winery with sea-side seating, and some of the best rosé I’ve ever had. We walked all the way to the end of the island to sit on the beach, and then wandered back for dinner time which just so happened to be on the night of the weekly Fisherman’s market where local fisherman bring their catches and you can shop the stalls and choose your dinner. I’m not kidding when I say it was some of the best seafood I’ve ever had – and I live in a beach town!
Hvar, Croatia
Hvar had its own unique vibe compared to the rest of the islands. This one was a bit fancier, a bit ritzier, we heard a Kardashian was visiting while we were there. I had been told I’d find a lavender Spritz here, which turned out to just be a lavender gin drink, but I’ll take it, and it was 10/10. The food here was excellent. We hiked up to the fortress at the top of the island and took in the view. We visited beach clubs and shopped the local artists selections. Then hit the town for some adult beverages in the evening with the most convenient little walk back to our boat at the end of the night.
Split, Croatia
Split will always be one of my favorite Croatian towns. Truly, some of the best food of my life. I love getting a little rental from booking.com or something like that, it gives you the best local experience. We could walk to everything once we departed our boat (WHICH WAS VERY SAD, by the way, saying goodbye to all of our new friends). I had a few favorite spots to hit from last time, but mostly we found new places. Jadran Beach Club will always be one for me to go visit, though. The best beach bar and best swimming spot I’ve found because you don’t have to sit on a rock somewhere, you can rent actual beach chairs. We sat there and tried to watch for our boat to disappear into the distance. We found the BEST pizza outside of Italy. We shopped, we found Zara (hehe), we spent a last evening with our new travel buddies. And then for our very last day, we did a self guided food tour that left me incredibly full and incredibly happy. Thank you for another beautiful adventure, Croatia.
I am available for hire for all travel companies worldwide, this is what I am truly passionate about – traveling the world, exploring new places, meeting new people from different backgrounds, and taking pictures of everything along the way.
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