Croatia

Dubrovnik to Ohrid: cycling into the heart of the Western Balkans

Our peloton of 12 cyclists snaked through a tangle of alleys past the walls of Dubrovnik. The city was full of morning innocence and rare silence. Buses, soon to be toting throngs of selfie-stick-wielding cruise ship travellers to the ancient ramparts, sat idle in the harbour. Sunlight, suspended in the morning dew, clung to the limestone towers and bastions that have guarded the city-state, now Croatia’s calling card, for a millennium.

At the top of the first climb, we stopped on a cliffside road out of town to stare down at the postcard version of the fortified ‘Pearl of the Adriatic’ jutting from the mainland into the sea – surreal in its familiarity, like seeing a movie star in line at the grocery store.

Alex Crevar

Lonely Planet Writer

The Via Dinarica hiking trail: a cultural corridor across the Balkans

Waves of fog battled patches of blue sky as the Via Dinarica hiking trail inclined sharply to the junction between Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo. At the 2210m peak, punctuated by a stone tri-border marker, the morning sun won and shone a spotlight on the Albanian shepherd village of Dobërdol below. The residents – now tiny in the distance – were tending their flocks on an apron of pastureland framed by mountain summits.

As the path reached the ridgeline and then descended into Kosovo, the settlement receded from view. The symbolism, however, was still apparent: a trek on this new trans-Balkans route in southeastern Europe can link cultures and enable cross-border discovery in a way politics have failed to do for centuries.

Alex Crevar

Lonely Planet Writer

A Croatian sailing adventure: the best spots to drop anchor in the Central Adriatic

Croatia’s extraordinary coast has long lured wealthy sailors to its shores, but now, with dozens of operators offering reasonably priced bareboat (hired without crew) sailboat charters, it doesn’t have to be the exclusive cruising ground of the rich. Here is our guide to some of the most rewarding harbours and anchorages in the Central Adriatic.

This stunning anchorage may be less than 13 nautical miles (24km) from the Central Adriatic’s sailing hub of Split, but it feels a world away. There are only a handful of local homesteads dotting the rocky and forested slopes of Drvenik, the island that shelters the lagoon’s shallow azure waters to the north and west, and Krknjas Mali and Veli Krknjas, which sit to the east, are picture perfect deserted islands.