‘Varaždin, Croatia’s Vienna and one of the best preserved baroque towns in Europe, is the place to head, particularly if you can get there for Špancirfest (last 2 weeks in August) when the cobbled lanes are filled with street performers and bands.  Perched at the end of the Julian Alps, Varaždin is also a superb base for canoeing, walking,  riding and wine-tasting.  The whites from the surrounding vineyards have won more Decanter awards this year than those from Chile or Argentina’ – The Sunday Times

The starting point for your leisure holiday (see description). Take a tour of this gem of a baroque town centre, its charming renaissance squares, palaces, baroque churches and ancient castle.

• Price: £15 pp

” . ..Croatia really was the discovery of this year: some great white wines, both  both dry and dessert with bags of character and a whole bouquet of varieties and styles …. They are, no question, up with the great Sauternes” Angela Muir, Master of Wine, Decanter World Wine Awards.

Croatia won 65 Decanter medals this year, half of which were from our own part of the world!  A Minty’s Choice guided wine tour, truly a highlight of your activity holiday to Croatia, will include tastings at 3 vineyards; an international medal winner, a regional winner and a visit to Mr. Korac who combines his enthusiasm for wine with his love of beekeeping and medvica (honey liqueur). Our local vineyards are small, tended by generations of families who haven’t yet succumbed to established ideas about the “right” way to make wine. Wines draw their distinctiveness from hill to hill and from farm to farm. Sealed with cork or bottle cap, the wine will be bursting with fruit, fragrance and sunshine. Lunch will be a selection of locally produced hams, sausages and cheeses, freshly baked bread and salad sprinkled with north Croatia’s speciality dressing; pumpkin oil and apple vinaigrette.  Price includes – transfers, lunch, wine-tastings at 2 vineyards, visit to bee-keeper/honey liqueur producer. Estimated duration (12 ~ 6pm)

• Price: £45 pp

If you know where to look. For example – an evening out at Mala Hiza – “(little house) one of the finest Croatian restaurants in the country”. Frommers. Sample a menu full of creative interpretations of regional Croatian cuisine such as turkey roulade with chestnut puree, Dalmatian prsut, and sour cherry sauce complemented wth thumb-size portions of heavenly gnocchi stuffed with cheese and spinach. For dessert, try zlevanka, a special dessert of cornmeal cake topped with walnuts and poppyseed. A huge selection of off-menu old-time Croatian dishes and peka-cooked meats is available with notice, and the wine list is a showcase for local vintners.

• Price: As required

For a great day out, a tour of the best preserved and picturesque castle in Croatia remodelled in the Romantic revival style and compared to Ludwig of Bavaria’s Fantasy Castle Neuschwanstein. Take a leisurely stroll around its ornamental lake and gardens,  tour the castle followed by a drive up Ravna Gora to its peak for a picnic lunch with wine and stunning views over Slovenia and Hungary.

• Price: £45 pp with lunch (min 2)

and treat yourself to the ultimate in relaxation and pampering during your leisure holiday to North Croatia which has been famous for the therapeutic and rejuvenating properties of its thermal waters since Roman times. We recommend a new ’boutique’ hotel where each beautifully decorated room contains its own Jacuzzi tub, connected directly to the hot spring waters and overlooking a panoramic view of the green Zagorjean hills. B&B with full access to saunas and thermal water whirlpool is only €80 pppn. The in-house restaurant (€16 set menu) is the best we’ve eaten at in Croatia, an exciting fusion of international flair and traditional specialities. The hotel offers a variety of leisure holiday packages depending on length of stay, inclusion of meals and numbers of treatments requested.

• Price: from £75 pppn

For a complete change of pace and scenery go back in time for a truly memorable guided nature safari in the largest protected wetland area not only in Croatia but in the whole Danube basin . Nowhere else can you witness the kind of cultural life and heritage that, until the end of the 19th century, was still typical of many parts of Central Europe; a rare example of man and nature working in perfect harmony. Stay with Jakša’s family in his charming traditional oak built farmhouse on the side of the Sava river and sample his delicious home grown organic produce.  Spend the day with your personal park ranger as he points out the Park’s rare sights and sounds – water clover, the yellow and blue water lilies, marsh irises, tree frogs and 38 dragon fly species. With luck you may also see the white-tailed eagle, the lesser spotted eagle, the rare Posavina horse and the swimming Turoplje Pig.   From April to end of August you will see the white storks in Čigoć, a ‘European Stork Village’ (‘a must see’ – Rough Guide), with their nests delicately balanced on the roofs of the old houses.    Excellent fishing is also on offer later in the year for specimen carp, pike and catfish.

• Price: £40 pp (min 2) tour only