The Dalmatian coast is a straightforward week to plan and an easy one to overplan. The single mistake that ruins it is treating the islands as day trips slotted between two cities, when the ferry timetable makes that either impossible or miserable. Build the week around the boats and it works.
Days one and two: Split
Split is not a city with a Roman ruin in it. The old town is the ruin — Diocletian's Palace, a fourth-century imperial retirement complex that people never stopped living in, so its walls now contain bars, apartments and a cathedral built into the emperor's mausoleum. It is unlike anywhere else on the Adriatic and it rewards wandering without a plan.
Climb Marjan hill on the peninsula for the view back over the terracotta and the islands beyond, ideally at the end of the day. Swim at Bacvice, the shallow city beach, or take the short bus west to the quieter coves.
Two nights is right. Split is also where you sort logistics: the ferry port, the bus station and the railway sit together on the waterfront, which makes onward planning simple.
Days three and four: Hvar
An hour by catamaran from Split. Hvar town is the glamorous end of the Croatian islands, with a fortress above the harbour, a broad marble square, and a nightlife reputation that is entirely earned — which is either the appeal or the reason to stay elsewhere on the island.
Two things worth doing beyond the town. The Pakleni islands, a scatter of wooded islets fifteen minutes offshore by taxi boat, where the swimming is far better than anything in town. And the interior: the lavender fields and the old hill villages, which most visitors never see because they never leave the harbour.
Watch which port your return ferry uses. Catamarans serve Hvar town; the larger car ferries dock at Stari Grad, which is a bus ride away, and people miss boats over exactly this.
Days five and six: Korcula
Quieter, greener, and to my mind the better island. Korcula town is a fortified peninsula of stone streets laid out in a herringbone — designed so the summer wind blows through and the winter wind does not — and it takes about twenty minutes to walk end to end.
The island is known for its white wines, particularly Posip and Grk from the vineyards around Lumbarda, and the tasting rooms are small and unpretentious. Rent a bike or a scooter and it is easy to reach beaches you will share with almost nobody.
Korcula is well placed for the run south, with catamarans continuing to Dubrovnik.
Day seven: Dubrovnik
Arrive by boat if you can — the approach to the walled city from the water is the view, and it is wasted arriving by bus.
The city walls are the thing to do and the timing matters enormously. Walk them at opening or in the last two hours before close: the circuit is largely unshaded, midday in summer is genuinely punishing, and the cruise-ship crowds peak in the middle of the day. Check the cruise schedule for your date if you can, because the difference between a ship day and a quiet one inside the old town is dramatic.
The cable car up Srd gives the view over the walls and the islands, and is best near sunset.
Ferries, which are the actual constraint
Fast catamarans link Split, Hvar, Korcula and Dubrovnik through the summer, and this route effectively shrinks or disappears out of season — several connections do not run at all from roughly October to Easter. If you are travelling outside summer, verify every leg before you book accommodation, because the itinerary above depends on boats that may not exist in November.
In July and August the opposite problem applies: catamarans sell out. Book ahead, and note that foot passengers and vehicles are handled completely differently, with different prices and different boarding.
What to leave out
Plitvice and Istria. Both are excellent and both are in the wrong direction — Plitvice is inland toward Zagreb, Istria is at the top of the country. Adding either to this week turns a coastal trip into a driving one.
Also resist a third island. The temptation is strong and the cost is a day lost to ports and waiting. Two islands, properly, beats three in transit.