Croatia

The VBT Croatia self-guided tour is outstanding. Excellent routes with climbing challenge to spectacular views of the picture perfect colors of the Aegean Sea. Excellent food and warm country people who love to share their history and culture.

This was our first VBT tour - the cycling, scenery and support from Andrej was excellent. Unfortunately, the value for the accommodations was lacking. Two out of three hotels were not what we would have expected for the cost. While we thoroughly enjoyed Croatia and the cycling, we will be looking for alternative tour operators in the future.

From start to finish - this was an amazing trip. 1. Flew into split and transferred to hotel 2. Great hotel short walk from the main part of the downtown water area. 3. Great initial tour of city and history of Roman involvement (and Popes) before boarding the yacht. 4. The Yacht was amazing - great staff (Captain, Sailors, wait staff, and chef staff) - 7 total. 5. Meals on Board were exceptional. 6. Rooms were far larger than a typical cruise ship (8 below deck and 10 above deck). 7. Bar was also exceptionally well stocked. 8. Bike rides were challenging (we were on road bikes) ... but the sights were stunning ... riding to the tops of mountains made the views that much more rewarding. 9. Mid-day activities were exceptional ... things like an olive oil demonstration with lunch ... 10. Port towns (where we docked at night) - gave some outstanding options for meals and sightseeing. 11. Yacht also had a "sun" deck and a jacuzzi - it was truly exceptional. 12. Post tour extension in Dubrovnik was a must if you have not been ... toured the walled city and walked it, took the cable car to the top of the mountain and watched sunset, visited the cave bar in Hotel More (our hotel) - it was pretty amazing by itself, and then of course ate at some amazing restaurants. 13. Guides were amazing ... Irena & Matija (we did the VBT Lake District tour 6 weeks later and bumped into Matija & family on vacation there).

Great Trip - the boat helps the bike group connect - which makes the rest of the program even better

VBT Croatia was a fantastic experience. Our trip exceeded our expectations and my adult son said it was a “trip of a lifetime!” It was a perfect blend of guided and self guided. The guides had great personalities and created a great experience! I loved the variation of experiences, loved the food recommendations, loved the scenery and loved all the group interaction. I am ready for the next VBT trip! Amazing trip! Thank you.

The Croatia bike trip was simply outstanding. First and foremost, we could not have gotten better guides from Croatia to show us the islands of Hvar and Brac. The culture, the scenery, the comraderie could not have been better. Plus we learned how to ascend and descend rather large hills! Would absolutely do it again.

I can't say enough good things about our recent trip to Slovenia/Croatia. We were Country Walkers "newbies", urged by friends to try it, and thoroughly enjoyed all of it. We were initially attracted to the location, as I have ancestors from the region, but we had no idea about the gorgeous landscape, mountains, and warm and friendly people (most all are English speakers, since it is their second language in grammar school.) Hotels were above expectations, comfortable, and have addicted me to eiderdowns. The food also was better than " tour quality" and even included a private dinner at Tito's mansion on Lake Bled one evening, overlooking the lake. Excursions to a winery and Roman ruins lent educational interest (especially due to excellent guide Nada in Pula), as did the truffle hunt (thoughtcrimes, sadly, our truffle hound was unsuccessful in his hunt the day.) I must give the most credit, however, to our 2 Country Walkers guides-Vida and Irena, both avid hikers and mountaineers (among other sports), friendly, organized, and careful with our wellbeing. All tours should be fortunate enough to have such leaders. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

This was a fantastic trip! As usual CW found terrific local guides - Irena & Matej, were wonderful - very organized, knowledgeable with great senses of humor. The interesting thing about this trip is being able to experience the Julian Alps and Istrian peninsula and compare the very different landscapes. While the length of the trip was perfect, I wouldn't have minded an extra day in each place! And I did appreciate that we didn't move around too much - we stayed in the same hotel for several nights in each area which allows you to settle in and relax. Another wonderful CW excursion!

We had a great trip thanks in a large part to our guides and our Croatian hosts! Dani and Dani were a great guiding team, who adapted the itinerary to meet our needs. They were thoughtful, informative and knowledgable. I would highly recommend this trip. You will learn so much about the wonderful and beautiful Dalmatian coast.

We had an amazing time on this trip and could not have been happier with our decision to take our first ever group tour with Country Walkers. Everything about our trip was seamless. Our tour guides, Dani 1 and Dani 2, were knowledgeable, mature, funny and amiable, each in his own way, and added greatly to the trip/experience. Their local knowledge of culture, food, people, history was unmatchable. We had deep trust in them, and we knew that although everything seemed to go smoothly, they were constantly working behind the scenes to adjust plans due to weather, changes in schedule, etc. They made it look easy, but we knew it was not. Of course the hiking was nice, the views and location fantastic. The food was sumptuous and always different, so we sampled many things and felt we got exposed to all kinds of traditional Croation fare. The wine and grappa were always flowing generously. The eating locations themselves were unique. We heard rumors that this tour was being regrouped or cancelled and were quite surprised as everyone in our group seemed quite happy indeed. It would be a shame to lose these fantastic guides/guys.