Croatia Island Hopping Bike Tour

If you like boats and biking, then you will love a Croatia Island Hopping Bike Tour! I spent a week on this trip in June 2022 and loved every minute.

This was my third time experiencing island hopping in Croatia, with each time to a different set of islands. This time we sailed around the islands between the towns of Zadar and Split on the Dalmatian coast.

In addition to Croatia, I have used the same company Islandhopping.com to do combination boat and bike tours in Greece and Vietnam. I started these types of vacations in 2012 and have done a total of six trips over the years! You can check out my videos of these trips on my Greece, Vietnam, Croatia pages.

Croatia is becoming a more popular tourist destination with its scenic coastline on the Adriatic Sea, quaint villages, and 1,246 islands (of which 48 are populated). You can also enjoy national parks with waterfalls and river rafting. Nearly 10% of Croatia is made up of eleven nature parks, eight national parks, and two nature reserves.

The name of our tour was ‘National Parks Plus‘, starting near Split and visiting the islands and parks north of there to Zadar. The Magellan boat was more luxurious than the others we’ve been on. We always try to book a room above deck as it offers easier access and you can look out your window to see the view. You pay a bit more for rooms above deck than those below deck. However, you won’t spend much time in your small room except to sleep and bathe.

We flew into the airport in the city of Split. From there, it was a short 20-minute transfer to the town of Trogir where we found our docked ship. We arrived in the early morning so we spent time walking around the historic town before we could get on the boat as of 2 pm.

One of the first things you’ll do once on the boat is to get introduced to your fellow passengers for the week. On these tours, there can be up to 30 people in the group. As this company is based in Germany, there are usually many German and Swiss-German people on the tours. On some of the tours, we’ve had people from England and France. We were lucky this time to have a Canadian family with whom we could speak English during the whole week. Depending on the group participants, the language of the tours is in German and/or English. I have to say the majority of the group was older (over The ages of participants on this tour ranged from 20 to 80.

In recent years, I’ve started reserving an electric bike instead of standard bike. E-bikes make the bike tour so much more enjoyable. The crew takes the bikes off the boat in the morning and loads them back on after the ride. They provide quality bike bags and all the water bottles you could need. You just have to show up to ride!

Each day will have an itinerary of biking on a different island. The guides hand out paper maps in the morning and describe the route. There is a bike guide leading the group and another guide at the back to ensure everyone stays together. They will stop on the side of the road occasionally for everyone to drink water and let the group catch up.

The length of the rides are described in the online brochure and vary between 15 km and 45 km. You can always opt out of biking on a certain day and just stay on the boat. The boat will usually drop us off at one point on an island and sail around to the other side to pick us up. We did a total of 170 km (100 miles) on this trip!

Some of the these tours include activities other than biking, such as guided walks, village visits, or national park excursions. We were quite impressed with the waterfalls in Krka National Park that we visited one day. We took a tourist boat ride from the town of Skradin up the river to the park and then walked back along the 4 km path.

The difference in this tour compared to the others I’ve done in Croatia was the number of national parks we visited. One day, we walked to the impressive cliffs of Telascica park. I personally like a combination of walking and biking during an active vacation.

After the daily biking tour, there is usually an opportunity to go swimming off the back of the boat. Kayaks and stand-up paddles are available for use. The captain would find a quiet cove and gentle water to anchor and enjoy for an hour or so. The sea water was a bit chilly in June but is much warmer in the months of July through September.

When the boat is cruising during the day to the next destination, you can find a spot to relax on the boat’s upper deck or one of the other seating areas. All meals are included in the package except for a couple of nights when we are free to explore the towns and choose our own restaurant. The ship food is very tasty and there is always plenty to fill you up after the biking exercise.

These bike tours offer a bit of everything, riding on a boat with the wind in your hair, exercising while biking and enjoying the scenic landscape, and visiting the cute villages on the islands. I really like seeing the different islands and experiencing the towns. Eating and sleeping on a boat is a lot of fun. You can even sleep on the upper deck if you have your own sleeping bag or blanket.

We absolutely loved this Croatia Island Hopping Bike Tour! We will most likely do another one of the Islandhopping.com in the future. If you need more information about these tours, just reach out and let me know.

If you are looking for assistance to plan your next trip, I am here for YOU! I love to plan travel itineraries for myself and others. For more details on how I provide this service, please check out my Itinerary Planning page and drop me a quick email at jan@janadventures.com to get started!