A pleasant wind blowing your hair as you get into an island that provides different kinds of landscapes and entertainment. Made up of pine forests, soundless beaches, vineyards, and one of the best preserved old towns you can find in the Mediterranean, Korcula island, standing quietly in Croatia, is a place that you should definitely visit.
Lying just 1,200 meters off Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, this island’s old town dates from the 15th to 18th centuries. Therefore, its streets and architecture maintain the influence of those times. As you enter through a single, fortified gateway, you will start feeling as if you’re stepping back in time, while your senses are being distracted by the delightful smell of pine. Also, your attention will be caught by the astonishing colors of the flowers that hang from balconies, and by the warmth of the local stones with their characteristic ocher color.
As long as you continue walking through Korcula’s narrow streets, you will see a huge variety of decorations including coats of arms, shells, frogs, faces, and winged lions carved by the local craftsmen adorning the walls of different palaces, houses, and churches that stand tall, gathered together in this rocky outcrop. Also, you will notice that some first-floor level houses are connected by small bridges because it’s the only way their homes can be expanded.
Imposing over the old town’s skyline is the cathedral of St. Mark, whose breathtaking belfry worked also as a watchtower. Additionally, around the corner you can find the building where the explorer Marco Polo was born, or at least that’s what islanders claim, and now it hides inside a small museum with incredible views.
How can you get there?
Korcula is about 2.5 hours from Dubrovnik by hydrofoil, and it can also be reached by car ferry from Orebic and Split.
We recommend you to visit this island from spring through fall, but even in the hottest months there’s a cold breeze, so you don’t really have to worry about the dates. What you have to do is take some time, go on vacation, and visit this island when you’re free.
Just for you to know
Korcula town can be explored in a day, but you can spend a week on the island enjoying its beaches, like the sandy Lumbarda, unlike the other rocky beaches, and visiting its vineyards around Vela Luka. You can rent cars and bicycles near the marina. Last but not least there are regular bus services to the villages and main beaches, so you don’t have to worry that much about transportation.
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