Croatia

Croatia delivers a classic Mediterranean trip with cleaner water than most. The coast is the draw — Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, plus thousands of islands. Inland is undersold: Plitvice and Krka national parks deserve their own days, and Zagreb has quietly become a fun small-city break.

The trip builds itself around the ferries: base in Split, island-hop south through Hvar and Korčula, finish in Dubrovnik. Days are simple — swim off the rocks, eat grilled fish and black risotto at a konoba, drive the coast road as the light goes gold. Plitvice needs its own day inland, ideally on the way down from Zagreb. Accommodation eats most of the budget in summer; the ferries and food stay reasonable.

Know what you're getting: the beaches are pebbles and concrete platforms, not sand, and in July and August Dubrovnik's old town is shoulder-to-shoulder with cruise passengers by mid-morning. Croatia stopped being a budget destination years ago — peak-season prices match Italy. If you want wide sandy beaches or a bargain, look elsewhere. Come in June or September instead and you get some of the clearest swimming water in the Mediterranean at half the crush.