Croatia

• 1. The historic city of Trogir
  2. Old City of Dubrovnik
  3. Stari Grad Plain, Hvar
  4. Plitvice Lakes National Park
  5. Stećci – Medieval Tombstones Graveyards
  6. The Cathedral of St James in Šibenik 
  7. Historical Complex of Split with the Palace of Diocletian
  8. Venetian Works Of Defense Between The 16th And 17th Centuries
  9. Episcopal Complex of the Euphrasian Basilica in the Historic Centre of Poreč
  10. Ancient And Primeval Beech Forests Of The Carpathians And Other Regions Of Europe

  If you’re coming to Croatia in summer and would rather not brave the masses in peak season, you could also visit some of the lesser-known sites to see in Croatia that has been submitted to the tentative UNESCO list. These include:

  • The fortified walls and salt pans in the towns of Ston and Mali Ston, which are less than an hour from Dubrovnik by car.
  • The Istrian hilltop town of Motovun.
  • The historical nucleus of Varazdin, north of Zagreb, which the New York Times named as one of the top places to visit in Croatia

  While visiting Croatia, don’t forget to check out the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list while traveling Croatia and learning about Croatian culture as you travel.

Sailing

Sailing is a good way to see the coastal islands and networks of small archipelagos. Most charters leave from Split or the surrounding area on the North or the South circuit, each offering its own pros and cons. A good way is to book a package with a company at home, but many Croatian companies also offer both bareboat and crewed charters.

Booking of a charter vessel is basically done in two parts. Fifty percent of the charter price is paid right away, after which the booking is confirmed. The other fifty percent of the charter fee is usually paid four weeks before the charter date. Before the first payment of the charter fee you should request to see the charter contract from the agency where you chartered a boat. Pay close attention to cancellation fees because many times if you cancel your charter vacation you could lose the initial fifty percent you already paid when you booked a charter so take a close look at that in the charter contract. After that you are set for a sailing vacation.

When you arrive to marina where your chartered yacht is situated you need to do the check in (usually Saturday around 16:00) and you have to do the shopping for the charter vacation. Don’t neglect the groceries shopping because the sea is unpredictable and you don’t want to get stuck on the boat without anything to eat or drink.

You can do the shopping in a marina (although the prices are much higher there) or you can order from yacht provisioning services who usually deliver the products to your chartered yacht at no extra fee. This is convenient because it takes the load off you and the things you must do when you arrive at the marina for your sailing holiday.

Active & Adventure trips

Croatia offers amazing weather conditions and incredible scenery for various activities throughout the year. Water sports, mountain and rock activities, biking and many more. There are several tour companies organizing various outdoor activities, as sea kayaking, biking, hiking, canyoning, rock climbing, etc. One of the first adventure portal in Croatia is trip.hr. With trip you can plan your adventure easly.

Rock Climbing

With more than 70 routes rock climbing on Marjan is must do outdoor adventure.

Beaches

Beaches in Croatia are abundant and every village along the coast has its own little beach. But, although Croatia is not lacking in beaches, many are pebbled, which is not preferable choice for many travelers.

Prices are around 10% to 20% lower than most EU countries. Touristic destinations and articles are much more expensive.

ATMs

ATMs (in Croatian bankomat) are readily available throughout Croatia. They will accept various European bank cards, credit cards (Diners Club, Eurocard/MasterCard, Visa, American Express etc.) and debit cards (Cirrus, Maestro, Visa electron etc.). Read the labels/notices on the machine before using.

Tax-free shopping

If you buy goods worth more than 740 kuna you are entitled to a PDV (VAT) tax return when leaving the country. Note that this applies to all goods except petroleum products. At point of purchase ask the sales person for a PDV-P form. Fill it out and have it stamped on the spot. On leaving Croatia the receipt will be verified by the Croatian Customs service. A PDV refund in Kunas can be obtained within six months, either at the same shop where you bought the goods (in that case the tax will be refunded to you immediately), or by posting the verified receipt back to the shop, together with the account number into which the refund should be paid. In this case the refund is dealt with within 15 days of receipt of the claim. There is another, much easier way to receive the refund. Buy your goods in shops with a “CROATIA TAX-FREE SHOPPING” label. This label is displayed on the shop’s entrance, usually next to the labels of credit and debit cards this particular shop accepts. Using an international coupon, refund is possible in all countries-members of the TAX-FREE international chain. In this case the service charge is deducted from the tax refund amount.

Croatia now uses the Global Blue system. They will do the refund and take a commission off the price. You can do this at the airport or post it once you get home.

Natural cosmetics

The ingredients used (herbs, olive oil, etc.) are grown in Croatia. In comparison to some world famous beauty products, Croatian natural cosmetics present real value for the money.

Ulola manufacturers soaps, bath salts, body butters and more. It’s all natural and comes in combinations like: orange and cinnamon, goats milk and almond oil, etc</buy>

S-Atea manufacturers soaps, shower gels, body butter and more. Seaweed, olive oil, rosemary and lavender are some of their main ingredients.

Brac fini sapuni (Brac quality soaps) manufacturers a wide range of natural soaps, the lastest addition to their bath line is Aurum Croaticum made from virgin olive oil and thin leafs of 23 carat gold!

There are many Croatian designers and clothing specialists.

