Croatia

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Flag of Croatia Croatia
Information
Language: Croatian
Capital: Zagreb
Population: 4,440,690
Currency: Euro (EUR)
Hitchability: <rating country='hr' />
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<map lat='44.7' lng='16.5' zoom='6' view='0' float='right'/>

Croatia is a country in Southern Europe. It is a member state of the European Union and as of 2023 is a part of the Schengen Agreement . Croatia can be great for hitchhiking in summer. It is quite easy to hitch along the coast, and waiting time rarely exceeds 20 minutes. However, in the winter months many of the coastal towns become ghost towns and you may find that hitching wait times exceed an hour, often with very short rides once you do get them.

Minefields in Croatia

Some routes, however, might appear to be more difficult to hitch but with some portion of patience one can get a ride almost anywhere in this Balkan country.

When going out of the country you can choose either to go out at the weekend or not. When choosing the weekend, on one hand it is absolutely one of the best ways to hitchhike. The columns sometimes are more than 10 km long and the cars barely go, the most of the time they stand. So it is easy when you have a ride to get out of the car and walk between the cars in the lines and ask maybe directly for your destination. There are at least columns before every toll and before some tunnels that go only one way and before the border. Amines was hitchhiking at Saturday towards the coast at the A1 highway on a petrol station after Zagreb but gave up after 4 hours, walked across the road where there was a column and got a ride directly to Bratislava within 5 minutes. On the other hand it takes time to get out of the country because you will wait in this columns for hours and hours.

Aside from Croatian, Italian is widely known in some areas. Croatians are also extremely open, friendly, and hospitable, although there are known accidents of nationalistic hatred being directed onto foreign travelers. It is nonetheless definitely a must-see country with beautiful landscape, islands, and warm sea.

The coastal road is beautiful, however be careful of where you are dropped off. You may find yourself with a mountain on one side and sudden drop on the other.

Dangers

There are some landmines left in Croatia. Jason and Kelsey stumbled across signs in the middle of the night in central Croatia. Ask locals about this if you're sleeping out. It is advised to ask to stay in people's gardens or in the truck. However with the exception of some areas outside of- specifically just south of- Zadar, the coastline is completely clear. Please be aware of this and be careful! Map of marked minefields

Phrasebook

  • Hello Dobar dan
  • Good bye Doviđenja/Bok (casual)
  • Please Molim
  • Thank you Hvala
  • Direction Smjer
  • Highway Autocesta
  • Are you going to...? Idete li do...?
  • I'm going to... Idem do...
  • Could I get a lift to...? Mogu li dobiti prijevoz do...?
  • Yes Da
  • No Ne
  • To the next petrol station Do slijedeće (slijedeche) benzinske stanice
  • I will get down here Ovdje ću izaći
  • Could you stop here? Možete li ovdje stati?
  • Do you speak... (english)? Govorite li... (engleski)?
  • My name is... Moje ime je...
  • What is your name? Kako se zovete?

Cities

Clare hitchhiking at the peage

Border Crossings

To Slovenia

It can be difficult to get a ride from Zagreb to Slovenia. Some hitchhikers chose to go to Zagreb train station, buy a ticket till Sutla (1.5 Euro), and stay on-board after the train passes Sutla up until the Slovene village of Dobova (these are 5 minutes of a voyage with no ticket check) - from there it's easy to hitch further towards Maribor or Ljubljana.

  • ChrisHitTheRoad Had many problems getting out the country in the direction of Slovenia with a very long waiting time twice at petrol stations on the highway. (over 4 hours each). It seems that people are scared to take you to the border as you are entering the Schengen area again.
  • Hitchhiked from Zagreb to Ljubljana and I had to wait for about 3h for the car to stop me. It was a holliday and the gas pump was quite empty, but I didn't have a feeling that hitchhiking would be hard on normal days. After 3h I got a direct pick.

To Bosnia and Herzegovina

From Županja exit (off of A3 / E70) toward Tuzla. Bosnian driver offered ride at beginning of ramp, insisted on trying border crossing in car. Ca. 400m between checkpoints. Traffic is good.

Near the Croatian city of Imotski there are two border crossings into Bosnia. The southern one (at the village of Gorica and Grude) sees quite a lot of traffic and walking across is allowed, just walk to the same booth for which the cars are waiting. When going from Croatia into Bosnia and carrying an EU passport/ ID card you will be able to cross this border very smoothly. Border guards are relaxed and nice. Once in the Bosnian side, walk to the outskirts of the border town and it won't be hard to catch a ride further.

Personal Experiences

Pls add info


More information

  • Hitchhiking in Croatia, a CouchSurfing group
  • When travelling to the islands, you can use the katamaran. It is a faster and cheaper passenger ferry than the car ferry.

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Nomadwiki for info on accommodation, showers etc. or Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)