This section hopes to provide you with some essential background information on Croatia and visiting the country. Below are details on health services, safety, accommodation and food & drink in Croatia. Please also see our special pages on:
Entering Croatia
Money
Communications in Croatia

Health
The health service is of a good standard. You have to pay for seeing a doctor or being treated in a hospital. Certain countries, such as Britain, have reciprocal medical arrangements whereby, in principal, you should not have to pay for any emergency treatment. It is therefore useful to wave your passport first and mention this!

Safety
It is quite safe to travel all over Croatia and mugging and thefts are not a problem. You can safely walk in any town at night, but use your common sense, as always. In some coastal resorts, as is common all over the Mediterranean, single women may be approached or wolf-whistled at. Say no firmly and you will not be bothered. In case of any problems, approach a policeman or even a soldier, who will assist you. Both the Croatian police and the army are well disciplined. If you have a language problem, approach a younger person (teenagers/students) as they all speak some English and will be eager to help.

Accommodation
The high season, July and August, is more expensive. In April, May, September and October, prices are reduced by up to 50%.

There are over 200 camping grounds along the Croatian coast - see the Croatian Camping Union for a listing.

For the best value accommodation, why not stay in private rooms which are very popular in Croatia. You may either see people advertising "sobe" (rooms) at ports and bus/train stations in popular resorts. Alternatively, every single town has a tourist office (Turisticki ured) which will arrange accommodation for you.

Hotels are of good value, but top class accommodation is expensive.

See our accommodation section for full details.

Food & Drink
You get the standard fare as in many other central European or Mediterranean countries (pizza, pasta, meat dishes, fish). All food is safe to eat as restaurants are regularly inspected, and there is no problem with drinking water. Seafood is a speciality along the Croatian coastline, unsurprisingly!

Croatian beers (the word beer in Croatian is "pivo") are of a high quality. Try Zagreb's Ozujsko pivo or Karlovacko pivo or Tuborg, which is brewed by Carlsberg Croatia. In Dalmatia, some red wines such as Faros or Dingac are exquisite. You should also try Croatia's favourite brandy sljivovica, made from plums, or travarica, a herbal brandy.

If you are back home and fancy cooking a Croatian meal of your own, why not take a look at our Croatian Cuisine section?

Other information
Electricity is 220V, 50Hz.

Croatia uses the standard European 2 point plugs.

The weights and measures system is metric.

Croatia is 1 hour ahead of GMT, the same time zone as the majority of Western Europe.

The Croatian language uses the Latin alphabet. There are 30 characters in the Croatian alphabet. See more about the Croatian language in our Croatian for Travellers section.