Croatia Travel Guide
Curated by Our Guild Explorers · Updated August 2026
Croatia is a country of some 3.8 million people wrapped around the eastern shore of the Adriatic, and its shape is the first thing to understand about travelling in it. It is long and thin — a thousand miles of coast with more than a thousand islands off it — with a flat, green, Central European interior behind. That means Croatia is really two countries wearing one flag: the stone-and-sea Mediterranean of Dubrovnik, Split and Istria, and the paprika-and-pastry Habsburg north around Zagreb. Most visitors see only the first. The ones who see both come home with a far better trip.
Where to stay — the Guild’s Croatia guides
Full “where to stay” guides, each with honest hotel picks by style and a plain word about steps, cobbles, ferries and crowds.
Where to Stay in Dubrovnik ›
The walled city, Lapad’s quieter bays and the hill above Ploče — which side of Dubrovnik suits which traveller, and an honest word about the steps.
Best Time to Visit Croatia ›
Month by month on the sea temperature, the crowds, the ferry timetable and the price of a room — and why late September is the month we would choose ourselves.
Why visit Croatia
A Mediterranean country that still feels like itself, at a price that has not yet caught up with Italy.
The clearest water in the Mediterranean
There is no great river silting the eastern Adriatic and very little industry on it, so the sea is startlingly clear — you can stand on a jetty in fifteen feet of water and count the stones. The trade is the shore itself: Croatian beaches are pebble, shingle or slabs of rock, almost never sand. Bring a pair of rubber swimming shoes. Every Croatian owns some, and after one attempt at walking barefoot into the sea you will understand why.
Old towns that people still live in
Dubrovnik, Split, Trogir, Korčula, Rovinj, Zadar — walled or half-walled stone towns, several of them on the UNESCO list, and none of them a museum piece. Split’s Roman palace has apartments, greengrocers and a good deal of laundry inside it. This is the country’s particular charm: the history is not fenced off, it is where the bakery is.
Islands you can actually reach
Over a thousand islands, about fifty of them inhabited, and a public ferry network that treats them as suburbs rather than adventures. A car ferry or a fast catamaran from Split or Zadar will put you on Hvar, Brač, Korčula or Vis in one to three hours, on a scheduled service, for the price of a restaurant lunch.
Food that punches far above its reputation
Istria alone would justify the trip: white truffles, olive oil that wins international prizes, wild asparagus in spring, and pasta cooked by people whose grandparents spoke Italian. On the Dalmatian coast, order whatever came off the boat that morning, grilled whole with olive oil and chard. Inland, it turns Austrian — strudel, dumplings, roast meats. And the wine, which almost nobody outside Croatia drinks, is very good indeed.
Croatia at a glance
Money
The euro, since January 2023. Croatia is no longer the bargain it was fifteen years ago — Dubrovnik in August costs what Italy costs — but Zagreb, the interior and the shoulder seasons are still noticeably cheaper than Western Europe.
Language
Croatian, which is difficult and which nobody expects you to attempt. English is widely and well spoken by anyone under about sixty, particularly in tourism; German and Italian are common on the coast. Dobar dan (good day) and hvala (thank you) will be received warmly.
Entry
Croatia is in both the European Union and the Schengen area. US and Canadian citizens need no visa for stays up to 90 days in any 180. The EU’s new ETIAS travel authorisation has been repeatedly postponed and is now expected in 2027 — check the position close to your departure rather than trusting last year’s advice.
Getting around
Buses, not trains. Croatia’s railway is slow, thin and does not reach Dubrovnik at all — there is no track south of Split. The intercity coach network, by contrast, is excellent, frequent and cheap. For the coast, add ferries; for Istria and the national parks, a hire car earns its keep.
Tourist tax
A small nightly city tax, generally between about one and two euros per person per night depending on the town and the season, is collected by your accommodation. It is rarely included in the price you booked, so expect a modest bill at check-out and do not take it for a mistake.
Distances
Longer than the map suggests. Zagreb to Split is about 255 miles on the excellent A1 motorway, roughly four and a half hours. Split to Dubrovnik is another 145 miles and some three and a half hours. Zagreb to Dubrovnik in one day is possible and a poor idea.
The regions of Croatia
Where the Guild has written a full guide, the link goes to it. Everywhere else, the link goes straight to that town’s hotels through our Trip.com partner.
Dubrovnik & the far south
The walled city, the Elaphiti islands off its shoulder, and Cavtat down by the airport — the picture most people have in their head when they say Croatia, and the busiest corner of the country.
Split & central Dalmatia
The working city that grew inside a Roman palace, the ferry hub for the islands, and the long limestone coast either side of it.
Zadar & the northern coast
Roman ruins, an organ played by the sea, and the quietest stretch of mainland coast that still has proper restaurants and a bus station.
