Croatia’s coastal mountains offer a wealth of exhilarating hiking opportunities, with the Northern Velebit Nature Park, Paklenica National Park and Biokovo Nature Park offering a variety of trails of differing length and difficulty.

Other hiking destinations include Mt Klek above Ogulin, and, for more gentle hill walkers, Medvednica above Zagreb.

Ideally suited to a stunningly scenic day out are the Plitvice Lakes National Park and the Krka National Park, both of which feature lakes, waterfalls, boat trips and waterside boardwalk trails. Kopački rit in eastern Croatia offers boat trips in sunken forests beside the Danube, while the gorge trail at Kamačnik east of Rijeka offers one of the country’s best half-day walks.

Ideal for a combination of walking, cycling and boating, Mljet National Park stretches along the salt-water lakes of this unspoilt island.

One national park that can only be reached by boat trip (or with your own yacht) is Kornati Islands, a bewitching archipelago of bare grey-brown islands.