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Listen to the sounds of Croatian nature on Earth.fm

You will likely have noticed the many wonderful sounds of Croatian nature if you’ve visited the country. From the mesmerising sounds of cicadas in Dalmatia in summer, to Adriatic waters lapping gently at a beach; the amazing Sea Organ in Zadar to one of the Plitvice waterfalls crashing over rocks; the sound of an impressive summer thunderstorm to the tiny swifts zooming through the skies above Dubrovnik.

There is now a fascinating website called Earth.fm which offers a huge, free repository of pure and immersive natural soundscapes that have been recorded in locations all over the world – including a wonderful selection from Croatia. Just the thing if you’d like to relive (or experience for the first time) some of the amazingly peaceful sounds of the country!

Launched in 2022, Earth.fm is a non-profit, community project which holds 600+ recordings and counting. That adds up to around 8 days of authentic and pure natural sounds to fully immerse yourself into.

Sounds of Croatian nature
Artwork by Merve Gencer

Sounds of Croatian nature on Earth.fm

There is almost 15 hours of recordings of Croatian nature on Earth.fm. What makes the recordings particularly special is that they are completely unedited, unlooped, and uninterrupted by any sounds generated by humans or technology – also known as ‘anthropophony‘. 

All the sounds have been collected by professional field recordists using specialist equipment to capture the true quality of nature’s soundscapes. 

Sounds of Croatian nature - artwork by Merve Gencer
Artwork by Merve Gencer

From birdsong at dawn in Jelenje and wind blowing around mountains in Gornja Gračenica, to the comforting crackle of a campfire in the Voloderac woods and the trickle of a creek in Lika, Earth.fm features 21 soundscapes recorded across Croatia. 

Dive right in with the following selection:

  1. A Night with Grey Wolves – Mrzli Dol
  2. Snow Storm with Powerful Thunder – Mrkopalj
  3. Life of Birds in a Calm Evening Spring – Rijeka
  4. Swamp at the Edge of a River – Krka National Park
  5. Spring Dawn Chorus in the Forest Meadow – Jelenje
  6. Crackly campfire in the woods of Voloderac – Voloder
  7. Storm in Velebit Mountain – Velebit mountain
  8. Water Flowing in Creek – Lika
  9. Windy mountains in Gornja Gračenica – Gornja Gračenica
  10. Meadow in the End of Summer – Zoretići

About Earth.fm

As well as providing these amazing nature sounds, Earth.fm also helps showcase environmental charities local to the areas in which the recordings are captured. The website also acts as a conservation tool by documenting uninterrupted soundscapes that are becoming increasingly scarce. It aims to continuously add new sounds to its map for a new experience.

Earth.fm map

To enjoy more sounds of nature, take a look at their interactive world map that can be filtered by mood, duration, predominant sound, and habitat.

Perhaps you enjoy the sound of rain? There are over 9 hours of soothing rainfall to be heard. Or maybe you prefer birdsong? There are nearly 13 hours of that.

You can also filter through Earth.fm’s recordings library, explore their playlists, or try their Spotify podcast: Wind is the Original Radio

Enjoy the sounds of Croatian nature – as well as nature sounds from all over the world!

Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards 2021

Croatia featured in Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2021

Earlier this week, the winners of the 34th annual Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 were revealed. Covering a very wide range of categories all across the globe – from cities to islands to hotels and resorts, cruise lines to trains to airlines and airports – and featuring the votes of 800,00 participants, practically everything is rated!

It’s no surprise to see Croatia and certain destinations in Croatia featured too. First up, in the prestigious listing of the top 20 countries in the world, Croatia was voted in ninth place behind hot favourites such as Portugal (which topped the list), New Zealand, Japan, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Italy, Iceland and Greece.

Hvar named best island in Europe

Amongst the island categories, gorgeous Hvar was voted the best island in Europe! The amazing Dalmatian island beat other popular European islands such as Mykonos, Crete, Mallorca and Ibiza to claim the top spot.

Conde Nast Traveler's Readers' Choice Awards 2021
A view of Hvar Town

The beautiful Hvar Town is obviously a big draw on the island, well known as a chic and somewhat party-happy destination. There’s plenty more besides on this island famous for its sunshine and its lavender – see more in our Hvar section.

Dubrovnik 5th in the best cities in the world category

Also rather pleasingly is the inclusion of Dubrovnik in the Readers’ Choice Awards 2021 best (small) cities in the world list – in fifth place, no less. Conde Nast Travelers states that “the beauty of this city at the edge of the Adriatic is very real” and mentions the highlights of the limestone streets, and ancient city walls and the nearby island of Lokrum.

View from Mount Srd, Dubrovnik
The view from Mount Srd looking over Dubrovnik Old Town (and the island of Lokrum)

Anyone that’s been to Dubrovnik will know what a magical place the city is, so it’s no surprise to see it included in this list. The Old Town truly has to be seen to be believed, although there’s so much more to see and do in Dubrovnik and the nearby region! See more in our Dubrovnik section.

More on the Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards 2021

You can see the winners in all categories on the Conde Nast Traveler website.