Travel and Tourism in Croatia

Geography: A Land of Coast, Island, and Mountain

Croatia occupies a distinctive and somewhat unusual geographical position in southeastern Europe. The country stretches in a rough crescent shape, with its northwestern arm extending along the Istrian Peninsula into the northern Adriatic and its southeastern reach curving down through Dalmatia to the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro near Dubrovnik. This crescent shape reflects the country's complex geological and political history, and it means that Croatia has an extraordinarily long coastline relative to its overall land area, a coastline that includes the spectacular Dalmatian coast and the equally beautiful shores of Istria and the Kvarner Gulf.

The Dalmatian coast, running along the central and southern portions of Croatia's Adriatic shoreline, is the region most visitors think of when they imagine Croatia. This is a coast of extraordinary scenic drama, with the rugged limestone mountains of the Dinaric Alps rising directly from the sea in places, punctuated by deep natural harbors, ancient towns, and the scattering of islands that has made the region legendary. The major islands of the central and southern Dalmatian coast include Bra?, famous for its white limestone quarries and the extraordinary beach of Zlatni Rat; Hvar, internationally celebrated for its lavender fields, Renaissance architecture, and sophisticated social scene; Kor?ula, where medieval fortifications rise directly from the sea and local legend holds that Marco Polo was born; Vis, the most remote of the major Dalmatian islands and perhaps the most authentically unspoiled; and the smaller but equally beautiful islands of Šolta, ?iovo, and dozens of others.

The Istrian Peninsula in the northwest of Croatia is a triangular landmass that juts into the northern Adriatic between the Gulf of Venice to the west and the Kvarner Gulf to the east. Istria has a complex history of Italian and Central European cultural influence that sets it apart from the rest of Croatia, and its distinctive landscape of rolling hills covered with vineyards and olive groves, punctuated by dramatic hilltop medieval towns, has earned it the nickname the Tuscany of Croatia, though Istrians would rightfully argue that their peninsula's charms are entirely its own. The major city of Istria is Pula, home to one of the largest and best-preserved Roman amphitheaters in the entire world. The coastal towns of Rovinj and Pore? are among the most visited destinations in the country.

The Kvarner Gulf lies between Istria and the northern end of the Dalmatian coast, and it is home to a cluster of significant islands including Krk, the largest island in the Adriatic by area; Lošinj, famous for its mild climate and healing vegetation; and Cres, a large and relatively wild island with a significant population of endemic Eurasian griffon vultures.

Inland from the spectacular Adriatic coast, Croatia's geography shifts dramatically. The coastal mountains of the Dinaric Alps and the Velebit range form a steep and dramatic barrier between the coast and the interior. Velebit is Croatia's largest mountain massif and one of the most ecologically significant mountain systems in southeastern Europe, home to brown bears, wolves, lynx, chamois, and an extraordinary diversity of plant life. The Velebit area is divided between the Northern Velebit National Park and the Paklenica National Park, both of which offer outstanding opportunities for hiking and mountaineering.

Further inland, the terrain transitions into the hills and valleys of central Croatia, where the capital Zagreb sits in the foothills of the Medvednica mountain at the edge of the Pannonian plain. The Pannonian plain extends across the northeastern region of Croatia known as Slavonia, a flat, fertile agricultural landscape dominated by sunflower fields, corn, and vineyards, cut through by the major rivers of the Drava and Sava. Slavonia borders Hungary to the north and Serbia to the east, and its culture and landscape reflect these continental Central European and Balkan influences.

The karst limestone landscape that characterizes much of coastal Croatia is responsible for some of the country's most extraordinary natural features. Karst is a geological formation in which limestone is dissolved by slightly acidic water over millennia, creating cave systems, sinkholes, underground rivers, and the dramatic stepped lake formations of places like Plitvice Lakes National Park and the Krka National Park. Croatia's extensive cave systems include some of the largest and most spectacular in Europe, with Postojna Cave in neighboring Slovenia being the most famous, but with numerous extraordinary cave systems within Croatia itself.

