Southern Dalmatia

Southern Dalmatia is arguably Croatia's most iconic region, the one that pushed the country into the global tourist imagination — first through the raw beauty of Dubrovnik, then through the television series that used its walls as a set. But reducing this region to its medieval capital alone would be a mistake: Southern Dalmatia is an archipelago of experiences, where each island, peninsula and village carries an identity forged by centuries of Republic of Ragusa, Venetian, Ottoman and Habsburg influences.

Dubrovnik, the 'Pearl of the Adriatic' as Lord Byron called it, preserves within its white stone walls one of the best-preserved historic centres in Europe. The Rector's Palace, the baroque cathedral, the Franciscan monastery and its medieval pharmacy (one of Europe's oldest still in operation), the Stradun — that thoroughfare polished by centuries of footsteps — compose an architectural theatre of rare coherence. The walls, 1,940 metres long and up to 25 metres high, offer unique views from their parapet walk over the city's orange rooftops and out to Lokrum island.

Beyond Dubrovnik, the region opens toward the Elaphiti Islands (Lopud, Šipan, Koločep), a small car-free archipelago reached in 30-60 minutes by ferry from Dubrovnik's old port. These quiet islands, dotted with Renaissance villas and Romanesque chapels, are the perfect antidote to the tourist frenzy of the mother city. Further west, Mljet — said to be Homer's Calypso — shelters a national park around two salt lakes connected to the sea, and a twelfth-century Benedictine monastery set on a small islet. The Pelješac peninsula, recently linked to the mainland by a new bridge, is the homeland of Plavac Mali, the indigenous grape producing Croatia's best reds at Dingač and Postup. And Korčula, the presumed birthplace of Marco Polo, deploys its fortified old town on a rocky promontory facing the Pelješac coast — a miniature Dubrovnik, more intimate, more authentic.