Language: Croatian
Currency: Kuna (HRK)
Currency: 385
Croatia (official name: Republic of Croatia) is a
European country, in a geopolitical sense a central European and
Mediterranean country. To the Northwest it borders Slovenia, Hungary
to the Northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and
Montenegro to the southeast, and to the west it has a sea border
with Italy. The land area is 56,594 km2, and the coastal sea area is
31,067 km2, which ranks Croatia among the medium-sized European
countries. The capital city of Zagreb is the political, cultural,
scientific and economic centre of the Republic of Croatia.
Throughout Croatian history, the most significant cultural
influences came from the Central European and Mediterranean cultural
circles.
The foundations of the Croatian state are found in
the early Middle Ages when Croats founded their two principalities:
Pannonian and coastal Croatia. Then under the ruling dynasty
Trpimirović Croatia became a single principality, and 7. June 879.
during the reign of Prince Branimir for the first time an
independent state. In the year 925. under the leadership of King
Tomislav, Croatia became a kingdom. The last Croatian King was Petar
Snačić, and after him Croatia entered into a personal union with
Hungary under a treaty known as the Pacta conventa, concluded in
1102. year. With this treaty, Croatia retained all the features of
the state, only the King was in common. In 1527., due to the Ottoman
attack on Croatia, the Habsburg dynasty comes to the Croatian
throne. During the Habsburg rule, Croatia also retained all state
legal features, which is most reflected in the Pragmatic Sanction of
1712. the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement of 1868. year.
At the
end of the First World War, 1918. in 1999, Croatia broke ties with
Austria-Hungary and participated in the establishment of the state
of SHS. Not long after, Croatia (within the state of SHS) was
incorporated into the kingdom of SHS (later Kingdom of Yugoslavia),
although the Croatian parliament never ratified this decision. It
regains a certain level of statehood as the Banovina of Croatia.
During World War II, in the territory of present-day Croatia, Bosnia
and Herzegovina and part of Serbia, there was an independent state
of Croatia. At the end of World War II, 1945. Croatia became a
Socialist Republic and as a federal unit formed the SFR Yugoslavia.
In 1990. the first democratic multi-party elections were held after
45 years of the one-party system, and 30. in May of the same year, a
democratically elected multi-party Croatian parliament was
constituted. Day 25. June 1991. the Republic of Croatia by the
constitutional decision of the state parliament became an
independent and independent state.
The Croatian language and
Latin script are officially used in Croatia.
According to the
2021 census. in the, Croatia had a population of 3,871,833. Croats
make up more than 90% of the population, with the largest minority
being Serbs. The majority of the population is Christian, while the
majority of Christians are Catholic.
According to the
political structure, Croatia is a parliamentary democracy, and in
economic terms it is oriented towards the market economy. It is a
member of the United Nations of 22. May 1992. year. Croatia is a
member of the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, the
Organization for security and cooperation in Europe, the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the Schengen
area.
Cities
Makarska
Lastovo
Hvar
Brač
Vis
Murter
Pašman
Other destinations
Cities
Rijeka
Opatija
Crikvenica
Baška
Senj
Delnice
Fužine
Other destinations
Sjeverni Velebit National Park
Cities
Karlovac
Krapina
Krapinske Toplice
Sisak
Varaždin
Vrbovec
Other destinations
US citizens, British, Canadian as well as European Union don't need visa to travel to Croatia if you plan to stay less than 90 days there. However they do require returning plane ticket.
Religion plays an important part in lives of people. Religious affiliations are usually divide down ethnic borders. So 87.8% of the country are Roman Catholic Croats, 4.4% are Eastern Orthodox Serbs. There is also some minor presence of Muslims, Protestants and Jews.
Smoking and drinking on the streets is a normal thing in Croatia. Although certain restriction are applied around certain public, government and other localities.
Police 92
Ambulance 94
Fire 93
Croatia is part of the border-free Schengen area.
Aircraft
Numerous well-known airlines from all over the world as
well as the national airline Croatia Airlines fly to Croatia.
Main airports are Zagreb Airport (IATA: ZAG), Dubrovnik Airport (IATA:
DBV) and Split Airport (IATA: SPU), and especially in the summer months
Zadar (IATA: ZAD) ]], Pula (IATA: PUY), Rijeka (IATA: RJK) and Osijek
(IATA: OSI).
in Germany
Large airlines such as Lufthansa and
the national airline Croatia Airlines fly to Croatia from Germany, as
well as low-cost airlines, mainly to Split, Dubrovnik and Zadar
(Sunadria also to Zagreb). Low-cost carrier flights are offered in the
summer, for example, from Frankfurt-Hahn to Pula and Zadar.
Switzerland
From Switzerland, Croatia Airlines (codesharing with
Swiss) flies from Zurich to Zagreb, seasonally also to Dubrovnik, Split
and Zadar. Edelweiss Air seasonally connects Zurich with Split. There is
a seasonal connection with Split from Geneva and Basel-Mulhouse, each
operated by Easyjet.
Croatia Airlines
The national airline
Croatia Airlines is part of the Star Alliance and has the most
connections. It flies to Dubrovnik, Pula, Osijek, Split, Zadar, Rijeka,
Bol and Zagreb within Croatia. In addition, international destinations
such as Rome, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Copenhagen, Munich,
Istanbul are also served.
Subway
The most important connection
from the German-speaking countries is the Eurocity Vienna - Maribor -
Zagreb, which runs once a day with a journey time of 6:30 h. Night train
connections run in 14 hours from Stuttgart via Munich - Salzburg -
Villach to Zagreb, in the season also directly to Rijeka. From
Switzerland, a night train runs from Zurich via Innsbruck and Villach to
Zagreb in 15 hours.
In the summer season, a car train runs the
route Bratislava - Vienna - Split, car loading is possible both in
Bratislava and in Vienna.
The only train to the neighboring
countries runs from Budapest (in close intervals). There are currently
no cross-border trains to Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The
Deutsche Bahn's discount prices also apply to trains to Croatia, for
example, the Munich-Zagreb route is already available for € 30 plus the
Europe Croatia super discount price. BahnCard discount (only on the
inner German part of the route). It's worth comparing.
The
long-distance connections to the neighbouring countries of the Western
Balkans are usually not as busy as buses and, due to the high
maintenance costs, do not receive the same attention as in the more
regular traffic to Central Europe. Therefore, in terms of quality and
demand, compromises must be made here.
Bus
Flixbus runs
directly to Zagreb from many German cities. Due to the ban on cabotage,
these buses pass through Austria without stopping.
Car/Motorcycle/Bicycle
The journey with your own car is actually
worthwhile because of the flexibility. However, it should be borne in
mind that in the summer months there is a relatively high volume of
traffic on the coast and near the coast. In addition, relatively high
temperatures are to be expected (up to 40 degrees in the shade is not
uncommon). A journey with a car with air conditioning is therefore
recommended. Cars with German and Austrian license plates do not have to
attach the national sign sticker, provided that it is a Euro license
plate. On the other hand, for cars with Swiss or Liechtenstein license
plates, the application of the adhesive is mandatory.
The most
important route from Germany is via Salzburg, Villach and Ljubljana. In
addition to the Croatian toll, a vignette is required for each of the
two transit countries Austria and Slovenia, and special tolls have to be
paid for the three Austrian tunnels Tauerntunnel, Katschbergtunnel and
Karawankentunnel. An alternative route leads via Linz, Graz and Maribor;
here, too, a special toll is due for the two tunnels Bosrucktunnel and
Gleinalmtunnel.
From Switzerland and South Tyrol it is possible
to get there via Milan and Trieste, but it should be noted that the
Slovenian section has not yet been developed and you have to drive
longer distances over country roads. However, since there is no motorway
on this route on the Slovenian side, there is no Slovenian toll either.
Hitchhike
Hitchhiking or a car stop to Croatia is quite possible.
If you are coming from the north, you should rather choose the "detour"
via Ljubljana than the short corner over Italy. In Croatia itself,
however, hitchhiking is illegal and therefore a little more difficult
and time-consuming, much better in the hinterland than on the coast. As
everywhere, women should never hitchhike alone.
Ship
From many
places ferries depart several times a day to the islands that are off
the coast, as well as (less often) between coastal cities (for example,
Split and Rijeka) and relatively often between Croatia and Italy (for
example, Split - Ancona - Split). The connections have a high density
during the holiday season. There are normal ferry connections, speedboat
and catamaran connections as well as private taxi boats. The duration of
the crossing varies considerably. Thus, a normal passenger and car ferry
takes about 10 hours to get from Split to Ancona. The car catamaran
SNAV, on the other hand, only takes 6.5 hours. A ferry to Hvar takes 2.5
hours from Split, speedboat or catamaran, depending on the pier, in
about 50 minutes. The crossings are relatively cheap, about 1.5 to 10 €
per trip. With a vehicle, the price is significantly higher, whereby the
vehicles are priced according to type and length.
The most important
providers in passenger shipping:
Jadrolinija (Domestic;
Croatia-Italy-Croatia)
SNAV (Ancona-Split, April to October only)
In Croatia, people are especially mobile with cars, buses and boats.
The railway is still in the background and is developing more slowly
than road traffic.
By train
The railway plays a subordinate
role in Croatia, as in many countries of the former Yugoslavia. The
network is quite wide-meshed, many major cities such as Dubrovnik are
not connected to the railway network, and the trains are very slow,
often slower than the parallel bus connections; however, the train
connections are quite cheap. However, the country is trying to renew the
railway network and speed up the most important connections, so the
travel time on the Zagreb-Split route could be reduced from 9 hours to
5.5 hours by the use of tilting trains, which is still much longer than
a comparable bus or car trip, but you will be rewarded with a
breathtaking view of the mountains.