The major rivers of Croatia include the Sava, which flows eastward through Zagreb and continues to the border with Bosnia; the Drava, which forms much of Croatia's northern border with Hungary; and the Neretva, which flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina before reaching the Adriatic near the town of Plo?e in the southernmost part of Croatia's Dalmatian coast. The Neretva delta is an important wetland for migratory birds and is known for its distinctive local cuisine centered around eels and frogs.

Major cities of Croatia reflect the country's geographic diversity. Zagreb, the capital, sits inland in the northwest. Split, the second city, anchors the central Dalmatian coast. Rijeka, Croatia's main commercial port, occupies the head of the Kvarner Gulf. Osijek is the major city of the Slavonian interior. Dubrovnik, despite being perhaps the most internationally famous city, is a relatively small town by population, situated at the very southern tip of Croatia's Adriatic coast. Zadar, the historical capital of Dalmatia, is the major city of the northern Dalmatian coast.

The Dalmatian Islands: Hvar, Korcula, Brac, Vis, and Beyond

The islands of the Dalmatian coast represent one of the defining attractions of Croatia, a seascape of extraordinary beauty and diversity where ancient walled towns, lavender-scented hillsides, crystal-clear coves, and traditional winemaking villages alternate in apparently endless variety. Croatia's 1,246 islands include everything from large, densely populated islands with major historical towns to tiny uninhabited outcrops accessible only by private boat, and the diversity of character and experience available within this island world is astonishing.

Hvar is widely regarded as the most glamorous of Croatia's Adriatic islands, and it earns this reputation through a combination of outstanding natural beauty, exceptionally sophisticated historical architecture, a thriving social scene centered around the beach clubs and restaurants of Hvar Town, and the extraordinary lavender fields that cover the island's interior and perfume the air for kilometers around. The island of Hvar runs for approximately 68 kilometers from east to west, making it the longest island on the Adriatic, and its interior is one of the most fertile and agriculturally productive in Croatia, with vineyards, olive groves, and herb gardens occupying the terraced hillsides above the lavender plains.

Hvar Town, the island's main settlement, is built around a natural harbor on the western tip of the island and is one of the most beautiful small towns in the entire Mediterranean world. The town's main square, the Trg Svetog Stjepana or St. Stephen's Square, is the largest piazza in Dalmatia and is flanked by an elegant loggia, the Cathedral of St. Stephen with its distinctive unfinished bell tower, and the Arsenal, a large building that originally housed the republic's war galleys. The Arsenal's upper floor was converted in 1612 into the first public theater in the Balkans, nearly 200 years before similar institutions appeared in many Western European cities. The hilltop fortress of Fortica, which rises above the town to 85 meters, provides panoramic views over the town, the harbor, and the extraordinarily beautiful Pakleni Islands, a scatter of small forested islands in the bay immediately west of Hvar Town.

The Pakleni Islands, whose name is sometimes translated as the Devil's Islands but actually derives from the Croatian word for a pine resin called paklina that was historically harvested there, are a paradise of clear turquoise water, small sheltered coves, and relaxed waterfront restaurants serving fresh seafood and local wine. The islands can be reached by taxi boat from Hvar Town harbor in fifteen to thirty minutes and provide an escape from the sometimes overwhelming social energy of Hvar Town itself.

The social scene in Hvar Town, particularly in July and August, is among the most intense in the Mediterranean, attracting a clientele of international celebrities, yachting enthusiasts, and well-heeled tourists from across Europe and beyond. The beach club Carpe Diem, initially established on a small island in the harbor and later relocated to the Pakleni Islands, has become one of the most famous beach clubs in Europe, and the concentration of private yachts in Hvar harbor during peak summer creates a nautical spectacle of considerable glamour. For visitors seeking a more authentic experience of the island, the wine villages of the interior, particularly Sveta Nedjelja on the southwestern shore, where the Plan?i? winery produces exceptional Plavac Mali wines from grapes grown on dramatically steep hillside terraces above the sea, offer a more traditional and equally rewarding Hvar experience.

