The Best Places to Eat and Stay in Croatia

The sushi counter faces an open kitchen inside Hotel Bellevue, with a panoramic terrace over the Adriatic as an alternative. This is a contemporary Japanese restaurant doing both classic sashimi and more creative takes, plus Wagyu for anyone who arrived by yacht and wants to make sure everyone knows it. The sake and Japanese whisky list is carefully chosen, which at a resort hotel on a Croatian island is either charming or surreal, possibly both.

A family restaurant steps from Hvar's old port, with walls covered in floral arrangements and a wine room stocked heavily with Croatian bottles. The menu leans toward fish, as it should this close to the water, though a 60-day dry-aged ribeye is there to make carnivores feel included. The terrace is spacious and unhurried. Book ahead in summer, or spend the evening charming the locals into giving up their table.

A family-run restaurant in the Istrian countryside where meat is the point and the kitchen makes no apologies for it. Prosciutto opens the conversation, slow-cooked game carries it, and wild boar braised with porcini and served over roasted polenta tends to close it. The dining room is old-school comfortable, and the terrace looks out over rolling countryside in a way that makes you forget you had afternoon plans.

The terraces hang right over the Adriatic, with the lit fortress walls of Lovrijenac close enough to feel theatrical. Nautika is a classic fine-dining restaurant at the gate of Dubrovnik's old city, serving Dalmatian cooking anchored in French and Italian technique, the kind of place that has no interest in whatever was trending last season. The team is polished, the wine list deep, and a reservation is non-negotiable.

You ring a doorbell to get in, which is either charming or terrifying depending on your disposition. Nav seats eight guests at a time, and the chef cooks, serves, and narrates every course himself, so the line between dinner party and tasting menu dissolves fast. Twelve courses follow the Croatian seasons, with produce from the chef's own farm forty kilometres out. Small-batch local wine pairings, bread worth singling out, and a reservation system that requires payment upfront.

Terrace tables sit beneath old olive trees in the middle of Supetar, a small Dalmatian island town that moves at its own pace. This is a full-service restaurant in Hotel Osam doing Croatian coastal cooking, the kind that moves between the fishing boat and the farm without making a fuss about it. Chicken thighs cooked under a peka brick share the menu with shrimp and tomato skewers in lemon butter. The rooftop bar upstairs handles sunset duties.

The terrace alone could sell the meal, perched above the Adriatic with views that make the wine list almost beside the point. Pjerin is a fine dining restaurant inside Villa Dubrovnik, recently renovated into something sleek and contemporary without losing the coastal ease. The kitchen works the Mediterranean canon through seasonal ingredients and Adriatic fish, with handmade pasta a particular draw. Croatian wines arrive with a knowledgeable hand, quietly and without fanfare.

The day's catch is laid out at the entrance so you can pick your dinner before you sit down, which sets the tone for this old-school seafood restaurant perched above the small harbour of Volosko. The Adriatic runs through everything on the plate, classical in approach with the occasional lighter creative touch. In winter, the glass veranda puts you practically on the water; in summer, the terrace takes over.

A terrace a short walk from Zagreb's cathedral makes a fine place to open wine, and this modern bistro leans into that mood. The wine list runs about a hundred labels with most available by the glass, which suits the wine-bar soul underneath the bistro skin. The kitchen pulls from the nearby Dolac market, so the menu shifts with the season, running local meat, Adriatic fish, and whatever vegetables looked good that morning.

The first-floor terrace is the open secret here, a seafood restaurant tucked into Dubrovnik's old city where the view earns its keep. The Adriatic catch comes simply prepared over charcoal, which is either reassuring or a hint that the fish doesn't need much help. Finish with rožata, the local crème caramel, and you'll have done things in the right order. It's been around forever, and the room shows it.

A fourteenth-century stone building on the island of Čiovo, a short walk from Trogir's old town, houses this contemporary restaurant. Fish leads the menu, cooked with modern precision, though the kitchen handles meat and vegan dishes too. The Croatian wine list skews toward by-the-glass pours, which is a quietly generous policy. In warm months, the stone patio is where you want to be.

A contemporary tasting menu restaurant inside a small hotel on the Kvarner Gulf, where the front tables look out over calm Adriatic water through a fringe of the property's own olive grove, the oil from which ends up on your plate. The kitchen runs four or seven course blind menus built around local Croatian ingredients, handled with enough creativity that the food earns its view rather than just borrowing it.

A 1970s Triumph Spitfire convertible sits inside the dining room, which tells you something about this old-school Istrian seafood restaurant. The glassed-in veranda looks straight over Marina Veruda's yacht harbour, and the rooftop bar catches the sunset if you time it right. The kitchen runs on the local catch, grilled, baked, or buried in a salt crust, with Kvarner langoustines a regular fixture on the menu.

