What if I told you one of the hottest ways to see Europe right now doesn’t involve checking into a hotel at all? You wake up, open your cabin door and, instead of looking at the same resort pool you saw yesterday, you’re staring at a completely different Croatian island. Breakfast is waiting upstairs. The captain says, “We found a little bay for swimming.” Someone hands you a coffee, and your biggest decision is whether you want to jump or slide into the Adriatic before or after breakfast. Yes, please. Count me in.
Today we’re talking about a travel trend I think you’re going to hear a lot more about: yachting in Croatia. And before you think, “Samantha, I don’t have Beyoncé money,” stay with me. I promise you, it’s not as expensive as you think.
Not the Billionaire Superyacht You’re Picturing
Croatian yachting is an entire category of beautiful crewed yachts and small vessels sailing the Dalmatian Coast that can accommodate groups of friends, couples and families. When the cost is divided among a group, the experience becomes surprisingly attainable, and people are catching on.
Croatia’s nautical tourism infrastructure is enormous. In 2025, the country counted 216 nautical ports, including 86 marinas, with 18,850 moorings, and the number of moorings for vessels longer than 20 meters rose from 986 to 1,045. That tells you something. Croatia isn’t just having a yacht moment. It was practically made for this style of travel.
Why Croatia Works So Well by Yacht
When I first heard about it, I thought, Croatia? Why would you want to yacht there? Then I visited on a large cruise ship (I haven’t done the yachting experience yet, but it’s happening next year, and I’m so excited), and it is unbelievably beautiful. Taking a yacht and getting into those nooks and crannies is amazing, and that’s one of my favorite things about traveling: seeing the places that aren’t on Instagram yet, before everybody else finds them.
Croatia sits along the Adriatic Sea, across from Italy, and its coastline is one of the most spectacular in Europe: rugged, with rocks that jut out into the water. You’ve got medieval towns, ancient stone walls, little fishing villages, crystal-clear water, vineyards, beach clubs, incredible seafood and hundreds upon hundreds of islands, islets and reefs scattered along the coast. That creates one very important travel advantage: you can see a lot without traveling very far.
Think about the traditional European vacation. Hotel, pack, transfer, ferry, unpack. Hotel, pack, transfer, ferry. Rinse and repeat. By day five, you’re sitting on your suitcase trying to get it closed and wondering why you brought four pairs of shoes. On a yacht, your room comes to you. Have breakfast near Split, swim off Brač, have cocktails in Hvar, wake up near Vis, explore Korčula and finish near Dubrovnik. It’s like a cruise ship, only much smaller, and it’s magical.
Get In Before It Blows Up
Croatia’s tourism numbers show just how strong the destination has become. The country recorded about 21.8 million arrivals and 110.1 million overnight stays in 2025, both records, and nautical travel is evolving right along with it. But yacht travel there hasn’t really blown up yet. Think of this as a behind-the-scenes stock tip, only for travel. (By the way, nobody has ever given me a real stock tip. If anyone wants to, I’m more than willing to take it.)
The numbers also show a move toward the premium end: one market report put the rise in average charter prices at 11%, and at 26% for premium vessels over 20 meters. They’re adding yachts, and prices are going up. Every year I’ve checked, they’ve gone up significantly, in my opinion, so get in now.
Let me be clear: it’s not going to be the cheapest vacation you’ve ever been on. It’s still luxury, it’s still a yacht and you’re still traveling in a small group, which is not cheap. But it’s within reach, not astronomical.
What a Croatian Yacht Vacation Actually Looks Like
When I say yacht, you may picture a 200-foot floating mansion with a helicopter on the roof. Those exist. (Please invite me if you have one. I’m here for a personal invitation.) But that’s not what we’re talking about today. Croatian yacht vacations come in several forms:
A sailing yacht or a catamaran you charter
A traditional-style gulet
A modern motor yacht
Crewed mini yachts and luxury small ships that might carry around 15, 20, 30 or 40 guests
You can do this in the Caribbean, too, but Croatia is where the pricing hasn’t gone sky-high. For my birthday next June, we’ve chartered an entire crewed yacht. I know that makes me sound extremely bougie, and honestly, sometimes I am. This one is for a very special reason.
Book by the Cabin or Charter the Whole Yacht
You don’t have to charter the whole thing. Some of these yachts sell by the cabin, and I’ve seen them as low as $2,300 per person for an entire week. That’s about $5,000 a couple, which you could pay on a big-ship cruise and see the same freaking thing you’ve seen every other time you’ve cruised.