Kor?ula, lying east of Hvar across the Hvarsko more channel, presents a very different character from its glamorous neighbor. The medieval walled town of Kor?ula, occupying the tip of a small peninsula, is compact, beautifully preserved, and less overwhelmingly touristy than either Dubrovnik or Hvar Town, making it a favorite among travelers who seek historical atmosphere without the associated crowds. The town was built by the Venetians on a distinctive herringbone street plan designed to channel the cooling sea breezes while minimizing exposure to the cold winter bura wind, and the resulting medieval streetscape, with its narrow lanes and elegant Gothic and Renaissance buildings in warm golden limestone, is one of the most pleasing in Croatia.

Kor?ula's most famous claim to historical distinction is its assertion to be the birthplace of Marco Polo, the thirteenth-century Venetian merchant whose travels to China and the Far East produced one of the most extraordinary travel narratives in the history of world literature. The historical basis for the Kor?ula birthplace claim is contested by scholars, with Venice maintaining an equally plausible claim, but Kor?ula has made the most of the legend, displaying the supposed Marco Polo birth house prominently and incorporating the explorer's memory into the town's cultural identity. Regardless of the birthplace controversy, the town contains a small museum dedicated to Marco Polo that provides an engaging introduction to the historical context of his travels.

The Moreška is a traditional sword dance performed in Kor?ula that has its origins in a theatrical dramatization of the conflict between Christians and Moors, common in medieval Mediterranean theater, but which over the centuries has evolved into a distinctively Kor?ulan cultural tradition. The dance, which involves two groups of performers in colorful costumes engaging in an elaborately choreographed sword fight, is performed weekly during the summer tourist season and annually on the feast day of the town's patron saint. The Moreška was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2014.

Kor?ula's wine tradition centers around two distinctive white wine varieties that are unique to the island and its immediate neighbors. Grk, which is grown only on the Lumbarda peninsula at the eastern end of Kor?ula island, is a white grape variety of ancient Greek origin, its name possibly derived from the Greek word for the Greek-speaking settlers who introduced it. The wine produced from Grk grapes is distinctive in its mineral character and dry finish, with local producers describing a characteristic salinity that reflects the sandy soils of Lumbarda. Pošip is a more widely grown white variety found across the central Dalmatian islands, producing a fuller-bodied white wine with notes of almonds and white stone fruit that pairs beautifully with the local seafood.

Bra? is the third largest island in the Adriatic and lies directly south of Split, making it the most accessible of the major Dalmatian islands for day-trippers from the mainland. The island is most famous internationally for Zlatni Rat, the Golden Cape, a 634-meter promontory of white shingle and pebbles that extends from the shore near the village of Bol into the turquoise sea and that shifts its shape with the currents and winds. The image of Zlatni Rat, with its distinctive triangular form extending into the brilliantly colored sea, is arguably the single most recognizable image in Croatian tourism and has appeared on countless postcards, travel magazines, and international publications.

Beyond Zlatni Rat, Bra? is notable for its white limestone, which has been quarried on the island for millennia and used in some of the most significant buildings of the ancient and modern world. The stone for Diocletian's Palace in nearby Split came from the Bra? quarries, and in more recent times, the same distinctive white limestone was used in the construction of the White House in Washington DC, a fact that local pride has elevated to a point of widespread public knowledge on the island.

Vis is the most remote of the commonly visited major Dalmatian islands, lying some 50 kilometers southwest of Split and accessible only by a longer ferry journey of approximately two hours. This relative remoteness, combined with the island's status as a closed military zone during the Yugoslav period, when it was not accessible to foreign visitors at all, has given Vis a character of unspoiled authenticity that distinguishes it sharply from the more heavily touristed islands. The island's two main towns, Vis Town on the northeastern coast and Komiža on the western coast, retain a genuine fishing village character, with working boats in the harbors, elderly fishermen mending nets on the quayside, and restaurants serving simply prepared fresh fish with local olive oil and wine.

