Yes, you’re planning a Croatia vacation! How expensive is Croatia? In this article, you’ll read all about the costs of a trip to Croatia.
How expensive is Croatia?
Croatia is one of the most beautiful holiday destinations in Europe. It is filled with beautiful old towns, relaxing islands, and gorgeous nature parks. Every year many tourists flock to this beautiful country in the Balkans.
Croatia is known as a cheap holiday destination, but is it really that cheap? Yes, Croatia is certainly not the most expensive holiday destination in Europe, but it is certainly not the cheapest either.
Paying with Kuna
In Croatia, you pay with the Croatian kuna. At the time of writing, €1 is about 7.5 kuna and $1 is approximately 6.7 kuna (January 2022). Debit cards are accepted in many places, but it is still useful to have some cash at hand.
As of January 1st, 2023 you can pay with the Euro in Croatia. You can use both currencies in 2023.
Fortunately, there is an ATM almost everywhere. Especially in the big cities, they are on every street corner, but in villages and on the islands you sometimes have to look for them. Withdrawing money at most ATMs is not free, usually, there is a transaction fee of a few euros. Sometimes it pays to try different ATMs and see if there is one without these extra costs.
Prices in Croatia
It is very difficult to indicate exactly how much something costs in Croatia because the prices differ greatly in the country. If you just look at the price of a glass of beer (0.5 liters) you can already see a big difference. In Zagreb, a glass of beer costs about 15 kunas (€2), and in Split, you’ll pay at least 23 kunas (€3). You see this price difference in everything, including the prices of a hotel room and food.
Croatia Travel Costs: 1 month in Croatia
How expensive is Croatia? That’s what you want to know! This is an overview of my budget for a one-month tour in Croatia, from September 7 to October 9, 2021. I’ve divided the costs into five categories:
- Transportation
- Accomodation
- Food
- Activities
- Miscalleneous
Transportation
Usually, transportation is one of the biggest expenses, but it was pretty affordable! In total, I spent €292.53 on transportation. This amount includes:
- The train journey from Groningen (The Netherlands) to Salzburg (Austria).
- The train journey from Salzburg to Zagreb.
- Eight bus rides – five times with a long-distance bus. In addition, two bus rides on the island of Ugljan and a bus ride from Dubrovnik to the airport.
- Four ferry crossings – between Zadar and Ugljan (€2.50 each).
- Flight from Dubrovnik to Rotterdam (The Netherlands).
- Train journey from Rotterdam to Groningen.
For less than €300 it’s not too bad, right?
Accomodation
Accommodation was the biggest expense of my trip to Croatia. In total, I spent € 935.69 for 32 nights. This amounts to €29.24 per night.
I have mainly slept in private rooms, sometimes with shared bathrooms. I also spent six nights in a dormitory in a hostel. Due to the low season, some of these dorms were almost empty, so I basically had a private room.
This is an overview of my accommodation in Croatia:
- Zagreb – The Dots Hostel – private room with shared bathroom. 2 nights for €70.13.
- Plitvice Lakes – Guest House Wolf – private room with private bathroom (very basic). 2 nights for €55.76.
- Zadar – Sky Hostel – bed in a dormitory with three people (very spacious). 2 nights for €35.87.
- Ugljan – Apartment Kostić – two bedroom apartment, large balcony with sea view. 16 nights for €505. I had booked it for 14 nights, but the owner allowed me to stay as long as I wanted, so I stayed 2 more nights.
- Šibenik – Hostel Sv. Lovre – bed in a dormitory for 8 people. Out of the two nights, I only had one roommate for one night. The hostel was almost empty. 2 nights for €35.76.
- Trogir – Hostel Marina Trogir – bed in a dormitory for 8 people. I only had one roommate here for one night here as well. 2 nights for €34.59.
- Split – Single rooms in the heart of Split – Tiny room with shared bathroom in a guest house in the center. 2 nights for €44.
