New York Times Falls in Love with Hvar All Over Again

Having named Hvar in its 46 must-see destinations for 2013, The New York Times love affair with the island of lavender and sun continues, with another positive piece about Hvar.

A Croatian Island's Day in the Sun

Hvar, an island in the Adriatic Sea off Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, is in many ways a contradiction. As a visitor, you might wake up and hike across brambly hillsides to a medieval ghost town, and by sundown be drinking infused cocktails while dancing to techno music. It’s an island where opulent hotels continue to sprout up across the coastline, but the equivalent of $30 can still get you a room in the house of a local grandmother.

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Go Brac in Time, Says The Sun, Britain's Most Popular Newspaper

Lots of column inches about Dalmatia at the moment in the world's press, and rightly so. It is gorgeous on the  coast at the moment. Britain's most popular paper, The Sun for example, has done a major feature on the island of Brac, with a trip to Hvar.

Go Brac in Time

IT’S time to welcome Croatia to the EU – and add it to your holiday destination list.
The TripAdvisor website polled 4,000 Brits and found 61 per cent would take a trip there.

So here MASON BROWNLOW explores one of its smaller islands, Brac, before everyone else does.

I “DID” the Croatia island hop five years ago when it wasn’t quite on the package tourist map.
I was anticipating a much busier country than the one I found.

But as we stepped off the ferry on to the isle of Brac, it was like going back in time. While Croatia is on many people’s travel lists, Brac is still untouched and its dramatic coast, lined with pine and olive trees, hidden coves and rolling countryside, should see it added to those lists.

It’s the largest island in central Dalmatia on Croatia’s Adriatic coast and is a melting pot of cobbled streets, stone houses, town squares, fishing villages and beautiful secluded beaches.


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Croatia in Lonely Planet's Top Ten Destinations for 2013

Leading travel guide Lonely Planet published its Top 10 European travel destinations for 2013 on June 18, 2013, and Croatia - which is marketing itself as 'the New Tourist Star of the European Union - made the list in the latest piece of good news for the country's tourism industry, ahead of EU entry on July 1. Lonely Planet said of Croatia:

"Calling Croatia a hotspot is somewhat old news in travel circles – its popularity is firmly established among European travellers and steeply on the rise among Americans as well. But many travellers are only seeing one sunny slice of the country, lured to the nearly 2000km-long coastline meanwhile missing the diverse charms of the inland cities, national parks and countryside. Zagreb, soon to be the EU’s newest capital city."
It is not the first time that Croatia has featured in Lonely Planet's top ten, with its premier island of Hvar appearing at number 5 in the 2012 top destinations.

Discover which other destinations made the top ten list.

Five of 17 Things Not To Be Missed in Croatia in Central Dalmatia

So what are the things not to be missed in Croatia?

With so much UNESCO heritage, natural beauty, beaches, history and tradition, compiling a definitive list is quite a challenge.

Leading travel guide website Rough Guides has done just that however, recently publishing a list of 17 Things Not to Miss in Croatia, of which five were in Central Dalmatia.

The list was a strong recommendation for Hvar, with Hvar Town, Hvar Island and Stari Grad all appearing on the list, along with Diocletian's Palace and one of the region's favourite activity sports - sea kayaking. See the full Rough Guides list here.

Vis in Europe's Top Ten Secret Summer Hotspots, Says Yahoo

How to escape those summer crowds? How indeed. Yahoo News has done a little research and come up with a top ten list, which includes our very own island of Vis, surely one of the most beautiful and tranquil islands in the world. Here's what Yahoo had to say:

Europe is popular in the summer for a reason: the days are longer, the sun is shining and everyone's in a vacation mood. Unfortunately, it's also peak season, when tourists swarm the continent, prices skyrocket and hotels are booked up far in advance. So leave the well-trodden tourist trail behind and discover these 10 secret European summer hot spots instead!

Leave the tour buses walled up in Dubrovnik and head to Vis, Croatia's most remote island. The two-hour ferry ride from Split will be worth it, as you'll be rewarded with amazing natural beauty, fantastic restaurants and cultural heritage. Get active with sea kayaking, hiking, sailing or caving, or lounge on the near-deserted beaches and then treat yourself to some fresh fish and local wine, as vineyards are abundant on the island.

To see the full list, click here.

Makarska Featured in Britain's Daily Telegraph

With Croatia's imminent accession to the EU and the tourist season in full swing, there are lots of column inches to be had about Croatia as a tourist destination in the international media. The Daily Telegraph today ran a feature on the beach haven that is the Makarska Riviera...

"Most visitors to Dalmatia head straight for the islands, but the Makarska Rivijera on the mainland coast, between Split and Dubrovnik, is home to some of the country’s loveliest stretches of beach. Running from Brela in the north to Gradac in the south, the riviera is 38 miles long and centres on Makarska." Read more... 

River Cetina in Lonely Planet's Top 40 Amazing Experiences in Europe

It has not been a secret for anyone who knows Dalmatia a little, but now the world will know for sure - the Cetina River is an amazing experience! Who says so apart from us? None other than Lonely Planet, who have named the Cetina as one of the top 40 amazing experiences in Europe in a new publication to mark the travel guru's 40th birthday. Lonely Planet says of our favourite river:

'The Cetina is the longest river in Dalmatia, the sea-kissed jewel in Croatia’s crown. Stretching 105 km from the eponymous village, it flows through the Dinara mountains and the fields around Sinj, before gathering speed and pouring into a power plant around Omiš. It is an extraordinarily scenic journey as the limpid blue river is bordered by high rocky walls, thick with vegetation, and the best way to enjoy it is on a rafting trip, braving the rapids on a three-to four-hour trip.'

The book is available for free download here: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/campaigns/europe-experiences/