Istria
The heart-shaped peninsula in the north-west: Venetian harbour towns, hill villages, truffles, olive oil and the best cooking in the country.
Zagreb & the interior
The capital and the green country around it — a different Croatia altogether, Central European rather than Mediterranean, and much cheaper.
The lakes & the national parks
Plitvice and Krka inland, Kornati and Mljet at sea — eight national parks in a country the size of West Virginia.
Top things to do in Croatia
The short list, honestly ranked, with what each one actually asks of you.
Walk the walls of Dubrovnik
Two kilometres of rampart around the old city, and the single most memorable hour in the country. Be clear-eyed about it: it is uneven stone with a great many steps up and down, there is almost no shade, and the summer heat on that wall is serious. Go at opening time or in the last two hours, carry water, and if steps are difficult, admire it from the Buža bar instead and spend the money on lunch.
Plitvice Lakes
Sixteen terraced lakes falling into one another down a wooded gorge, joined by miles of timber boardwalk. It is as beautiful as the photographs and considerably busier; entry is by timed ticket bought in advance, and the boardwalks have no handrails in most places. The lower lakes route is the shorter and the better one if you are not walking far.
Sleep inside Diocletian’s Palace
Split’s old town is a Roman emperor’s retirement palace, still inhabited seventeen centuries on. Wander the cellars, stand in the peristyle at dusk while somebody sings klapa, and eat where the locals do, two streets back from the water.
Take a ferry to an island
Not a tour — the ordinary public ferry, with islanders and their shopping. Hvar and Korčula for the famous towns; Vis for the one the Yugoslav army kept closed until 1989 and which is all the better for it; Mljet for pine forest and salt lakes. Book cars ahead in summer; foot passengers rarely need to.
Eat your way across Istria
Truffles at Motovun, olive oil at Vodnjan, oysters in the Lim fjord, and a long lunch in a hill village where the menu is in Croatian and Italian. Istria is the only part of Croatia where we would say the food alone is worth the flight.
Give Zagreb two days
Almost everybody skips the capital and almost everybody is wrong to. It is flat, walkable, handsome in a Viennese way, full of coffee-drinking and utterly unbothered by tourism. The Museum of Broken Relationships is exactly as good as its reputation.
A word of honesty about tours and tickets: our partner Trip.com does not at present sell a reliable, correctly targeted list of Croatian tours and attractions, so we have deliberately left the “things to do” buttons off this page rather than send you somewhere useless. Book Plitvice and the Dubrovnik walls through the parks’ and city’s own websites, and use us for your hotels, which is where our links do work properly.
Best time to visit & getting there
Croatia has a short, ferocious high season and two long, lovely shoulders. July and August bring the hot weather, the warmest sea, the full ferry timetable and every European family that owns a car; Dubrovnik and Hvar in the first fortnight of August are as crowded as anywhere in the Mediterranean, and the prices follow. What you get for it is a sea at around 78°F and a boat to almost any island you fancy.
May, June, September and early October are, to our mind, simply better. The sea is swimmable from late May and stays warm well into October — September water is usually warmer than June water, because the Adriatic takes all summer to heat up and is slow to let go. The ferries still run most routes into early October. The old towns are walkable at midday rather than shuffling. Rooms cost a third less.
Winter is a real season here, not a closed one, but it is a different country: Dubrovnik and Split stay open and are wonderfully quiet, most island ferries drop to a skeleton timetable, and a good many coastal hotels shut from November to Easter. Zagreb, by contrast, is at its best in December, when its Advent market has been voted Europe’s finest more than once.
Getting there has become much easier. Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Zadar and Pula all take international flights, and in summer there are seasonal nonstops from a handful of North American cities — but most Americans still connect through Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam or Istanbul, which is no hardship and often cheaper. Fly into one end of the coast and out of the other rather than doubling back; nearly every airline will price it as an open-jaw without penalty. Our month-by-month guide to the best time to visit Croatia goes through it season by season.
Croatia in your later years
A kind country to travel in, with two honest cautions: the stones and the summer sun.
What makes it easy
It is safe, orderly and unhurried. English is widely spoken. Medical care is good and pharmacies are everywhere. Meals are eaten early by Mediterranean standards, and nobody minds if you sit over a coffee for an hour — that is, in fact, the national pastime.
The stones are the real obstacle
Every old town here is paved in limestone polished by centuries of feet, and in Dubrovnik, Split, Korčula and Rovinj it is genuinely slippery when wet and often steeply stepped. Shoes with real grip matter more than any other thing you pack. A walking pole is not out of place, and there is no shame at all in taking the taxi up the hill and walking down.
