Sailing Croatia: Split, Hvar and the Blue Lagoon by Charter

A week-long self-skippered charter around the Croatian islands, following a maiden sailing trip around Mallorca the previous summer. Booked through a UK agent, chartering from a Croatia-based operator, with a Day Skipper qualification doing the actual work at the helm.

The Verdict

Croatia earns its reputation as the mecca of island sailing. Score: 8.0/10. We scratched the surface and would go back — next time out of Dubrovnik for the southern islands, or Sibenik for the north.

The Scorecard

• Boat / vessel — 7/10. A chartered sailing yacht, no specific complaints on the vessel itself.
• Crew / skipper — 9/10. Self-skippered on a Day Skipper licence — the charter company's shore team were calm, composed and helpful throughout.
• Route / anchorages — 9/10. Split, Brac, Hvar, the Paklenki Islands, Vis and the Blue Lagoon — Croatia offers far more variety than Mallorca.
• Food / provisioning — 8/10. Onshore food in Starigrad and the harbour towns was consistently good.
• Comfort onboard — 7/10. No issues raised with life aboard for the week.
• Cost — 7/10. Booked through a UK agent for slightly better pricing than the previous year's charter.
• Vibe — 9/10. Welcoming to visiting yachts — harbour staff came out to help dock and moor, a marked contrast to the shouting and chaos experienced elsewhere the year before.

The Good

• The charter company's shore team were composed, calm and genuinely helpful from booking through to berthing — a world away from the shouting and last-minute dockside instructions experienced on a previous charter.
• The route covered real variety: Split, Milna and Bol on Brac, Hvar town and Starigrad, the Paklenki Islands, Vis and its old submarine bunker, Komiza, and the Blue Lagoon.
• Starigrad on Hvar was the standout stop on land — historic, clean, good food, and well set up for visiting yacht crews.
• Croatian harbours actively want visiting tourist boats. Staff came out to help tie on to buoys, dinghy people ashore, and assist with docking.
• Pricing through the UK agent came in a little better than the previous year's charter with a different operator.

The Bad

• Zlatni Rat, the horned beach on Brac often ranked among the best in the world, doesn't live up to the billing. It's a pebbled beach dressed up as sand from a distance, and while picturesque, calling it top ten — or even top fifty — is a stretch.
• Croatia rewards a longer trip than a week allows. One week barely scratches the surface of what's on offer.
• Mallorca is set up more for day-boat owners; Croatia takes more planning to get the most from a week-long charter.

The Detail

Croatia compares very favourably to Mallorca for this kind of trip — not because Mallorca is bad, but because it's geared towards day sailors rather than week-long charter crews working between islands. Croatia's harbour towns actively cater to visiting yacht traffic, which changes the whole experience of arriving somewhere new each day. Zlatni Rat is worth a stop if passing, but don't detour specifically for it — the "top ten beach" reputation oversells a beach that's ultimately a packed, pebbled cove. The bigger draw is the range of anchorages available from Split alone; a return trip would look at basing out of Dubrovnik or Sibenik instead, to open up the southern and northern island chains.