🇮🇹 🇭🇷 🇬🇷 WAIT…ITALY, CROATIA AND GREECE?
Yep.
Imagine starting in Italy, sailing across the Adriatic to Croatia, and then continuing toward Greece.
Ancient cities. Adriatic islands. Greek beaches. Ridiculously good food. A few glasses of wine. And several countries checked off without turning your vacation into one giant transportation puzzle.
And depending on the trip, you might even find Montenegro, Albania or Turkey sneaking into the itinerary.
🇮🇹 → 🇭🇷 → 🇬🇷
ONE VACATION. THREE COUNTRIES YOU ALREADY WANTED TO VISIT ANYWAY.
🌍 THE SPLURGE
You came here looking at Croatia.
But what if I told you Croatia could be part of a 14-night trip through EIGHT countries?
🇩🇪 GERMANY → 🇦🇹 AUSTRIA → 🇸🇰 SLOVAKIA → 🇭🇺 HUNGARY → 🇭🇷 CROATIA → 🇷🇸 SERBIA → 🇧🇬 BULGARIA → 🇷🇴 ROMANIA
Start in Bavaria, then follow the Danube through Austria’s Wachau Valley, spend time in Vienna, explore Bratislava, and hit Budapest with its castle district, Fisherman’s Bastion and Parliament sitting right on the river.
Then the trip starts heading somewhere a little less expected.
You reach Vukovar in Croatia, continue to Belgrade, cruise through the dramatic Iron Gates along the Serbian stretch of the Danube, explore Vidin and its fortress country in Bulgaria, visit Rousse — the “Little Paris of the East” — and finally reach Romania.
14 NIGHTS. 8 COUNTRIES.
And here's the part that would get me to SPLURGE.
YOU UNPACK ONCE.
No dragging your suitcase through eight countries. No checking into another damn hotel every few nights. No spending half the trip figuring out how you're getting from one place to the next.
You go to sleep in one country.
And wake up somewhere new.
I'm not normally the girl who gives up the car.
But for this?
DAMN. MAYBE I WANT THE BOAT. 😂
THIS is what I mean by DREAM BIG.
🇬🇷 🇲🇪 🇭🇷 🇹🇷 GREEK ISLES + THE ADRIATIC
You came to Croatia for the Adriatic.
But what if Croatia was just one part of the trip?
Start in Athens, hit Mykonos, then head into the Adriatic for the mountains and medieval streets of Kotor, Montenegro and the walls of Dubrovnik.
Then you're back to Greece for Corfu and Santorini, crossing into Turkey for Bodrum, before finishing with Chania on Crete.
11 NIGHTS. 4 COUNTRIES.
Ancient cities. Greek islands. Montenegro's ridiculous coastline. Dubrovnik. Santorini sunsets. A little Turkey thrown into the mix.
And you only unpack once.
This is exactly the kind of itinerary that could get a group of friends together and turn:
“WE SHOULD TAKE A TRIP SOMEDAY.”
into:
“HOLY SHIT. WE'RE DOING THIS.” 😂
Because sometimes the trip isn't about choosing Croatia OR Greece OR Montenegro.
Sometimes the answer is:
FUCK IT. LET'S DO ALL OF THEM.
🌍 FIVE COUNTRIES. SEVEN NIGHTS.
Maybe eight countries and fourteen nights sounds incredible.
Maybe you also have a job. 😂
There’s another way to turn Croatia into a much bigger adventure — follow the Lower Danube through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.
Start in Budapest, then head south toward Mohács before reaching Vukovar, Croatia. From there, continue into Belgrade, cruise through the dramatic Iron Gates, explore Vidin and Rousse in Bulgaria, and finish in Romania.
7 NIGHTS. 5 COUNTRIES.
This is a completely different Europe from the Greek islands and Adriatic coast.
Castles and fortresses. Communist history. Ottoman influences. Medieval towns. Big cities. Tiny villages. And borders that have moved enough times to make your head spin.
And then there's this...
🤓 NERD ALERT.
THERE'S A SMITHSONIAN VERSION.
Same incredible part of Europe.
But this one is built for the traveler who wants to understand what the hell they're looking at.
Smithsonian Journeys Experts come along to dig deeper into the history, culture, architecture and complicated stories that shaped this part of Europe — with specially curated experiences along the way.
So if you're the person reading every plaque while everyone else is already walking toward lunch...
I FOUND YOUR PEOPLE. 😂
Teenage history nerd. Grandpa who knows every WWII documentary ever made. Mom who wants to understand how all these empires fit together. The person who comes home from vacation with three new books in their suitcase.
NERDS COME IN ALL AGES.
And apparently, there's a cruise for us.
WELL...THAT ESCALATED. 😂
You came here looking at Croatia.
Now we're talking about Greek islands, the Danube, Montenegro, Turkey, Romania — and apparently getting on a Smithsonian cruise with a bunch of fellow history nerds.
THIS IS EXACTLY WHY I LOVE PLANNING TRAVEL.
Sometimes you know exactly where you want to go.
And sometimes one damn idea changes the entire trip.
You don't need to know which itinerary.
You don't need to know which ship.
You don't need to figure out how all these countries fit together.
THAT'S MY JOB.