Zadar, verdict by verdict

Zadar is the most underrated city on the Dalmatian coast: a Roman-and-Venetian old town on a small peninsula, a seafront where the Sea Organ plays music off the waves and the Greeting to the Sun lights the dusk, and five national parks within day-trip reach. It is Split's smaller, calmer rival.

The real caveats: inside the walls there are fewer blockbuster sights than Split's Diocletian complex or Dubrovnik's ramparts, and the famous promenade packs at sunset in summer. Beaches in town are concrete platforms and small pebble strips rather than sweeps of sand, so it is a base city rather than a beach city, and off-season travelers should know the Kornati boats thin out from November to April.

Where it wins is the day-trip menu: Kornati archipelago boat trips, Plitvice and Krka lakes, Paklenica gorges and Pag island all radiate from Zadar, with Split-level access at lower prices and a tenth of Dubrovnik's crowds. Two to three days covers the old town and a Sea Organ sunset plus a Kornati or Plitvice day and Paklenica or Krka, and a week works for island-hopping the archipelago. June and September are the sweet spots for swimming and boats, and the old town is a walkable peninsula where everything inside the walls is on foot.