Top 10 Anchorages in Croatia You Need to Visit

Top 10 anchorages in Croatia

Croatia has 1,200 islands, islets and rocks — and several hundred genuinely spectacular anchorages. These are the ten that every Croatian sailing itinerary should include.

1. Stiniva Bay, Vis

Repeatedly voted Europe's best beach, and the reputation is earned. Stiniva is a small pebble cove at the end of a narrow fjord on Vis's south coast, enclosed by vertical cliffs that almost meet at the entrance. The approach by sea is dramatic: a 30-metre-wide gap between rock faces reveals a hidden turquoise bowl at the bottom.

By 10am in peak season, the bay is full. Arrive at dawn. Anchor in 6–10m of clear water, swim through the entrance, watch the fishing boats pass outside. There is no other place quite like it in the Adriatic.

Depths: 4–12m. Holding: good sand. Best months: May, June, September.

2. Pakleni Islands, Hvar

The Pakleni are a scattering of pine-forested islets immediately south-west of Hvar Town, separated from the main island by a channel navigable only in the smallest vessels. The result is a series of natural anchorages — Palmižana, Vlaka, Stipanska — that are simultaneously within dinghying distance of Hvar's nightlife and utterly removed from it.

Anchor off Palmižana's naturist beach in the afternoon, take the tender to Hvar Town for dinner, return by moonlight. The restaurant at Palmižana — set among overgrown villa gardens — is exceptional.

Depths: 3–10m at anchor. Tender: 15 minutes to Hvar Town.

3. Kornati National Park

One hundred uninhabited limestone islands rising sheer from the sea, their seaward flanks stripped bare by centuries of grazing and saltspray. The Kornati archipelago is one of the most dramatic and isolated cruising grounds in the Mediterranean.

The National Park entry fee (approximately £25 per day) is collected by the park warden who visits each anchorage by RIB. Several islands have small, family-run restaurants accessible only by sea — call ahead (they'll still have landline numbers from a simpler era) or simply arrive and see if they're open.

Best anchorages within the park: Strižnja Bay on Kornat, Statival Bay on Levrnaka, Smokvica Vela.

4. Skrivena Luka, Lastovo

Lastovo is Croatia's most remote inhabited island — two hours under sail from Korčula, rarely visited, with a village hidden in a hollow behind the hills so effectively that Venetian sailors named it "the hidden port." Skrivena Luka on the island's south coast is a deeply indented bay, completely sheltered from all winds, with two small restaurant-cafés at its head.

The lobster at Konoba Augusta Insula has been talked about by sailing guides for two decades. It deserves the reputation. In July and August, Lastovo hosts a small community of regulars who have been coming for thirty years and guard its reputation for obscurity jealously. They're right.

Depths: 5–15m. Mooring lines ashore from the rocks. Very calm in all conditions.

5. Prigradica, Korčula

The north coast of Korčula island is one of the few parts of Dalmatia where life continues at its own pace. Prigradica is a small fishing village with a single quay, a church on the headland and vineyards running down to the sea. The local wine — Grk and Pošip, both indigenous Korčula whites — is extraordinary and available from the konoba above the harbour for prices that feel like a different century.

Anchor or stern-moor to the quay. Eat whatever the landlord caught this morning.

6. Šćedro Island

An uninhabited island between Hvar and Korčula, covered in pine and rosemary scrub, with a ruined Dominican monastery at its western end and a small family restaurant that has been run by the same family since the 1970s. The anchorage in Uvala Mostir (Monastery Bay) is completely sheltered and empty on all but the most crowded August weekends.

No mobile phone signal. No tourist infrastructure. Just the monastery cats and the smell of rosemary.

Depths: 4–10m in the bay. Restaurant: check for seasonal opening.

7. Smokvilje Bay, Mljet

Mljet's UNESCO National Park contains two saltwater lakes — Malo and Veliko Jezero — connected to the sea by a narrow channel. Entry into the lakes is restricted to kayaks and small electric boats (sailing yachts and motorboats anchor outside in Polače Bay or the surrounding bays). Smokvilje is a calm, pine-fringed anchorage on Mljet's north coast, outside the park boundary, from which the 30-minute walk to the park entrance is straightforward.

Buy the National Park permit at the entrance (approximately £15 per person). The 11th-century Benedictine monastery on the island in the middle of the lake is one of the most atmospheric buildings in the Adriatic.

8. Bol, Brač — Zlatni Rat (Golden Cape)

Croatia's most photographed beach: a white-pebble promontory that extends 500 metres into the sea and changes shape with the wind. In July, it's crowded. At dawn in June, with the Vidova Gora mountain behind and the Hvar channel in front, it's genuinely spectacular.

Anchor to the east of the cape in 5–8m, swim from the boat to the beach. The town of Bol behind has excellent restaurants, a good waterfront promenade and direct ferry connections to Split for crew changes.

9. Sv. Andrija Island, Dubrovnik

The most southerly island in Croatia and one of the least visited, Sv. Andrija lies 8 miles west of Dubrovnik. The anchorage in the eastern bay is calm in southerly and westerly winds. No inhabitants, no tourist infrastructure, some of the clearest water in the Adriatic.

Excellent diving on the offshore reef at the island's north-west tip. Red coral in remarkable health — rare in this part of the Mediterranean.

Depths: 6–15m. Use a weight to keep the anchor line clear of the bottom.

10. Trstenik, Pelješac Peninsula

The Pelješac Peninsula is Croatia's great wine country — Dingač and Postup, the peninsula's two red wines, are among the finest produced anywhere in the Adriatic. Trstenik is a quiet harbour village on the peninsula's north coast, sheltered from the summer Maestral, from which it is possible to walk (or dinghying along the coast) to a small family-run winery.

The Dingač vines grow on steep, south-facing terraced hillsides that drop almost vertically to the sea. Walking between them in the late afternoon, with the sun on the Korčula channel below, is one of the great experiences of any Croatian cruise.

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