I finally realised my dream of visiting Croatia and sailing along the Dalmatian Coast. Here’s my experience of sailing in Croatia from Dubrovnik to Split, and my amazing week adventure.
Croatia has been high on my bucket list of places to visit for a long time. I’ve always felt attracted to this country and its beautiful coastline. After researching Croatia, I decided that sailing in Croatia was how I wanted to experience this beautiful country.
Why go sailing in Croatia?
I wanted to try sailing in Croatia to be able to explore the islands and make the most of the stunning scenery. I found the ferry timetables to the islands in Croatia and confusing, and a lot of the ferries seemed irregular. So I decided that sailing in Croatia would be the best ay to visit the islands without having to deal with confusing ferry timetables. I also hoped that sailing in Croatia would help me to find some undiscovered gems along the coastline, and give me a chance to get away from the main towns and cities and tourists.
Should I go sailing in Croatia with a company and skipper?
I’ve done a little bit of sailing before, but I definitely didn’t feel anywhere near confident enough to charter my own yacht. Plus, I would be travelling on my own, so I wanted a trip where I could meet people and have some company for dinners and drinks.
If you’re a very experienced sailor, then you could look into chartering your own yacht to go sailing in Croatia. However, I think you’d need to be very experienced and confident to do this. If you’re at all unsure, I recommend going sailing in Croatia with a company that provides an experienced skipper. This way, you can enjoy the sailing and the scenery without the stress and responsibility for chartering your own yacht.
If you’ve never been sailing before, you can still go sailing in Croatia. Anyone can book to go sailing in Croatia, even if you have no sailing experience.
What time of year is best for sailing in Croatia?
I went sailing in Croatia in June. I think June is the perfect time to go sailing in Croatia. The weather was warm and sunny, but not as hot or busy as it can get in July and August.
I think September would be another great time to go sailing in Croatia. In September, you’ll still be avoiding the peak summer crowds and still have great weather. The sea will be warmer for swimming in September as it will have warmed up over the summer. So I think June or September are the perfect months to go sailing in Croatia.
How do you choose a company with a skipper for sailing in Croatia?
I chose to go sailing in Croatia with a company called G Adventures. I’ve done several of their tours before, which had been amazing. I’ve joined their tours as a solo female traveller before, so I know this company is welcoming to solo female travellers. And the reviews of the
The G Adventures sailing trip is on a 54 foot yacht. There are up to 8 people, plus a skipper. You all live on the yacht for the week – you sleep on the yacht, and have some meals there. Living in close quarters means you quickly get to know the other people on the trip, which I enjoyed. And living on the yacht meant that we got to visit lots of different places, without having to pack up our bags every day. If we’d been staying in hotels and taking ferries, there would be been days of packing and moving heavy bags between hotels. But on a yacht, your room comes with you, which was great!
What’s the boat like when sailing in Croatia?
I’ve been on sailing trips before in the UK, so I knew what to expect from the yacht. But most people on my trip hadn’t been on a sailing trip or a yacht before. There was definitely no need to have any prior knowledge of sailing or boats.
G Adventures use similar type of yachts to a lot of other companies that offer sailing holidays in Croatia. The 54 foot yacht (pictured above) I was on was very clean and quite spacious, for a yacht. There was a decent sized seating area downstairs and small kitchen with a gas stove. The bedrooms weren’t big, and I was sharing a room with another solo female traveller. So we’d take it in turns in the room whenever one of us wanted to get changed, and would only both be in the room to sleep. So it worked ok.
The toilets on the boat are functional, but not luxury. They don’t have automatic flushes – you need to pump it yourself. But it’s fine once you get used to it. There’s a small hand-held shower in each bathroom as well, which is fine for a quick shower, even a quick hair wash. But there were 3 nights when we stayed in a marina with proper toilets and showers on the land – and I have to admit, I did enjoy using these more than the boat toilets!
I was lucky that the weather was amazing on my trip, so we all spent most of the time outside. And sitting outside on the yacht was amazing. So even though some aspects of the yacht were less comfortable, for me the positives definitely outweighed anything.
What activities do you do on a sailing holiday in Croatia?
Below, I’ll give details of all the amazing activities and experiences on this trip sailing Dubrovnik to Split with G Adventures. But it’s important to note that every trip is going to be a bit different, and different companies might have different itineraries. A lot of this trip depends on the weather – it’s only possible to go to some places if the weather is good enough or the wind isn’t blowing from a certain direction. So there may be things that I did that aren’t possible on another trip – but another trip might have done things that I missed. The exact itinerary is up to the skipper, who knows the area and the weather. But hopefully this will give you an idea of the type of thing you can expect on your trip.
In terms of the actual sailing – get involved as you want. I enjoy sailing so I wanted to get involved pulling the ropes and having a go at steering. But other people on my trip preferred to sit back with a beer, and that was completely fine. You can still enjoy this trip even if you don’t want to do any sailing. But I’d definitely encourage you to give it a try!
Keep reading on the next page for a day-by-day itinerary of what I did on my 8-day sailing trip.
