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<i>Eryngium amethystinum</i> L. is a wild vegetable used in Croatia. Both <i>E</i>. <i>amethystinum</i> and <i>E. alpinum</i> L. are decorative plants that can also be used in horticulture. To find out the hidden qualities of these two species, the following biological activities were studied: essential oil (EO) composition, analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC, GC–MS); phenolic compound content (PC), analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); total phenols as well as total flavonoids, analyzed by ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry (UV/Vis); antioxidants, analyzed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging activity (DPPH), β-carotene-linoleic acid assay, chelating activity and reducing power of the extracts; and antimicrobial evaluation by micro-dilution assay and inhibition of <i>Candida albicans</i> blastospore germination. The major constituents of EO were <i>β</i>-caryophyllene (15.2%), <i>α</i>-pinene (10.2%) and 2,3,6-trimethylbenzaldehyde (9.3%) for <i>E. amethystinum</i> and caryophyllene oxide (27.9%), bicyclogermacrene (13.2%) and germacrene D (8.2%) for <i>E. alpinum</i>. The methanol extracts of both species showed a broad spectrum of antibacterial and antifungal activity with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) less than or equal to 1.944 and 1.11 mg/mL, respectively.