When one thinks of a holiday in Dalmatia, images of the sparkling Adriatic sea, palm trees and a summer breeze making the shadows dance along the old facades of stone buildings likely come to mind. Oh, and Ožujsko of course. Imotski, a town located in rugged inland Dalmatia, probably isn't a place that crosses your mind. It should.

While coastal Dalmatia offers glamorous yachts, a gorgeous sea, beautiful views and some of the most incredible sunsets in the world, inland Dalmatia, or the Dalmatian hinterland, is often forgotten about. Having lived for centuries in the shadow of its coastal cousin, the Dalmatian hinterland was all but bypassed, unless you were lost, that is.

Things are beginning to change, and now, the Dalmatian hinterland has a variety of specialised tourism offers ready and waiting for foreign tourists. Imotski, a Dalmatian town once best known for having the most Mercedes', is now taking a turn away from German engineering, and aiming towards tourists. Many of whom will likely be German, too, of course.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of August, 2019, Imotski's tourist board is hoping to achieve about 100,000 overnight stays this year, a figure which has so far never been reached.

''The season is good. We've had a sure July and August. The guests are mostly from Germany, Great Britain, and France,'' said Marko Mendeš, the owner of a holiday home in Imotski. They invested a lot of effort and money into it, and it appears to be paying off, writes Dnevnik.hr.

''This was an coincidence, actually. I used to work in the islands as a waiter and always said that something could be applied here [in Imotski]. People were narrow-minded, and they thought: Yeah, right, who would come to you, Imotski isn't on people's maps, we're like this, we're like that,'' Meneš said, explaining people's dislike for the idea.

But Imotski has already exceeded its number of overnight stays in the last year, and the town now has about 250 holiday homes. With a special ''recipe'', too.

''At the end of 2017, we launched an initiative to create a new Imotski (Imota) Tourist Board, which is responsible for all nine local government units. This has facilitated many projects from the development strategy of the entire Imotski region, to the development of the tourism strategy development by 2025, we're much more serious,'' said Luka Kolovrat from TZ Imota.

Guests admire the area, especially the lakes. Imotski is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination. Last year alone, over 70,000 overnight stays were realised.

''It's amazing, it's beautiful. I've never seen a lake so blue. Magical,'' said a visitor from New Zealand.

''This is one of the best lakes in the world. And we can swim in it,'' said a visitor from much closer to home in Poland.

Imotski is now hoping to achieve about 100,000 overnight stays this year, and surpass tourism figures it has ever seen before.

Make sure to follow our dedicated travel page for more information on Imotski and much, much more. If you're interested in inland Dalmatia/the Dalmatian hinterland, give Total Inland Dalmatia a follow.