Pearls of the Adriatic Sea

Ten days down the Adriatic through three countries, with the stops doing as much work as the roads. Split starts it, where Diocletian built his retirement palace around AD 300 and the medieval town was later constructed inside the walls, so the old centre is literally a Roman building with streets in it.

Hvar follows by ferry, an island of lavender fields and old stone villages, then Dubrovnik, which earned the name Pearl of the Adriatic as an independent maritime republic that held its own against Venice for centuries. Its walls can be walked in full and are best done at opening time.

Montenegro provides the rest day at Kotor, reached around the Bay of Kotor, a flooded river canyon that looks like a fjord and is ringed by a road that is one of the finest in the Balkans. Budva is nearby. Mostar comes next in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Stari Most arches over the Neretva: Ottoman, destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004, and the point where European and Ottoman architecture meet in the same street. Zadar closes the trip with a second rest day near the Krka waterfalls, with Biokovo National Park and the Cetina Gorge also on the route.

Edelweiss include a choice of BMW motorcycle, nine nights in hotels with local character, a guide and a tour book, with flights separate and the inclusions not itemised in full on the operator’s page. Prices are per person for 2026. Three countries, a Roman palace, an Ottoman bridge and a walled city republic in ten days is a lot of history for one tour, and the coast road ties it together.