Travel To Croatia With Children

Travel To Croatia With Children

By Bojana Nagy

An important part of any family holiday is spending quality time together. However, keeping the children entertained at the same time can sometimes be a challenge. We’ve got some great ideas of things to do with the kids during your family holiday in Dalmatia to ensure everyone stays happy.

A splash and a splosh

Dalmatia is filled with a fun watery playground, with endless possibilities of things to do. You could hire kayaks and paddle across the calm sea at any of the islands (or the mainland). Just remember to take your snorkelling masks with you. Or you could take it more leisurely on a boat and let the kids jump off the boat straight into the sea. If you’re traveling with older children, why not book them a scuba “try-dive” with professional diving centers (Hvar, Vis, Lastovo or Korčula) or a windsurfing lesson at licenced sailing schools (Brač, Hvar or Korčula area). Better still, why not join them? It’s a family holiday after all!

Exploring Nature

If you have a budding David Attenborough or Bear Grylls, Korčula, Lastovo and Mljet have ample forests, nature parks and their fair share of wildlife to feed their passion.

Get On Your Bike

We think that almost every child loves to ride a bike. You can rent bikes on the spot in many places (all in varying sizes) as well as helmets. Heading to the middle of any island is all uphill, but there are some flatter routes, mainly coastal roads (limited traffic) where you’ll find rewarding beaches at the end of each of these cycle rides. Just be sensible if you are visiting on your family holiday in the summer as it gets very hot during the middle of the day.

A Day at the Beach

You may have read or heard about Croatia’s beaches. The majority of them are pebbly or rocky, but some Dalmatian islands have a couple of child-friendly, sandy beaches – perfect for small feet away from any sharp rocks or spikey urchins, which are found a lot along the shoreline. The water here also stays shallow so it the ideal spot for beginner swimmers Check out Bačvice beach in Split, Bilin Žal, Lumbarda and Brna on Korčula island, Blaće on Mljet island, Sućuraj and Jelsa on Hvar island, or Porat on Vis island to name but a few.

Outdoor Spaces

You’ll find an abundance of playgrounds and sports grounds across the islands. Football pitches, volleyball courts, swimming pools are usually found in any hotel complex/resort.

Inflatables and Mocktails

Every popular beach under concession (whether on an island or on the mainland) boasts a very fun water inflatable park, which you don’t have to be a child to bounce around on! The onsite beach bars are also the perfect places to refresh with a mocktail for the kids and a cocktail for the parents. Ice cream shops in the area to be expected.

Island-hopping

From pre-teens to teens and beyond, an island cruise is truly fun for the whole family. The boats stop frequently for swimming and snorkelling, giving kids an opportunity to let off steam. Plus there’s plenty of time to explore the ports of call.

Truffle Hunting With Cute Dogs

The famous white truffle can be found only in the countryside, and one of the few regions to hunt for this delicacy is Istria. This is the biggest area of white truffles in the world. Dogs have the nose for truffles but not necessarily the tastebuds: they’d rather find the truffles then receive a dog treat as a reward!

We love to organize this fun activity of searching the truffles for our guests who then learn how to prepare a meal with truffles.

Our friendly hosts will serve your local wine, cheese, and truffle-flavored honey, paté and other delicacies. 

Our guests always rave about this adventure, because they learn so much about this rare delicacy, and with someone who has been passed the knowledge from generation to generation. “My wife’s favorite was the truffle hunt due to seeing the exceptional relationship between the truffle dog and her handler. It was amazing,” one of our travelers said.

Check out our blog post for more ideas and first-hand accounts of what Croatia offers those who travel as a family.

To find more about our tours that give a true and authentic flavor of Croatia, simply speak to a member of our friendly and knowledgeable team.