The operator of the railway
network in Croatia is Hrvatske željeznice (HŽ). There are three train
categories: Intercity (IC), express (Brzi, B) and Regional (Putnički
vlak, Pt). Intercity trains are subject to reservation (reservation fee
1 €). Tickets can be purchased either on site or online, similar to
Deutsche Bahn or ÖBB, there are savings prices for early bookers.
Tickets for international trains can be purchased exclusively at a
special counter in Zagreb Central Station (also not online). Buying a
ticket on the train is possible, but costs a penalty surcharge, unless
it is proven that you got on at a station without a ticket office.
By bus
Bus traffic in Croatia is usually well developed and has
an extensive network despite some closed lines. There are short-distance
buses in Croatia, both in the cities and in the countryside, from where
you can go to the regional centers. The long-distance buses are usually
more comfortable and faster than the train.
Since the
construction of the motorway to the south (A1), you can choose for
certain routes whether you take the slower connection, e.g. via the
coastal road, or the faster one via the motorway. The time difference
for the Zadar-Split route, for example, is about 1.5 hours.
The
bus stations are usually located in the city center. In the summer
months, more traffic has to be expected, possibly even to the bus
station itself.
On the street
Speed limits in Croatia: urban
50 km/h, extra-urban 90 km/h, on expressways 110 km/h, on motorways 130
km/h. For young drivers under the age of 25, lower speed limits apply
(always subtract 10 km/h).
If you want to see a lot of the
country, it makes sense to drive your own car or rent one. The areas are
usually very extensive and you are unattached.
The Croatian road
network has been constantly expanding for years. Most of the highways,
especially in the south, are renewed or completely new, in the villages
and in big cities there are still remnants of pothole ramps. Caution is
advised when overtaking and in case of rain. Here you can also get into
a skid on new roads, often because salty air and soot particles from
diesel vehicles form a film.
Highways are subject to tolls in
Croatia, unlike in neighboring countries, no vignette is used, but the
toll is calculated depending on the route, based on the distance
actually traveled. Payment can be made in cash or by credit card at the
toll stations, all major credit cards are accepted, the German Girocard
with the Maestro logo also works. There is also an electronic toll box,
but it is not worth it for the usual tourist (only from 500 km a year
the toll box is cheaper than the classic toll). Information on current
tariffs can be found on the website of the Croatian Motorway Company
(Croatian, English). Croatia is scheduled to switch to an e-vignette by
the end of 2024, but more details on this are not yet known.
The
rigorous penalties for traffic offenders have contributed to a
significant improvement in driving behavior in Croatia. Locals still
drive fast to fast here and there, and tourists from all over the world
come with very different driving styles. So it is useful to keep your
eyes open here and there and let your composure prevail.
In the
cities, especially in the south, many are traveling on scooters and
motorcycles. Here, too, pay attention to traffic and wetness.
Important regulations:
The lighting obligation in Croatia only
applies in winter (during the winter period, i.e. November to March), in
summer the light may remain switched off. Unlike in most other European
countries, the daytime running lights of modern cars are not enough to
meet the lighting requirement, it is mandatory to turn on the low beam.
Snow chains are generally mandatory in the mountainous regions of Gorski
kotar and Lika, regardless of the weather conditions; snow chains must
also be used in the other parts of the country when the roadway is
covered with snow.
The per-mille limit is 0.5 per-mille. There is an
absolute ban on alcohol at the wheel for young drivers under the age of
25.
The obligation to carry replacement incandescent lamps was
abolished in 2023.
Rental
There are also a large number of car
rental companies operating in or out of the country. Almost all major
global providers such as Avis, Herz, Thrifty, Europcar or Sixt are
active in Croatia. In addition, there are also domestic large-scale
providers such as Fleet, Last minute Car or Kompas. Portals such as
billiger-mietwagen.de or comparable providers attract with cheap and
often good prices (pay attention to your own rating within the portals),
but once completed, these can no longer be changed and are organized via
agencies. In the case of cancellations (usually only up to 36 hours
before the start of the rental period), they often only pay back the
amount withheld from the credit card after 14 days.
The prices at
almost all car rental companies increase significantly during the summer
season and for short-term bookings. For example, a VW Golf-class vehicle
can cost 19 euros a day in April and 50 euros a day in August. Timely
booking does not always reduce this course, for example, in 2015 the
German provider SIXT demanded a seasonal surcharge of 230 euros, after a
vehicle was rented for just under 30 euros per day in August. Therefore,
it is recommended not only to make timely bookings, but also, if
necessary, to book a room in advance. timely negotiations with the
landlord, use of complete offers from an organizer, comparison portal or
an airline.
In Croatia, it is advisable to exclude the deductible
despite higher costs. For trips to Bosnia and Herzegovina, insurance
must be taken out, if expressly necessary. Some car rental companies do
not require extra insurance for Bosnia-Herzegovina, as long as you drive
through the enclave of Neum only on the way to Dubrovnik.
In the
event of any accident or damage, always notify the police and have a
protocol drawn up.
Other: Ferries, buses, scooters etc.
Otherwise, there are ferries, speedboats, taxi boats, public buses and
minibuses that go to airports, cities, major attractions or adventure
destinations. It is possible to rent bicycles, scooters, cars and also
boats.
Luggage taken on the long-distance bus costs and is
collected in cash by the driver. If you are traveling in border regions
and do not have suitable change at hand, local currencies, too often
converted at very creative rates, are usually accepted.
In
principle, caution is advised when it comes to insurance services and
when renting bicycles and sometimes even automobiles, especially on
islands, as they are not always maintained equally well.
Almost without exception, the young generation speaks pretty good English. The older guard can still often speak German for this. At school, many Croats are still learning German as the third foreign language after English. In hotels with German travel guides you can often get along with German. English is quite common in some areas, but not in all. Especially in smaller places you quickly get language problems. A few chunks of Croatian make sense. With a small tour guide you quickly learn the most important things.
Beach
In addition to the hotel's own program, depending on where
you are, you can go water skiing, book sightseeing tours or simply
explore nearby islands by ferry. However, this always depends on the
location. It is best to inform in advance.
Some of the most
popular beaches are:
1 Zlatni Rat, Bol (Island of Brač) . Zlatni Rat
beach is one of the most famous beaches in Croatia. It is located on the
island of Brač and is known for its unique shape and crystal clear
waters.2 Bačvice, Split . Bačvice Beach is the most famous beach in
Split. It is famous for its fine sand and clear, shallow water. The
beach is also known for its lively nightlife and beach bars.
3 Punta
Rata, Brela . Punta Rata is a picturesque beach in the town of Brela on
the Makarska Riviera. The beach is characterized by its crystal clear
water, white gravel and the surrounding pine trees.
4 Stiniva, Vis .
Stiniva is a spectacular beach on the island of Vis. It is surrounded by
high rock walls and offers a breathtaking view. The beach can only be
reached by a narrow path or by boat.
5 Sakarun, Dugi Otok . Sakarun
Beach is located on Dugi Otok Island. It is known for its white sand and
turquoise waters. The beach is also popular with families, as the water
is shallow and calm.
6 Rajska Plaža (paradise beach), Rab . Rajska
Plaža, also known as Paradise Beach, is located on the island of Rab. It
is characterized by its fine sand and its shallow, crystal clear water.
The beach stretches for several kilometers and has a lot of space for
sunbathers.
7 Nugal, Makarska (Plaža Nugal) . Nugal Beach is located
near Makarska and is famous for its natural beauty. It is located in a
picturesque bay and is surrounded by impressive rocks. The beach is
popular with naturists.
8 Saharun, Dugi Otok (Sakarun) . Saharun is
another beautiful beach on the island of Dugi Otok. It is known for its
white sand and clear, turquoise waters. The beach is surrounded by pine
forests and offers a quiet and relaxing atmosphere.
9 Ploče,
Dubrovnik . Ploče beach is located near the historic city of Dubrovnik.
It offers a breathtaking view of the city walls and the Adriatic Sea.
The beach is made of pebbles and has a good infrastructure with
restaurants and bars.
10 Makarska Riviera (Makarsko primorje) . The
Makarska Riviera is not a single beach, but a coastal region that
includes a number of beautiful beaches. Here you will find a variety of
beaches, including pebble beaches such as Brela, Tučepi and Podgora,
famous for their beauty and tourist infrastructure.
Nudist
Croatia is extremely popular with naturists. there are several naturist
facilities that are popular with naturists and naturist lovers. Here are
some of the most famous nudist facilities in Croatia:
1 Valalta
Naturist Camp (Rovinj). It is one of the largest and most famous nudist
camps in Croatia. It is located near Rovinj and stretches along a
picturesque coastline. The camp offers accommodation in the form of
bungalows, apartments and campsites, as well as a variety of leisure
facilities.
2 Solaris Naturist Resort (Poreč). It is also located in
Istria, near Poreč. It offers a naturist campsite, as well as holiday
homes and apartments. The resort has its own nudist beach, sports
facilities, restaurants and a wellness center.
3 Koversada Naturist
Resort (Vrsar). It is considered one of the oldest nudist resorts in
Europe. It is located near Vrsar and stretches along the coast of the
Adriatic Sea. The resort offers accommodation in the form of bungalows,
apartments and campsites. It also has restaurants, bars, sports
facilities and its own nudist beach.
4 Camping Baldarin. It is
located on the island of Cres and is a popular destination for
naturists. The campsite is surrounded by unspoilt nature and offers
nudist pitches, bungalows and glamping accommodation. The surrounding
area is ideal for hiking, swimming and relaxing.
5 Camping Kovačine
(island of Cres). It is also located on the island of Cres and offers a
nudist zone. The campsite stretches along a beautiful coastline with
crystal clear water. There are various accommodation options, including
campsites, bungalows and mobile homes.
6 Punta Križ, Rab (Punta
Križa) . Punta Križ is one of the oldest and most famous nudist beaches
in Croatia. It is located on the island of Rab and offers crystal clear
water and beautiful pebble beaches.
