Can we add more islands?

Yes — Korčula is the most natural addition, either as a day trip from Hvar or an overnight stop. Vis, the most remote of the central Dalmatian islands, can replace or complement Hvar. Your specialist will advise on what fits your pace.

What happens after I request this trip?

You'll complete a short planning form. A specialist responds within one business day with a personalised proposal and exact pricing. No obligation.

7-Day Private Package Journey

Essence of Dalmatia

Split’s Roman palace, Hvar’s lavender island, and Dubrovnik’s medieval walls.

Available as Private Semi-Private Self-Guided

From €2,690 per person 7 days / 6 nights

View Itinerary

Tour Overview

7 days across Croatia.

Dalmatia is the stretch of Croatian coast that most travellers picture when they imagine the Adriatic: limestone cliffs falling to turquoise water, walled medieval cities built from the same white stone as the sea floor, and an afternoon light that makes everything glow pale gold around five o'clock. Split and Dubrovnik are its anchors — one an ancient Roman emperor's retirement palace that became a city of 200,000 people, the other the best-preserved Gothic and Renaissance city in the Mediterranean. This seven-day private journey connects both, with a day on the island of Hvar between them and time enough in each city to move past the surface. It is the best introduction to Croatia for first-time visitors who want to understand what they are looking at.

Detailed Itinerary

Your journey, day by day.

Every day is designed with breathing room. Sleep in, take a detour, linger at lunch — the itinerary flexes around you, not the other way around.

Day 1

Arrival in Split

A Roman emperor's retirement home, now a city of 200,000.

Your private driver meets you at Split Airport and carries you into the city along the coastal road — the islands of Brač and Šolta visible offshore, the Mosor mountains rising directly behind the city. Split's extraordinary distinction is that its historic core is not a medieval town built near a Roman ruin but a Roman ruin that became a medieval town: Diocletian built his retirement palace here in 305 AD and it has been continuously inhabited ever since. Your hotel is within the palace walls or on the Riva promenade immediately outside them. After settling in, the rest of the afternoon is for the palace itself — the peristyle at the heart of the complex, the cathedral of St Domnius installed in Diocletian's own mausoleum, the basement halls where the supporting infrastructure of the palace is still intact. Dinner in a restaurant in the old town, with the stone walls lit around you and the smell of the sea.

Private airport transfer with coastal views
Diocletian's Palace — the Roman emperor's home that became a city
Cathedral of St Domnius in the ancient mausoleum
First evening on the Riva promenade

4–5★ hotel, Split old town or Riva

Day 2

Split in Depth

Layers of 1,700 years in one walled enclosure.

Your private guide — an archaeologist who has been working the Split site for fifteen years — meets you after breakfast for the full palace tour: the cardo and decumanus streets that still follow the Roman grid, the Golden Gate on the north wall that leads to the medieval Meštrović Gallery, the basement halls beneath the peristyle that were used as a dump for centuries and are now the best evidence of the original palace layout. The guide explains the extraordinary story of the palace's transformation: how medieval families built their homes within the existing structure, blocking Roman doorways, dividing Roman halls into apartments, filling the atrium with a market. By noon you are in Trogir — a UNESCO-listed medieval city thirty minutes north of Split, built on a tiny island connected to the mainland by a bridge and still surrounded by its original city walls. Lunch overlooking the cathedral of St Lawrence and its extraordinary Romanesque portal, carved by Master Radovan in 1240. The afternoon is yours in Split: the Marjan Hill park above the city, the Meštrović Gallery, or simply the Riva.

Diocletian's Palace basement halls with archaeologist guide
Trogir UNESCO medieval city and Radovan's portal
Marjan Hill park panorama over Split and the islands
Split Riva promenade at leisure

Meals: Breakfast 4–5★ hotel, Split

Day 3

Hvar: The Lavender Island

The most luminous island on the Dalmatian coast.

Hvar is the sunniest island in Croatia — an average of 2,724 sunshine hours per year, more than anywhere else in the country — and it announces itself with the smell of lavender and rosemary that comes off the interior plateau before the ferry reaches the harbour. Your private boat from Split reaches Hvar Town in an hour. The Venetian loggia in the main square, the Renaissance arsenal converted to a theatre in 1612 (the first public theatre in southeastern Europe), and the Spanish fortress above the town provide the morning's context. The afternoon is for the interior: a drive through the lavender fields of the Stari Grad Plain — the oldest cultivated landscape in Croatia, a Greek agricultural system established in 384 BC whose field boundaries have not changed in 2,400 years and which UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site in 2008. Dinner in Hvar Town at a restaurant on the harbour, with the fishing boats returning as the sun drops behind the mainland mountains.