Or you can charter the whole yacht, and this is where it gets really interesting. Imagine getting 16 friends together and, instead of saying, “Let’s rent a villa,” saying, “Let’s rent a yacht.” Now your villa moves with you every day. You have bedrooms, a chef, a crew, a sundeck and maybe a hot tub, swim platforms, kayaks and paddleboards, and those floating decks they put out on the water.
The one I’m renting has a slide off the very top deck. I hope I come back to do more of these shows after that slide, because I’m a little nervous. (I’ll survive. I know it.) It also has Jet Skis, so when the yacht anchors in a bay, they put out the water toys and you have a swim stop. It is literally the coolest thing.
You Help Design the Itinerary
Even better, you get to pick your itinerary. They offer you options: do you want to stop here, or here, or here? You can say, “I don’t want to stop there, I want to go a little further,” or, “That itinerary looks great. Perfect.” You have breakfast at sea, and then they dock the yacht, you step off and go explore the towns. You’re just there.
Why This Is Trending Now
Travelers have changed. People are done doing the same old Paris, Rome and London. I’ve always been the person who wants to go off the beaten path, and this is the type of experience I want. I want it to be private, with my family and friends in a small group, not a big one. And I’m going to be honest: I need a little bougie. I need somebody to wait on me hand and foot. I know that sounds terrible, but sorry, that’s how I feel, especially for this celebration.
People don’t want to visit Croatia and say, “Check, I visited it.” They want to feel like they’re living in Croatia for the week. They want the photo jumping off the back of the yacht. They want to go down the slide, smack the water and have the bruises to prove it. They want the little restaurant the captain recommended, the hidden swimming cove and to arrive in Hvar from the water. And I want night swimming so bad. On a yacht, you can say, “Hey, Captain, want to find us a place to night swim?” and the captain does. How freaking cool is that?
Croatia is increasingly competing on quality and experience, not simply quantity, and that fits perfectly with what I’m seeing. Travelers are asking for smaller, more personal and more exclusive.
The Dream Itinerary
Let’s pretend we’re on board. I have my sunglasses on and a ridiculously large sun hat (of course, because there’s a massive hat in the Fabulous Adventures Travel logo). Someone else is responsible for docking the boat, bringing you drinks and getting you food. It’s the perfect vacation.
Split
Split is one of my favorite jumping-off points because you get history and city life before you even board: a palace, cafés tucked into ancient stone buildings and that beautiful waterfront promenade. Then you leave Split behind, and suddenly there’s gorgeous blue water everywhere.
Brač
Brač is famous for Zlatni Rat, the beautiful horn-shaped beach you’ve probably seen in photos. But yacht travel gives you something special: you don’t have to head straight to that beach. Your captain can find a quieter place to anchor. Swimsuits on, platform down, everyone jumps in, and this is where you realize the Adriatic is ridiculously clear. You look down and think the water is three feet deep. It’s not. Welcome to Croatia.
Hvar
If Croatia had a glamorous older sister who owns fabulous sunglasses and somehow always gets the best table at dinner, it’s Hvar: a beautiful harbor, historic architecture, restaurants, nightlife, beach clubs and yachts lined up along the waterfront. Hike up to the fortress for an incredible view of the harbor, spend the afternoon wandering, have dinner, stay out late, and then, instead of searching for your hotel, walk back to the marina. Your yacht is your hotel. That never gets old.
Hvar, the glamorous one. After a late dinner, your hotel is waiting at the marina.
It’s completely different from sailing on a cruise ship. The crew knows your name: “Samantha, welcome back!” Yes, it is amazing that I made it back after all that wine, to the correct boat. I can see myself ending up on the wrong boat, partying with those people, while my people are asking, “Where did she go?”
Vis: Samantha’s Secret Spot
Vis feels different. It was relatively isolated from international tourism for decades because of its military history, which helped preserve some of its old-world character. Today it’s exactly the kind of place people are looking for: quiet coves, stone villages, local wine, seafood and this wonderful feeling that you’ve somehow slipped away from the rest of Europe.
This is where I want you to resist the urge to overschedule. Get off the yacht, find a little restaurant and order whatever fish they caught right off the dock. Get the local wine. (Oh, that wine is so good.) Put your phone down and look around. Sometimes the luxury isn’t having more things to do. The luxury is having nowhere else you need to be.