7 Jerolim, Hvar . Jerolim is a
small island off the coast of Hvar, known for its nudist beaches. The
beach is surrounded by lush vegetation and offers a quiet and relaxed
ambience.
8 Kandalora, Rab. Kandalora is another popular nudist beach
on the island of Rab. It is surrounded by pine forests and offers sandy
beaches and crystal clear water.
9 Jadra, Pag. Sovinje is a secluded
nudist beach on the island of Pag. It is known for its unspoiled nature
and quiet ambience, ideal for those who want to enjoy a secluded beach.
Other
Climbing is very popular in Croatia. In one of the
national parks (Paklenica National Park), many local and experienced
climbers are always exploring the steep rock faces. The Krka National
Park offers fantastic waterfalls and a green nature that can be explored
via paths and footbridges.
Rafting: In addition, the clear rivers
between the mountains offer adventure holidaymakers the opportunity to
go canyoning (e.g. on the Cetina River) or rafting tours.
Since January 1, 2023, the means of payment has been the euro, which
replaces the kuna at a rate of € 1 to kuna 7.53. If you still have kuna
from a previous visit to Croatia, you can exchange it free of charge at
the Croatian National Bank in Zagreb - notes for an unlimited time,
coins until 2025.
Souvenirs are inexpensive to purchase.
The prices for most products are approximately on the German level.
However, a VAT rate of 25% applies in Croatia (as of Dec 2013), which
already results in a slightly higher price for certain products. Many
international hypermarkets have established themselves in Croatia,
including Billa and Konzum (whose Austrian parent company no longer
exists) from Austria or from Germany. Lidl and Kaufland have also opened
their chain in Croatia and a major price war is expected. In the larger
cities there are smaller specialized shops where you can make one or the
other bargain, provided price comparison.
In Croatia, the best
place to buy your groceries is at the local markets. There is
first-class quality at reasonable prices. Anyone who has eaten tomatoes
once in Croatia will never want to eat the retort products in Germany
again. The vegetables and fruits are not grown in large crops and are
not optimized for yield. There are still many old varieties that are not
available in Germany or only for a lot of money.
The selection of
food in the supermarkets is not as large as in the German-speaking
countries, at least in the smaller places. Products imported from
German-speaking countries are available, but accordingly cost more. In
the large supermarkets, the choice of products is wider than in Central
European countries, because there are both domestic, imported and many
other products that are offered less often in Central Europe, for
example, sweets from Turkey, Slovenia or Italy. The prices are rather
higher than in Germany/ Austria. Due to the high VAT of 25%, it is often
cheaper to eat in restaurants, as wages are relatively low.
In
general, there are hardly any problems because of the opening hours. In
tourist resorts, shops are often open even on Sundays.
Bottle
deposit is also levied in Croatia. However, you often only get this back
if you can show the shopping receipt or buy new drinks in deposit
bottles.
Hotels
Star hotels, as a rule, also have good cuisine. Cheap
hotels save on food.
Konobas
These are small traditional
restaurants with simple Mediterranean (Dalmatian) dishes. Homemade wine
is also often offered there. Cevapcicis and Pljeskavicas can be enjoyed
cheaply with the local Albanians.
Typical Croatian specialties
Northern Croatia
Purica s Mlincima (baked turkey with mazen)
Krvavice (Fried black pudding)
Bucnica (salty pumpkin pie with cream
cheese)
Strukli (salty strudel dough cake with cream cheese)
Pecenice (sausages)
Odojak (suckling pig)
Central Dalmatia
Pasticada (a Mediterranean variant of goulash on noodles or njoki)
Bijeli/Crni Rizot (Dalmatian risottos partly inked with the "ink" from
Calamar)
Salata od Hobotnice (octopus salad)
Brudet (The Dalmatian
Fish Stew)
Skarpina, Zubatac, Orada pod Pekom (dragon's head, toothed
bream, golden bream (sea bream) baked under a clay bell)
Dalmatinski
Prsut (Dalmatian ham, which gets a very individual touch when dried due
to the dry, cold bora; the ham is comparable to the Italian prosciutto,
hence the name, but be careful: unlike the Italians, the Croats only
very rarely manage to cut the ham into wafer-thin slices. These are
often up to a millimeter thick and then barely edible)
Paski Sir (one
of the world's best cheeses, made on the island of Pag (hence the name)
from sheep's milk and dried by the Bora)
Slavonija
Kulen
(noble almost spherical salami made of pure muscle meat seasoned with
paprika)
Fispaprikas (fiery freshwater fish stew)
You can eat out
very well. It is plentiful and comparatively inexpensive. In the tourist
areas, as a rule, the menus are very diverse, so everyone will find
something for their taste. However, vegetarian or even vegan dishes are
rarely to be found on the menu. In these cases, it is often a good idea
to put together a dish of side dishes (for example, djuvec rice and
chard). In addition, products made from soy or oats are usually
available in supermarkets.
Gastronomy prices are relatively high in Croatia, which is surprising
considering the reasonable prices in the markets. Especially on the
Dalmatian coast restaurants have reached the price level of Italy and it
can be quite difficult to find cheap restaurants with good quality food.
You can give a tip, with good service, just as you are used to in
Germany, Austria or Switzerland. As a rule of thumb, 10% of the invoice
price has been established. As is customary in southern and Western
Europe, the tip is left on the table.
There are many ways to go out in Croatia. In the summer there are
numerous cultural events, from concerts to knight's games to plays on
open stages, for which international artists are also invited. There are
a variety of cafés and bars everywhere, which can also mutate into a
small club in the evening. However, the big DJs are usually booked only
in the larger tourist centers and in Zagreb. Regular guests in Croatian
clubs are Sven Väth, Carl Cox, Steve Bug, John Aquaviva, Jeff Mills and
other world-famous DJs. The most famous clubs are: The Best (Zagreb),
Papaya (Zrce), Noa Beach Club (Zrce), Aquarius (Zagreb or Zrce Novalja
Pag), Kalypso (Zrce), Aurora (Primosten), La Hacienda (Vodice).
Two locations in Croatia are very attractive for young people. The
"Croatian Ibiza" (Zrce near Novalja on the island of Pag), as well as
Hvar on the island of Hvar. But also in countless other places you can
have a lot of fun in Croatia.
However, there are also places that
prefer quiet tourism and strictly at 1:00 a.m. close the pubs and bars.
The accommodation tax levied in the high season has been 10 kuna
since 2019.
Since it is very hot in the southern regions, it
cools down very little even at night. Without air conditioning, it
becomes a torment for one or the other. There are also many mosquitoes.
Protection is also recommended for shorter stays. The beds are generally
ok.
Towards evening, housewives often stand in front of the
places of the coastal road with cardboard signs in their hands to draw
attention to their private pensions. It is recommended to look at the
rooms before the appointment.
Wild camping is not permitted and
is also difficult to do in the coastal regions. This also includes
private land and parked motorhomes. Penalty of 400 €.
Croatia is one of the safest holiday destinations in the world. The
crime rate is very low and cannot be compared with (statistical values
in) countries such as Spain or Italy. Being mugged or robbed is by no
means everyday life. However, minor scams, in which tourists are
deceived, can always occur (as in Germany). Personal responsibility is
also useful here: for example, checking change and finding out about
exchange rates and payment methods in advance. The use of prepaid credit
cards and the use of public authorities, which can be found in every
official brochure and on the Internet, is also recommended by itself.
With a higher number of tourists, it must be clearly stated that, of
course, with the mass there may be a change in everyday conditions.
There is a danger of mines along the former front in Eastern
Slavonia, Western Slavonia and in the border area with Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Roads and paths should not be left, as mines were often
laid densely along the traffic routes. Mined areas are only partially
marked (warning signs, barrier tapes), in some cases such marking is
also missing. Important tourist regions such as the coast, the islands
or the Greater Zagreb area are mine-free.
Vaccinations for a trip to Croatia are not necessary in principle.
The European Health Insurance Card is recognized in Croatia and
entitles to treatment by all contract doctors. A complete list of all
contract doctors, pharmacies and hospitals in Croatia can be found here
(English). Additional payments are to be made, but are very low in
comparison (€ 1.32 per doctor's appointment or per issued prescription).
It can be difficult to find a doctor, especially in the evening and
at night. Sometimes large distances have to be covered to the nearest
hospital in order to receive adequate treatment.
Croatia is divided by several climatic zones. In the north and east there is a continental, Central European climate, with few precipitation, cold winters and warm summers. The transitional seasons are quite pronounced. Dalmatia has a mild Mediterranean climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. Prediction of the State Meteorological Service
Some words are learned quickly. In the tourist areas, however, you
can certainly get on with German or English.
If you meet a grumpy
waiter in the tourist centers, it doesn't mean anything personal, it
could just be a hangover that hasn't slept well.
Holidaymakers
are treated with kindness. Of course, the conditions outside the hotels
are generally not as high as you are used to in the German-speaking
countries, but they can certainly be compared with other southern
European countries. The country has been through a lot and there is a
positive mood.
The term of letters can be about 9 calendar days.
The mobile
phone network in Croatia is provided by three providers: Hrvatski
Telekom (an offshoot of Deutsche Telekom) and A1 Telekom Austria offer
an almost nationwide network, the third provider Telemach has very large
gaps outside the metropolitan areas. SIM cards are available completely
unbureaucratically in many shops such as post offices,
kiosks/tobacconists and supermarkets and registration is not required.
Since Croatia belongs to the EU, the EU roaming regulation also applies
here, so that the domestic tariff from Germany or Austria can be used at
no additional cost, however, all three providers sell special SIM cards
with unlimited data volume to tourists for 10 days, which can be quickly
worthwhile for a classic short vacation in Croatia (ask).
