VISIT CROATIA

الاستماع زيارة المعلومات كرواتيا أفضل الأماكن زيارة في كرواتيا أفضل الوجهات كرواتيا

Listen visit Croatia info best places to visit in Croatia best Croatia destinations.

Varazdin

Don’t worry if you’ve not heard of Varazdin. Few have. And that’s despite its illustrious past as one of Croatia’s former capitals and a regal Hungarian stronghold besides! Still, travelers who do make their way to this far-flung city on the edge of Slovenia are in for a real treat. It’s a place where some of Europe’s most elegant and best-preserved Baroque towers and frontispieces meet to form one truly handsome Stari Grad district, where the whitewashed rises of Varazdin Castle reveal interesting historical tales of medieval power struggles, and where sun-kissed plazas lined with rococo and Gothic revival builds play host to Austrian-flavoured eateries and beer halls alike.

Rijeka

A cocktail of blue-collar port life, elegant Habsburg nostalgia and the laid-back vibes of coastal Croatia, Rijeka can be found nestled on the Istrian panhandle, pulling in ship after ship across the deep waters of the Kvarner Gulf. In fact, it was Rijeka’s close connection to the sea and these vital shipping lanes that shaped it into the city it is today, with centuries spent oscillating between Habsburg and Hungarian, gathering glorious adornments like the Governor’s Palace and Rijeka Cathedral as it went. The city is also now famed as the home of Rijeka Carnival, which draws more than 100,000 people to see parades and curious ceremonies take place on bustling Korzo Street at the heart of town.

Krka National Park

The shimmering and crashing waterfalls and lakes of Krka are something like the southern counterpart to Plitvice. They range from the crumbling karsts and escarpments of the Dinaric Alps to the ria of Skradinski, where the river waters become brackish and join with the Adriatic Sea. Of course, the main attraction here has to be the series of cataracts that dot the park, many of which are the product of centuries of hyper algae growth between the banks of the mineral-rich Krka River, while other pulls include the enchanting sight of the Visovac Monastery, which just pokes above the trees on an island in the midst of mirror-like Visovac Lake.

Zagorje Region

Closer to the Slavic hinterlands of Slovenia and Hungary than the sun-kissed Croatian riviera, off-the-beaten-track Zagorje remains a true diamond in the rough on the Republic’s touristic line-up. Rarely visited but loved fervently by those who do come, this land of rolling hills and seemingly endless farm fields is at once rustic, earthy and real. Influenced heavily by Austria and Slovenia to the north, the area is peppered with the occasional Baroque fortress, or towns like Krapina, where local dialects still reign supreme. Then – of course – there’s the wine, production of which stems back to Roman times, while vineyards and cellar doors occupy the valley sides ad infinitum.

Zadar

The capital of the much-trodden Dalmatian region is everything you’d expect of a sun-splashed Croatian resort town on the edge of the Adriatic: at once lively and laid-back, steeped in history yet perennially modern. In fact, Zadar is known for its good mix of old and new, boasting the elegant Byzantine rises of St Donat’s Church next to the crumbling remnants of a Roman Forum and crisscrossing lanes of cafes and eateries. The so-called Sea Organ by architect-artist Nikola Basic also draws crowds with its light shows and curious science, while there’s a certain allure to the way Zadar just seems to slip into the Mediterranean, making it easy for locals and travelers alike to cool off in the sea.

Split

Famed as the home of the totemic UNESCO World Heritage Site of Diocletian’s Palace, Split’s near perfect balance of the old and the new makes it unquestionably one of the country’s most alluring towns. The 4th century remnants of Diocletian’s creation occupy the very heart of the city, and come interspersed with the occasional Gothic tower from a later age (or Egyptian sphinx from an earlier one!).