Mediterranean (Venice & Istria)

Arriving in Venice by water still stops me cold every time — the campanile rising over the lagoon, vaporetti cutting wakes across your bow, the whole impossible city materialising out of the morning haze. Charter a boat from Pula or Rovinj on the Croatian side and you get the best of both worlds: Italian baroque grandeur and the quieter, pine-scented Istrian coast within a short day's sail of each other.

The Adriatic's wind regime here is dominated by the maestral, a reliable north-westerly sea breeze that fills in each afternoon between June and August, giving you pleasant beam reaches down the Istrian coast. The bora is the one to respect — a cold, katabatic north-easterly that can arrive with alarming speed, especially in autumn, and builds a short, steep chop that is deeply unpleasant in a small boat.

Most cruisers day-sail from anchorage to anchorage; night passages aren't really necessary on this compact coast. Rovinj's old town, piled on its island promontory, is genuinely beautiful, and the anchorage off the southern rocks is workable in settled weather. Pula's Roman amphitheatre, visible from the marina entrance, rewards a half-day ashore.

Provisioning is straightforward in any of the larger Croatian ACI marinas, and prices remain noticeably lower than comparable Italian ports. Bareboat charters are readily available out of Pula; Trieste suits those who want to day-trip Venice by ferry and keep the boat in calmer, better-sheltered water.

Paperwork-wise, crossing between Italian and Croatian waters requires clearing out properly — don't skip it, as spot checks do happen.

June and September are the pick of months; July and August are busy, hot, and expensive, and the bora season makes October a trip for experienced sailors only.