The Neretva River dominates the scenery in the hinterland of South Dalmatia. This is mostly a marshland region, with occasional limestone areas. Shallow riverboats characteristic of the region glide up and down the river, and there are endless fields all around where people grow a variety of produce. The Neretva is the habitat of one of the largest species of trout-the marble trout, which can weigh more than thirty kilograms. Near the mouth of the Neretva, there is an unusual bay called Malostonski zaljev, where the sea abounds in different kinds of shellfish.

On the road to Dubrovnik to the south, lies the Trsteno arboretum, one of the oldest designed parks in Croatia dating from the 16th century. The park has many exotic plant species grow in. Rijeka dubrovačka is the place of a harmonious coexistence between the villas of Dubrovnik aristocracy and the natural environment.
Other examples are found on the Elafiti Islands (Koločep, Lopud, Šipan, Jakljan, and Olipa), Island Lokrum and other islands off the coast of Dubrovnik. As the many villas show, these wooded miniature islands have been a pleasant retreat for centuries. Equally wooded are the islands of Lastovo and Mljet. One third of Mljet and a part of its sea are within the boundaries of the National Park Mljet. The special and magical beauty of Mljet led many to recognize Mljet as Homer’s lost island Ogygia, the place where Ulysses and the nymph Calypso met. Amid all this natural beauty, there are two historic monuments: the ruins of a late-antiquity palace in Polače, and the former Benedictine monastery on an islet in in the lake of Veliko jezero in the middle of Mljet National Park