Croatia: Dalmatian Coast: Dubrovnik, Split, the Islands

New from Bradt is Croatia: the Dalmatian Coast, a travel guidebook that focuses exclusively and in detail on this popular part of Croatia. Co-authored by travel writer Piers Letcher, who wrote six editions of Bradt’s guide Croatia, and longstanding Dalmatian resident Jane Foster, Croatia: the Dalmatian Coast offers intimate local insights into where best to stay and eat, and what to see and do in this southeast European enclave.

With rugged limestone mountains, crystalline turquoise waters and pine-scented islands, Dalmatia has for centuries delighted explorers. Most of today’s visitors to Croatia still head here - and with multiple flights from New York in summer, it has never been more accessible from the US. With its balmy Mediterranean climate, this is a land of silvery-green olive groves, hillside vineyards, pebble coves, waterside villages, stone cottages, wooden fishing boats and pink-flowering oleander. Meanwhile, the Dalmatian mainland is home to the well-preserved port cities of Split, Zadar and Dubrovnik (with its UNESCO-listed, pedestrians-only old town), where sturdy fortifications protect exquisite Romanesque and Baroque churches.

With this Bradt guide sharing a local’s first-hand experience, you’ll eat well: think fresh fish, local seasonal fruit and vegetables, and home-produced olive oil, whether consumed in excellent, small, family-run agrotourism eateries, or newly Michelin-starred restaurants. You’ll drink great wines too, informed by the guide’s dedicated section on Dalmatia’s wines and wine-tasting.

For many visitors, Dalmatia’s greatest allure involves exploring its dramatic landscapes and unspoilt nature. Castaway-style islands such as Hvar, with its rustic-chic seafood eateries and candle-lit cocktail bars, are much-loved by yachters who sail around the uninhabited islets of Kornati National Park. Then there’s windsurfing off Bol on Brač, scuba diving off Vis, and sea-kayaking or paddling around the Korčula archipelago too. On the mainland, rugged mountains and gaping gorges offer yet more challenges for adventure-sports enthusiasts - try hiking the soaring limestone heights of Mt Biokovo, free-climbing in Paklenica National Park or rafting down the Cetina Gorge, in the hinterland behind Omis. Little wonder that land- and water-based adventure sports are treated to a full chapter in Bradt’s Croatia: the Dalmatian Coast - the perfect companion to your visit.

Piers Letcher has written 17 books, plus more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles, and has had hundreds of photographs published. After writing a comprehensive guide to Europe by Rail in 1985, he spent almost a year living in and travelling around the former Yugoslavia, leading to the publication of the Bradt guide to Yugoslavia in 1989. In the early 2000s, he explored Croatia thoroughly and wrote two Bradt guides about the country - Croatia and Dubrovnik - and co-authored one (Zagreb) with his wife Sarah. Like so many travellers, he has a special passion for the Dalmatian coast, having travelled up and down it - and out to the islands - regularly since the mid-1980s. He has made innumerable Croatian friends along the way, and loves the wonderful scenery, landscapes and light - and rarely says no to the excellent local wines and spirits.

British travel writer Jane Foster (jane-foster.com) arrived in Split by overnight ferry from Ancona one dark, cold and wet January morning in 1997 and instantly knew she wanted to live there. And she did. Dalmatia became her home from 1998 to 2003 and has been again from 2011 onwards. She writes primarily about Croatia, and is the co-author of Bradt’s Croatia: the Dalmatian Coast, and author of Croatia travel guides for both Frommer’s and Footprint. Extensive travels throughout the country, for both pleasure and work, have enabled her to observe many changes over the decades - and to indulge her passion for hiking, cycling, swimming and sailing amid Dalmatia’s wild landscapes. She also writes for The Telegraph, Decanter, i-escape.com and various other travel publications.