Skeptical and indecisive, aren’t you? You want to travel somewhere but you’re not sure where. And somehow you discovered a small country named Croatia and started your research about it. A good way to go, it’s always good to make an online exploration of the place you’re planning to visit. Just to know what to expect when you come there. If you are wondering is Croatia worth visiting, we’ll do our best to answer that question for you. And we’ll assume you don’t know anything about Croatia.
The beautiful landscape is one of the answers to ‘is Croatia worth visiting’ question
Stick around and find out why Croatia might be the best place for your next vacation.
a bit of introduction to Croatia
Croatia is a small European country situated just across Italy with whom we share the best part of the Adriatic sea. You could say that Croatia is a part of the Balkans and you wouldn’t be wrong. Our country was once in a union of countries called Yugoslavia. It didn’t go so well and Croatia decided to go its own way and split all the connections to Yugoslavia. The things were not so simple and Croatia had to fight its way out of Yugoslavia.
But let’s jump to happier times. Croatia is a member of the European Union for a few years now. It’s also one of the most popular places for vacation in Europe. Around 4 million people are living in Croatia and that number multiplies during the summer months when lots of tourists arrive and spend their vacation time in Croatia.
Biokovo mountain in Croatia
Croatia is known for its beautiful nature, clear Adriatic sea, historical cities, and welcoming people. We would say that these 4 things describe Croatia very well. But is Croatia worth visiting only because of these things?
nature of croatia
Croatia has a beautiful and diverse nature. We’re simply blessed with it. The sea, mountains, rivers, forests, just name it. Croatia has everything. Many foreigners come to Croatia because of its nature. And when a country small as Croatia has 8 national parks, you know that our claims are true.
Apart from the national parks, Croatia has many nature parks too, as well as other types of protected natural landscapes. We recommend everyone to visit at least one national park during their travel through Croatia.
So how does it look like in reality? Well, you have the Adriatic sea and there are few mountains just in the place where the sea and land meet. It’s an awesome thing to have a combination like this. Imagine yourself swimming in the sea and observing mountain peaks above you. Velebit and Biokovo mountains are 2 of the largest mountains that stretch along the coast.
Crystal clear Adriatic sea
Further inland, you have Lika and Gorski Kotar regions. They are kind of central Croatia and they are full of mountains. They even have a mountain – continental climate. Even though the Adriatic sea is just on the other side of the mountains. Istria is a region with many vineyards and picturesque towns. It’s closest to the rest of Western Europe so many people choose Istria for their vacation. Finally, you have the Slavonia region in the East, and it’s the most fertile ground in Croatia with many many fields.
Finally, Croatia has a ton of islands. To be exact there are 718 islands, 389 islets, and 78 reefs. Trust us, it’s a lot. Many of these islands are inhabited and ready for exploration.
Things are much more diverse in reality, this description above is just a simplified view of Croatia.
adriatic sea
Adriatic sea is one of the main reasons why people visit Croatia. We have to admit it. When you come to our country and see the sea for yourself, you’ll know what we are talking about. It’s one of the most beautiful and secure seas in the world. Why do we say secure? Well, you know how some seas have sharks, some have jellyfish, some have some other dangers lurking from its depths? The Croatian side of the Adriatic sea has none of these, you can simply enjoy every moment in it.
Scattered islands near the island of Korcula
It’s also a very clean sea. Because of the sea currents, Croatia has a much clearer sea than neighboring Italy for example. Mighty Italian river Po is another reason. This large river brings a lot of fine sand and flushes it along the eastern coast of Italy. That’s why they have a lot of sandy beaches there.
Adriatic sea is pretty shallow and it gets really nice and warm in the summer months. Its shallowest part is in the Istria region. When it comes to scuba diving in the Adriatic sea, we have to admit that there are better seas for that. We don’t have any coral reefs and such, so if you are a huge scuba diving fan and wanting to do that, you might want to find some other places. On the other hand, if you want to scuba dive in Croatia, we suggest diving along the coast of one of the many islands in Croatia.
historical cities
When speaking about historical cities in Croatia, Dubrovnik is always a first mention. A lot of people who maybe don’t even know about Croatia know about Dubrovnik city. Dubrovnik is indeed a beautiful city and we suggest you visiting it if you plan to come to Croatia. But some other cities have similar past and history. The city of Split, the second-largest city in Croatia was very important in times of the Roman empire. Then there is Trogir, Pula, Zadar, Korcula and many others.
Korcula city
There are many other historical sites scattered all across Croatia. There are many fortresses, castles, and similar buildings. Roman architecture is present in the whole of southern Croatia while Western European style is more evident in northern Croatia and in the old cores of cities such as Zagreb or Varaždin.
the people
Croats are known to be very welcoming people. When tourists comment on Croatia, they often mention how welcoming Croats are. And it’s true. We are happy for anybody visiting our country and most Croats will gladly help you any way they can.
A lot of Mediterranean people are like that and Croats are not an exception. If you happen to have an accident on the road, for example, failure of your car, you’ll be able to witness how everybody stops to help you.
Another good thing about Croatian people is that most of them speak English. Maybe the older ones don’t, but most of the younger generations do. It’s because English is learned from a very early age in Croatia.
is croatia safe?
We have written a dedicated post about this topic so you can read more detail about it. We’ll be short here and say yes, Croatia is indeed a very safe country. In fact, Croatia is safest than most of the European countries. This is not a subjective opinion and there are a lot of researches about this topic presented in the mentioned post.
Many tourists are traveling to Croatia each year and with their numbers so high you would expect a lot higher crime rate than it is recorded. Yes, there are some paddy thefts and similar stuff but these are easily avoided just by keeping your valuable things next to you. Other than that, you really shouldn’t have any problems.
best time to visit croatia
When it comes to the best time to visit Croatia, we would say it’s either summer, late spring, or early autumn. Most of the tourists choose to visit Croatia during the summer months and that’s mainly because of the swimming in the Adriatic sea. It’s logical and Croatia is most crowded during the summer months.
Dinara mountain in autumn
But we always promote preseason and postseason times as the best times to visit Croatia. It’s simply because Croatia is much less crowded in these periods, the weather is still nice and warm. You can still swim in the sea although it’s not as warm as in the middle of the summer. But visit any other location, national park or anything else, is much more rewarding in these periods.
so is croatia worth visiting at the end?
We hope we helped in answering your ‘is Croatia worth visiting’ question. Do a little bit more online research if you are not convinced yet. Explore the images of Croatia to see how nature in our country looks like. Search for the opinions of the people who visited Croatia already.
If you still have any doubts, let us know through the contact form and we’ll gladly answer any question you might have.
Enjoy your holiday in Croatia!
