Pre-Cruise Venice to Split Tour; via Plitvice Lakes 3nts – Independent Tour (Wednesdays)

Pick-up at Tronchetto bus station or at Venice Marco Polo or Treviso airport, then transfer across the border to Opatija, a charming resort town on the northern Adriatic coast. Overnight in Opatija.

A guided tour of Opatija, set on Kvarner Bay and the cradle of Croatian tourism. It was the favourite spa resort of the Habsburgs and the European aristocracy, and of 19th-century figures such as Gustav Mahler and Isadora Duncan. Walking through the colourful Angiolina Park and along the Lungomare sea promenade, past Austro-Hungarian villas and residences, the glamour of old Opatija is still palpable. Overnight in Opatija.

A morning departure for Plitvice Lakes National Park, the oldest Croatian national park, made up of 16 lakes joined by cascading waterfalls. A walking tour follows the wooden paths and nature trails through lush greenery and turquoise water. Continue to the hotel in Split. Overnight in Split.

A guided tour of Split, the largest city in Dalmatia, with a cultural heritage reaching back to Roman times. At its core is the palace the emperor Diocletian built for his retirement at the turn of the 4th century, still one of the best-preserved monuments of Roman architecture in the world. The tour ends after the walking tour, in time to join a cruise from Split.