Where to stay

Choosing where to stay in Croatia comes down to matching the place to the trip you want. Dubrovnik draws the largest shortlist on the site, with 30 hotels, and the Old Town puts you inside the walled core while Babin Kuk, Lapad and Gruž spread across the city's quieter and busier sides. Along the coast, Cavtat, Zaton and Srebreno sit south of Dubrovnik, and Orebic faces the Pelješac channel.

Island and mainland bases widen the choice. Korcula, Mljet, Šipan, Lopud and Koločep cover the southern islands, while Split, Zadar, Šibenik, Trogir and Makarska anchor Dalmatia. Istria and Kvarner appear through Rovinj, Porec, Pula, Opatija, Rijeka and Krk, and Zagreb holds the inland option. Counts of 5-star, family and parking-friendly hotels differ sharply between them, so use those numbers to narrow the list before you read individual hotel pages.

Across these places the 3-star hotels carry the bulk of the listings, and they appear in Dubrovnik, the Old Town, Babin Kuk, Lapad, Gruž, Zaton, Trsteno, Pile, Šipan, Lopud, Mljet, Boninovo, Mokošica, Korčula Town, Split, Kono, Montovjerna and Zagreb. The 4- and 5-star counts are where places differ: Dubrovnik lists 6 five-star hotels, Babin Kuk 10, Orebic 15, Zaton 8, Korcula 14, Split and Zagreb 15 each. Choose a 3-star base where the guides list only 3-star hotels and you want the widest choice; choose 4- and 5-star where the higher counts sit, and check the parking figure when you plan to arrive by car.