Private boat transfer Split to Hvar
Hvar's Venetian square — the oldest public theatre in southeastern Europe
Stari Grad Plain UNESCO agricultural landscape — 2,400 years unchanged
Lavender fields of the Hvar interior

Meals: Breakfast 4–5★ hotel, Hvar Town

Day 4

Hvar: Sea and Sun

The island's best beaches, islands, and a boat to yourself.

Today is unhurried. The Pakleni Islands — a small archipelago of pine-forested islets off Hvar Town's harbour — are accessible by water taxi in ten minutes and have some of the clearest water on the Dalmatian coast. A private boat takes you to the cove of your choice for the morning: swimming from the rocks, the pine shade, the water that changes from green to deep blue as the depth increases. Lunch on the boat or at a small konoba on one of the islands. The afternoon is for Hvar Town at the pace that suits you: the Franciscan monastery and its cypress-framed courtyard on the edge of the harbour, the market, the narrow streets of the old town behind the loggia. In the evening, the transfer by fast catamaran to Dubrovnik — a two-hour journey along the coast as the sun drops, the islands silhouetted against the orange water.

Private boat to the Pakleni Islands
Swimming in the clearest water on the Dalmatian coast
Hvar Franciscan monastery and harbour
Evening catamaran transfer to Dubrovnik

Meals: Breakfast 5★ hotel, Dubrovnik

Day 5

Dubrovnik: Inside the Walls

The best-preserved Gothic and Renaissance city in the Mediterranean.

Dubrovnik's Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary completeness — the walls, the Stradun limestone promenade, the Rector's Palace, the Dominican and Franciscan monasteries, and the harbour fortifications all survive from the 15th and 16th centuries in a state of preservation that makes the city look as if it simply stopped in 1667 and has been maintaining itself carefully since. Your private guide meets you for the city walls circuit: two kilometres above the city on the mediaeval ramparts, looking down into the tiled roofs of the old town and out to the sea and the islands. The walls are best walked in the morning before the tour groups arrive. The Stradun at noon, when the polished limestone reflects the sun, the Rector's Palace with its Gothic atrium, and the Dominican monastery's cloister garden. The afternoon at leisure: the ferry to the island of Lokrum for a swim and a walk in the botanical garden, or the old town's back streets and the wine bars that serve local Plavac Mali.

City walls circuit — two kilometres above Dubrovnik at its best hour
Stradun, Rector's Palace, Dominican monastery cloister
Private guide with deep local knowledge
Optional: ferry to Lokrum island for swimming

Meals: Breakfast 5★ hotel, Dubrovnik

Day 6

Dubrovnik: Beyond the Walls

The city outside the postcard, and a peninsula above the sea.

Most visitors spend their entire Dubrovnik visit inside the walls. The most beautiful view of the city is from outside it: the cable car to the summit of Mount Srđ at 412 metres, where the entire old city is spread below and the sea stretches to the Elafiti Islands on the horizon. Your morning begins there. The Napoleonic Fort Imperial at the summit has been converted to a museum of the 1991 siege — a reminder that this perfect-seeming medieval city was bombarded for eight months and has been comprehensively and invisibly restored since. The afternoon is for the Dubrovnik peninsula above the old town: the Babin Kuk area, the small coves accessible only on foot from the coastal path, and a last swim before the evening. Dinner at a restaurant outside the walls — the Lapad peninsula or the restaurants on the cliff above the sea that the old town visitors don't find.

Mount Srđ cable car — Dubrovnik from above
Fort Imperial siege museum
Coastal path swimming coves
Dinner outside the walls — the Dubrovnik locals eat

Meals: Breakfast 5★ hotel, Dubrovnik

Day 7

Departure

The walls from the sea — the best last view.

Your last morning in Dubrovnik: the old town before ten, when the cruise ship visitors have not yet arrived and the Stradun is quiet enough to walk slowly and hear the sound of the city. The coffee at a bar on the Gundulić Square. A final walk to the Buža bar — the hole-in-the-wall bar built into a gap in the city walls above the sea, where the locals have been drinking wine and jumping into the Adriatic since the 1970s. Your private driver transfers you to Dubrovnik Airport at the agreed time. The view of the city walls from the sea road as you leave is the last thing you will see of Dalmatia, and it tends to produce an immediate wish to return.

Dubrovnik old town before the crowds
Gundulić Square morning coffee
The Buža bar — a gap in the medieval walls above the sea
Private transfer to Dubrovnik Airport

Meals: Breakfast

Where You'll Stay

Hand-picked hotels, every night.

