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n the past decade Croatia has gone from being the quieter, affordable alternative to Italy to a top summer beach destination for the super-yacht set. So take a tip from JAMES STEWART and head for one of these lesser-visited islands and secret spots, best enjoyed out of season, when the days are warm and the beaches and vine-covered hillsides are blissfully crowd-free.
DALMATIANS call it fijaka - a deliciously lazy mood of utter contentment - and it encapsulates the feeling of a Croatian break in shoulder season. The sun is hot, the sea stays warm til November, and home is blanketed by damp grey skies - hooray!
Less conducive to the mood is when Dubrovnik is chock-full of coach tours (practically all year round). So, go instead to those out-of-the-way beaches and islands which the Croats themselves escape to; places of pinch-me perfection where lunches are long and nightlife means a nightcap by the harbour. Although most are within an hour of an international airport, they are little haikus of holidaymaking: so simple, so pure and nowadays so sophisticated thanks to a new breed of small hotel. And just out of season the prices plummet - but not the temperatures. Now there is something conducive to afijaka. source