Korčula
Korčula is like a mini Dubrovnik without quite the crowds. The Old Town is gorgeous, with stone streets, medieval walls, little restaurants tucked into alleyways and beautiful views across the water. It gets compared to Dubrovnik because of the architecture and the walled-town feeling, but it has its own personality. (That said, if you’ve come all this way, you probably should see Dubrovnik too. It’s pretty cool.)
Korčula: a mini Dubrovnik without quite the crowds, and easy to step into from a small ship.
This is one of the huge advantages of arriving on a smaller vessel. The Dalmatian Coast is filled with compact ports and islands where smaller ships can get closer to the action than the mega ships. You step off, and you’re there. That’s the best part of yacht cruising, in my opinion.
Look North: Šibenik, the Kornati Islands and Zadar
Travelers who already know Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik are starting to look further north, to Šibenik, the Kornati Islands and Zadar. Keep an eye on this area, especially the Kornati Islands. They’re rugged, wild and rocky, less about glamorous beach clubs and more about spectacular scenery, hidden bays and the feeling that you’ve sailed off the edge of civilization. This is Croatia for people who say, “I don’t want to be near everybody else.”
Rugged, rocky and wild: the far-from-the-crowds Croatia that’s drawing yachts north.
Our June sailing is a round trip from Šibenik that stops at a bunch of these places. One cool thing they do is bring fresh clams or mussels on board and cook them right there for you. (I don’t do seafood, but I love that they do it.) There’s a captain’s dinner on board, and they’ll tailor anything you need. If it’s your birthday, as it is mine, they’ll throw you a party. All of that is easy to organize when it’s a smaller vessel and all your friends and family are on it.
Is It Worth Chartering the Whole Yacht?
For the right group, yes. Do you have enough people? The yacht I’m chartering has 18 cabins, so that’s 36 people. Do you have 36 friends? Probably not. (If you do, that’s great.) But a whole-yacht charter is perfect for:
Birthday trips and milestone birthdays
Anniversaries
Multigenerational family vacations
Girls’ trips
Corporate incentive trips: if you own a business and want to take your people somewhere to say thank you, this is one of the best ways to do it
And my personal favorite reason: because we feel like it
When you take over the whole yacht, the experience changes, because you’re in charge. Nightlife tonight, or a sleepy little village tomorrow? You tell the captain, “I don’t want to leave tonight, we’re staying here,” or, “I want to wake up at sea tomorrow.” You’re designing your entire week. And when you divide the cost among several couples or families, people are often surprised by the price per person. It’s still a premium or luxury vacation, and depending on the yacht you pick, some options cost less than others. But it is attainable, and it’s 1,000% going to be one of the coolest things you’ve ever done.
When to Go
July and August are absolutely gorgeous, with phenomenal weather, but that’s when the kids are off and everyone wants to be on board, so peak summer is going to be expensive. For a little better rate, look at the shoulder season: May, June, September and even early October. It’s not fantastically cheaper, but you’ll get a bit of a discount. We’re going in June, so we’re still a little in that shoulder season, and September can be pretty fabulous too.
Why a Travel Advisor Matters Here
This is one of those trips where a good travel advisor can make an enormous difference, because you’re not just choosing Croatia. You’re choosing the vessel, the cabin configuration, the crew style, the itinerary, the departure port, the food program, the level of luxury, the right islands and, most importantly, the right yacht for the personalities traveling together. Seven nights is a long time to discover that cousin Debbie wanted a party yacht and everyone else wanted sunrise yoga. We need to discuss Debbie before we send the deposit.
Samantha’s Suitcase: My Takeaway
Travel trends come and go. We had the giant all-inclusive boom, the river cruise boom (which, honestly, is still going) and the expedition travel explosion. Now travelers are discovering another way to experience Europe: smaller, slower and more personal. Croatia is perfect for that.
You don’t need to see ten countries in ten days. Give me one beautiful coastline, a yacht, a few Croatian islands, a swimsuit (you’re going to need it for that slide), great food, a glass of wine and a group of people I actually like. That last one is super important. Choose your yacht mates carefully. It’s not a big boat, you can’t hide from each other and you’re all eating dinner together, so you’d better like your people. Because once you’ve sailed Croatia this way, I’m warning you: standing in a hotel lobby waiting for a tour bus is going to hit a little differently.
If a Croatian yacht is calling your name, my team at Fabulous Adventures Travel would love to help you pick the right yacht, cabin and crew, and the right group to share it with.