Stone walls, a wooden ceiling, and a terrace that fills up when the weather cooperates: this hotel restaurant in a quiet Istrian village a few kilometers from the coast has the kind of room that does the decorating for you. The chef plates a modern take on Istrian cooking, moving between the hinterland and the sea as the seasons shift. Dinner begins with house-baked bread and a tasting of four estate olive oils, which tells you more or less everything about the priorities here.

Dry-aged catch finished on a Japanese grill at a seafront fine dining spot on Porec's promenade, where the outdoor terrace looks straight out over the marina. The menu is deliberately short, maybe ten dishes, steerable into a tasting menu if you want the full arc. Seafood runs the show, handled with enough modern technique to feel considered rather than fussy. The Croatian wine list is worth a closer look.

A farmhouse turned country restaurant tucked below the Učka mountains, a short drive from Opatija, where the kitchen builds the menu almost entirely around Istrian ingredients. The star is boškarin, the local cattle breed, and the slow-braised shank is the thing to order. Fish appears on the menu, but this is a meat-and-land kind of place, run by a family that has never felt the need to complicate what the region already does well.

The name means sauce in Croatian, which tells you exactly what the kitchen cares about. This relaxed stone tavern sits away from Split's tourist scrum and serves generous Dalmatian cooking, land and sea, with a quiet Italian undertow. The menu reads like a straightforward argument for Mediterranean ingredients left to speak for themselves. A pretty outdoor patio handles summers nicely. Casual dress, honest portions, no performance.

A meat-aging fridge greets you at the door, and the fresh catch is displayed just past it, which tells you most of what you need to know. This is a family-run traditional Croatian table on a quiet residential hill outside the center, warm enough to feel like someone's home. Portions are generous, sharing is expected, and there's a whole section devoted to offal for the enthusiasts. Croatian wines, narrated by the staff who poured them.

A Japanese restaurant inside Hotel Lone where the menu runs through sushi, sashimi, gyoza, and warm soups, but the kitchen sources its fish and produce almost entirely from Istria. The effect is less fusion gimmick than quiet conversation between two very different food cultures. Summer seating in a pine-shaded garden is where you want to be, ideally with something from the cocktail list while deciding between nigiri and rabbit teriyaki.

A terrace above the Adriatic, herbs and vegetables pulled from the resort's own garden, French technique laid over Dalmatian ingredients: this is a modern Mediterranean restaurant inside Maslina Resort on Hvar's quieter side. The menu runs land and sea à la carte, with a catch of the day that changes when the boats do. The wine list reaches beyond Croatian labels into France, which feels either cosmopolitan or hedge-your-bets, depending on your mood.

Set inside the inner courtyard of Zagreb's Youth Theatre, this lively modern Mediterranean restaurant leans into its setting without going full costume drama. The open kitchen does the performing, while the veranda tables fill first every summer. The menu moves between Adriatic fish, Italian and French influences, and Croatian classics reworked with a precise, visual hand, with six and nine-course tasting menus available in the evenings.

A wall of living plants covers the entrance, a nod to Medvednica, the mountain range that more or less runs the kitchen's whole philosophy. This compact modern restaurant in Zagreb's busiest pedestrian quarter builds its creative tasting menus around local, mostly organic produce, pushing sweet, bitter, and acidic in the same breath. The sommelier steers you toward Croatian wines, which turns out to be a better education than you'd planned for a Tuesday.

The terrace of this preserved Austro-Hungarian villa stretches toward the Kvarner Gulf, and the view does most of the talking before the food arrives. It's a proper restaurant, the kind that takes a weekend lunch seriously, with several dining rooms inside and a menu of seasonal Mediterranean cooking that leans on the sea but doesn't ignore the land. The kitchen balances tradition with a few quiet modern moves, and the chef keeps off-menu dishes worth asking about.

A regional dining room tucked inside an Art Nouveau hotel in Osijek, with contemporary canvases hanging where you'd half-expect hunting trophies. The kitchen works closely with local farmers, so the menu shifts with the seasons and leans into Slavonian flavors, from hearty stuffed pork cuts to desserts that make the table go quiet. The wine list runs through small local producers you won't find anywhere else.

Art deco columns and white tablecloths set the tone at this formal hotel dining room inside the Esplanade, where the kitchen reinterprets Mediterranean and continental cooking through a seasonal, local lens. The wine list runs past 200 labels with a generous pour-by-the-glass selection, which is convenient when you're deciding between the third and fourth course. Dress accordingly; this is a room that still takes dinner seriously.

A regional Croatian restaurant sitting inside a working winery, with vineyard hills rolling out in every direction and a large outdoor gazebo that becomes the only sensible place to sit once the weather cooperates. The menu leans hard on local tradition, which here means grilled meats done with conviction. The Hussar's Steak, finished with house-made bacon, smoked ham, onion, and red chili, is the dish everyone seems to order first and talk about longest.