The most celebrated natural attraction accessible from Vis is the Blue Cave on the neighboring island of Biševo, a small sea cave whose entrance lies below water, meaning that boats must wait for the correct sea conditions and angle of sunlight to enter. When conditions are right and the sunlight penetrates the underwater entrance and reflects from the white limestone floor of the cave, the interior is filled with an extraordinary electric blue glow that gives the cave its name. The Blue Cave is visited by excursion boats from Vis and Hvar throughout the summer and is one of the most famous natural attractions in the Adriatic.

Stiniva Cove on the southern coast of Vis was named Europe's best beach by a European publication in 2016, and the distinction is not undeserved. Stiniva is accessible only on foot via a steep and occasionally challenging path down the cliff face, or by small boat through the narrow gap in the cliffs that gives access from the sea. The cove itself is a perfectly sheltered oval of white pebble beach enclosed entirely by dramatic limestone cliffs, with water of extraordinary clarity and color. The combination of the dramatic approach, the sublime setting, and the relatively small number of visitors that the access limitations naturally impose makes Stiniva one of the most remarkable beach experiences in Croatia.

Mljet, which lies between the Dalmatian coast and the Elafiti Islands west of Dubrovnik, is perhaps the most ecologically distinctive of the major Dalmatian islands. The western portion of the island is protected as Mljet National Park, which contains two saltwater lakes, the Malo Jezero and Veliko Jezero, connected to the sea and to each other by narrow channels and surrounded by dense Mediterranean forest of Aleppo pine, holm oak, and wild herbs. The lakes can be explored by rental bicycle or kayak, and the island monastery of St. Mary, built on a small island in the middle of Veliko Jezero in the twelfth century and today housing a restaurant, provides one of the most idyllic lunch settings in Croatia. The island's isolation and exceptional natural beauty have led to a local legend that Mljet was the island of Ogygia described in Homer's Odyssey, where the nymph Calypso detained Odysseus for seven years, a legend that adds a classical resonance to an already exceptionally beautiful place.

The island of Pag, in the northern Dalmatian archipelago south of Zadar, presents a strikingly different character from the heavily vegetated southern islands. Pag is largely barren and rocky, its limestone surface scoured by the bura wind into a moonscape of bare rock with minimal vegetation, a landscape that looks more like the surface of the moon than the typically verdant Mediterranean. This extraordinary landscape is in part the result of centuries of heavy grazing by sheep, and it is the sheep of Pag, grazing on the aromatic herbs and salt-flavored grasses of the island's rocky hillsides, that produce the milk for Paški sir, Pag cheese, one of the most celebrated artisan food products of Croatia. Paški sir is a hard, dry sheep's milk cheese with a distinctive pungent flavor, rubbed with olive oil and ash during aging, and it is an essential component of any serious Croatian cheese and charcuterie board.

The northern coast of Pag island is also home to Zr?e Beach, a stretch of pebble shore near the village of Novalja that has developed into one of the most famous outdoor electronic music festival destinations in Europe, with several open-air clubs and a summer season of festivals and events that draws tens of thousands of young visitors from across Europe. The juxtaposition of Zr?e's contemporary hedonism with the traditional cheese-making culture of the island's interior is one of the more striking examples of Croatia's multiple simultaneous identities.

Lastovo is perhaps the most remote and least visited of Croatia's inhabited islands, lying southwest of Kor?ula and far from the main ferry routes. The island has been designated a Nature Park and is also recognized as one of Europe's darkest night skies due to its remoteness from light pollution, making it an excellent destination for astronomical observation. The tiny Carnival of Lastovo, centered around an unusual folk tradition involving a straw puppet of the island's historical oppressors being paraded around the village and burned, is among the most distinctive folk customs in Croatia.

Krka National Park: Cascades and Monasteries

Krka National Park, located in the Dalmatian hinterland northeast of Šibenik, is Croatia's second most visited national park after Plitvice and is renowned for a series of spectacular travertine waterfall formations on the Krka River that in some respects rival Plitvice in their visual impact while offering the additional attraction of swimming in certain designated areas near the base of the principal waterfall formation.

