Rab vs Krk is one of those questions I get asked constantly once people discover the Kvarner Gulf exists — usually right after they’ve decided to skip the Dalmatian conga line and right before they realise they only have time for one island. And I get it. They’re the two heavyweight islands of the northern … Read more
I arrived in Krk Town on a sweltering June afternoon with zero preparation and a pair of flip-flops that would become my greatest regret. Within hours, I’d discovered three brutal truths: Croatian beaches are not sandy, the Adriatic sun doesn’t forgive, and island-hopping requires actual strategy. But once I got my bearings and learned the … Read more
The moment I’ll never forget happened approximately 3.2 seconds after the Jadrolinija catamaran hit the wave. I was standing at the bow railing during the Split-to-Hvar ferry crossing—my favorite photography perch on the entire Adriatic—when the boat suddenly pitched forward and a wall of salt spray exploded over the open deck. I’m not exaggerating when … Read more
I still remember standing on a rocky ledge above the Adriatic somewhere between Krk and Cres, squinting into water so blue and clear it looked photoshopped, thinking: why did nobody tell me about this place sooner? The Kvarner Gulf doesn’t always make the Croatia highlight reel — Dubrovnik hogs the spotlight, Split gets the Instagram … Read more
After two years of looking at the same four walls, I made a list of every place I’d told myself “I’ll go when things settle down” — then I started at the top. Croatia’s Blue Cave, or Modra Špilja, had been sitting near the top of that list for longer than I could remember, tucked … Read more
My father worked for 38 years saying he’d travel when he retired. He retired and then kept finding reasons not to go. I watched that happen and promised myself I wouldn’t do the same thing — which is exactly how I ended up standing on a sun-bleached dock in Dubrovnik, completely unprepared for how dramatically … Read more
I booked this trip at 11pm on a Tuesday after a meeting where someone used the phrase “synergize our deliverables” for the third time in an hour — my corporate brain needed an escape hatch, and fast. I typed “somewhere beautiful, somewhere with good food, somewhere not here” into a search bar, and within twenty … Read more
Tucked between the rugged peninsula of Istria and the sun-drenched shores of Dalmatia, the Kvarner Gulf is one of Croatia’s most rewarding — and most underrated — destinations. While the crowds flock south to Dubrovnik or west to Split, savvy travellers are quietly discovering a stretch of Adriatic coastline that feels like a secret the … Read more
We’d been saying “we should all go somewhere together” for six years. After the fourth postponed trip and two weddings that got in the way, we stopped talking and just bought tickets — four of us, one-way to Rijeka, with a loose plan to spend ten days along the Kvarner Riviera and base ourselves in … Read more
If you’ve been scrolling past the Kvarner Gulf islands in favour of Hvar or Korčula, it’s time to reconsider your Croatia game plan. Tucked between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Dalmatian coast, the Kvarner Gulf islands are arguably Croatia’s most underrated island-hopping destination — a place where the crowds thin out, the prices stay … Read more
