Croatia

Dubrovnik's walled old town is one of Europe's most stunning medieval cities — limestone streets, terracotta rooftops, and the Adriatic glittering below. Walk the famous city walls, take the cable car to Mount Srd, and island-hop to Lokrum and the Elafiti Islands. Game of Thrones put it on the map, but the city has been captivating visitors for centuries.

Croatia's second-largest city is built in and around the ruins of Roman Emperor Diocletian's Palace. A living, breathing ancient monument where locals go about daily life amid 1,700-year-old walls. Gateway to Hvar, Brač, and the Dalmatian Islands.

Sixteen turquoise lakes terraced by travertine dams growing 1cm a year, connected by 78m waterfalls and a wooden boardwalk you cannot swim from (fines enforced). Croatia's most famous national park, UNESCO since 1979, packed in summer — arrive at the 7am opening. Between Zagreb (2h) and Split.

Croatia's sunniest island receives over 2,700 hours of sunshine per year — more than anywhere else in the country. The Stari Grad Plain (UNESCO) was laid out by Greek colonists in 384 BC in a geometric field system unchanged for 2,400 years. Hvar Town's limestone piazza, backed by the Fortica fortress and facing the Pakleni Islands, is the most glamorous harbour scene in the Adriatic.

Croatia's inland capital — overlooked by visitors who fly straight to Split or Dubrovnik, but the city Croatians themselves rate above the coastal scrum. Medieval Upper Town (Gornji Grad) sits on the hill: cobbled lanes, the colourful tile roof of St. Mark's, the Stone Gate chapel where Zagrebčani still light candles. Below, the 19th-century Lower Town (Donji Grad) holds Austro-Hungarian boulevards, museums (including the world's only Museum of Broken Relationships), and Tkalčićeva — the densest café-and-bar strip in Croatia. Add the award-winning Advent Christmas market (best in Europe three years running) and you get the surprise of a Habsburg-era capital at half the price of Vienna.

The biggest city on Croatia's Istrian peninsula, anchored by the Pula Arena — the 6th-largest surviving Roman amphitheatre on earth and one of only six anywhere with all four side towers still standing. Built in the 1st century under Vespasian, the limestone oval still hosts summer concerts and the Pula Film Festival every July. Around it sit the Temple of Augustus on the Forum, the Triumphal Arch of the Sergii and a working harbour. Pula is also the gateway to Brijuni Islands National Park and the heart of Istria's truffle and olive oil country. About 2 hours by car from Trieste.

A walled peninsula on Croatia's central Dalmatian coast, halfway between Split and Pula, where Roman ruins meet 21st-century sound art. The Sea Organ — Nikola Bašić's wave-powered installation of 35 underwater pipes built in 2005 — moans and chords with every passing swell along the western promenade, while the adjacent Greeting to the Sun lights up at dusk from 300 sun-charged glass plates set into the quay. Inland sits the 9th-century rotunda of St Donatus on the Roman Forum. Zadar is also the practical gateway to Kornati Islands National Park and Plitvice Lakes, both an easy day trip away.