Practical Information for visiting Croatia

Croatia uses the euro. It joined the eurozone on the same day it joined the Schengen Area, in 2023, and the kuna is gone from the tills; prices in the old currency survive only on the occasional faded menu. There is no money to change on arrival from another euro country, and no border to cross from Slovenia, Hungary or Italy.

Card acceptance follows the coast's economy: routine in towns, hotels and the national parks, less certain on the smaller islands and at market stalls, where cash still does the work. Specific rules on card surcharges, ATM fees and tipping are not summarised here until they have been read on the authorities' own pages.

Crime levels in Croatia are low and violent crime is rare, so the warnings that matter here are specific rather than general.

Unexploded mines still exist in previously war-affected areas, and one of them is a place visitors go: more remote parts of Plitvice Lakes National Park, along with Eastern Slavonia, Brod-Posavina County, Karlovac County and areas around Zadar County. If you travel outside the tourist resorts in those areas, do not walk on uncultivated land and do not step off the marked paths. If in doubt, get local advice. This is the single most important line on this page and it is thirty years old.

There have been reports of sexual assaults in taxis in Croatia. To reduce the risk, photograph the interior so the taxi number is visible and send it to someone, share your ride status in the app, and make a call while in the car saying which taxi you are in and where you are going.

Two commercial traps. Tourists have been overcharged at certain "gentlemen's clubs", sometimes by thousands of euros, and threatened with violence for refusing to pay. And pickpockets work the tourist areas — avoid carrying large sums of cash, do not leave valuables unattended, and use hotel safes.

Large gatherings and public events are overwhelmingly safe and peaceful, including sporting events, but there are periodic cases of violence between football fans around matches. Take care near stadiums at match times, especially for derby matches.

Wildfires are common in Croatia's hot, dry summers, can be highly dangerous and unpredictable, and the situation can change quickly. Take care visiting or driving through woodland and forest, and call 112 if you see a fire.

In the national parks, the rules are specific and enforced. At Krka, swimming is not permitted except in specially marked places, and neither are camping, fires outside the marked spots, walking on the tufa barriers or taking a vehicle onto closed roads; the tufa is living rock and breaks underfoot. Plitvice's boardwalks exist for the same reason, and its summer admission is priced by the hour you arrive.

On the ferries, a vehicle ticket is sold against the vehicle's registration document; have it to hand.

The war is recent and personal. Ask, by all means, but do not joke about it, and treat the memorials as the graves some of them are.

Laws on identification, alcohol, drones and the like are not summarised here until they have been read on the authorities' own pages.

Emergency number: 112, the single European emergency number, reaches police, ambulance and fire from any phone in Croatia as in every EU country, free of charge.

Roadside assistance: the Croatian Auto Club (HAK) on 1987 from a Croatian phone, +385 1 4693 700 from abroad; it also publishes daily road conditions in English, including bora closures.

Ferry information: Jadrolinija on 072 30 33 37.