Croatia & The Dalmatian Coast Small Group Tour; Split to Dubrovnik 9nts

Welcome to Croatia. The journey begins in UNESCO World Heritage-listed Split, a city of stone towers, cobbled alleyways and squares that open up without warning. The group meets before sunset and heads to a local restaurant for the first dinner together.

A local guide leads the way through the heart of Split and into the white walls of Diocletian's Palace, where 1,700 years of history sit in the stonework, past the Grgur Ninski statue and St Domnius, one of the world's oldest cathedrals, built in the early fourth century. Then the first minicoach drive, to the port town of Trogir, where another local guide covers the marble streets and the stone, cream and white Romanesque buildings before free time to explore and find dinner.

A leisurely walk through Krka National Park with a local guide, among rippling topaz water, misted waterfalls and the wildlife that lives inside the park's borders. Afterwards, a traditional winery and celebrated regional producer, where the owner pours a selection of wines in the tasting room and homemade tapas comes out to match them. The rest of the day is free back in Trogir.

Leave Trogir behind for the island of Korcula, said to be the birthplace of Marco Polo. Your tour leader walks the group through the medieval walled Old Town and its fishbone streets, laid out to shield the town from the wind. Later comes a cooking class led by two sisters, three courses made from scratch using local ingredients, perhaps pasticada or kupus na tabak, and eaten together with wine.

A free day on Korcula. Trace the narrow streets of the Old Town, find a family-run restaurant for paprenjaci or pijana hobotnica, or take a water taxi across to the tiny island of Vrnik. Your tour leader keeps a list of local spots worth asking about.

The ferry crosses to the Peljesac Peninsula, a strip of steep hillsides and symmetrical vines that has been making wine since Greek and Roman times. The tasting starts down in the barrel basement, where the host runs through every stage of production, then moves on to premium wines paired with sweet and savoury tapas. Afterwards the coastal road crosses into Montenegro and follows the water to Kotor, with free time in the UNESCO-listed Old Town before dinner at the group's eighteenth-century hotel.

A walking tour of Kotor with a local guide, through cracked stone walls, tiny streets and busy squares. Then the walled medieval city of Budva, 2,500 years of history covered by another local guide, before returning to Kotor. The evening is free: climb the city walls for the bay at sunset, or find a long dinner.

A boat crosses the bay to Our Lady of the Rocks, a man-made island with a church at its heart and a long history of miracles, pirates and shipwrecks. Then back into Croatia and on to Dubrovnik, with the rest of the day free inside the walls.

A local guide covers 1,400 years of Dubrovnik on a walk through the Old Town, past the Romanesque-Gothic Franciscan Monastery and the narrow streets around it. Then the cable car up Mount Srd, where the Adriatic and the red-tiled roofs open out below. The farewell dinner is a short drive from the walls, on a family farm cooking from recipes centuries old.

The last morning goes to Trsteno Arboretum, whose lily ponds and sheltered pathways stood in for the King's Landing gardens in Game of Thrones. Then a local oyster farm: a short boat ride out to the floating bar, an explanation of how the produce is picked and prepared, schnapps and wine, arancini and sugared almonds, and freshly caught oysters. The tour ends after a leisurely lunch at the oyster farm restaurant and the drive back into Dubrovnik.