The stone villages of Dalmatia

Drive ten minutes uphill from almost any Dalmatian beach and you enter another world — old stone villages where life moved inland for safety centuries ago. Some are thriving again; some stand almost empty. All of them are quietly extraordinary.

Why villages went uphill

For centuries, coastal raids pushed people to build inland and high, in tight clusters of dry-stone houses that are cool in summer and easy to defend. When the threat passed and tourism pulled life back to the water, many of these villages emptied — leaving them eerily intact.

The island villages

On Hvar, the abandoned hamlet of Malo Grablje and the hilltop Velo Grablje are slowly coming back to life with konobas and lavender; on Brač, ancient Škrip is the island's oldest settlement. The mainland behind Omiš hides the stone hamlets of the Poljica region.

How to visit

Go for lunch at a village konoba, walk the lanes, and talk to whoever's there. Several villages now have a restored house or two to stay in — see our rural & farm stays. For more offbeat corners, read unusual places in Dalmatia.