Etnobutik “Mara”  (designs by Vesna Milković) offers a range of really unique clothing and accessories inscribed with “glagoljica” (glagolitic script; old Slavic alphabet). Some of her designs are protected as Authentic Croatian produce.

I-gle Fashion Studio by two female designers Nataša Mihaljčišin i Martina Vrdoljak-Ranilović. Their clothing is sold in Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge (London).;

Nebo (“Sky”) is a fashion house that makes really nice, funky clothes and shoes.

Nit (“Thread”) is definitely not widely known even among Croats but is definitely worth visiting as they have some “funky and arty but serious” clothing items that are “value for money”.

Croatian cuisine is quite diverse so it is hard to say what meal is most typically Croatian. In the eastern continental regions (Slavonija and Baranja) spicy sausage such as kulen or kulenova seka is a must-try. Čobanac (“shepherd’s stew”) is a mixture of several different kinds of meat with a lot of red spicy paprika. In Hrvatsko Zagorje and Central Croatia pasta filled with cheese called štrukli is a famous delicacy (it is said that the best štrukli in Croatia is served in the Esplanade Hotel restaurant in Zagreb), as is purica s mlincima (baked turkey with a special kind of pastry). Sir i vrhnje (sour cream with cottage cheese) can be bought fresh on the Zagreb main market Dolac. Croats love a bit of oil and you will find plenty of it in piroška. In mountainous regions of Lika and Gorski Kotar meals made of mushrooms, wild berries and wild meat are very popular. One of typical dishes in Lika is police (oven-baked potatoes covered with bacon) and several kinds of cheese (smoked cheese and škripavac).

The coastal region is well known for truffle delicacies and soup maneštra od bobić (Istria), Dalmatian pršut (dry-cured ham) and paški sir (Pag-island cheese). Dishes made of fresh fish and other products of the sea (calamari, octopus, crabs, scampi) shouldn’t be given a miss! Many places serve fish delivered from the local fisherman the night before – find out which ones! Croatian cost offers a wide range of restaurants that are excellent quality with relatively affordable prices (higher prices in restaurants can be found in the city centre). There is a great number of a restaurant along the coast that can be found in the prestigue Michelin guide. Dalmatian cuisine is definitely something that you will remember from your trip to Croatia.

Croatian cuisine has yet to come up with a Croatian fast food representative. The market is dominated by globally ubiquitous hamburgers and pizzas but you will also find “burek” and “ćevapčići” imported from the medieval Ottoman empire which stretched from Turkey to neighboring Bosnia. The latter two dishes are widely popular in the entire South and Eastern Europe. Burek is a type of cheese-pastry whereas ćevapčići are seasoned minced meat shaped in finger-size portions served in bread and often covered with onions. Although definitely not a fast meal (takes several hours to prepare) also foreign in origin is the so-called sarma or sauerkraut rolls filled with minced meat and rice. For those coming back from nightclubs at 4 or 5AM as is common in Croatia, it is popular to go to the local bakery and get fresh bread, burek or krafne (Croatian chocolate filled donuts) straight out of the oven. Delicious! As far as fast food goes, who needs it when you can buy delicious prsut during the day and warm bread at night to compliment it. Most Croatians generally look down at fast food.

Desserts: What it lacks in the fast food department Croatia makes up with a myriad of desserts. Probably the most famous is its delicious creamy cake called kremšnite but different kinds of gibanica, štrudla and pita (similar to strudel and pie) such as orehnjača (walnut), makovnjača (poppy) or bučnica (pumpkin and cheese) are also highly recommended. Dubrovačka torta od skorupa is delicious but hard to find. Paprenjaci (pepper cookies) are said to reflect the Croatian tumultuous history because they combine the harshness of the war periods (pepper) with the natural beauties (honey). They can be bought in most souvenir shops though fresh-made are always a better choice. Rapska torta (The Rab island cake) is made with almonds and locally famous cherry liquor Maraschino. It should be noted that this is hardly an exhaustive list and even a casual glimpse in any Croatian cookbook is likely to be worth the effort. Chocolate candy “Bajadera” is available throughout shops in the country and along with “Griotte” is one of the most famous products of the Croatian chocolate industry.

An unavoidable ingredient in many meals prepared in Croatia is “Vegeta”. It is a spice produced by “Podravka”.

Olives: a lot of people claim that Croatian olives and their olive oil are the best in the world, which is not even well known in Croatia and less worldwide. Many brands exist and some of them have several world awards. Try to buy olive oil from Istra (although oil from Dalmatia is also excellent) and choose only Croatian brands for olives (most notable sms, few times awarded as the world’s best!). Try to read the declaration before buying to ensure you are buying Croatian olives and oil, since there are a lot of imports (usually cheap products from Greece). All of this can be found in most of the supermarkets, but you should be really aware of the imports, most of the Croatian people aren’t experts and prefer cheaper products, so they dominate. The olive oil is a irreaplaceable “ingredient” in the coastal cuisine, but you should be aware of the use of cheaper, not Croatian, oil in restaurants because most of the tourists don’t notice the difference so the restaurants don’t find it profitable to use excellent oil; they rather use cheaper Spanish or Greek. Usually, asking the waiter for a better oil (and looking like an expert) helps, and soon he gets you a first-class oil from a hidden place.