The Krka River descends through a series of dramatic gorges and canyons carved into the limestone terrain of the Dalmatian hinterland, dropping approximately 222 meters over its 73-kilometer course before reaching the sea at Šibenik. Within the national park, the river passes through a series of lakes and waterfalls created by travertine limestone barriers very similar to those of Plitvice, but on a larger scale and in a more open and sunny landscape. The most impressive of these formations is Skradinski Buk, a cascading waterfall system approximately 800 meters long where the river descends over seventeen travertine barriers through a woodland of willow and poplar, creating a series of emerald-green pools connected by thundering white cascades. Until recently, swimming was permitted at the base of Skradinski Buk, and this combination of spectacular natural scenery with the possibility of swimming in crystal-clear water made it one of the most popular attractions in Croatia. Swimming has been periodically regulated and restricted in recent years due to conservation concerns.

Within the lake formed above the Visovac section of the park lies the Island of Visovac, a small wooded islet in the middle of the turquoise lake, occupied by a Franciscan monastery that has been continuously inhabited since the fifteenth century. The monastery, with its white walls and bell tower reflected in the still surface of the lake, surrounded by the forest of the national park on all sides, presents one of the most serene and visually perfect compositions in Croatia. Boat trips to the Visovac island monastery are offered from the main park access points, and the combination of the lake journey, the monastery visit, and the view back toward the river gorge and the surrounding landscape makes this one of the most rewarding excursions within the park.

Plitvice Lakes National Park: Nature's Fairy Tale

If a single natural site can be said to define Croatia's identity as a destination of world-class natural beauty, it is Plitvice Lakes National Park. Located in the Lika region of central Croatia, roughly midway between Zagreb and the Dalmatian coast, Plitvice was established as a national park in 1949 and was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, making it one of the first natural sites in the world to receive this designation. It is by a significant margin Croatia's most visited national park, drawing over 1.5 million visitors annually in peak years, and its extraordinary combination of crystalline lakes, thundering waterfalls, dense primeval forest, and rare wildlife makes it one of the genuinely essential natural experiences in all of Europe.

The park encompasses a network of sixteen terraced lakes connected by waterfalls and cascades that descend over a series of natural travertine limestone barriers through a valley in the Mala Kapela Mountains. Travertine is a form of calcium carbonate that precipitates out of the mineral-rich water as it flows over the limestone terrain, building up over millennia into the elaborate barrier formations that create the staircase effect of the Plitvice lakes system. These barriers are constantly growing, with the rate of travertine deposition varying with temperature, dissolved mineral concentration, and the presence of particular species of algae and mosses that actively promote precipitation. The result is a geological formation that is literally alive and changing, with the overall morphology of the lakes system looking measurably different from decade to decade.

The sixteen lakes of the system are conventionally divided into the Upper Lakes and the Lower Lakes. The Upper Lakes are set in a wider valley and are generally larger and shallower, with more subdued scenery characterized by expanses of flat turquoise water and relatively gradual cascades through forested shores. The Lower Lakes, by contrast, are set in a deeply incised canyon where the height differences between successive lake levels become dramatic, producing some of the most spectacular waterfall scenery in the park. The largest individual waterfall in the system, Veliki Slap or the Great Waterfall, drops approximately 78 meters into the canyon below, making it the highest waterfall in Croatia. The scale of Veliki Slap is impressive even by international standards, and the thundering sound and misty spray of the falls create a powerful physical experience that photographs struggle to convey.

The color of the water in the Plitvice lakes is one of the most frequently remarked features of the park, and the colors are genuine rather than a photographic artifact. The combination of dissolved calcium carbonates and magnesium salts, together with the growth of particular algal and microbial communities on the travertine surfaces, creates water that appears in shades ranging from clear turquoise and electric blue through milky green to deep azure, with the precise colors varying from lake to lake and from season to season. The most vivid colors tend to appear in spring, when snowmelt brings fresh minerals into the system, and in autumn, when the contrast of the golden deciduous foliage against the turquoise water creates color compositions of extraordinary intensity.

