5 Tips for First Time Travelers to Croatia
Thinking of visiting beautiful Croatia? Here are 5 tips for beginners!
The interior of Croatia has much different climate and vegetation than the coast! You’ll notice the change when you get over the coastal mountains.
(1) First Tip: Language
If you don’t speak Croatian, it’s not a problem. English is almost everywhere on the coast and in Zagreb. You won’t have a problem communicating in English with just about anyone you’ll come in contact with. Even if you’re “off the beaten tourist path” you’ll likely have no problem. We were in Sisak (a beautiful interior city not on most travel itineraries) and we were sitting and chatting at a cafe eating ice cream. A group of three high school girls at a table next to us found us interesting enough to start up a friendly conversation. All in English and far away from tourist hot spots! Of course, if you can speak any Croatian, local people love to hear you try, haha!
Šibenik, Croatia
(2) Second Tip: Money
Croatia uses the Euro. The Euro has typically been worth more than the U.S. Dollar, thus you’ll likely get back less than you give when you change cash. Cash is nice to have, but we pay for a lot with credit cards too. You’ll want Euros to pay for entry fees to the various sites you want to visit. Although, most take a card, you might run into some that do not. Cafes and Restaurants all take cards. Getting cash from an ATM works too. We’ve never had a problem, except when we tried to use a card that had expired without us noticing! You might want to double check that before you go!
We’ve also found prices to be cheaper in Croatia than the US. A typical breakfast might consist of a stop at a bakery for various treats and a couple drinks and we’d rarely spend more than 10 Euro for both of us.
Plitvice Lakes National Park
(3) Third Tip: Tourist Crowds
Crowds of tourists don’t happen unless you’re in a few of the BIG tourist areas of Croatia. Unfortunately, those are probably at the top of your “to see” list. Dubrovnik is super busy during the main tourist season (think summer). Split has become much more packed with tourists over the last decade too. If you’re driving from Zagreb to Split the descent from the mountains into Split on the freeway is breathtaking for passengers and harrowing for the driver! Plitvice national park (pictured above) is packed like you’re in the Smoky Mountains. You can see the line of tourists on the board walk in the picture above. Zadar is gorgeous and not quite as packed. Zagreb gets a lot of tourists, but is big enough to handle it, so it doesn’t feel overcrowded, at least not from tourists. It’s a big city, so lots of people.
The most important thing to know is that once you leave the tourist hot spots, it’s not crowded and it’s incredible! There are seemingly hundreds of small towns along the coast that are gorgeous and not very busy at all. You can find beach after beach where you and maybe 3 other people are there. We’ve visited cool 400 year old manor houses that were amazing and we were the only ones there! There is incredible history everywhere! Don’t be afraid to find it! And if you only know English you’ll be fine most of the time. The interior of Croatia is loaded with history and very few tourists!
Festung Sisak (Closed Temporarily, but you can still walk the grounds and you’ll likely be the only ones there.)
(4) Fourth Tip: Cafes and Restaurants
Cafes are everywhere on the coast, cities, and towns. Typically you simply look for an open table and sit down. Then a waiter will come over and take your order. There is little better than finding a spot in a nice cafe next to the sea and enjoying some coffee and good conversation for an hour or three. You can stay as long as you like and people often hang out for quite some time.
Restaurants will often seat you when you come in. Although many of them you can just find an open table too, especially if there is outdoor seating. If you want to go somewhere nicer, you’ll want to check if they take reservations. Most higher end places will. We’ve never had a problem getting reservations. For instance, if you want to go to Pelegrini in Šibenik, we’d recommend making reservation well in advance, just to be sure. It’s worth it!
Otok Murter (Murter Island)
(5) Fifth Tip: Driving
You can drive in Croatia with a US drivers license. Make sure you have it with you! We’ve rented cars in Zagreb airport many times and once in Dubrovnik airport and then dropped the car off at Zagreb airport. All were very easy experiences. We would suggest making the reservation before flying into Croatia. Driving on Croatian roads isn’t too difficult either. The expressway is a breeze, as it’s not as busy as they can be in the US. They charge tolls for using them, however. But it’s well worth the cost, as the tolls are not too high. Driving on the expressway along the coast is interesting since you are up in the mountains for much of it. There are lots of tunnels through mountains too. It’s primarily 4 lanes (2 in each direction). The gas stations along the expressways are usually very nice. They typically have good food choices and clean restrooms (they usually charge you around 50 cents to use them).
When you’re driving on the two-lane country roads, it will be common to have a car right on your butt, even when you’re going above the speed limit. It happens so often that you’ll wonder if they specifically assigned someone to ride your butt every time you get on the road. They will pass you on the left when there is no oncoming traffic. The roads are narrow and winding up and down hills. There are also a lot of trucks using these roads. Thus, there will be some tight passes. If you have and love driving a high performance vehicle, Croatia’s country roads will be a treat because you’ll be able to put your skills to the test. Road signs on these roads aren’t always the best and once you get of the two-lane roads and onto the 1 and half and single lane roads, there are no road signs at all. So google maps is important.
Beware of the traffic police. They are everywhere and they use speed cameras on the two-land country roads. There are signs warning you when a speed camera is coming up. So you can slow down. The signs are not in words, but images that you should be able to figure out (looks like a security camera with some waves coming out and a car). You’ll see the cameras as you pass. Locals know where they all are and slow down too.
Finally, the coastal towns and cities have small, narrow roads. Big cars and SUVs will not fit. Thus, we wouldn’t recommend anything larger than what people in the US would think of as a mid-sized SUV. We’ve packed 5 people and all the luggage and souvenirs in one of these and it worked. Croatia isn’t very big, so you won’t typically be driving more than a few hours. Driving from Zagreb to Split is less than 4 hours.
Gas station food in Croatia!
That’s all for now! Hope you have a wonderful trip to Croatia! It’s magical!
