Where to stay in Croatia: the best destinations and hotels

Dubrovnik is the postcard. Its mighty city walls wrap around an Old Town of polished limestone streets, Baroque churches and terracotta roofs, with the Adriatic glittering on three sides. Walk the walls early or late to dodge the crowds, ride the cable car for the view, and swim from the rocks just outside the gates.

Hotels within walking distance of the Old Town are the most sought after, like a grand five-star a five-minute stroll from the walls with views across the water. A cliff-top luxury resort, a garden resort along the coast built like a traditional Dalmatian village, and a seaside spa hotel in Župa Dubrovačka trade proximity for space, pools and beaches. Expect to pay a premium in high summer.

Split's old town lives inside Diocletian's Palace, a Roman emperor's retirement home now filled with cafés, shops and bars, and the palm-lined Riva promenade is the place to watch the city go by. It is also Croatia's ferry hub, with boats to Hvar, Brač and beyond leaving from right outside the walls.

Stay in the UNESCO-protected heart of the city for atmosphere, or at a five-star seaside resort in Podstrana, just down the coast, for a spa and private beach. Further south, the Makarska Riviera is a long ribbon of pebble beaches under the Biokovo mountains, lined with family beach hotels, including a five-star right on the sand.

The heart-shaped peninsula of Istria spent centuries under Venice, and it shows. Rovinj, its most beautiful town, is a jumble of pastel houses crowding a hill above the harbour, crowned by a Venetian bell tower. Poreč has a lively promenade and a UNESCO-listed basilica, Pula a Roman amphitheatre, and inland, hilltop villages serve truffle pasta and local wine.

This is the place for design-led hotels. Rovinj has a cascading five-star overlooking the old town and Katarina island, a minimalist hotel ten minutes' walk from the main square, and an adults-only boutique hotel in the forest park above Lone Bay. In Poreč, a five-star resort sits in a beachfront park. Families do well here too, with gentle coves and campsites galore.

Zadar is Dalmatia without the crush. Its old town sits on a peninsula packed with Roman ruins and Romanesque churches, and at the tip, the Sea Organ plays eerie chords as the waves push through pipes in the marble steps. Locals gather here every evening to watch the sun sink behind the islands.

Hotels include a luxury five-star with views over the sea and the old town, and two Falkensteiner resorts on the Punta Skala peninsula, one a spa hotel, one built for families, with three outdoor pools, a private beach and children's facilities. Prices tend to be gentler than in Dubrovnik or Split, and the national parks of Krka and Plitvice are within day-trip range.

Before package holidays, Austro-Hungarian aristocrats wintered on the Kvarner Gulf, and Opatija still has their grand villas, palm gardens and a seafront promenade, the Lungomare, that runs for miles along the shore. Offshore, the islands of Krk, Cres and Lošinj are greener and quieter than the Dalmatian ones.

Choose a luxury hotel in central Opatija with a vast spa, steps from the promenade, or a sea-facing beach resort and spa between Opatija and Rijeka. On Lošinj, a striking 1960s hotel has been renovated to exacting standards. Rijeka airport and the motorway from Zagreb make Kvarner easy to reach.

Zagreb is a city of terraces. Locals spend hours over coffee on the pavement cafés, the hilltop Upper Town is a tangle of old streets and churches reached by a tiny funicular, and the Lower Town is laid out with Habsburg-era squares and parks. In December, the Advent markets are some of the best in Europe.

The grandest place to stay is the historic Esplanade, opened in 1925 for passengers on the Orient Express, with marble bathrooms and old Hollywood glamour. A boutique five-star in a 20th-century palace near the main square and a design hotel next to the Archaeological Museum are equally central. Use Zagreb to start or end a coastal trip.

Plitvice Lakes National Park is Croatia's great natural wonder: sixteen terraced lakes in shades of jade and turquoise, joined by waterfalls and crossed by wooden boardwalks through beech and pine forest. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it gets very busy by midday, so staying nearby and arriving at opening time pays off.

Hotels around the park are relaxed, comfortable country places with restaurants and, often, outdoor pools: a small hotel with a seasonal pool and terrace near the park, a four-star with a fitness centre about ten minutes' drive away, and a characterful gastro house. Plitvice sits between Zagreb and Zadar, so it breaks the journey neatly.