Croatia's Best-Kept Secret.

The Neretva Delta is one of the most distinctive and beautiful places to row in Europe — and one of the least known. The river fans out into a wide network of channels as it approaches the Adriatic, creating kilometre after kilometre of flat, sheltered water with almost no current. The conditions here are unlike the open coast: calm, protected, and surrounded by a landscape that surprises almost every visitor who encounters it for the first time.

What makes it special is what surrounds you. The Neretva valley accounts for roughly 70% of all citrus trees in Croatia, and the delta itself is a working agricultural landscape unlike anything else in the region. Mandarin groves dominate the riverbanks, with oranges and other fruit trees filling out the rest, and the whole area has a lush, almost subtropical feel. It is a world away from the rocky, sun-bleached coastline associated with Dalmatia — green, fertile, and alive in a completely different way.

The delta is also one of the most important wetland ecosystems in the eastern Adriatic, listed on the Ramsar Convention and home to nearly 200 bird species. It is a significant breeding, stopover, and wintering site, and rowing through the channels in the early morning you will often have the water almost entirely to yourself, with herons, egrets, and cormorants lining the banks.

The conditions can vary — the valley is known for its winds — but on a calm morning the stillness here is something you will not find easily anywhere else in summer. The food is exceptional. The Neretva valley is known for its eels and frogs, traditionally prepared together as a rich brodet stew that has been recognised by the Slow Food Foundation and appears on menus here that you will not find anywhere else in Croatia.

The surrounding landscape adds another layer entirely. The delta wetlands stretch out towards the sea while the limestone mountains of the Dinaric range rise sharply on either side of the valley. The contrast between the two is striking, and it is the kind of place that reminds you why you travel in the first place.