Arrive in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb and check into your hotel. In the afternoon, meet your guide and the rest of your group over a welcome drink to discuss all trip details. After that, we recommend taking time to visit the city, in particular the medieval Gornji Grad district.

It’s an early start today at 05.00, which we realise is quite early but trust us that this is the way to get the best experience of Plitviče Lakes National Park, by avoiding the crowds. You can have a two hour nap in the van, and the hotel prepares a take-away breakfast. Once there, you can see it’s worth the early start and journey, as we explore the turquoise lakes and waterfalls, walking on wooden boardwalks, and learning about the local flora and fauna, geography and geology of this mesmerising place. We take a break around midday when the park gets busy, and head to our next hotel. After a great home-cooked lunch and a relaxing siesta in the afternoon, we head back to the national park and walk its less-visited trails.

After breakfast, we drive approx 1.5h to the Velebit Mountains, which rise up over the coast to an elevation of 1,700m with views out across to the many islands. A semi-circular hike takes us along a grassy ridge and through some forested areas to see the peaks of Visibaba, Prikinuto Brdo and Budakovo Brdo, stopping for a picnic lunch en route. We then drive for approximately an hour to the coast, where a private speedboat takes us to the Krk Island, but stopping at some idyllic spots along the way for swimming and snorkelling, and also pass the infamous island of Goli Otok, the site of a political prison during the Communist rule.