The oldest evidence of settlement on the territory of present-day Croatia is about 130,000 years old. There are significant paleoanthropological sites: the Hušnjakovo brdo Neanderthal site discovered by Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger in 1899 (with the Neanderthal Museum) and the Vindija Cave are located near Krapina. The Neolithic period began with the Starčevo culture in the interior and the Impresso culture on the coast. This was followed by the Danilo culture and the Hvar culture on the coast, and the Sopot/Vinča culture inland. Near the town of Vukovar, the eponymous site of the late Eneolithic Vučedol culture is located in Vučedol-Gradac. Numerous burial mounds (gomila) date from the Bronze and Iron Ages.
The first Greek settlements on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea were established in the 12th and 11th centuries BC in the course of the Ionian and later the great Greek colonization. Thus, the foundation of the settlement of Split dates back to this time (Split of gr. Aspalatos or Spalatos = cave). in 2021, new archaeological finds were discovered that point to a Greek settlement of Dalmatia also in the 8th century BC and 4th century BC. In the 4th century BC, the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned the Illyrians in his work. From the middle of the 2. At the end of the XIX century BC, the political influence of the Romans on the Illyrian tribes between the coast and the Pannonian plain grew. In 34 BC, Octavian, the future emperor Augustus, after a 20-year war at the Battle of Zerek, ceded this territory to Rome. At the beginning of the 1st century, the Roman province of Dalmatia, named after the Delmatae tribe, was formed. In 293, under the reign of Emperor Diocletian, the province was divided along the Drina River. After the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern Strom in 395, the territory of Croatia came to Western Strom.
After the dissolution of the Roman Empire, most of the territory of
present–day Croatia (Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia) belonged to the
Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire from 550 to 1270 with several
interruptions (temporary Croatian independence - see below). In the 6th
century, the Central Asian Avar equestrian people migrated to Pannonia,
which was additionally populated by the Lombards. The Croats were
summoned by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius to their present settlement
area in the 7th century to help him in the fight against the Avars.
According to the report of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII
Porphyrogenetos, the Croats came from the territory of present-day
Lesser Poland. During this period of belonging to Constantinople, the
South Slavic tribes were mostly Christianized by the Byzantines in the
course of the Slav mission in the 7th century to the 9th century,
northern parts of Croatia and also Slovenia were proselytized from
Salzburg. The loss of power of the Byzantines after the Frankish Wars,
the temporarily autonomous Croatian kingdom and the subsequent
affiliation of a large part of today's Croatia to Western European
dominions such as the Frankish Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary mark
the gradual distance from the Byzantine Orthodox culture. Croatia came
into the sphere of influence of the Roman Catholic Church and thus into
the Western European cultural area.
The name of the Croats is
first attested in a source from the 9th century. The name "Hrvat" itself
has no Slavic roots, but most likely originated as a foreign designation
of an Iranian people (Sarmatians?) for Slavs. It is assumed that the
people of the "Hrvati" originated from the area of the Persian River (in
the Sarmatian language) "Harahvaiti", which is now called "Sarasvati" by
the sound shift ("h" to "s").
In 879, Prince Branimir was written
to and addressed by Pope John VIII with "dux Croatorum", which at that
time was equivalent to a recognition of the medieval Croatian state.
Around 925, Tomislav became the first king of Croatia. At the same
time, this was also the first royal title in the history of the Southern
Slavs. Pope John X recognized this title immediately. In 925, John X
addressed him in a letter entitled Rex croatorum (king of the Croats).
During his reign there were Hungarian invasions in the Pannonian Basin.
Tomislav successfully defended his kingdom, which consisted of central
Croatia, Slavonia and parts of Dalmatia and Bosnia, against the Magyars.
The kingdom reached its heyday under the reign of King Petar
Krešimir IV. Under his rule, the church was reformed in 1059 in
accordance with the Roman Rite. This was significant in terms of the
schism of 1054 and loyalty to Rome. The kingdom continued to exist until
1102.
In 1102, the Hungarian king Koloman was crowned as the Croatian king
in Biograd near Zadar, and Croatia came to Hungary in personal union.
Croatia retained its own administration under a Croatian ban (viceroy or
his deputy). The Pacta conventa, which regulates the relations of the
Croatian nobility to the king, was also traditionally dated to the year
1102, but there is no evidence of this.
The personal union with
the Kingdom of Hungary remained in various forms until 1918, with the
exception of the Turkish wars in the 16th, 17th and early 18th
centuries, and some other interruptions.
Since the middle of the 15th century, Hungary and Croatia were
subjected to attacks by the Ottoman Empire. After the defeat of the
Hungarians and Croats against the Ottomans in the Battle of Mohács
(1526), Ferdinand I (HRR) was elected Croatian king by the Croatian
nobility at the Assembly of Cetingrad.
The historical Croatian
landscapes of Dalmatia and parts of Istria have been under the rule of
the Republic of Venice since the Late Middle Ages. The Republic of
Dubrovnik was the only one of the territories of present-day Croatia
that was able to maintain its state independence from the 14th century
until 1808.
For centuries, Croatia was a battle zone against the
Ottoman Empire. As a defense, the so-called military border was erected,
in which Orthodox Christians also settled in significant numbers.
Temporarily, the residents of the military border received privileges in
the form of the Statuta Wallachorum.
After the Napoleonic wars,
all of Dalmatia and Istria came under Austrian rule in 1815, but for
political reasons ("divide et impera") they were not administratively
united with the rest of Croatia, but became separate crown lands. From
1867 Dalmatia and Istria were part of the Austrian half of the empire,
while the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia belonged to the Hungarian half
of the empire.
In the second half of the 19th century, the demand
for more rights of self-determination and an end to Hungary's
Magyarization policy grew among the Croatian population. In the
revolutionary years around 1848, Ban Josip Jelačić commanded the
suppression of the Vienna October Uprising. The Croatian national
aspirations were hindered by the Austro-Hungarian equalization and the
Hungarian-Croatian equalization in 1867. The 19th century was also
marked by the so-called Illyrism, a movement that enforced numerous
cultural changes. There was a standardization of the Croatian language
and at the same time the idea was born to unite all the Southern Slavs
in one state.
Croatia broke away from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918 at the
end of the First World War. Italian troops then began to occupy Croatian
territories along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, as Italy had
been promised their annexation in the Treaty of London of 1915. In view
of this, at the end of November 1918, the National Council of Slovenes,
Croats and Serbs decided on the immediate unification of Croatia with
the Kingdom of Serbia, from which the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and
Slovenes was then formed. However, many Croats rejected the monarchist
form of government, felt disadvantaged and demanded the establishment of
a republic for Croatia. After the Constitution provided for a
centralized state organization and the dissolution of the historical
provinces, the Serbs, as the largest people in terms of numbers, gained
de facto supremacy.
In 1928, several Croatian politicians were
shot in the Yugoslav parliament, including Stjepan Radić, the leader of
the Croatian faction. After a state crisis, King Aleksandar I dissolved
the parliament in 1929, introduced a royal dictatorship and renamed the
state the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. His power was based on the military.
At the same time, part of the Croatian political elite fled abroad.
Parts of it were formed by the fascist Ustasha movement led by Ante
Pavelić and supported by Mussolini, which fought with violence against
the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1934, King Alexander was shot by them in
an assassination attempt in Marseille.
in 1939, on the eve of the
Second World War, a Serbian-Croatian settlement was attempted with the
Cvetković-Maček agreement.
Four days after the beginning of the Balkan campaign, the Wehrmacht
invaded Zagreb on 10 April 1941, on the same day the Independent State
of Croatia (NDH) was proclaimed as a vassal state of the Axis Powers. On
April 17, 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrendered to the Axis
powers. As a result, Croatia underwent significant territorial changes
until the end of World War II. Thus, on the one hand, the largest part
of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina was assigned to the country. On
the other hand, the coastal area (Dalmatia) had to be ceded to Italy and
the area north of the Mur to Hungary. In fact, Ante Pavelić, the leader
of the Ustasha, was the head of state of the Independent State of
Croatia under the title Poglavnik. He established a fascist dictatorship
and led the genocide of the Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia,
during which, in addition to hundreds of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma
and Croatian anti-fascists were persecuted and murdered. Jasenovac
became the most famous concentration camp in the region, and there were
also other camps, such as. in Stara Gradiška or Jadovno. In the summer
of 1941, the Yugoslav partisan movement began an armed uprising against
the Ustasha regime and was able to take control of a large part of the
country in 1942 and 1943. In addition to Tito, Andrija Hebrang was one
of the leaders. After the defeat of the Axis powers and their allies,
crimes against the war losers occurred on the part of the Yugoslav
People's Liberation Army in 1945, especially in the Bleiburg massacre.
In 1942, still under German occupation, the Communists had
recognized the active and passive right of women to vote. Full legal,
economic and social equality of the sexes was guaranteed for the first
time in the Constitution of 1946. A different source mentions August 11,
1945 for the introduction of active and passive suffrage.
After the end of the war, Croatia became one of six constituent
republics (Socialist Republic of Croatia) of the newly founded Federal
People's Republic of Yugoslavia, from 1963 Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (SFRY), under the government of Tito.
In 1971, the
Croatian Spring protest and reform movement was crushed. After Tito's
death in 1980, tensions between Croatia and the Serb-dominated Yugoslav
government increased. At the end of the 1980s, the demands for
independence from Yugoslavia had developed from the efforts for more
autonomy. The Croat Franjo Tuđman, who had fought on the side of Tito
against the Ustasha regime, gained great popularity among the Croatian
population. After the weakened Yugoslav government allowed a multi-party
system, Tuđman founded the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) in 1990,
which soon took on the character of a people's Party. His demand for an
independent Croatia caused protests among the Serbs, who were the second
state people according to the constitution at that time, but the HDZ won
67.5 percent of the parliamentary seats in the elections on April 22-23
and May 6-7, 1990 with 40 percent of the votes cast. Tuđman was
subsequently elected president.