Ask about the lift — and the last flight of stairs
A great many of the loveliest places to stay are old stone houses inside pedestrian old towns. That can mean no lift, a narrow spiral stair, and — the detail that catches people out — no vehicle access at all, so the taxi stops at the gate and you and your suitcase walk the last few hundred yards over cobbles. Ask both questions before you book, and pack light enough to carry.
Respect the July sun
Dalmatia in high summer regularly sits in the mid-nineties with fierce reflected glare off white stone and water. Do your walking before ten and after five, drink far more water than you think you need, and treat the middle of the day the way Croatians do — in the shade, with a coffee, doing nothing.
Let the bus and the boat do the work
The coaches are comfortable, air-conditioned and cheap, and the ferries are a pleasure in themselves. Driving the old coastal road is beautiful and tiring, with blind bends and cyclists; the A1 motorway inland is far easier if you do drive. Reserve a seat on the catamarans in July and August — they do sell out.
Pick fewer places
The commonest mistake we see is four towns in eight days, which becomes a holiday about luggage. Two bases — say Split and Dubrovnik, or Istria and Zagreb — with day trips from each, is a far better trip and costs less.
Croatia travel FAQ
When is the best time to visit Croatia?
Late May to late June and the first three weeks of September are the sweet spots. The sea is warm — in September it is warmer than in June, because the Adriatic heats slowly and cools slowly — the ferries are still running a full timetable, the old towns are walkable at midday, and rooms cost roughly a third less than in August. July and August bring the hottest weather and the fullest boats, and the first fortnight of August is the busiest of the year. Winter on the coast is quiet and often lovely, but many hotels and island ferries shut down; Zagreb, on the other hand, is at its best in December.
Do I need a car in Croatia?
It depends entirely on where you are going. For the coast — Dubrovnik, Split, Zadar and the islands — a car is a liability: the old towns are pedestrian, parking is expensive and scarce, and the intercity coaches and ferries go everywhere you want to go. For Istria, the national parks and the hill country inland, a car is close to essential, because the buses are sparse and the whole pleasure of those places is stopping where you like. A common and sensible plan is to do the coast by bus and boat and hire a car for three or four days in Istria.
Are there trains in Croatia?
Some, and they will not get you where you are going. The railway serves the north and the interior reasonably well — Zagreb to Ljubljana, Budapest or Vienna is a pleasant ride — but the Zagreb–Split line is slower than the bus, and there is no railway at all south of Split. There has never been a train to Dubrovnik. Unlike Italy, Switzerland or Spain, Croatia is a country where the bus is the better public transport, and the coach stations are modern and easy to use.
How expensive is Croatia now?
Middling, and rising. Croatia stopped being a bargain when it joined the euro, and Dubrovnik in August now costs about what Venice costs. But the country is wildly uneven: a coffee is still around two euros, a good konoba dinner with wine perhaps twenty-five to thirty-five a head, and Zagreb, Zadar and the interior remain considerably cheaper than Western Europe. Travelling in June or September rather than August will save you more than any other single decision.
Is Dubrovnik worth it with all the crowds?
Yes, if you are clever about when you stand in it. The city agreed years ago to limit cruise arrivals — no more than two ships at a time under the arrangement it announced in 2018 — but on a busy summer day the old town still holds many thousands of people in a space you can walk across in ten minutes. The answer is timing, not avoidance: stay the night rather than visiting for the day, be inside the walls before nine in the morning or after six in the evening, and use the middle of the day for a swim or a boat. Dubrovnik at seven on a September morning is one of the great sights of Europe with almost nobody in it.
Are Croatian beaches sandy?
Almost never, and this surprises people every year. The Croatian shore is pebble, shingle or smooth rock, sometimes with a concrete bathing platform and a ladder into the water. What you get in exchange is exceptional clarity — no sand means no cloud in the water. Buy a pair of rubber swimming shoes at the first supermarket you pass; they cost a few euros and they change the holiday. There is real sand at Zlatni Rat on Brač and a handful of spots near Zadar and on the islands, but treat it as the exception.
Is Croatia a good country for older travellers?
It is, with two cautions we would not want you to discover on arrival. The good part: it is safe, calm, English-speaking, medically well served and not remotely aggressive about tourism. The cautions are the polished limestone underfoot, which is slippery and steeply stepped in every old town, and the July sun, which is fierce. Choose accommodation with a lift and vehicle access if stairs are a difficulty, pack shoes with grip, and plan the walking for the cool ends of the day.
How many days do you need?
Ten days is the comfortable length for the classic trip: Dubrovnik, Split with an island or two, and Plitvice on the way to or from Zagreb. Seven days is enough for the southern coast alone if you pick two bases and stay put. Two weeks lets you add Istria, which is a different country again and the part experienced travellers come back for. Whatever the length, resist the urge to add a fourth or fifth town — the distances are longer than they look and the joy of this country is sitting still in it.
Ready to plan your Croatia trip?
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