Šibenik

Šibenik's cathedral, fortresses and the boat to Skradin

Šibenik's old town needs a day. Reach the Cathedral of St James early, read the frieze of carved faces on its apses and see the mortar-free stone baptistery, then climb to St Michael's Fortress and Barone Fortress for views over the channel and islands. In the afternoon take the boat to Skradin for Krka.

Reach the Cathedral of St James early, before the coach groups, and walk right round the outside first, reading the frieze of carved faces on the apses. Then go in for the baptistery, its stone blocks fitted together without any mortar. Climb the lanes behind the cathedral to St Michael's Fortress, where the ramparts look across the roofs to the islands, and cross the hill to Barone for the same view with fewer people on it.

After lunch, come down past the medieval monastery garden and follow the shore path beside St Anthony's Channel out to St Nicholas Fortress, about half an hour each way. If you would rather swim, take a ferry from the quay to Zlarin instead and spend the afternoon off its rocks. In the evening, check the programme at St Michael's: summer concerts are staged inside the fortress walls, high above the lit-up town.

Give the second day to Krka. Drive or take the bus to Skradin, board the park boat upriver and walk the boardwalks at Skradinski buk before the late-morning crowd. Return to the coast by late afternoon and swim at Solaris or Srima, where the water is cleaner than in the bay.

Reaching Skradinski buk at Krka by park boat or from Lozovac

Visit Krka National Park from Šibenik, the reason many people base themselves in the town. The river drops through travertine falls before widening into the estuary that ends at Šibenik, and Skradinski buk, the largest cascade, is reached from Skradin by the park boat upstream or from the Lozovac entrance by shuttle bus.

Skradinski buk, the largest and most visited cascade, has two approaches: from Skradin, a small river town where the park boat heads upstream, or from the Lozovac entrance, where a shuttle bus runs down to the falls.

Wooden walkways loop over the pools and past restored water mills, and an unhurried circuit takes a couple of hours. Swimming below the falls has been banned to protect the park, so keep the swimsuit for the coast. In July and August the boardwalks are jammed by late morning, and turning up at opening time makes more difference than anything else you can plan. Ticket prices rise steeply in high season, so check the park website before you set out.

Driving from Šibenik is simplest, though buses also run toward Skradin. Make a full day of it with a long lunch by the Skradin marina, then come back down the estuary road as the light fades.

Brudet, Babić red and the slow veal risotto of Skradin

Šibenik serves straightforward Dalmatian food: fish grilled the day it was landed, pršut sliced with hard sheep's cheese, olive oil from the hills and brudet fish stew with tomato and wine. Drink Babić, the local red, and in Skradin order the veal risotto that cooks for hours.

Food here is straightforward Dalmatian cooking, and its best moments are simple ones: fish grilled the day it was landed, pršut (air-dried ham) sliced with hard sheep's cheese, and olive oil from the hills behind the coast. Seafood also comes as brudet, a fish stew finished with tomato and wine, or as crni rižot, risotto turned black with cuttlefish ink. In the old town, the lanes around the cathedral hide small konobas with a handful of tables outside.

Upriver, Skradin has its own dish, skradinski rižot, a veal risotto stirred for hours, which makes lunch there the natural end to a morning at Krka. Down the coast, the vineyards around Primošten grow Babić, a dark local red worth asking for by name.

Waterfront tables in Šibenik charge for the view. Two streets back, portions grow and bills shrink, and on Zlarin or Prvić lunch is usually whatever the boats brought in that morning.