After 93.2% of the voters voted for sovereignty in a referendum on the independence of Croatia on May 19, 1991, Croatia declared its independence in June 1991 under Franjo Tuđman. The first recognition took place on 26 June 1991 by Slovenia, which had also just declared itself independent. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which was de facto dominated by Serbia, tried to put down the independence efforts militarily. The military attempt to separate Croatian territories with both a large and a small proportion of the Serbian population from Croatia and to annex them to Serbia in the medium term resulted in the almost four-year Croatian war, which ended only after the military successes of the Croats in 1995 in the military operation "Storm" (Oluja) with the Erdut Agreement of November 12, 1995. The JNA made its withdrawal from Croatia by destroying many military facilities and mining strategically important zones, for example on the island of Vis, farthest from the mainland, or in the Danube swamps on the Croatian-Serbian border.
In October 2001, Croatia signed a stabilisation and Association
Agreement with the European Union. It ensured Croatia's free access to
the European single market, but also demanded extensive economic and
social reforms. The change of the economic system from socialism to a
social market economy entailed numerous economic policy measures. One of
the priorities was the further privatization of enterprises and the
creation of investment incentives. Croatia has been an official EU
candidate country since 18 June 2004. However, the accession
negotiations only began after a decision of the EU foreign ministers of
October 3, 2005, since Croatia had until then, in the opinion of the EU
Commission, only insufficiently cooperated with the Hague War Crimes
Tribunal. Further reforms were necessary in the area of justice and
social affairs. Furthermore, the fight against corruption was seen as a
basic prerequisite for full EU membership. In November 2008, Croatia was
confirmed to be making good progress and the accession negotiations were
expected to be concluded in 2009.
However, the accession
negotiations were interrupted for several months in 2009 due to a
dispute with Slovenia over the border in the Bay of Piran. It was not
until September 2009 that an agreement was reached so that the accession
negotiations could be continued. The EU Commissioner responsible for
Enlargement declared the negotiations "successfully concluded" in June
2011. After that, experts from the member states examined the results
negotiated by the EU Commission with Croatia, especially in the areas of
justice, competition and budget.
The European Parliament approved
the accession in December 2011, after which the outgoing Croatian Head
of Government Jadranka Kosor and Croatian President Ivo Josipović signed
the EU Accession Treaty for Croatia in a solemn ceremony together with
all EU heads of state and government at the EU summit in Brussels on
December 9, 2011. In a referendum on January 22, 2012, 67.27 percent of
the voters voted to join the EU. The participation in the referendum was
only 43.51 percent, but even with this, the result of the referendum was
valid in accordance with the Croatian Constitution.
On July 1,
2013, Croatia became the 28th member state of the EU. The twelve
Croatian representatives were elected to the EU Parliament on 14 April
2013.
The Croatian territory covers 88,073 square kilometers, of which 56,594 are on land and 31,479 are on sea territory. The land area thus corresponds to about twice the size of Brandenburg. Croatia extends over a continental northern part, which includes a part of the Dinarides and the Pannonian Plain, and a long coastal strip, at the narrow junction of which southwest of Zagreb the territory narrows extremely. The part of Croatia along the Adriatic coast is geographically generally assigned to the Balkan Peninsula or southeastern Europe. In 2005, the Standing Committee on Geographical Names recommended the assignment of Croatia to Central Europe on the basis of a cultural-spatial concept of Central Europe. For some Croats, the assignment to Central Europe is a means of demarcation from the negatively connoted "crisis region" of the Balkans. The Croatian areas along the Adriatic coast are also partly assigned to southern Europe.
Croatia borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the north,
Serbia to the northeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the east and
Montenegro to the southeast. The southernmost part of the coastal area
is spatially separated from the rest of the national territory by the
Neum corridor, which belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina and is about 7.5
kilometers wide. However, this region around Dubrovnik up to the border
with Montenegro has been accessible domestically via the Pelješac Bridge
since 2022.
The total length of the land borders of Croatia is
2197 kilometers. Of these, the border with Slovenia accounts for 670,
the border with Hungary for 329, the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina
for 932, the border with Serbia for 241 and the border with Montenegro
for 25 kilometers. In the northern Adriatic, the maritime border with
Slovenia is controversial. The length of the Adriatic coastline
(mainland) is 1778 kilometers (with islands 6176).
The shortest
distance between Italy and Croatia is 20 kilometers (separated by a
small strip of land of Slovenia), while the southernmost Croatian
peninsula of Prevlaka is located 69 kilometers from Albania.
In the interior or northeast of Croatia, the continental climate
prevails above all. The average daily maximum temperature in summer in
the lowlands is around 28 °C, in winter around 5 °C. The average minimum
temperatures in winter are below 0 °C. The annual precipitation is about
750 millimeters.
The climate on the Adriatic coast, on the other
hand, is much more humid and the Mediterranean climate prevails. So the
summers are mostly sunny and dry with average maximum temperatures
around 30 °C, while the winters are rainy and mild (average daily
maximum values around 10 °C). In the northern part of the coast, night
frosts occur more frequently in winter, while in the southern part this
is only the case on a few days. The annual precipitation directly on the
coast is slightly higher at around 1000 millimeters than in the interior
of the country. The annual precipitation totals in the Croatian part of
the Dinaric Mountains amount to values between 1000 and 2000
millimeters.
A special weather phenomenon is the occasionally
occurring in the coastal region cold fall winds Bora, which are among
the strongest in the world.
According to relief forms and climatic zones, Croatia can be divided
into three landscape zones.
Pannonian Plain
The Pannonian
plain consists mainly of lowlands, interrupted by some low mountain
ranges, and is drained by the Sava and Drava Rivers and their
tributaries to the Danube. In this part of the country there is a
temperate continental climate. This landscape zone can be divided into
northern Croatia and Slavonia. Northern Croatia covers the east-central
European area from the Kupa to the Hungarian border: the lowland along
the Sava and Kupa around the cities of Zagreb, Karlovac and Sisak, which
today forms the center of the country demographically and economically,
the mountainous country of Zagorje (in German also: Zagorien) north of
the capital Zagreb and the Međimurje in the northernmost tip of the
country between the Drava and the Mur. Slavonia is the lowland along the
Sava and Drava rivers to the Danube (Dunav) in the east. This often
includes the Baranja (north of the lower reaches of the Drava) and
Western Syrmia (Zapadni Srijem) (the eastern tip of Croatia between the
Danube and the Lower Sava).
Dinaric mountain region
The
Dinaric mountain region (also called Central Croatia or Croatian Hilly
Country) is characterized by medium and individual high mountains, which
form the watershed between the Danube and the Adriatic, with individual
valleys also completely drained. There is a mountain climate here. This
landscape zone includes the mountainous area of Gorski kotar between
Rijeka and Karlovac, the high valleys of Lika and Krbava between the
Velebit mountain range running along the coast and the border area with
western Bosnia, as well as part of the hinterland of Dalmatia (Zagora,
Biokovo Mountains).
Adriatic coastal region
The Adriatic
coastal region consists to a large extent of karstified areas. It is
characterized by Mediterranean influences. The width of the coastal
strip varies greatly. While it is only a few kilometres wide in some
places (below the Velebit and the Biokovo Mountains), it extends further
inland in other places. However, the majority of the rivers flowing into
the Adriatic in Croatia are relatively short; only the catchment area of
the Neretva coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina extends further inland.
The Adriatic coastal region can be divided from north to south into the
historical regions:
Istria - the peninsula in the north-west of
the Croatian coast.
Hrvatsko Primorje (Croatian littoral) around
Rijeka and Senj with the islands of the Kvarner Bay
Dalmatia - the
rugged Adriatic coast southwards from about Zadar including the offshore
islands and the mountainous hinterland with historically important
cities such as Dubrovnik (Ragusa) and Split
According to the FAO analysis, Croatia is one of the 30 most
water-rich countries in the world and ranks third in Europe with a total
of 32,818 cubic meters of renewable water reserves per capita and year.
The United Nations World Water Development Report 2005 (World Water
Development Report) speaks of 23,890 cubic meters of annually renewable
water reserves per capita per year. Croatia is located in the Blue Heart
of Europe.
Croatia is one of the few countries with an organized
water management policy. As early as 1891, the Sabor adopted a water law
of the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, which provides for legal
regulations for water bodies, river beds, the coast, water use,
regulation of water flows, as well as flood protection, water
protection, water protection associations and much more. The Croatian
Adriatic was, according to an ADAC investigation from the year 2006
Rivers
The majority of the rivers drain into the Black Sea
(Danube, Sava, Drava, Mur, Kupa and Una), the rest into the Adriatic Sea
(Zrmanja, Krka, Cetina and Neretva). The rivers in the north are very
polluted, the Sava between Zagreb and Sisak being the most polluted.
The longest rivers flowing through Croatia are the Sava (Croatian.:
Sava, 562 kilometers) and the Drava (Croatian.: Drava, 505 kilometers).
To a large extent, these rivers form the borders with Bosnia-Herzegovina
and Hungary, respectively. Both rivers flow to the Danube, the Sava is
the most water-rich, the Drava is the fourth most water-rich tributary
of the Danube. The Danube separates Croatia from the Serbian province of
Vojvodina. The Croatian part of the Danube is 188 kilometers long, and
Croatia borders almost exclusively on the right side of the Danube.
The Kupa (Slovenian: Kolpa, 269 kilometers) forms a large part of
the border with Slovenia. It flows into the Sava in Sisak, which is
navigable from there. Other rivers are the Korana, Krapina, Lonja, Mur
and the Vuka.
The rivers from the Dinarides to the Adriatic Sea
are relatively short, only the Neretva River, which originates in
Herzegovina, is an important river in the Adriatic Sea.
See also:
List of rivers in Croatia
In 2004, the Croatian government declared the entire Croatian marine
area an ecological protected area and a controlled fishing zone (Croat.:
ekološki i ribolovni pojas) in order to protect the existing and
sensitive marine fauna and vegetation. The approach has been criticized
by Italy, Slovenia and also the rest of the EU, as the law also affects
fishing rights. Slovenia considers the Croatian exclusive economic zone,
within the framework of the EU accession negotiations, as a unilateral
predetermination (prejudice) of the borders with this state.
There are about 4000 plant species and several thousand animal species
in Croatia, of which 380 species of fauna and 44 of flora are under
nature protection.
A total of 36.83% of Croatia (2,082,702 hectares) is covered by
forests. About 95 percent of the forest stock are largely natural mixed
forests. About 81 percent are state forests, 19 percent are privately
owned. 85 Percent of the forest area is deciduous forests, 15 percent is
coniferous forests.
In the mountainous regions of the Gorski
kotar, the Lika, coniferous forests grow predominantly, in the Pannonian
plain, deciduous forests predominate.
Mediterranean hard
deciduous trees, maquis, pines and pine forests grow mainly along the
Croatian coast. Numerous, even rare species of water roses and wet sedge
grow in the wetlands.
In the dry and hot summer months, large
fires repeatedly occur due to careless behavior of locals and tourists.
For example, a devastating fire raged on the island of Brač a few years
ago. The Croatian government is therefore investing more and more in
fire protection measures every year.
Large predators such as brown bears, wolves, golden jackals and
lynxes are found mainly in the mountainous regions of Croatia.
The birds of prey that occur include griffon vultures, as well as stone
and snake eagles. Large birds that nest in the floodplains and swamps
are the sichler and various heron species. Numerous animal species can
be found in the national parks of the North, which are rarely found in
Central Europe or even extinct: the white-tailed sea eagle, cormorants,
kingfishers, black storks, the little tern or the bee-eater.
The
coastal region is home to land turtles, marsh turtles and sea turtles,
lizards, geckos and snakes (vipers, otters). Some marine mammals are
also native to the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. The Adriatic
dolphin and especially the Mediterranean monk seal are among the
endangered species. Bluefin tuna stocks are also severely threatened by
industrial overfishing throughout the Mediterranean. There are some
endemic species in Croatia. An example of this is the Grottenolm, which
is found in underground caves in the karst region.
Croatia had 4.0 million inhabitants in 2020. The annual population
growth rate was -0.4%. This was influenced by a death surplus. In 2020,
a birth rate of 8.9 per 1000 inhabitants was contrasted with a death
rate of 14.1 per 1000 inhabitants. The number of births per woman in
2020 was statistically 1.5. The life expectancy of the inhabitants of
Croatia from birth in 2020 was 77.7 years[30] (women: 80.9, men: 74.7).
The median age of the population in 2020 was 44.3 years.
Of the
inhabitants at the time of the 2001 census, 4,399,364 (99.14%) had
Croatian nationality, 44,340 (1.00%) of whom also had a second
nationality. 17,902 (0.40%) had a foreign nationality, 9,811 (0.22%)
were stateless persons. The nationality of 10,383 inhabitants (0.23%)
was unknown.
The Croatian diaspora is above average in size.
There are numerous Croatian minority associations abroad. The largest
association is the Hrvatska bratska zajednica in the USA. The Croatian
Parliament has its own members of the Croatian diaspora, who are also
elected by them.
In 2017, 13.4% of the population was born
abroad. The most common countries of origin were Bosnia and Herzegovina
(390,000 people), Serbia (50,000) and Germany (30,000). A large part of
these people are ethnic Croats.
According to estimates, more than
300,000 Croats have left the country since joining the EU in 2013, half
of them to Germany. The Croatian government has promised financial
incentives for returnees.
The official language in Croatia is the standard Croatian language.
Croatian or Serbo-Croatian is understood and spoken almost everywhere in
the country.
In Istria and to a lesser extent also in Rijeka and
on some of the Kvarner Islands, Italian or an Italian dialect, the
Venetian, is also spoken. There are small Hungarian language islands
near the border with Hungary, especially in north-eastern Slavonia.
There are Czech language islands in Western Slavonia and Slovak language
islands in eastern Slavonia. The Istro-Romanian in the north-east and
the Istrian in the south-west of Istria are threatened with extinction.
Albanian and Slovenian native speakers live all over the country.
The Constitution of December 1990 (Ustav Republike Hrvatske) defines
the Republic of Croatia (Republika Hrvatska) as the state of the
Croatian people and national minorities. As structural principles, it
specifies the principles of democracy, as well as the rule of law,
social and unitary rule of law. The originally presidential-democratic
system of government was transformed into a parliamentary democracy in
2000. The fundamental yardstick for the exercise of sovereignty is the
human rights provided for in the Constitution. A personal representation
of the national minorities is provided for sovereign institutions; their
languages and characters are also in official use in individual areas.
The state and the Church are separate from each other; there is no state
religion.
On October 16, 2007, Croatia was elected to the UN
Security Council as a non-permanent member for a two-year term. The
state has been a member of NATO since April 2009 and signed the
instrument of accession to the EU in Brussels on December 9, 2011.
Following the decisions at the EU level and the Croatian parliament, as
well as the successful referendum in January 2012, Croatia became an EU
member on July 1, 2013.
The Croatian Parliament (Sabor), a unicameral parliament, has 151 members. The second chamber, the House of Counties (Croatian: Županijski dom), was abolished in March 2000. Deputies are determined by proportional representation, in which a five percent clause applies, based on individual constituencies. There is a special constituency for croats abroad, for which three seats are reserved in the Sabor; in addition, eight seats of deputies are reserved for national minorities. All citizens from the age of 18 are eligible to vote. The last parliamentary elections were held in December 2011 and November 2015. in 2011, the social-liberal "Kukuriku coalition" of SDP, HNS, IDS and HSU won a majority in parliament. Including the mandates of the Croats abroad, the previously ruling conservative HDZ with its coalition parties HGS and Demokratische Mitte won 47 seats. On June 20, 2016, the Sabor disbanded. In the new election in September 2016, the HDZ won 61 of the 151 seats under its new chairman Andrej Plenković and agreed on a new coalition with Most (13 seats). Minority representatives and smaller parties should also be part of the coalition.
The President of the Republic of Croatia (Predsjednik Republike
Hrvatske) is elected directly by the people for a term of five years. He
is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. During
his term of office, he may not belong to any political party. After
parliamentary elections have been held, he issues the order for the
formation of a government and, after the approval of the parliament,
appoints the prime minister. Under special conditions, he can dissolve
the parliament and call new elections. He may not refuse to issue the
bills adopted by the Parliament; if he considers a norm to be
unconstitutional, he may submit it to the Constitutional Court for
consideration. He is also active in shaping foreign policy in
cooperation with the government. Ivo Josipović, incumbent since February
2010, lost the runoff election on January 11, 2015 to Kolinda
Grabar-Kitarović (HDZ), who took office as the first woman in this
position in Croatia on February 15, 2015.
In the 2019/20
presidential election, Grabar-Kitarović again reached the run-off
election, but lost in it to SDP candidate Zoran Milanović, who was
elected the new president. The official handover took place on February
18, 2020.
With the constitutional amendment of March 28, 2001,
the strong position of the president was limited.
The government (Vlada Republike Hrvatske) is the executive state body
and the supreme legislative authority. It consists of the Prime Minister
(predsjednik Vlade) as well as the deputy prime ministers and ministers.
Before taking office, the government must be trusted by the parliament.
It can also introduce bills and, if legally authorized, issue
ordinances. In the performance of her duties, she is responsible to
Parliament. A vote of no confidence can force her to resign from
parliament. The parties HDZ and MOST were involved in the last ruling
coalition, it was supported by independent deputies. Prime Minister
Tihomir Orešković was ousted by a vote of no confidence on June 16,
2016. Andrej Plenković became the new Prime Minister on 19 October 2016.
Internal state administration is carried out under the supervision
of the government. The ministries are assigned the position of
medium-sized administrative authorities. In addition, there is a lower
administrative authority for each county. Special authorities can be
created for special areas of responsibility.
Citizens have a
legally enforceable right to local self-government. Tasks, the
significance of which does not go beyond a certain territory, are
performed by municipal self-governing bodies on their own
responsibility. The right to self-government is exercised locally in 426
municipalities (općine) and 124 cities (gradovi), as well as regionally
in 20 counties (županije) and the city of Zagreb under state
supervision. In addition, state tasks can also be assigned to
municipalities.
The exercise of judicial power is formally independent. However, the
court proceedings are extremely lengthy. On average, civil legal
proceedings take up to ten years. In the Croatian media and on the part
of the EU, the lack of legal certainty and cases of corruption are
repeatedly pointed out. The highest specialized court is the Supreme
Court (Vrhovni sud Republike Hrvatske). The lower instances are divided
into a general, criminal, commercial and administrative judicial legal
process.
The Constitutional Court (Ustavni sud Republike
Hrvatske) exercises judicial power in the field of constitutional law.
The constitutional judges are elected by the Parliament for a term of
eight years. In the event of unconstitutionality, it may annul laws,
official acts and judgments; in addition, it decides in the event of
disputes between the other constitutional bodies. With the
constitutional complaint, the citizen himself can apply to the
Constitutional Court against legal acts of the authorities and courts if
the specialized judicial legal recourse has been exhausted. In other
cases, only a special civil lawyer (pučki pravobranitelj) can conduct
the proceedings. The current President of the Constitutional Court is
Miroslav Šeparović.
The largest parties in Croatia are the Christian Democratic Hrvatska demokratska zajednica (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Socijaldemokratska partija Hrvatske (SDP). Smaller parties are the Social Liberal Party (HSLS), the Peasant Party (HSS), the People's Party (HNS), the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), the Christian Democratic Union (HKDU), the Slavonian Regional Party, the Party of Law (HSP), the Independent Democrats, as well as Most (Bridge of Independent Lists).
Croatia is divided into 20 counties (Croatian: županija, plural:
županije) and the capital Zagreb, which itself has the competences of a
county. The counties have areas between about 1000 and 5000 km2. Each
county has an elected county assembly (Croatian: županijska skupština).
At the head of the administration of a county is the Gespan (Croatian:
župan), who is elected by the county Assembly and confirmed by the
President of the state.
For their part, the counties are divided
into Općine (German "municipalities"), part of which has the status of a
city (Croatian: grad). In total, the administration is divided into 124
cities and 426 municipalities. 58% of the population lives in cities.
The Croatian army has about 21,500 soldiers in its peacetime
strength. The number of reservists is 102,700 soldiers, of which about
32,360 are on standby. A total of 1,612,000 citizens of Croatia are
ready for the case of defense.
The defense budget of the Republic
of Croatia in 1997 was about 1.1 billion USD (1997), slightly over 5% of
the gross national product; in 2017 it was about 0.772 billion USD (1.4%
of GDP).
The commander-in-Chief of the Croatian Army is the
President of the Republic of Croatia. The Sabor, the Croatian
Parliament, is responsible for the political control of the armed Forces
as well as the decision-making power over the determination of the
military budget and strategic development.
Since the 1990s,
Croatia has been striving for NATO membership. In particular, the
volatility of the alleged war criminal Ante Gotovina was an obstacle for
a long time. The membership came into force on 1 April 2009.
Croatian troops were part of the International Security Assistance Force
in Afghanistan (ISAF) led by NATO from November 2003 (formation of a
regional development team for the trade of the city of Kunduz and
demilitarization programs); ISAF was replaced by the RS mission on
January 1, 2015.
The Croatian Armed Forces are also used for
peacekeeping and peacekeeping measures within the framework of the
United Nations:
MINURSO in Western Sahara (MINURSO – United
Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara)
UNAMSIL in
Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL – United Nations Assistance Mission to Sierra
Leone)
UNMEE in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE – United Nations mission
in Ethiopia and Eritrea)
UNMOGIP in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP –
United Nations military observer group in India and Pakistan)
In 2019, the fire Brigade in Croatia organized 3,425 professional, 1,070 part-time and 54,219 volunteer firefighters nationwide, who work in 1,923 fire stations and fire houses, where 2,248 fire trucks and 115 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. The percentage of women is 12%. 21,927 children and young people are organized in the youth fire brigades. The Croatian fire brigades were alerted to 31,393 operations in the same year, while 14,980 fires were extinguished. Here, 30 dead were recovered by the fire brigades during fires and 166 injured were rescued. The national Fire brigade organization Hrvatska vatrogasna zajednica represents the Croatian fire Brigade in the World Fire Brigade Association CTIF.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Croatia amounted to 45.8 billion
euros in 2016. The gross domestic product per capita in the same year
was 10,992 euros. After the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007,
the country was in crisis for years. Croatia lost about a sixth of its
economic power by 2014. However, the signs of economic recovery have
been increasing since 2015. The economy grew by 1.6 percent in 2015 and
by 3 percent in 2016. Nevertheless, Croatia still has a high
unemployment rate of 16.3%, youth unemployment is very high at about
43%.
Croatia was a member of the Central European Free Trade
Agreement (CEFTA) until joining the EU in July 2013; the European Union
is the country's most important trading partner. The euro has been legal
tender since 1 January 2023 and has replaced the Croatian kuna.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, which measures the competitiveness
of a country, Croatia ranks 74th out of 137 countries (as of 2017-2018).
In the Economic Freedom Index, Croatia ranked 95th out of 180 countries
in 2017. The EU's funding programmes are intended to help increase
competitiveness and open up the economy in the future.
In the
"Global Gender Gap Report 2015" of the World Economic Forum, Croatia
ranked 59th in the global ranking. This report examines, for example,
wage differences between women and men, the participation of women in
politics, as well as in crucial economic positions of a state.
Croatia is located at the intersection of the two pan–European
transport corridors Central Europe–Turkey (Corridor X) and
Adriatic–Ukraine and Baltic States (Corridor V), respectively.
Important oil pipelines also run through Croatia, e.g. the Adriatic
connection of the Friendship oil pipeline.
Half (53.16%) of the land area is used as agricultural land. In 2007, 7.2% of the economic income was generated by agriculture, with about 2.7% of the population working in this sector. in 2004, the sector accounted for 9% of both exports and imports. The cultivated land areas include, above all, the fertile soils in the Sava-Drava intermediate river country, which are intensively used. The main fruits grown are sugar beet, potatoes, wheat and corn. Some special crops are also grown in climatically favoured locations, especially wine and fruit. In southern Dalmatia, high crop yields are achieved with tobacco and citrus fruits. Cattle, sheep and pig breeding dominate in livestock farming. Fishing is an important source of income in Dalmatia.
Croatia is relatively rich in natural resources. Before the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars in 1991, the mining industry was one of the most important employers. Natural gas, oil, hard coal, brown coal, bauxite, iron ore and porcelain earth (kaolin) are among the most important raw materials in Croatia. In some regions there are also small deposits of calcium, natural asphalt, silica, mica and salt. In addition, graphite and building materials (especially concrete base materials) are mined.
The predominant industrial enterprises in Croatia are oil refineries, iron and steel mills, shipyards, chemical companies and production facilities for food, machinery, cement and concrete, metal goods and textiles. The formerly important mining industry has been experiencing declines in production for several years. Many of Croatia's industrial enterprises were destroyed or damaged in the Croatian War. The reconstruction of the facilities ties up a lot of financial resources and prevents further development in some other production areas. As a result of the war in their own country, industrial production fell by 42.5% in 1991. From 1993, the Croatian economy recorded growth rates, and by 1996, significant productivity increases were again recorded in most industries. Important industrial companies are the mineral oil and gas group Industrija nafte (INA) (about 17,000 employees), the electrical engineering manufacturer Končar Group as well as the food groups Agrokor (about 36,000 employees), Podravka and Kraš.
The banking system has been consolidated and the country's largest banks have merged with or been taken over by major Italian and Austrian banks. Among the largest banks in Croatia are Zagrebačka banka, Privredna banka, Splitska banka, Raiffeisenbank Austria, HVB Croatia banka, OTP banka and Karlovačka banka. The only major bank that has not been bought up by foreign banks is Hrvatska Poštanska Banka – the Croatian Postbank. A private bank is KentBank.
Croatia is known for its coastline with hundreds of offshore islands. The country ranks 18th in the world on the "World Tourism Barometer", which measures, among other things, the awareness of tourist destinations. About 10 million people travel to Croatia every year. In the record year 2008, they generated sales of around EUR 7.5 billion. Revenues from tourism amounted to 6.6 billion euros in 2011 and 7 billion euros in 2012. Thus, the tourism industry contributed about a fifth of the country's GDP (more than in any other EU country; it was and still is an important part of the service sector.
In Croatia, oil, coal and water are primarily used to generate
electrical and thermal energy. In addition, the Krško nuclear power
plant in Slovenia, which was built in a joint project between Croatia
and Slovenia, supplies the north of Croatia, especially Zagreb, with
electricity. Hydroelectric power plants are mostly found in the coastal
region of Croatia. The largest hydroelectric power station in Croatia is
located on the Perućko jezero (Peruća Lake) near Sinj. Since a decision
of March 2007, renewable energies have also been subsidized in Croatia.
In 2011, 24.5% of electricity was generated from hydropower, 15.8%
from nuclear energy and 27.5% from fossil fuels, 30.9% is purchased on
the electricity market. Wind energy accounted for a share of 1.3%, in
2010 it had been 0.8%.
The electricity consumption of Croatia in
2020 was 13.2 TWh. Of these, 32% came from hydropower, 19% from gas,
almost 7% from coal, 9.5% from wind energy and 5.5% from biomass. Solar
energy, geothermal energy and oil each contributed less than one percent
to the electricity mix.
The Pliva company is located in Zagreb, which is known for the antibiotic drug azithromycin.
According to CIA estimates, the 2012 state budget included
expenditures of the equivalent of 23.42 billion US dollars, which were
offset by revenues of the equivalent of 21.56 billion US dollars. The
deficit is reported as 3.2% of GDP.
According to the CIA, the
national debt for 2012 is estimated at 68.2% of GDP.
Road transport
The Croatian motorway network is one of the
youngest in Europe. Many kilometres of motorways have only recently been
completed and an end to the busy construction activity is not yet in
sight. The main project was the A1 Zagreb–Split motorway, which was
completed in the spring of 2005 and provides a continuous motorway
connection between the two largest Croatian cities. Some important
construction projects should be completed by 2008. These include the
extension of the motorway to Ploče in southern Dalmatia, better traffic
solutions for Rijeka (further bypass), the motorway connection to
Osijek, the motorway extension to Sisak and the motorway connections to
Serbia, Slovenia and Austria. Currently, the expansion of numerous rest
areas along all Croatian highways is being promoted. Accidents should
also be avoided using the latest video surveillance technology. The
Croatian motorway tunnels are among the safest in Europe.
Rail
The railway transport in Croatia operated by the Hrvatske željeznice,
which was privatized in 2006, is underdeveloped with a route network of
2974 kilometers and is not very competitive with the bus network, which
usually serves routes cheaper and at shorter intervals. Since 2005,
class 7123 tilting trains have been running on the Zagreb–Rijeka
railway, as well as further to Knin and Split, allowing for a much more
comfortable and shorter travel time than before. In contrast, the
outdated railcars are on other routes, especially to the east to
Slavonia. In addition to the completed modernization of the Zagreb–Split
line, a new railway line is to be built from Botovo on the border with
Hungary via Zagreb to Rijeka. This also includes considerations for a
new line Zagreb–Rijeka. However, according to information from 2012,
completion is not expected before 2025.
The telecommunications sector is already well developed in Croatia,
especially in terms of mobile networks, and has made the most progress
in recent years compared to other economic sectors in Croatia. This is
also evident from the fact that the telecommunications sector in this
country contributes a higher share of GDP than is the case in the old EU
countries (over 5%). Legislation in this area is also already at the
European level. As a result of the liberalization of the market in 2005,
more and more alternative telecommunications operators are entering the
Croatian market.
In Croatia, there are currently (as of 2018) the
mobile network operators A1 Hrvatska, Hrvatski Telekom and Tele2, with
the mobile discounters Bonbon and Tomato also competing with each other.
The two largest networks guarantee an area coverage of over 98%. The
introduction of new technologies such as WAP, GPRS or MMS was also
carried out quickly. UMTS, LTE and 5G are also available. The Croatian
telecommunications sector is still credited with quite good growth
potential, since full market saturation has not yet been achieved.
Broadband internet access is not available throughout the country.
The expansion is to be accelerated by targeted growth incentives. in
2005, frequency licenses for Internet radio networks were already issued
in Croatia. In particular, new WiMAX radio networks are to be used to
expand the Internet infrastructure throughout Croatia. The planar
coverage of entire cities and regions with this technology was decided
here.
In 2021, 81.3 percent of Croatia's residents used the
Internet.
From a cultural and architectural point of view, the north and north-east of Croatia were shaped by their long shared history with Hungary and Austria, respectively, in the Baroque architectural style. The south of the country, the coastal region of Istria, the Kvarner Bay, Hrvatsko Primorje and Dalmatia, on the other hand, were architecturally influenced mainly in the Renaissance style by the former maritime power Venice (1409 to about 1815).
The first Croatian literature appeared in the 11th century. The canonical authors of Croatian literature include Marko Marulić, Marin Držić, Ivan Gundulić, Ivan Mažuranić, August Šenoa, Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Antun Gustav Matoš, Miroslav Krleža, Marija Jurić Zagorka and others more.
In Croatia, both modern rock and pop music, as well as traditional tamburica (guitar-like musical instrument) and klapa (male choir) music is widespread. Many Croatian artists also celebrate international successes such as 2Cellos, Tomislav Miličević (30 Seconds to Mars), Krist Novoselić (former band member of Nirvana), Sandra Nasić (Guano Apes) and many more.
The name of the garment "tie" goes back to the name of a people of the Croats. In the 17th century, Croatian soldiers wore a similar piece of clothing around their necks, a collar with fringes, by which they were quite easy to distinguish. The word cravate is mentioned for the first time in the French encyclopedia in the 17th century, when Croatian soldiers were staying at the court of Louis XIV in Paris. The French word for the Croats is croates, which easily suggests the word cravate or in German "krawatte". (For more details, see: History of the tie).
Croatia has several universities (Croatian sveučilište), including
five polytechnic and 14 public and private universities of applied
sciences (Croatian veleučilište). The country's seven universities are
located in Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, as well as in
the capital Zagreb. In addition, the individual universities maintain
numerous institutes in other cities of Croatia, such as in Varaždin.
Another 40 or so research institutes or major scientific projects are
summarized in an official website.
The oldest genuine Croatian
scientific institution is Matica hrvatska, which was established in the
Danube Monarchy for cultural and linguistic education.
According to the 2007 regulation, compulsory schooling applies to
children aged 7 to 18 years. Compulsory education is completed at
primary school for eight years, after which schooling is continued at a
technical school for three years up to the 11th grade and at a gymnasium
for four years up to the 12th grade.
In Croatia, native-language
instruction for ethnic minorities is offered both at primary schools and
at secondary schools (gymnasiums) in the following languages: Czech,
Hungarian, Italian, Serbian and German. In 2008/09, 459 teachers were
employed nationwide to teach the Serbian language to a total of 3,207
Serbian students. In second place was the mother tongue instruction for
2139 Italian students by 374 teachers. German-language lessons are now
only offered at a primary school.
About one in four Croats speaks
English, one in seven speaks German.
According to the CIA, the
illiteracy rate among the over-15s was 1.2% of the total population in
2010.
In March 2016, the government dismissed the general director of
public broadcasting HRT. According to Reporters Without Borders, he was
replaced by a "pro-government" director.
Print product
The
press in Croatia is mostly concentrated on the capital Zagreb. The most
important daily newspapers include Večernji list, Jutarnji list,
Slobodna Dalmacija and Novi list. The most widely read weekly magazines
are Globus, Nacional and Hrvatski list. Since 2005, more and more
newspapers have been established in small format. These include 24 sata
as well as the free newspapers Metropola and Metro.
Television/Radio Stations
Croatia has a dual television and radio
broadcasting system. The state-owned Radio Televizija Zagreb became
Hrvatska radiotelevizija (HRT) in 1991, which currently broadcasts five
channels. There have been local private TV channels in Croatia since the
1980s. In the course of liberalization, private national broadcasters
have also established themselves on the Croatian television market in
recent years.
The private channels RTL Televizija and Nova TV as
well as RTL 2, RTL Kockica, CMC and Doma TV can be received freely
throughout Croatia via DVB-T and DVB-T2 as well as in cable. Many other
programs are included in the various Pay TV packages for a fee, which
can be received via DVB-T2, DVB-C and DVB-S. HRT1 (only news, reports
and films as well as series from Croatia), HRT4 (except for sports
broadcasts) and HRT International as well as Z1 from Zagreb can also be
received unencrypted by satellite throughout Europe.
Radio
In
addition to the state radio stations of HRT and the nationally broadcast
private stations Otvoreni radio, Narodni radio and Radio Marija, there
have been dozens of local private radio stations in Croatia since the
early 1990s.
Film
The only major Croatian film production
company is Jadran Film, which, among other things, was involved in the
Karl May films in the 1960s. Numerous Croatian actors are also known to
the international audience, including Goran Višnjić, Ivana Miličević,
Mira Furlan, Miroslav Nemec (eng. Tatort), Dunja Rajter, Antonija Šola
or Mimi Fiedler. However, the most famous Croatian in the film business
is probably the Oscar winner Branko Lustig. Lustig produced, among
others, Schindler's List, Gladiator and Hannibal. He has also starred in
numerous national and international film productions.
A specific Croatian sport is picigin, a popular beach ball game in
shallow water, which was developed in Split at the beginning of the 20th
century.
See also: Football in Croatia, handball in Croatia and
basketball in Croatia
Sporting achievements
Football: The
biggest successes of Croatian national teams include the second place at
the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the third place at the 1998 World Cup in
France. The Croatia national Football team has qualified for the World
Cup final four times since gaining independence in 1991.
Handball:
the victory of the handball players at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in
1996 and in Athens in 2004 – as well as the victory at the World Men's
Handball Championship in Portugal in 2003. In addition, Croatia was vice
world champion in 1995, 2005 and 2009 and vice European champion in
handball in 2008 and 2010.
Basketball: the silver medal for the
basketball players at the Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. In 1993
and 1995, the Croats took bronze at the European Championship and bronze
at the World Cup in Canada in 1994
Water polo: The silver medal for
the national water polo team at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 and
the world title in Melbourne in 2007, as well as the gold medal at the
Olympic Games in 2012. In addition, Croatia took gold at the World Water
Polo Championship in Budapest in 2017.
Rowing: The silver medal in
rowing for the brothers Nikša and Siniša Skelin in Athens 2004 (in the
two without helmsman)
Tennis: Goran Ivanišević's Wimbledon victory in
tennis in 2001. Iva Majoli won the French Open in 1997. At the end of
2006, there were also two Croatian tennis players among the top 10 in
the ATP ranking (Ivan Ljubičić and Mario Ančić). In 1993, Croatia
participated in the Davis Cup for the first time as an independent team.
In 2005, Croatia became the first unseeded team to win the Davis Cup. In
the final match in Bratislava, the team narrowly prevailed with a score
of 3:2 against host Slovakia. the second title win followed in 2018.
Croatia defeated France 3-1.
Water sports: The silver medal in
swimming for Duje Draganja at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens (50 m
freestyle) as well as Sanja Jovanović who set a world record time of
26.50 seconds at the 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships
in Debrecen, Hungary over 50 meters backstroke
Winter sports: Janica
Kostelić won triple Olympic gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt
Lake City (combined, slalom, giant slalom; silver in Super-G). At the
2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, she was able to continue her successful
career with a gold medal in the combination and another silver medal in
the Super-G. At the Winter Olympics in Turin, Janica Kostelić's brother,
Ivica Kostelić, also took the silver medal in the combined event. In
biathlon, Jakov Fak took bronze at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in
2010.
Athletics: At the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in
Osaka, Blanka Vlašić (Split) became the world champion in the high jump
with the jump of 2.05 m, and at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing,
Vlašić took silver. She took gold at the 2009 World Championships in
Athletics in Berlin. The discus thrower Sandra Perković won the gold
medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Special Olympics Croatia was founded in 1992 and participated in
Special Olympics World Games several times. The association has
announced its participation in the Special Olympics World Summer Games
2023 in Berlin. The delegation will be supervised by Barth before the
games as part of the Host Town Program.
Major sporting events
2003 Women's World Handball Championship 2003
2005 Women's European
Volleyball Championship in Zagreb and Pula
2007 World Table Tennis
Championships in Singles in Zagreb
2008 European Figure Skating
Championships in Zagreb
2008 European Short Course Championships in
Rijeka and European Open Water Championships in Dubrovnik
2009 World
Men's Handball Championship in the cities of Zagreb, Split, Osijek,
Varaždin, Zadar, Pula and Poreč
2010 IAAF World Championships in
Athletics in Split
Since 2005, Sljeme has been one of the FIS World
Cup venues for the annual tour of the women's and men's slalom. With its
number of visitors (up to 15,000 people), Sljeme is one of the largest
ski slalom venues in Europe.
2013 European Speedway Championship
Final 3 in Gorican.
2013 EUREKA Poker Tour (at that time still part
of the EPT) Main Event in Dubrovnik
2018 European Men's Handball
Championship in the cities of Zagreb, Split, Varaždin and Porec