The park is threaded with a network of wooden walkways that allow visitors to walk directly over and beside the lakes and cascades without touching the fragile travertine formations. The walkways are continuously maintained and periodically replaced as the growing travertine surface gradually absorbs and encrusts them, and walking on these walkways, with the crystal-clear water rushing beneath the boards just centimeters below, and the water tumbling in cascades to left and right, is an experience of extraordinary intimacy with the natural world. The park also operates a boat service across the largest of the Upper Lakes, Kozjak, and a series of connecting shuttle buses that allow visitors to cover the entire park circuit without having to retrace their steps.

The forests surrounding the Plitvice lakes are among the most ecologically significant in Croatia, comprising a mixture of beech, fir, and spruce that provides habitat for some of Europe's most threatened large mammals, including brown bears, wolves, and the Eurasian lynx. The bear population in the Plitvice area is one of the most significant in Croatia, with reliable estimates suggesting several hundred animals in the broader Lika region. While bear sightings within the park itself are uncommon during visitor hours due to the significant human presence, the knowledge that these great animals inhabit the forest visible from the park's viewpoints adds a dimension of wilderness authenticity to the Plitvice experience.

Practical planning for a Plitvice visit has become increasingly important as the park's popularity has grown to the point where visitor numbers during peak season can impact both the visitor experience and the ecological integrity of the park. Online booking of entrance tickets is now essentially mandatory for visits during the summer months, and the park implements visitor number caps and time-restricted entrance systems designed to prevent the simultaneous presence of the very large crowds that would otherwise descend during the peak summer weeks. Visitors are strongly encouraged to arrive early, ideally at park opening time, or to visit during the early morning hours when the light is most beautiful and the crowds have yet to build. The shoulder seasons of May, June, September, and October offer a significantly more pleasant experience than the July and August peak, with the added benefit of the spectacular wildflower displays of late spring and the golden autumnal colors.

Croatia's UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Croatia's UNESCO World Heritage Sites provide a structured entry point into the country's extraordinary concentration of natural and cultural significance. The country currently has ten inscriptions on the World Heritage List, a remarkable number for a country of Croatia's size and population, and each inscription represents a site of outstanding universal value that has been recognized by the international community as belonging to the common heritage of humanity.

The Old City of Dubrovnik was inscribed in 1979 and extended in 1994. It represents one of the finest examples of a medieval walled Mediterranean city, with its exceptional state of preservation, its continuous circuit of massive fortifications, and its ensemble of Baroque civic and religious architecture.

The Historic City of Trogir, a small medieval city between Split and Šibenik on the central Dalmatian coast, was inscribed in 1997 in recognition of its extraordinary concentration of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, including the Cathedral of St. Lawrence with its magnificent portal by the Croatian master Radovan, dated 1240, which is one of the finest examples of Romanesque sculptural art in the Adriatic region.

The Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Pore? was inscribed in 1997 in recognition of the extraordinary quality and preservation of its sixth-century Byzantine mosaics.

The Historic City of Split with the Palace of Diocletian was inscribed in 1979 as one of the finest examples of a Roman imperial palace and the extraordinary urban environment that has grown from it over seventeen centuries.

Stari Grad Plain on the island of Hvar was inscribed in 2008 as a cultural landscape that preserves the original Greek colonial land division system essentially intact after 2,400 years of continuous agricultural use.

Plitvice Lakes National Park was inscribed in 1979 and extended in 2000, recognizing the outstanding universal value of the travertine lake system and its surrounding forest ecosystem.

The Cathedral of St. James in Šibenik was inscribed in 2000 in recognition of the outstanding achievement of its Gothic-Renaissance architecture and the unique engineering of its stone-only construction.

The Ste?ci Medieval Tombstones Graveyards, a multi-country serial nomination shared by Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro, was inscribed in 2016 in recognition of the extraordinary medieval funerary monuments known as ste?ci that are found across the region.

The Venetian Works of Defence between the 15th and 17th centuries, another multi-country nomination shared with Italy and Montenegro, was inscribed in 2017 and includes several Venetian fortifications on the Croatian coast.

Lastly, the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe, a transnational natural inscription that includes the Velika and Mala Kapela forests within Croatia's Plitvice Lakes area, was inscribed in 2007 and extended in 2017.