The Islands of Croatia. Rudolf Abraham

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      A view of the Kabal peninsula – which stretches north from Stari Grad on the island of Hvar – from Brač (Walk 19)

      Croatia’s myriad islands form an outstandingly beautiful landscape, stretching along the coast in a fragmented arc from the Kvarner Gulf in the northwest to the walls of Dubrovnik in the southeast. Bare limestone ridges, toothy knolls and rock-strewn plateaus alternate with olive groves, vineyards and areas of lush green forest; sundrenched beaches and rocky coves are punctuated by spectacular sea cliffs; and remote, uninhabited islets protrude, just barely, from some of the most crystal-clear waters anywhere on the Adriatic.

      Along with the rest of the country, the islands are incredibly rich in history, having witnessed the rise and fall of cultures, kingdoms and empires across well over two and a half millennia – from Bronze and Iron Age hill tribes and Greek colonists to imperial Rome and mercantile Venice, Croatia’s medieval kings and the Dual Monarchy of Austria–Hungary. There is a wealth of architecture to be seen here – medieval walled cities, Roman ruins, Venetian palaces, Romanesque churches and opulent Austrian villas – and colourful festivals are spread throughout the year, several of them inscribed on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, preserving local tradition and culture. Croatia’s islands are also home to a staggering array of wildlife and plants – from birds of prey to butterflies to bottlenose dolphins, including numerous species that are rare or endemic.

      The islands are covered by a network of superb hiking trails. Paths are almost uniformly clear and well marked, and the views are frequently spectacular. Yet remarkably, despite many of the paths being almost no distance from busy tourist hot-spots, most see hardly any walkers at all.

      The walks in this guide cover 14 islands spread fairly evenly along the length of the Croatian coast, visiting better-known places such as Hvar, Brač and Mljet, as well as less well-known spots such as Dugi otok and Lastovo. The walks can all be completed within a day, and are almost all easy, with no technical difficulties or scrambling. They range from short, easy coastal strolls with minimal elevation gain to more challenging full-day outings over rocky ridges and summits. The majority of the walks are on footpaths, rather than on unsealed roads and 4WD tracks, and most have access to shops and other facilities (and generally, public transport) at one or the other end of the route.

      CROATIA: KEY FACTS AND FIGURES

The islands

      Croatia’s Adriatic coast and islands are the most popular part of the country with visitors, both foreign and domestic. Neveretheless, population density on the islands is low, particularly outside the main holiday season when they return to their sleepy Mediterranean selves. And while there are several extremely popular spots on the coast of the islands, which attract a huge number of visitors during the summer, inland the islands remain largely rural and remarkably little visited.

      Even the most popular towns on the coasts of the islands are quite small, and almost universally have outstandingly well-preserved historic cores, often with narrow cobbled streets and lovely Romanesque, Venetian and Hapsburg architecture clustered around a sheltered harbour.

      Landscapes and terrain vary considerably between islands, from olive groves and scattered forest to saltwater lakes, rocky ridges and plateaus crisscrossed by ancient drystone walls.

      Given the islands’ popularity there is no shortage of accommodation, and there are supermarkets, banks and other facilities in the main towns. There are regular ferry services to all 14 islands in the guide, and there are bus services to all but three of the walks described.

      The islands follow the same regional divisions as the Adriatic coast, and the walks in the guide are arranged from north to south – starting with those in the region of Kvarner in the north (including Krk, Rab, Cres and Lošinj, Walks 1–12), then covering Northern Dalmatia (including Pag, Ugljan and Dugi otok, Walks 13–18), Central Dalmatia (including Brač, Hvar and Vis, Walks 19–24) and Southern Dalmatia (including Korčula, Lastovo and Mljet, Walks 25–30).

Geography

      There are some 1185 islands, islets, isles and reefs on the Croatian Adriatic – the precise figure varying somewhat depending on whether some of the smaller islets and reefs, submerged at low tide (it’s easy to forget that the Mediterranean has a tide – albeit a very minimal one in the Adriatic), are included or not. Of these islands 67 are inhabited, the two largest being Krk and Cres, each with an area of around 405km2, followed by Brač (395km2), Hvar (297km2) and Pag (284km2), while at the other end of the scale many of the smaller islands such as Susak, Lopud and Koločep have surface areas of less than 5km2.