Croatia Photography Tours & Workshops

Sixteen terraced lakes step down through the forest in a chain of travertine waterfalls, and each one is a different shade of turquoise. Plitvice Lakes National Park is Croatia's most photographed landscape, and in mid-October it is at its finest. The beech and maple forests turn red and gold, early mist hangs over the water, and the summer crowds are long gone. It's a place made for long exposures, from the wooden boardwalks that weave across the upper lakes to Veliki Slap, the Great Waterfall, the tallest in Croatia.

We give Plitvice two full days instead of a rushed visit. That lets us work the lower and upper lakes in the best light, and we use viewpoints that stay open after the park closes, so we keep the last light on the Great Waterfall. Bring a tripod and a polarizer. The fall color does the rest.

Plitvice is mountain forest. Krka National Park is warm, Mediterranean, and shaped by its river. Its centerpiece is Skradinski Buk, where the water tumbles over a wide staircase of travertine cascades into an emerald pool, framed by old stone watermills. A boardwalk loop puts you right beside the falls. Swimming has been banned here since 2021 to protect the travertine, so the pools stay calm and free of people, which is ideal for waterfall photography. Upriver, from a viewpoint high above the canyon, the tiny island monastery of Visovac sits in the middle of the Krka River. It's one of the most peaceful views in Croatia.

Our guides know where the boardwalk frames the cascades best and how to work around the crowds. Pack an ND filter and your widest lens.

Hvar Town is the Dalmatian coast at its most photogenic. Stone lanes climb steeply from a harbor full of boats, and the Spanish Fortress, known locally as Fortica, keeps watch from the hill above. Arriving by catamaran from Split, you see the whole scene come into view from the water. The real prize comes at the end of the day. From the fortress walls, the view sweeps across terracotta rooftops and the harbor to the Pakleni Islands, which glow gold and then deep blue as the sun drops into the Adriatic.

We spend a night on the island, so there's no last ferry to rush for. Stay for blue hour as the harbor lights come on, then wander back through lanes you'll have almost to yourself in October.

Few cities reward a photographer like Dubrovnik. More than a mile of medieval walls wraps around the Old Town, enclosing terracotta roofs, baroque church domes and the polished limestone of the Stradun, all set against the deep blue Adriatic. The Pearl of the Adriatic drew photographers long before Game of Thrones made it famous, and today it is one of Europe's busiest cities, so timing is everything. October helps. The cruise crowds thin out, and the low autumn sun warms the stone.

We photograph the Old Town early, before the day-trippers arrive. We walk the full circuit of the city walls, then drive up Mount Srd to look down over the whole city as the sun sets and the lights come on. With two nights here, no shot is rushed.