Customized Travel
Each customized travel itinerary by Tasteful Croatian Journeys consists of certain essential elements arranged and finely tuned to suit the interests of the individual. Our tailor designed travel packages include superlative accommodation, knowledgeable multilingual local guides, authentic cultural experiences, and unparalleled special access, adapted to meet the unique travel style and please even the most discerning of guests.
Although every melody is composed of the same seven notes, it is the different patterns of those notes, played across many octaves, on an assortment of instruments, by musicians with great skill, that elevates it from a simple refrain to a musical masterpiece…
….And so it is with luxury travel.
Our team’s extraordinary expertise, honed over nearly 3 decades of designing luxury journeys, is evident in every trip we design. Every detail is thoughtfully placed with care, bringing each element together in seamless, beautiful harmony, for your enjoyment and pleasure, leaving behind treasured lifelong memories.
Wanda’s Promise
A message from our Founder & President
Within my heart, soul, body and mind, stirs a yearning. It begins with a dream that lingers as the sunrise softly warms my cheek, awakening me with a new day, and a new vision for my next adventure. A deep internal longing, a simultaneous hunger and thirst, which cannot be quenched until the dream is fulfilled, and memories replace what was imagined. Some of us need to travel – to expand our horizons, gather knowledge and appreciation for cultures, discover new friends, to acknowledge and confirm what my heart has always spoke to me – borders are not places to divide but where we meet.
Travel is a deeply personal sensation. Travel is about people! It is about YOU! It is about pleasures and newfound joys in new friendships. It is about that wonderful glass of wine that will forever imprint in your collection of tasteful memories. It is about expansion of your mind and your heart!
When you travel in the care of Visitcroatia.com – Tasteful Croatian Journeys, it is our profound desire to deliver the best customized travel experiences, filled with the characteristic warmth of Croatian hospitality and pleasures to last a lifetime. We are not just travel designers, we are Caretakers of Wonder, and we are here to make dreams come true.
– Wanda S. Radetti
Luxury Accommodation
Tasteful Croatian Journeys has carefully curated a collection of the finest 4- and 5-star luxury hotels, elegant boutique properties, and villas across Croatia and its surrounding regions. Our team presents recommendations for lodging based on the preferences of our travelers – the size of the party, the dates and season of travel, budget, essential elements, and the desired experience. Whether seeking the luxury and refinement of a 5-star resort, the rustic charm of a boutique 4-star property, the contemporary appeal of a design hotel, or the intimate splendor of a private villa, our team takes care to choose properties that not only align with our travelers’ needs, but which also showcase the environment they are in.
- In Split, we favor boutique heritage properties, history imbued in every stone of their structure, located in the heart of Roman Emperor Diocletian’s palace, the most valuable example of Roman architecture on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.
- On the island Korčula, that claims to be the birth place of Marco Polo, luxury accommodation includes an elegant converted bishop’s palace, ensconced in the medieval walls of Korčula.
- When in Dubrovnik, the Pearl of the Adriatic, we recommend to our travelers properties along the stunning riviera, with direct access to the sea and mesmerizing views of the walled city silhouetted as the sun melts into the sea.
- In Zagreb, Croatia’s vibrant capital city, we are enchanted by a 5-start property which exudes timeless elegance, sophistication, and charm, which back in 1925 attracted passengers of the famous Orient Express, and is still today an elite venue and historic cultural icon.
Each decision we make is based on personal inspection, so we can attest to the superb quality of every locale. Our team has personally met the personnel, dined at the restaurants, and slept on the pillows at practically every property that we offer and recommend to our guests.
When choosing properties to work with, we recognize above all the importance of the team at your service. Intelligent, cheerful, and intuitive personnel is a Tasteful Croatian Journeys prerequisite. Our team visits Croatia several times per year to conduct site inspections and maintain personal relationships with the people and properties we recommend. We share with our partners the wishes of our sophisticated travelers to assure the style of what is offered is aligned with their expectations. Our strong connections and longstanding relationships guarantee our travelers VIP treatment everywhere they stay.
Professional Private Guides
What better way to become acquainted with a place than through the company of a friendly and knowledgeable local? Tasteful Croatian Journeys does not only arrange private guided tours, we facilitate friendships. We connect our travelers with passionate local guides, carefully selected for their exceptional knowledge and genuine affection for their city and culture. We enable experiences that immerse our guests in local culture and provide them with the intimate knowledge that allows our journeys to transcend beyond simple sightseeing. Offering far more than a history lesson, travelers will not simply learn what happened in a place 1200 years ago, but rather be embedded in the consequence of that history, privy to the charms and nuance of how life is lived today.
All of our guides are English-speaking licensed professionals, carefully selected for their enthusiasm, charisma, knowledge, personality, and tone of voice. We work only with guides who are local to the city or region in which they work and equipped to provide travelers with unique insights into the region of their expertise. These talented storytellers bring to life lands unknown and deepen the connection between traveler and place.
“We didn’t feel we were listening to a history lecture on tours, we felt like we were seeing a new place with new local friends. Tasteful Croatian Journeys designed a good mix of short 2 hour guided city walks with longer day trips throughout our journey.”
Pamela Solvang, Texas
What Wanda looks for in a guide:
“Guides that are exceptional in their knowledge of the history and culture, guides that can speak of recent history in prima persona, guides that understand and honor my intent to make every encounter personal, guides, that can take the traveler behind the scenes of shops to meet the local artisans or artists, guides that can introduce professionals to their local counterparts.”
Cultural Experiences and Excursions
Croatia offers a dynamic and interesting cultural landscape. Connect with local culture through a variety of experiences and excursions designed to excite, entice, and educate. Tasteful Croatian Journeys offers a range of activities within each region and city we serve, sure to appeal to a diversity of interests. Every private excursion is accompanied by experienced professional local guides, eager to share their knowledge and enthusiasm.
