17 days in Northwest Italy, Central Croatia & Central Greece Itinerary

The forested hills of Central Croatia support vineyards along its slopes, which fall gently into river valleys. The region features hiking, cycling, hunting, and sightseeing in the mainland dotted with romantic castles, Baroque churches, and monasteries. This area offers more than 350 registered cultural sites, as well as ethnographic villages and several places of religious pilgrimage. Join some of the well thought-out tours focused on folklore, naïve art, and old trades and traditions, such as gold panning. For a weekend trip, many visitors combine tasting local cuisine and premium wines with a visit to one of the countryside manor houses showcasing the region's wooden architecture. The lakes and rivers provide the chance to try rowing, rafting, and fishing. This region teems with stories and myths, such as the legend of dancing witches, but it also boasts modern amenities like ski resorts, health spas, and natural thermal springs.

Central Greece became a major travel destination thousands of years ago, known around the ancient world as the home of the famous oracle of Apollo. Today, the small town of Delphi and its eponymous archaeological site top the itinerary of most visitors to Central Greece. Sightseers visit this site by the thousands to admire the mastery of ancient Greek builders, who constructed a vast complex of buildings to mark what they thought of as the center of the universe. The rest of the region remains a less-trodden land of pristine mountains, rivers, forests, ravines, and caves. Central Greece also contains a long coastline and boasts some of the finest beaches in the Mediterranean.