Overview
About Croatia
Croatia strings together 1,244 islands, walled Adriatic cities and eight national parks along one of Europe's most theatrical coastlines. Inland, Habsburg towns, Roman ruins and Pannonian plains layer distinct characters into a country you can drive across in a day.
Quick facts
At a glance
- Capital
- Zagreb
- Population
- 3.85M
- Area
- 56,594 km²
- Currency
- Euro (EUR)
- Language
- Croatian
- Time zone
- CET (UTC+1) / CEST (UTC+2)
Interactive map
Croatia on the map
Regions
Where to go in Croatia
01Istria
Truffles, hilltop towns, Venetian shadows
Istria is Croatia's most Italian-feeling corner: pastel harbours, olive groves and hill towns wrapped in medieval walls, plus some of the world's finest truffles hidden in its inland oak forests. The coast is a string of Venetian ports — Poreč, Rovinj, Piran-facing Umag — while the interior hides Motovun, Grožnjan and countless empty valleys.
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02Kvarner
Belle-époque resorts, lush islands
Kvarner is where Croatia's coast pivots from the Istrian peninsula into the great Dalmatian archipelago. Faded Habsburg-era spa towns line the mainland; offshore, Krk, Cres, Lošinj and Rab offer pebbled coves, herb-scented forests and lookout bell towers. Behind it all rises the fortress-like wall of the Velebit mountains.
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03Dalmatia
Limestone islands, Roman emperors
The Croatia of postcards — Dubrovnik's walls, Split's Roman palace, Hvar's lavender, Korčula's stone lanes, Zadar's sea organ. Over 1,200 islands stretch from Zadar to the Bay of Kotor, backed by karst mountains and pierced by two national parks (Krka and Kornati) that alone would justify the trip.
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04Slavonia
Pannonian plains, paprika fields, river deltas
Slavonia is the Croatia most travellers miss: a soft, agricultural plain of vineyards, sunflower fields and river backwaters. Osijek's baroque Tvrđa quarter, the Kopački Rit wetlands where the Drava meets the Danube, and some of the country's most soulful folk traditions all live here.
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05Lika
Karst wilderness, wolves and waterfalls
Lika is a high karst plateau of forests, meadows and old shepherd villages, sparsely populated and dramatic. It hides Plitvice Lakes, Northern Velebit National Park, brown bears, wolves and lynx, and the Gacka — one of Europe's clearest trout rivers.
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06Gorski Kotar
Green Croatia — deep forests and mountain lakes
Sandwiched between Kvarner and the highlands, Gorski Kotar is Croatia's most forested region — dark spruce and beech woods, glacial lakes, and Risnjak National Park's lynx-inhabited peaks. Cool summers and heavy winter snow make it the country's unlikely alpine escape.
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07Central Croatia
Baroque towns and Sava-basin countryside
The wide arc south and east of Zagreb — the Turopolje wooden churches, Sisak's fortress at the confluence of three rivers, Jastrebarsko wine roads, Lonjsko Polje's stork villages and thermal spa towns like Topusko. Quiet, agricultural, and full of surprises.
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08Zagreb & Surroundings
Cobbled capital and its green ring
Croatia's capital wears its Austro-Hungarian past on its sleeve: cobbled Gornji Grad above, Habsburg boulevards and Vienna-style coffeehouses below. Above it looms Medvednica mountain with Medvedgrad fortress; below, Samobor's cream cakes and the Zumberak hills are all a short train ride away.
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09Hrvatsko Zagorje
Fairy-tale castles in green hills
Hrvatsko Zagorje is a rolling landscape of vineyards, orchards and forested hills just north of Zagreb — dotted with more castles per square kilometre than anywhere else in Croatia. Trakošćan, Veliki Tabor and Kumrovec sit within an hour of each other; add the Krapina Neanderthal museum for a full weekend.
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10Međimurje
Croatia's northernmost corner — vineyards and mills
Croatia's smallest region, tucked between two big rivers on the Hungarian border. Rolling vineyard hills, water-mill museums, the surprisingly-hip town of Čakovec around its Zrinski Castle, and a food culture built on pumpkin-seed oil and river fish.
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11Baranja
Wine country between the Drava and the Danube
A little wedge of Croatia squeezed between the Drava, the Danube and the Hungarian border. Baranja is famous for its fiery paprika-heavy cuisine (fiš paprikaš, čobanac), its Graševina wines from Zmajevac and Suza, and its old ethno-villages of thatched, painted houses.
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Top landmarks
Must-see places
Historical
Pula Arena
One of only six Roman amphitheatres in the world with all four side towers still standing, Pula's arena once packed 23,000 people in for gladiator fights. Today the honey-coloured Istrian limestone is a summer concert venue — Pavarotti, Sting and Tom Jones have all sung under its open sky.
Old Town
Rovinj Old Town
Rovinj is the photograph everyone brings home from Istria — pastel houses stacked shoulder-to-shoulder on a former island, narrow lanes climbing to the baroque church of St. Euphemia.