The unmarked door on the harbor promenade leads up to a rooftop terrace with a full view over the Adriatic, which is a fairly good trick considering it sits right at the edge of Diocletian's Palace. This contemporary Mediterranean restaurant plays with traditional Dalmatian recipes without dismantling them, and the wine list skews local in a way the staff are happy to talk you through. Dressy-casual, the kind of place you book ahead.

Tables spill into a narrow lane inside the old town walls, which puts you about as deep inside medieval Dubrovnik as dinner gets. This small, informal restaurant opens with Croatian tapas, prosciutto and local cheese giving way to fish, meat, and vegetarian plates with a contemporary Mediterranean slant. The kind of place that attracts everyone from day-trippers to locals who know to book ahead.

Sixteen rooms and suites on the Opatija Riviera, in a resort town most of Croatia's foreign visitors somehow skip. The hotel leans Art Deco throughout, with Hermès products in the bathrooms and espresso machines in the rooms, and several suites have terraces over the Adriatic. The spa, a fine-dining restaurant, and a poolside lounge mean you never have to leave, though Opatija proper is only minutes down the coast when you do.

All 28 rooms face the Adriatic at this small beachfront hotel sitting directly on Tunjara Beach in a Dalmatian village that has, improbably, its own medieval battle legend. The Bishop's Tower commemorating it is visible from the property. Restaurant Oblica handles contemporary Mediterranean on the serious end, while Terapija Food & Bar does pizzas and cocktails with your feet practically in the water. Split Airport is a short drive away.

An 18th-century castle that happens to be the only hotel on the island of Šolta, less than an hour by yacht from Split. Seven suites keep things quiet and uncrowded, blending period stonework with contemporary comfort, while the restaurant leans into coastal Mediterranean cooking and the terrace looks straight down over Maslinica's marina. For anyone who finds big resort hotels a bit exhausting, the math here is pretty simple.

Cave Bar More, a cocktail bar carved into a series of underground rock chambers that open onto the waterfront, gives this adults-only hillside hotel its personality. The 77 rooms and suites on Lapad peninsula sit a couple of miles from the Old Town, most with balconies over the bay. Two sea-view terrace restaurants lean into local catch and the broader eastern Adriatic pantry, and a bathing deck below the building offers direct sea access.

The rooftop Zenith Bar may be the most persuasive argument for booking a room here rather than commuting from the old town for sunset. Hotel Kompas sits on Lapad Bay, a couple of miles west of the walls, with a thoroughly renovated interior that plays its mid-century modernist bones into something genuinely crisp: whites, creams, balconies on every room, and heated bathroom floors keeping things comfortable.

A century-old Italianate villa on the Hvar waterfront, redesigned in clean modern-minimalist lines, where the marina sits just outside the door and the nightlife is genuinely steps away. This boutique hotel is about as polished as this part of Croatia gets, which, given how unspoiled it still feels compared to the rest of Europe, is part of the appeal. Sportsmen, sightseers, and clubbers all seem to find a reason to stay.

Fifty feet from the Adriatic, this eleven-room boutique hotel sits in a quiet bay on the edge of Pula, and most of the rooms look straight out to sea. The owners designed the whole thing themselves, which gives it an eclectic, slightly personal feel you don't get from a chain. A heated pool shares the view, a small spa handles the wellness side, and two bars, one poolside and one on the beach, pour drinks and light bites all day.

On Hvar's seafront promenade, Moeesy is a luxury boutique hotel that has been doing the intimate, residential thing since before anyone called it that. The rooms are modest in number, the atmosphere is quietly private, and the small spa and Mediterranean restaurant keep guests from ever needing a reason to leave. It's been around forever, and carries that ease well, like a grand hotel that stopped trying to impress you and just started being good company.

Exposed stone walls meet clean-lined contemporary furniture in this boutique hotel tucked into the old town of Šibenik, where the views run from medieval rooftops to open Adriatic. The residences step it up with private hot tubs or saunas. Two restaurants cover the spectrum from straight Dalmatian grill to something more playful, and the terrace catches the sunset over the Šibenik channel at a reliable angle.

A teardrop-shaped contemporary building perched on a narrow peninsula just south of Šibenik's Renaissance old town, with floor-to-ceiling windows that face the Adriatic and a fleet of yachts moored outside. This 63-room resort keeps its interiors minimal and polished, wisely letting the view do the decorating. Two restaurants, four bars, and an infinity pool for anyone paralyzed by the options. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

A restored 15th-century palace on a cobblestone square in Šibenik's car-free Old Town, a short wander from two UNESCO sites most tourists in Croatia have never seen. This seventeen-room boutique hotel keeps its period bones intact, with stone doorways, wood-beamed ceilings, hand-painted murals, and gilded mirrors. The ground-floor café spills onto the square, which covers breakfast and the wine-at-dusk moment. Dinner means wandering the medieval lanes, which is not a hardship.

