Explore UNESCO heritage in Croatia: 14 days private trip from Zagreb to Dubrovnik

Parts of Croatian heritage, due to their exceptional characteristics, are considered as goods of "outstanding universal value" and are inscribed on the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage.

It seems like you are traveling through the time when you look at the old roman cities of Zadar, Split, Šibenik, or Trogir, some more than 3,000 years old. Walk through the historical complex of the Diocletian's Palace in Split and be amazed by the glorious Old Town of Dubrovnik. 

Croatia may be a small country but it has a rich culture and history and it boasts a total of ten UNESCO World Heritage sites. Here are some of the important ones you will see during this trip.

Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Poreč

Along with Pula, Poreč was the first Roman colony in Istria. It retained the ancient layout of the streets in the old town and remains of a Roman temple, and it is also known throughout the world for its sixth-century Basilica. The Euphrasian Basilica is one of the best-preserved early Christian structures and belongs to the most significant historical monuments in the world.

The historic city of Trogir

Trogir's rich culture was created under the influence of old Greeks, Romans, and Venetians.

Trogir's medieval core, surrounded by walls, comprises a preserved castle and tower and a series of dwellings and palaces from the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.

The must-see attractions in the town are the Cathedral of St. Lawrence, known for its Romanesque door carved in the 13th century, the Kamerlengo fortress, the 15thcentury loggia, clock tower, and Gothic Renaissance Cipko Palace.

Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian

The Palace was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian at the turn of the fourth century A.D. and later served as the basis of the city of Split. A cathedral was built in the Middle Ages along with the ancient mausoleum, churches, fortifications, Gothic and Renaissance palaces.

Diocletian's Palace is a combination of a Roman military camp called Castrum and a luxury villa.

The Palace is divided into four parts and has two main streets. The stone used for the palace building was from the quarry in Seget, from Brač and different parts of the Roman Empire, even from Egypt.

Today, it is fully open for visits and was one of the famous worldwide Game of Thrones show filming locations.

Old City of Dubrovnik

Jutting out into the Adriatic Sea with a backdrop of rugged limestone mountains, Dubrovnik Old Town is known as one of the world's finest and most perfectly preserved medieval cities in the world. For centuries, Dubrovnik rivalled Venice as a trading port, with its vast sturdy stone walls, built between the 11th and 17th centuries, affording protection to this former city-state.

Today, these walls still enclose Dubrovnik's historical centre, and it is possible to walk along them to enjoy the best views of the 'Pearl of the Adriatic' and the surrounding lush green islands. Dubrovnik's Baroque churches, monasteries and palaces; its Renaissance fountains and facades are all intertwined with gleaming wide marble-paved squares, steep cobbled streets and houses, all of which have also remained unchanged for centuries.

The Stari Grad Plain on the island of Hvar

The Stari Grad Plain is an agricultural landscape that the ancient Greek colonists set up in the 4th century B.C. and remains in use today. Stari Grad Plain represents a land organisation system based on geometrical parcels with dry stone wall boundaries. This system was completed from the very first by a rainwater recovery system involving tanks and gutters.

Stećci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards

The most recent Croatian contribution to UNESCO's World Heritage Site list is an honour shared between Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, each of whom hosts stećci. Stećci are medieval tombstones notable for their unique design and decoration that typifies funerary art in this region between the 12th and 16th centuries.

Cathedral of St James in Šibenik

The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik is one of the most important Renaissance architectural monuments in the eastern Adriatic. It is unique because it is a structure built entirely from stone, and over more than 100 years, during the 15th and 16th centuries. The structural characteristics of the Cathedral of St James in Šibenik make it a unique and outstanding building in which Gothic and Renaissance forms have been successfully blended.

Venetian Works of defence - Zadar, Šibenik

This property consists of 15 components of defence works in Italy, Croatia, and Montenegro, spanning more than 1,000 kilometres. Croatian sites include the defensive system of Zadar and St. Nicholas Fortress in Šibenik dating from the 15th to 17th century.

Paklenica, Northern Velebit National Park

Hiking is the only way to get to know Paklenica. The Park area contains 150–200 km of trails and paths, from those intended for tourists, leading from Velika Paklenica Canyon to Manita peć cave, Lugarnica forest cottage and the mountain hut, to those designed for mountaineers, leading to the highest peaks of Velebit. The trails in the Park are marked with boards and mountaineering signs.

Plitvice Lakes National Park

Its status as a UNESCO site comes from its unusual geology, which results from thousands of years of water flowing over limestone and chalk to create natural travertine dams. Over time, water has flowed over the natural limestone and chalk, building natural barriers creating a series of connecting lakes, waterfalls, and caves. The nearby forests are home to bears, wolves, and many rare bird species.

The main attractions of this Park, unique globally, are the 16 small lakes joined by waterfalls created by the sedimentation of travertine, a particular type of limestone. There are also several caves in the Park and springs and flowering meadows.