Almost every first trip runs down the Adriatic. Dubrovnik is the set piece, walled and compact, and two nights is enough before the day boats to Lokrum and the Elafiti. Split is the practical base further north: a Roman emperor's palace with a city living inside it, and the ferry port for Hvar, Brač and Vis. Between them sit Trogir, Šibenik and Zadar, and inland the waterfalls at Krka and Plitvice. Istria in the northwest is the other country: truffles, Roman Pula, and hill towns that read as Italian. Zagreb holds the museums and the coffee culture, and it is the way in if you are flying rather than sailing. May, June and September are the windows, when the sea is warm and the ferries still run on the summer timetable.
4 Croatia city guides
Fun fact
The Croatian Hydrographic Institute counts 1,244 islands, islets, rocks and reefs off the Adriatic coast. Only 78 of those are islands proper, and a fraction of the 78 are permanently inhabited.
Stereotypes, sorted out
The realityDubrovnik is one walled kilometre at the far southern tip, and the drive from it to Zagreb takes most of a day. Split, Istria, the Kvarner islands and the Slavonian plain are separate trips with separate food, and only one of them is the one on the poster.
The realityIt was, and the euro arrived on 1 January 2023. Coastal Dalmatia in August now prices close to Italy. The value is still real, but it sits in the shoulder months, in Istria's konobas and everywhere inland of the coast road.
The realityThe coast was Venetian for centuries and the north Habsburg, which is why Split reads Roman and Italian and Zagreb reads Vienna. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and the euro and the Schengen area in 2023.
The realityHvar is the party and the lavender, Vis was closed to foreigners until 1989 and stayed quiet, Korčula has a walled town and its own wine, Pag is bare rock, salt and sheep cheese. Pick two, not six.
The realityNot for the coast. Intercity buses run Rijeka to Dubrovnik all day and Jadrolinija's ferries and catamarans handle the islands. A car earns its keep in Istria, the Lika interior and Slavonia, and is a liability inside any old town.
The realityDubrovnik's walls and Lovrijenac did play the part, and the tours are a real industry. The city was a sovereign maritime republic for four and a half centuries before television found it, and the museums tell that story better than the tours do.
Cultural notes that actually help
- Coffee is a sitting, not a takeaway. An espresso can hold a table for an hour, and the Saturday morning version in Zagreb has its own name, špica.
- Lead with dobar dan, add hvala and molim, and the register of the whole exchange changes. Almost no one expects a visitor to try.
- Rakija is an aperitif and a welcome. It is sipped rather than shot, and refusing the first one outright reads as cold.
- Cover shoulders and knees inside cathedrals and monasteries. Dubrovnik and Trogir enforce it at the door.
- Lunch runs late and dinner later. A konoba filling at nine is normal, and kitchens on the islands often close by eleven.
- The bura wind cancels ferries, sometimes for a day. Build a spare day into any island leg and check the timetable the morning of, not the week before.
- Take your shoes off in someone's home. Slippers are usually waiting inside the door.
- Do not open the Yugoslav wars as small talk. People will discuss it if they raise it; as an opener it lands badly.
Famous Croatian faces
Nikola Tesla
Luka Modrić
Ruđer Bošković
Janica Kostelić
Goran Ivanišević
Ivan Meštrović
Lavoslav Ružička
Andrija Mohorovičić
Slavoljub Penkala
Faust Vrančić
Dražen Petrović
Davor Šuker
Blanka Vlašić
Miroslav Krleža
Marija Jurić Zagorka
Vlaho Bukovac
Goran Višnjić
Rade Šerbedžija
Oliver Dragojević
2Cellos
Josip Broz Tito
Mate Rimac
Must-try Croatian food
Peka
Lamb, veal or octopus baked under an iron bell buried in embers, ordered hours ahead.
Ćevapi
Grilled minced-meat fingers in flatbread, with raw onion and ajvar.
Sarma
Soured cabbage leaves rolled around pork and rice, the winter plate everywhere inland.
Pašticada
Beef marinated then braised in red wine with prunes, served over gnocchi.
Soparnik
A thin chard pie from Poljica, baked on the hearth and protected under EU rules.
Paški sir
Hard sheep cheese from Pag, where the bura salts the pasture the flock eats.
Dalmatinski pršut
Air-dried ham, cured by the wind rather than smoke, cut thin with cheese and olives.
Blitva
Chard and potato crushed with olive oil and garlic, the default side with grilled fish.
Crni rižot
Risotto blackened with cuttlefish ink, and the reason for the napkin.
Brudet
Mixed fish stewed with tomato, onion and vinegar, eaten with polenta from the pan.
Buzara
Mussels or scampi opened in white wine, garlic and breadcrumbs. Bread is the point.
Istarski tartufi
White and black truffles from the Motovun forest, shaved over pasta, eggs or steak.
Fuži
Hand-rolled Istrian pasta quills, usually under game sauce or truffle.
Maneštra
Istrian bean and vegetable soup thick enough to be the whole meal.
Zagorski štrukli
Dough parcels of fresh cheese and cream, baked or boiled, from the hills north of Zagreb.
Kulen
Slavonian paprika sausage, matured for months and properly hot.
Purica s mlincima
Roast turkey with mlinci, the Sunday plate of the Zagorje.
Fritule
Small fried dough balls with citrus zest and rum, sold by the paper cone at festivals.
Rožata
Dubrovnik's set custard, turned out and scented with rose liqueur.
Kremšnita
A square of custard between pastry, at its best in Samobor west of Zagreb.
Rakija
Fruit brandy poured before the meal. Travarica is the herbal one on the coast.
Plavac Mali
The dark red of the Dalmatian coast, at its best from Pelješac and Hvar.
Malvazija
Istria's dry white, and the glass poured by default with anything from the sea.
