For adults, sand is less essential to seaside satisfaction, and there’s wonderful bathing to be had on Croatia’s coast. The only thing you need is an infla- table air bed to recline on between swims (more comfortable than a beach towel) and some jellies to protect your feet.

Free of the demands of small children, you can reach some out-of-the-way beaches: handy, because in summer the main resorts heave with Brits, Germans, Italians and Russians. On the Kornati archipelago, you might even find an island all to yourself. Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Clint Eastwood have made sure of this, by each buying themselves one.

Go independent: armed with a ferry timetable (more reliable than those in Greece), you can enjoy several different beaches on an island-hopping holiday. The lazy approach is to choose a single base and enjoy daily outings by ferry and excursion boat. Dubrovnik works well both as a gateway to the Elafiti islands (including Lopud, with its excellent beaches) and as a terrific place for city exploring.

If you want to go the extra mile, consider the more remote islands. A two-week holiday could include Vis, for example, a former navy island that was off limits until 1989, and so escaped tourist development. It comes with a little sister, Bisevo, home of a blue grotto to rival Capri’s in everything but crowds. Hotel Tamaris (00 385 21 711350; doubles about £25 per night), on the quay in Vis town, has simple rooms and sensational views.

If you want to prebook your island-hopping stays, Croatian Affair (020 7385 7111, www.croatianaffair.co.uk) offers two one-week itineraries and two over a fortnight. Clients are greeted at the airport, given their first ferry ticket and vouchers for their hotels, and taken to the port. They are met again at the end of the trip and returned to the airport. Prices start at £584, B&B, including flights to Split. Croatia has long been popular for bare-all beach holidays, especially with German and Dutch nudists. Koversada, an island linked by bridge to the Istrian mainland, is the oldest among 30 official naturist resorts. All are indicated by “FKK” signs (from the German Freikorperkultur), but there are also scores of unofficial strips; visit www.cronatur.com.

Go packaged: the big issue here is whether to opt for one of the mainland resorts, which tend to have the larger hotels and more action, or an island. Let’s begin with the mainland.

Tucepi is a happy, low-key sort of place with a good beach. It is backed by the Biokovo Mountains, and, for night owls, the busy resort of Makarska is within easy reach. There’s also a daily ferry to the island of Brac. A week’s half-board at the Laurentum hotel costs £639 with Bond Tours (01372 745300, www.bondtours.com).

Cavtat is an elegant little resort of tile-and-whitewash houses about 15 miles south of Dubrovnik (with regular excursion boats). You’ll pay £709, half-board, at the Hotel Croatia, with Cosmos (0870 443 1823, www.cosmos-holidays.co.uk).

The 1,000-year-old city of Dubrovnik, Byron’s “pearl of the Adriatic”, has been fully restored after its savage pounding in the early 1990s. Its honey-coloured walls, terracotta roofs and cobbled streets are back to pre-war perfection. The city also makes an excellent base for exploring, and while short of beaches, offers 15-minute ferry hops to nearby Lopud. Dubrovnik’s Pucic Palace, converted from an 18th-century nobleman’s house overlooking the daily market on Gundulic Square, was one of Croatia’s first boutique hotels; £1,450, B&B, with Simply Travel (020 8541 2214, www.simplytravel.com).

An alternative approach to Dubrovnik is to make that hop in reverse, using Lopud, with its sandy beaches and cluster of restaurants, as a base. The attractive, adults-only Villa Birimisa has six self-catering studio apartments; £639, with Tapestry (020 8235 7766, www.tapestryholidays.com).

As well as its iconic beach, Brac is noted for its olive and lemon groves, free-ranging sheep and the famous pale stone that was used to build the White House in Washington, DC. The three-star Kastil, a short walk or shuttle boat from Zlatni Rat, costs £559, B&B, with Holiday Options (0870 420 8372, www.holidayoptions.co.uk).

Hvar is the most Riviera- sophisticated of Croatia’s islands, its main town a Renaissance showcase of white palaces around a marbled Venetian square. Overlooking all this is a fortress, with a tiny museum of shipwreck-finds and a sobering plaque that reveals that, in antiquity, one in every 50 voyages ended in disaster. Hvar also has its own offshore archipelago, the Pakleni. The new three-star Hotel Podstine, small and family-run, stands a 15-minute walk from the main square, and has its own rocky beach. It costs £689, B&B, with Holiday Options (0870 420 8372, www.holidayoptions.co.uk).