Those who love the feel of the city of Dubrovnik but can’t bear the crowds head to lesser-known Korcula town on the sleepy island of Korcula, which juts dramatically into the sea a little north of the city and bears more than a passing resemblance to it – minus the hordes. One of the greenest islands in the Adriatic, Korcula becomes more popular every year but because it is a ferry ride away, it remains blissfully uncrowded.
Housed in what was an 18th-century bishop’s palace and five cottages, the hotel has six ‘residences’, each sleeping up to four people and individually decorated in the style of somewhere explored by Marco Polo (supposedly born in Korcula) – for example, Ceylon and India. The hotel also has a fully crewed private yacht on which you can go off exploring neighbouring islands, and it can organise hiking, windsurfing, sailing, diving and wine-tasting.