We choose properties for character, location, and the kind of service that makes you feel looked after — not just checked in. Every hotel can be swapped for an alternative if you prefer.

Split

2 nights

4–5★ hotel

Old town or Riva promenade

Inside or immediately adjacent to the Diocletian's Palace walls

Hvar

1 night

4–5★ hotel

Hvar Town harbour

Within walking distance of the main square and the harbour

Dubrovnik

3 nights

5★ hotel

Old town or Lapad peninsula

Old town hotels are the most atmospheric; Lapad properties offer pool and sea access — your specialist will recommend based on preference

Hotels shown are indicative of the standard we book. Upon request, we will provide a detailed itinerary with specific hotel options tailored to your preferences and budget.

What's in the Price

Included

6 nights in 4–5★ hotels
Daily breakfast at each hotel
Private airport transfer in Split
Private boat Split–Hvar
Fast catamaran Hvar–Dubrovnik
Private archaeologist guide in Split
Private guide in Dubrovnik
Trogir UNESCO city visit with guide
Stari Grad Plain visit
City walls circuit in Dubrovnik
All entrance fees for guided visits
24/7 travel specialist support
Hamilton & Chase digital travel booklet

Not Included

International flights to Split / from Dubrovnik
Travel insurance (required — we can arrange on request)
Meals not listed
Personal expenses
Gratuities for guides and drivers
City tax (collected by hotels)

Good to Know

Dubrovnik is very busy June–August; late May, September, and October offer the best combination of weather and manageable crowds.
The city walls circuit in Dubrovnik closes in rain — we always have indoor alternatives arranged.
The itinerary works in both directions: Dubrovnik arrival → Hvar → Split departure is equally valid and sometimes better for flight connections.
Comfortable, closed-toe shoes are essential for both Diocletian's Palace basement halls and the Dubrovnik city walls.

Make It Yours

Optional add-ons & upgrades.

Every trip is different. These extras can be woven into your itinerary — just let your travel specialist know what catches your eye.

Korčula day trip

The walled island town often called 'Little Dubrovnik' — birthplace (claimed) of Marco Polo, with its own medieval cathedral and a wine tradition built on Grk and Pošip grapes

From €120 pp

Krka National Park from Split

The travertine waterfall terraces of the Krka River — a different landscape entirely from the coast, accessible as a full-day trip from Split

From €95 pp

Private sailing day from Hvar

A full day on a private sailing boat from Hvar, visiting the hidden coves of the Pakleni Islands that are inaccessible by land

From €350

Elafiti Islands day trip from Dubrovnik

Three car-free islands off Dubrovnik — Koločep, Lopud, and Šipan — by private boat, with swimming stops and lunch at a family-run konoba on Šipan

From €110 pp

"We arrived in Split expecting another pretty Mediterranean town. Instead we found a Roman palace that was also a living city — a place where people hang washing across 1,700-year-old Roman arches. And Dubrovnik from the cable car is one of the most beautiful things we have ever seen. Hamilton & Chase made it completely effortless."

Mark & Julia H.

Dublin, Ireland · Essence of Dalmatia, June 2025

Common Questions

Questions about this trip.

Is Dubrovnik worth visiting despite the crowds?

Yes — emphatically. The key is timing: early morning in the old town (before 9am) and the city walls in the first hour after they open are a completely different experience from midday. Your guide knows exactly when to move. July and August are genuinely very busy; September visits feel almost calm by comparison.

How do we get from Hvar to Dubrovnik?

By fast catamaran — a two-hour journey along the coast that passes the Pelješac peninsula and the Elafiti Islands. It is one of the nicest parts of the journey. We can alternatively arrange a private boat for the transfer if you prefer.

Private Package Journey

Essence of Dalmatia

7 days / 6 nights

From €2,690

per person

Ready to go?

Share a few details and a specialist will reply within one business day.

More Croatia Tours

Prefer to Talk?

+1 646-466-6841 explore@hamiltonandchase.com

Available Mon–Fri 9am–6pm CET.
On-trip support is 24/7.

Keep Exploring

More Croatia journeys.

8 Days · Private Package

Dalmatian Islands

From Split to Dubrovnik via Hvar, the secret island of Vis, and medieval Korčula.

From €3,090 View Trip →

9 Days · Private Package

Best of Croatia

Zagreb, Plitvice’s turquoise waterfalls, Split, Hvar, and Dubrovnik — the complete picture.

From €3,490 View Trip →

9 Days · Private Package

Croatia & Istria

Venetian Istria, Roman Pula, Plitvice’s waterfalls, Split, and Dubrovnik.

From €3,590 View Trip →