Southern Croatian or Northern Ionian islands?

[Scuba]

DH and I are planning a European trip. We are starting with a few days in Venice, followed by Slovenia, and then at least 10-15 days on the Croatia mainland. After that, we have time in our itinerary to take a small boat cruise around either the southern islands of Croatia (Brac, Korcula, Vis) or the Ionian islands around Corfu (Corfu, Paxos, Antipaxos). Following that, we will spend land-based time on Kefalonia and Lefkada, two of the southern Ionian islands and will then move on to Athens and Crete before ending the trio in Abruzzo, Italy.

We have already been to many of the Cyclades and also to Rhodes. While we loved most of them, we want to see new places.

Our main interests for this trip are nature, beautiful beaches, food/culture and wine, with a limited interest in history/art/museums. We do not plan to dive as the diving in that part of the world is not that great.

Has anyone been to these sets of islands? If so, and you only had for one, would you pick the Southern Croatian or Northern Ionian islands?

 

[Blue Poles]

We did a 20 day trip last year in Slovenia and Croatia last year, the first part on land, and finishing with a small boat cruise that started in Split and ended in Dubrovnik. While this tour was created and managed by a friend, I believe the cruise was chartered from Cruise Croatia . Our itinerary was Split, Makarska, Bol, Hvar, Vis, Korčula, and Dubrovnik. I would recommend, these small boats dock in the harbors all night long, giving you plenty of time to enjoy the evenings in town. They leave in the morning at about 0700, will stop for swimming for a few hours, and arrive in town at about 1600. Bring able to enjoy the late summer evenings in these towns is awesome.

There are quite a few of these boats working these islands, we were on the MS Summer, a fairly new boat with a great crew.

The Croatian food is good, and the Croatian wine is excellent. Enjoy the wine while you are there because I don't think much is exported, but it's really good.

I don't know anything about the Ionian islands, but I would guess that are great as well. I doubt you can make a bad choice here. Sounds like a great trip, enjoy it. I can't wait to get back there for a longer term visit.

 

[Scuba]

We did a 20 day trip last year in Slovenia and Croatia last year, the first part on land, and finishing with a small boat cruise that started in Split and ended in Dubrovnik. While this tour was created and managed by a friend, I believe the cruise was chartered from Cruise Croatia . Our itinerary was Split, Makarska, Bol, Hvar, Vis, Korčula, and Dubrovnik. I would recommend, these small boats dock in the harbors all night long, giving you plenty of time to enjoy the evenings in town. They leave in the morning at about 0700, will stop for swimming for a few hours, and arrive in town at about 1600. Bring able to enjoy the late summer evenings in these towns is awesome.

There are quite a few of these boats working these islands, we were on the MS Summer, a fairly new boat with a great crew.

The Croatian food is good, and the Croatian wine is excellent. Enjoy the wine while you are there because I don't think much is exported, but it's really good.

I don't know anything about the Ionian islands, but I would guess that are great as well. I doubt you can make a bad choice here. Sounds like a great trip, enjoy it. I can't wait to get back there for a longer term visit.

Thank you for this report! Yes, I agree, the small boats are great!! Glad you enjoyed your trip.

 

[brett]

We have been to Croatia. But only on independent travel down the coast. On Jadrolinja ferries working our way down the coast and stopping at different plances for several days each. Very enjoyable. We want to go back and we definitely want to see Slovenia...it is on the list.

Our last trip to Greece started with the Ionian Islands. We flew into Athens, then got a short flight to Ioannina. Few days in Ioannina and Meteora areas, then over to Corfu for a week. Then 10 days on Kefalonia and a week on Zakynthos before moving on to Athens andCyprus. Similar to you, we have spent a fair amount of vacation time over the years in the Cyclades and on Crete.

Our favorite of the three was Kefalonia. We had a rental car on all three islands. We intend to go back....on that seemingly never ending bucket list.

Which did we prefer? Croatia and Ionian Islands were different. We liked them for different reasons.

We ferried from Iguomenitsa (sp) to Corfu. Flew from Corfu to Kefalonia, ferried to Zakynthos, then flew to Athens.

One suggestion. Similar to Dubrovnik, try to schedule your time in Corfu town when there are no, or as few as possible, cruise ships in port.

 

[kfsinc]

Croatia!

We chartered a 52 foot catamaran sail boat out of split two years ago with another couple. Went to the islands you mentioned as well as a few more and returned to split.

Outstanding trip perfect weather great company. However, if you’re looking for nice beaches, you aren’t going find many in Croatia. Most of the coastline is very rocky. Beautiful, but not a lot of sand.

Highly recommend Croatia and the islands. Each stop had a different personality and a different history.

 

[Scuba]

We have been to Croatia. But only on independent travel down the coast. On Jadrolinja ferries working our way down the coast and stopping at different plances for several days each. Very enjoyable. We want to go back and we definitely want to see Slovenia...it is on the list.

Our last trip to Greece started with the Ionian Islands. We flew into Athens, then got a short flight to Ioannina. Few days in Ioannina and Meteora areas, then over to Corfu for a week. Then 10 days on Kefalonia and a week on Zakynthos before moving on to Athens andCyprus. Similar to you, we have spent a fair amount of vacation time over the years in the Cyclades and on Crete.

Our favorite of the three was Kefalonia. We had a rental car on all three islands. We intend to go back....on that seemingly never ending bucket list.

Which did we prefer? Croatia and Ionian Islands were different. We liked them for different reasons.

We ferried from Iguomenitsa (sp) to Corfu. Flew from Corfu to Kefalonia, ferried to Zakynthos, then flew to Athens.

One suggestion. Similar to Dubrovnik, try to schedule your time in Corfu town when there are no, or as few as possible, cruise ships in port.

We are planning a week on Kefalonia and are considering Lefkada for the rest of our land based stay in the area. I initially thought about Zakynthos … did you also go to Lefkada and if so, any thoughts about choosing one over the other? We are beach people.

Good tip about avoiding the cruise ships in Corfu. We were thinking of doing a small boat cruise around Corfu, Paxos and Antipaxos but may give that up for more time in Croatia.

 

[brett]

We are planning a week on Kefalonia and are considering Lefkada for the rest of our land based stay in the area. I initially thought about Zakynthos … did you also go to Lefkada and if so, any thoughts about choosing one over the other? We are beach people.

Good tip about avoiding the cruise ships in Corfu. We were thinking of doing a small boat cruise around Corfu, Paxos and Antipaxos but may give that up for more time in Croatia.

No. We did not get to Lefkada. It was on the list. We had two weeks left. Scooped a very inexpensive flight to Cyprus.

My spouse wants to go back to Kefelonia. We rented a one way car from a local agency in Argostoli and dropped it at the ferry terminal in Poros.