Official Name: Republic of Croatia
Capital: Zagreb
Size: 56 594 km2
Population: 4,284,889 (2011 census)
Official language: Croatian
EU member state since: 1 July 2013
Currency: Croatian Kuna
Croatia lies in Southeast Europe. It borders Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Croatia is famous from its outstanding natural beauty. It has got a long Adriatic Coastline, has more than a 1000 islands where only a small portion is inhabited (roughly 50).It has got a long and illustrious history dating back to Roman times, when you are visiting you feel like you travel through time. Do not miss out Split as this is an ancient port with Roman ruins to find, if you are interested to see more of the Roman heritage travel to Pula – the biggest town in Istria – and visit the amphitheatre. Dubrovnik is also a must see as it is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most popular tourist destinations, with its 2km long medieval walls, landmark buildings from different centuries. Croatia is the 18th most popular tourist attraction in the world.
The official language is Croatian, Italian is broadly spoken due to the close proximity of Italy. English is also generally spoken among the younger generation, in tourist areas it is not a problem to get by just using English. You will get a positive response from the locals, if you try to learn a few phrases greetings and thanking at least.
There are 7 international airports in Croatia, unfortunately overseas flights do not serve these airports, apart from some charter flights. If you want to travel to Croatia from overseas you will have to transfer in one of the main hubs in Europe such as Frankfurt or London.
www.visit-croatia.org
Croatia is indeed unique, not only for its crystal clear, clean blue sea, but also for a thousand years of different cultures that have replaced each other and sometimes assimilated in these areas. The Adriatic Sea is not only a deep gulf in the Mediterranean cut into the Continent of Europe thereby creating most economical trade route between Europe and the East, it is also the cradle of ancient civilizations. There is much material evidence about that which is finally beginning to come to light, from the depths of Adriatic caves and from the deep blue sea. The east coast of the Adriatic Sea was inhabited as early as the beginning of the early Stone Age, and there is proof that most of the accessible islands were also inhabited (archaeological findings in caves near the islands of Hvar and Palagruza, etc.).