Cycling in Croatia

Croatia In A Nutshell

Croatia has a lot of natural beauty but the country isn't uniformly lovely. You need to choose your route carefully. Go to Zagreb. Its wide, flat streets make it easy to cycle around. And visit the Museum of Broken Relationships.

Where and When I Went

6th - 10th September 2012
Sremska Mitrovica (Serbia) - Osijek - Virovitica - Zagreb - Sevnica (Slovenia)

10th - 12th June 2018
Izola (Slovenia) - Motovan - Pazin - Rijeka - Delnice - Dol (Slovenia)

Croatia's Scenery

My advice to choose your route carefully is because in 2012 I didn't. The area I cycled was nicely flat but, the odd stretch aside, physically dull. My 2018 examination of Istria was much better. That pretty little peninsula was challengingly lumpy but the region was gloriously traffic-free. The same cannot be said apparently for Croatia's coastline, which is extremely beautiful but tales of heavy traffic abound. The hills north of Rijeka are also wonderful. I've also heard good things about the Plitvicka National Park. The islands are also very beautiful although I don't know how feasible it would be to tour them by bicycle.

Croatia's Road Quality

Surfaces are good but the roads tend not to have verges. On longer, straight roads, oncoming cars will overtake regardless of your presence. Sometimes this means getting off the road entirely to avoid being hit.

Croatia's Accommodation & Costs

Outside the capital Zagreb, my two hotels in 2012 cost €36 and €40. Zagreb was 20% more. I noticed in 2018 that prices seemed to have skyrocketed. My two campsites were around €18 each and they would have been overpriced at half as much.

Language

German is more useful than English, especially on the coast.

Neighbouring Countries

There's Hungary and the rest are exclusively former Yugo friends/deadly foes: Slovenia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Reasons To Go To Croatia

A massive coastline, peaceful inland Istria, good summer weather, Zagreb and the Museum of Broken Relationships.

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