Thirteen restaurants and bars is not a boast you can shrug off, and Sun Gardens backs it up with four hundred rooms, suites, and apartments spread along the Croatian coast outside Dubrovnik. The resort's interiors lean sharp and contemporary, with Adriatic blue deployed tastefully rather than relentlessly. Three pools, a beach, the region's largest spa, and a food market stocking local pastries, fish, and wine round out a property that runs big without feeling anonymous.

The art on the walls in this boutique hotel is for sale, which means you could genuinely redecorate your living room during check-in. Spread across two restored historic buildings in Zadar's old town, the 16 rooms run from cool grey minimalism to deep blues and mustard, depending on which building you're in. The in-house gallery rotates local and international work, and the restaurant keeps things grounded in Dalmatian coast cooking.

A boutique hotel built inside the remains of Zadar's ancient city walls, which makes for a slightly surreal check-in. Inside, the rooms trade centuries-old stone for soft grays, cool whites, teak floors, and handmade furnishings, so the contrast does the decorating for you. The in-house restaurant, Kaštel, leans into Dalmatian and Mediterranean cooking, and the terrace tables are the obvious move when the weather cooperates.

A small seafront hotel in Orebić where the Mediterranean color palette leans hard into nautical without tipping into kitsch. The eleven rooms and a spa share the same waterfront DNA as sister property Villa Korta Katarina, and the terraces face the sea directly. The Captain's Terrace restaurant and American Bar both spill outside, and the house winery keeps both well supplied.

Floor-to-ceiling Adriatic views set the tone at this seafront Hyatt Regency, a full-service hotel a short walk from Zadar's Old Town and its Roman ruins. Rooms run gold, yellow, and sea green, the spa has a hammam and both indoor and outdoor pools, and two dining spots cover everything from casual drinks to Asian and South American plates. It sits close enough to the sea organ and the famous sunsets that you barely need a plan.

A medieval clifftop town on the island of Krk makes an unlikely setting for a boutique hotel with an integrative medicine practice running multi-week health protocols. Verbenicum's 19 suites and rooms lean into the surroundings with herringbone parquet and charcoal linens, while a heated outdoor pool overlooks the Mediterranean garden. The library is stocked with world literature, for when the doctor prescribes reading.

Orange and lemon trees grow inside the atrium, which sets the tone for a five-star wellness resort that takes its atmosphere more seriously than most. Rooms have sliding balcony doors and mood-controlled lighting, with the top suites adding hot tubs on the terrace. The spa runs to seawater pools, marble relaxation beds, a cryosauna, and several heat rooms. It sits on the edge of Čikat Bay, a short walk from the port of Mali Lošinj.

Stone villa turned boutique hotel, set among the family's own vineyards and olive groves just outside Novalja on Pag island. Rooms are named for local plants and finished with handmade details and natural materials, and the views stretch to the sea. There's a winery on the property and a Michelin-starred restaurant, so a quiet evening here can take a while. For travelers who find beach resorts exhausting, this is a different kind of Croatian summer.

A hotel that's been around forever on the Croatian island of Rab, sitting between the old town and a city park as if it planned this all along. The original architecture stays intact while the rooms lean contemporary, a combination that works better than it sounds. Two pools, a poolside bar, the Nobilis restaurant spilling into the gardens, and a beach shuttle for when the strolling loses its charm.

A 1958 Dr. Pepper machine stocked with Croatian sodas tells you most of what you need to know about this ten-room boutique inn on the island of Vis. The Brač stone house sits steps from the harbor, with lamps shaped like fishing traps and walls hung with fine art photography. Vis spent decades closed to outsiders as a naval base, so the island still moves at its own pace, and "pomâlo," the local word for slow down, gives the place its name.

The Adriatic blue used throughout the rooms will one day rival Santorini's signature whitewash as a color worth traveling for, or so one hopes. This large, modern luxury resort sits on the Punta Skala peninsula minutes from Zadar, with spacious balconied rooms, a monumental spa with four pools and hammam, beachfront restaurants serving Dalmatian cooking, and a coastline that makes the whole setup feel less like a hotel and more like a reasonable argument for Croatia.

Tucked into a courtyard off the city center, Basta calls itself a gourmet bar rather than a pizzeria, and it mostly earns the distinction. The dough is hand-stretched and Verace Pizza Napoletana certified, coming out light enough to make you reconsider everything Croatia has ever served you on a plate. The menu runs from classic Neapolitan pies to gourmet riffs, with cold cut platters and focaccia filling the gaps. Service is quick and genuinely warm.