Late spring and early autumn are still gorgeous.
If you rent a boat it can be a bit better, but even then it's a hassle with marinas, etc. Just avoid the peak months IMO.
We did this as well. There were a lot less cars and a lot more children back then. Now it's the opposite.
I think that at some point we'll wake up to the cultural and environmental devastation we've wrought and do something about it. Hopefully it won't be too late by then.
If you think things are bad now look at Serbia: sold to China because nobody in the EU cares.
Greece is unique in it's own way - but it's the OG tourist trap in the area.
Coast of Italy isn't really comparable on the Adriatc side (haven't been to Sicily so can't really compare)
And Montenegro is 100x more overdeveloped and touristy. I’m not sure where exactly you are referring to.
Communicating with locals over 30 is a bit challenging unless you know Albanian or Italian (I know, I was surprised too), but it's worth it for the pretty, not overcrowded beaches.
I’m writing this from a small 20 tent only campsite on a Croatian island. Access is only by ferry. Facilities are limited (no large supermarkets for example). It’s our third summer here and while there have been some changes, it is very slow.
Taking a boat out for a day or two also allows for exploration of other, more remote islands. Some bays still aren’t over crowded with boats anchoring for the day.
Also, later in August and early in the week are quieter times. Yesterday, I was the only person swimming at a nice sandy beach at 14:00.
I very much doubt it - one of the reasons we are in this mess is some 80+ years of human capital devastation - we have nowhere to draw experts or leaders from anymore.
You need rich foreign expats, tired of paying 50% of their salaries in exchange for run down cities and homelessness, creating value in the country.
If tourism is your only strategy you won't go far.
Half-Croat here. What you propose would destroy what is left of the country. Public services are already shoddy as it is because Croatia doesn't have much economy outside of tourism, agriculture and a bit of heavy industry. The best and young minds have been leaving the country for well over half a century.
If conditions were more fiscally favourable, if there were better private schools, an english speaking expat community, I'd definitely move there.
I think Montenegro is doing pretty good in that regard. Taxation is straightforward and reasonable. That attracted private capital. Good private schools started popping out, the Tivat marina was built. It's also the first country to be in line to join the EU - which is not something I consider positive, but it's certainly a sign of the quality of the country.
Sadly Croatia is still not there and, frankly, I doubt it's going to get there anytime soon. Croatia is like a poorer version of countries in the EU: high and complex taxes, which get converted into mediocre services after passing through an inefficient government. The only difference is that European countries are richer and therefore the services are marginally better, even if they're getting worse and worse over time.
I understand my anarchist solution can be seen as radical and it's not going to happen, but even moving in that direction would be helpful.
I'm afraid we're talking into a societal, environmental and cultural catastrophe and that nothing will change until it's too late.
Working as a small business freelancer (<1M Euro income/year) gets you around 70% net income (this is with healthcare and minimal retirement plan payments and without accounting and doing stuff like justifying expenses etc. which drives that much further with VAT returns). Public healthcare is inconsistent at best, but there is a healthy industry of medical tourism built for western Europeans that's easily affordable on a normal freelancer income. Likewise private childcare, schools, etc. all available and affordable. And all those beautiful places are still around and nice other 10 months a year. You can easily afford multiple properties and a comfortable lifestyle.
I spent a decent amount of time into looking for alternative places I could live in EU but really nothing looks that interesting, Spain looked attractive until I saw the taxes (and their public system is not worth that kind of money), western Europe is expensive and I would get very minimal increase in income by moving there (programming is not well paid) so I can realistically have a better standard of living here.
I agree that having a rush of tourists in a country not accustomed to them can cause problems for both the tourists and the locals that resent the sudden influx.
While I complain about it being overcrowded during peak tourist season that's just me reminiscing about the time that I grew up which was during and shortly after the civil war (naturally not a lot of tourism back then and it took years to recover). Any popular tourist place in Europe I've been to has been similar, eg. Dubrovnik is super popular and overcrowded - but so is Venice for example (if not worse).