Relax in style aboard a private yacht as you spend the day swimming, snorkeling, and exploring Croatia’s glittering Adriatic and numerous islands.
Get your adrenalin pumping with a private rafting excursion on the Cetina river, a sunset hike and picnic on Mount Srđ, sea kayaking across Korčula’s archipelago, or cycling through Krka National Park.
Indulge your inner foodie with a culinary expedition. Hunt truffles in the hills of Istria, dine with a local family, forage for wild asparagus with a celebrity chef, or learn the essentials of Dalmatian cooking at a charming family-run farm.
Taste the fruits of the vintner’s harvest with private tastings at Croatia’s finest wineries. Explore the many indigenous varietals such as refreshing Malvazija from the Konavle Valley, potent Plavac Mali reds from the Pelješac Peninsula, fruity Pošip from the island of Korčula, and deep ruby red Teran from the Istrian peninsula.
Discover exotic locales with day excursions to nearby cities such as Kotor, Montenegro and Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Learn the ancient arts as you immerse yourself in local culture with activities designed to share Croatia’s rich heritage. Pull thread from a silkworm in the Konavle Valley, learn to paint a fresco just as they appear in the Church of St. Rocco, and participate in a stone masonry workshop on the island of Brač.
Have something else in mind? Our team’s expansive network and close relationship with industry professionals give us the ability to custom design experiences. Tell us about the experience you would like us to create and we will bring your vision to life.
Special Access
Special Access doesn’t just mean skipping lines, it means meaningful experiences that come as the result of thoughtful planning, insider knowledge, and extensive networking.
Through our extraordinary network of partners and friends, and relationships developed and nurtured over more than three decades, Tasteful Croatian Journeys opens doors that would have otherwise remained closed.
Wanda recalls special arrangements made for our guests:
Each journey begins with a phone call – our moment to learn about you.
As we continue to plan and develop your special trip, we place special care to personalize. When we discover a way to deepen your connection and enrich your experience, we eagerly get to work to create it! These opportunities are for us, part of the passion for this work.
- Guests traveling to Dubrovnik for the New Year holiday wished to visit the charming Dalmatian Island of Korčula, which is shuttered from late fall through early spring each year. However, we wished for them not to miss this splendid place and enacted the help of our local guide and friend. The Tasteful Croatian Journeys team ensured a happy visit! The town’s museum and church were opened for the day, as was a favorite local restaurant, where the chef and his family cooked and attended to our guests, serving a feast of slow roasted meat and organic vegetables by the warm glow of the fireplace – even opening their last, best bottle of wine.
- We once had the pleasure of arranging travel for a gentleman who had been born in Zagreb, but spent his teenage years, during World War II, on the Island of Korčula. We were honored to be chosen to arrange his return to his former home, the first trip there in more than 65 years. Upon his arrival, we arranged for him to meet with a group of his contemporaries, who joined together to sing and share stories – an emotional reunion. We also made introductions to a local journalist who conducted interviews both on the radio and in print.
- Croatia’s capital city of Zagreb is well known for its many museums. A traveler in our care whose vision was severely impaired had expressed great interest in experiencing the museums. At the Zagreb Ethnographic Museum, we made special arrangements for the glass display windows to be opened, allowing him to touch and feel the artifacts with the use of fine surgical gloves so that the artifacts could be fully appreciated. At the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art, we arranged for the museum’s curator to be with our guest, explaining the works by painting the images with his voice and allowing our guest to experience them.
- The celebration of Easter is a special time for families on the island of Korčula, where the processions of spring have been a tradition for more than seven hundred years. We arranged a spectacular trip centered around the processions, giving our travelers the one-of-a-kind opportunity to join local families for the celebration. Together, they experienced foraging for bitter herbs, learning traditional recipes and cooking with the matriarch before finally sharing a meal with the family. Travelers were later able to witness the Easter processions of Korčula’s traditional brotherhoods. A fully immersive and totally unforgettable cultural experience.
- When crafting a trip for a pair of curious travelers, married for many years, and both doctors by profession, we imagined they would enjoy an opportunity for an insider’s look at the Croatian health system. We arranged for them to Visit the Dubrovnik General Hospital, and solicited the aid of our friends, the mayor of Dubrovnik at the time, who was also a doctor by profession. Our travelers were introduced to the director and doctors at the hospital. Later, while visiting the city of Opatija on the beautiful Gulf of Kvarner, we arranged a visit to the nearby children’s hospital, made possible through a dear friend, the director of the hospital.
Our team imagines and creates experiences you may not have yet dreamed of.
We strive to ensure each journey offers memorable connections and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, concentrating on the small details that make a big difference. Our Tasteful Croatian Journeys Concierge provides real time support for travelers in journey, going above and beyond to ensure unforgettable, personalized experiences. From securing the “best seat in the house” at Croatia’s finest restaurants, to obtaining VIP tickets to concerts and events, our Concierge offers travelers special attention and peace of mind from the moment they arrive in Croatia.
“Wanda’s attention to detail is second to none. She knows the individual guides, drivers and rooms at hotels. Wanda has a concierge on the ground in Croatia, who phoned us twice in Croatia (at a perfect, non-obtrusive time) to ensure we were happy and our needs were being met. When we returned, Wanda sought feedback on all aspects of our journey and asked specific probing questions to ensure that she continues to provide a great experience going forward. We highly recommend Wanda and Tasteful Croatian Journeys to anyone planning a trip to the beautiful country of Croatia.”
The Leblang Family, California
The TCJ Difference
Tasteful Croatian Journeys delivers extraordinary experiences, built upon a foundation of care, attention, and an unparalleled standard of excellence.