Old Town
Motovun
From a distance Motovun looks like a stone ship sailing over a sea of mist that fills the Mirna valley every morning. The tiny hilltop town — fewer than 500 residents — is wrapped in medieval walls you can walk in a slow 20-minute loop, with views over some of the world's most prized truffle forests.
National Park
Brijuni National Park
A cluster of 14 wooded islands just off Fažana, Brijuni is a national park with a very unusual history — for decades it was Marshal Tito's summer retreat, where he received film stars, presidents and a private zoo of animals gifted by African leaders. Their descendants (zebras, llamas, ostriches) still roam a safari park.
Cave
Pazin Cave & Castle
Pazin's medieval castle balances on the very edge of an enormous karst chasm where the Pazinčica river vanishes underground with a roar. Jules Verne set part of Mathias Sandorf here after peering over the drop in 1867, and the setting still delivers — a zipline now stretches 220 metres across the abyss.
Hidden Gem
Hum — World's Smallest Town
With a population that hovers between 20 and 30 people, Hum has held the Guinness record as the world's smallest town for decades — but this is no fake, it's a real medieval municipality with its own mayor, church and city walls. The drive up the Glagolitic Alley from Roč, marked with sculptures of the ancient Croatian alphabet, is half the pleasure.
Hidden Gem
Grožnjan
By the 1960s Grožnjan was nearly abandoned — a Venetian hilltop shell of empty houses. Then the government invited artists to move in rent-free, and today the entire town is a working artists' colony of some 30 galleries and studios.
Old Town
Labin Old Town
Labin is Istria's most underrated old town — a Venetian hilltop city with painted façades, baroque palaces and a spectacular view down to Rabac's turquoise coves 320 metres below. It also has a quirky recent past as a mining town; the whole hill above the mine collapsed in the 1990s and residents were partly relocated to a modern lower town.
Nature Park
Cape Kamenjak
Istria's wild southern tip is a protected reserve of low juniper scrub, wildflower meadows and endless little limestone coves — 30 kilometres of coastline dotted with hidden swimming spots you reach on foot or bike. Cliff-jumpers gather at the Cove of the Golden Cape, dinosaur footprints stamp the flat rocks at the southernmost point, and the Safari Bar looks like a Robinson Crusoe fantasy.
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Popular cities
Cities to explore
Zagreb
Austro-Hungarian capital of cafés, museums and red-tiled roofs.
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Dubrovnik
Marble-paved walled city above the Adriatic.
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Split
Diocletian's 4th-century palace still lived in today.
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Rovinj
Venetian-Istrian old town on a pine-clad peninsula.
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Zadar
Roman forum, sea organ and the world's best sunsets, per Hitchcock.
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Pula
Roman amphitheatre by the sea, gateway to Istria.
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National parks
Wild places
Plitvice Lakes
16 terraced turquoise lakes linked by waterfalls.
Krka
River park with tumbling travertine cascades.
Kornati
89 stark limestone islands scattered in the Adriatic.
Paklenica
Velebit canyons — Croatia's climbing capital.
Mljet
Forested island with two saltwater lakes and a Benedictine monastery.
Brijuni
Archipelago of Roman villas, dinosaur footprints and safari park.
Risnjak
Old-growth forest of Gorski Kotar, home to lynx and bears.
Northern Velebit
Karst peaks, wild trails and the Premužić path.
Beaches
Coast & shore
Zlatni Rat, Brač
Shifting golden-horn pebble spit.
Stiniva, Vis
Hidden cove reached through a narrow cliff gap.
Sakarun, Dugi Otok
Long white-sand crescent in impossibly clear water.
Punta Rata, Brela
Pine-shaded Makarska Riviera classic.
Lubenice, Cres
Wild pebble beach 378 m below a clifftop village.
Nugal, Makarska
Nudist cove framed by white karst cliffs.
Mountains & nature
Peaks and wilderness
Velebit
Croatia's longest range, protected as two national parks.
Biokovo
Marble spine above the Makarska Riviera with a skywalk.
Dinara
The country's highest peak at 1,831 m.
Učka
Istrian nature park with sea views to Venice on clear days.
Risnjak
Gorski Kotar's forested wilderness.
Local cuisine
What to eat
Peka
Meat or octopus slow-cooked under a bell-shaped iron lid.
Crni rižot
Cuttlefish-ink risotto — a Dalmatian staple.
Pašticada
Marinated beef braised in prunes and prošek, served with gnocchi.
Istrian truffles
White and black truffles from the Motovun forest, shaved over fuži pasta.
Buzara
Shellfish (usually mussels or scampi) in wine, garlic and parsley.
Štrukli
Zagorje pastry parcels of cottage cheese, baked or boiled.
Travel tips
Good to know
- 01
Coastal ferries book out in July–August; reserve Jadrolinija tickets weeks ahead.
- 02
The kuna is gone — Croatia joined the euro in 2023.
- 03
ZET trams in Zagreb and city buses use contactless card payment.
- 04
Wild camping is illegal; use one of the country's many licensed campsites.
- 05
Wear reef shoes on pebble beaches — sea urchins are common.
- 06
Konoba means a family-run tavern; that's where the peka lives.
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