Queen Victoria - Adriatic & Central Mediterranean

Where this cruise calls, day by day

6 ports and 2 sea days over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Trieste

   ItalyDepart

   Trieste is Italy's most Austrian city - a Habsburg port on the Slovenian border with a vast sea-facing square, Viennese coffee houses and very little of the usual Italian tourist crush. Ships tie up at Molo Bersaglieri, effectively on the corner of Piazza Unita d'Italia, making this one of the easiest walk-off calls anywhere. Several lines moved Venice turnarounds here after 2021.

   • Piazza Unita d'Italia, the largest sea-facing square in Europe
   • Miramare Castle and its gardens on the promontory north of the city
   • The old coffee houses - Caffe San Marco and Caffe degli Specchi
   • The Risiera di San Sabba, the only Nazi camp with a crematorium on Italian soil

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth at Molo Bersaglieri directly beside Piazza Unita d'Italia, so no shuttle is needed.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (the bora wind can be fierce in winter)

2. Day 2

   Zadar

   CroatiaPort

   Zadar's old town is a Roman forum, a 9th-century church built out of its stones, and two installations set into the modern quay - the Sea Organ, which the waves play through 35 tuned pipes under the steps, and a solar disc that lights up after dark. Where you berth decides the day: nine passengers in ten land at Gazenica, several kilometres south of the peninsula.

   • The Sea Organ, free and playing around the clock, on the Riva
   • St Donatus, the round 9th-century church standing on the Roman forum
   • The bell tower of the Cathedral of St Anastasia, for the view over the peninsula
   • Krka waterfalls inland, or a boat out into the Kornati archipelago

   Getting ashore

   Large ships dock at Gazenica, an industrial terminal 3.5km out - shuttle or taxi, about 10 minutes, and the walk is flat but shadeless. Smaller ships berth on the old town peninsula and step straight into the centre.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct

3. Day 3

   Dubrovnik

   CroatiaPort

   Dubrovnik's walled Old Town is small, hard-surfaced and steep, and on a two-ship day it does not cope - which is why the city capped cruise arrivals. Ships berth at Gruz, about 3km round the headland, so you arrive by bus or taxi rather than stepping out at the gate. The wall circuit is what people come for and it earns the ticket, but it is a 2km loop with almost no shade.

   • The city walls circuit - roughly 2km, stepped, shadeless, and about EUR40
   • The Stradun, the Rector's Palace, and the Franciscan monastery pharmacy of 1317
   • The cable car up Mount Srd for the view down onto the Old Town and Lokrum
   • A boat across to Lokrum island, or sea kayaking beneath the walls

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Gruz, about 2.5km from the Pile Gate; ship shuttles run to the gate, local buses 1A and 1B take ten minutes, and the walk is 35 minutes along a busy road.

   Best months

   May-Jun and Sep-Oct (Jul-Aug means heat on the walls and the worst of the crowding)

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   Valletta

   MaltaPort

   Valletta is a fortified 16th-century grid built by the Knights of St John on a peninsula between two harbours, and ships berth beneath it in the Grand Harbour. The city is small enough to cross in twenty minutes and dense with honey-coloured limestone, enclosed wooden balconies and streets that drop away into staircases. One of the best walk-off ports in the Mediterranean.

   • St John's Co-Cathedral, where Caravaggio's Beheading of St John hangs in the oratory
   • The Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Saluting Battery above the Grand Harbour
   • The Grandmaster's Palace and its armoury
   • Mdina, the silent walled city half an hour inland

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at the Valletta Waterfront on Pinto Wharf; the Barrakka Lift carries you straight up the bastion wall into the city, or it is a steep walk round.

   Best months

   Apr-Jun and Sep-Nov (Jul-Aug hot and dry, with little shade in the streets)

6. Day 6 · At sea

7. Day 7

   Palma de Mallorca

   SpainPort
   Palma de Mallorca port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
8. Day 8

   Barcelona

   SpainArrive
   Barcelona port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore