Why Croatia
The Adriatic coast has more than a thousand islands, islets and reefs, some fifty of them inhabited. That fragmentation is what makes the country: a sheltered, clear, tideless sea, with a string of islands within ferry reach.
The interior is another country, continental and little known: Zagreb is a Central European capital, Slavonia is agricultural, and the Plitvice lakes are a succession of sixteen terraced lakes linked by waterfalls.
Getting around
The national company's ferries and catamarans link the islands at public transport fares, far cheaper than the excursions sold on the quays. The schedules thin out sharply out of season.
Long-distance coaches are the mainland's main network — the train is slow and little developed. A car is useful in Istria and for the parks, but the old towns are pedestrian and parking there is expensive and scarce.
Money
Croatia adopted the euro in 2023: the kuna is no longer legal tender, and any guide that mentions it is out of date. Prices on the coast have risen appreciably since.
Cards work everywhere. The tourist tax is added to the nightly rate and is not always included in the price displayed online.
Before you go
The coast lives to the rhythm of cruise calls: Dubrovnik and Split are saturated between ten in the morning and five in the afternoon on cruise days, and empty in the morning and the evening. The schedule of calls is public and worth consulting before choosing your days.
The beaches are pebble along almost the whole coast, and getting into the water is slippery: water shoes, sold for a few euros everywhere, completely change the stay.
Plitvice park requires a time-slot reservation in high season, and the paths are one-way: arriving without a timed ticket means waiting or leaving.