- Dubrovnik – Sobe na Konalu – large en-suite room in a hillside guest house with great views. 2 nights for €76.96
I also spent two nights in a private room in a hostel ( The Keep Eco Rooms ) in Salzburg (cost: €77.62). This is of course not in Croatia, but it was part of my journey to Croatia. That is why I add these two nights to the total cost of the trip.
I booked all overnight stays through Booking.com. Because I often book there and therefore participate in the genius program, I usually get a 10 to 20% discount.
Food
I spent a total of €492.94 on food and drinks. I went out for dinner quite often and had some delicious coffees with cake. You can save quite a bit if you cook your own meals. I only did that when I was staying in the apartment on the island of Ugljan.
In terms of food, the costs in Croatia differ enormously. In Zagreb, I could eat a delicious meal for €5 to €9 (including a glass of wine), along the coast (between Zadar and Dubrovnik) the same meal would cost €10 to €15.
Activities
In total, I spent $99.94 on activities. What did I do?
- One day in Plitvice Lakes National Park – €34.30
- Church in Zadar – €2.66
- Tower in Zadar – €1.99
- Trail run on Ugljan – €20.30
- Church in Trogir – €3.99
- Dubrovnik Card 3 days – €36.88
I certainly could have saved on this, but they were all fun activities that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.
Miscalleneous
In addition, I spent €78.24 on several miscellaneous costs. This includes things like souvenirs, postcards, a SIM card (the wifi wasn’t great on the island of Ugljan, and I had to get some work done), laundry, and the use of public bathrooms.
Total & distribution of costs
In total, I spent €1899.27 on a one-month trip to Croatia. I was on the road for 33 days, so it works out to €57.55 per day.
An overview:
| Transportation | €292.53 |
| Accommodation | €935.69 |
| Food | €492.88 |
| Activities | €99.94 |
| Miscellaneous | €78.24 |
I always track my travel expenses with the Trabeepocket app (premium version).
Tips for a cheap Croatia vacation
Although I have done quite nicely in terms of budget, a holiday in Croatia can still be a bit cheaper. How? A few recommendations:
- Stay longer in one place. This saves travel costs and you usually get a discount if you stay longer in a hotel/hostel/apartment.
- Cook your own meals. Eating out is great fun, but also a major expense. In Croatia you can buy fresh food on the market and in the supermarket and prepare it yourself.
- Would you like to eat out? Pizza is usually the cheapest option. And they are often super tasty too!
- Make use of hostel dorms as much as possible. Pleasant and it saves enormously in costs. In the late season you even have a chance that you will be alone in a dormitory.
- Book your bus tickets on time. It is very easy to book bus tickets at the bus station or online. It often saves half the price (or more) if you do this a week before departure instead of a day before departure.
- Do inexpensive activities. You can do a lot of great tours, but hiking is free and also super fun! And the sunset is also great to watch in many places along the coast (especially in Zadar). Cost: €0.
- The less touristy the place, the cheaper it is. The more you travel to the south, the more expensive it gets.
- In the high season, the costs for overnight stays are a lot higher than in the low season. If like me, you can travel in September/October, that can also make a significant difference in costs.
Book a trip to Croatia
Would you like to experience this Croatia itinerary yourself? These websites are useful when booking your trip:
- Croatia has several international airports, like Zagreb, Split and Dubrovnik. Check Skyscanner for options and prices.
- The capital Zagreb is easily accessible by train from other countries in Europe. Check out schedules and prices at the Rail Europe website.
- Within Croatia you can travel by rental car or by bus.
- Rental car: good websites for renting a car are Discover Cars and Rental Cars.
- By bus: within Croatia it is very easy to travel with Flixbus. Do you want to see if there are other buses as well? Then BusBud is a great website to check out.
- Looking for accommodation? Check out Booking.com, here you have a wide range of options, many filters and you can compare. For a bed in a hostel dorm room, Hostelworld is a great website to check out. If you are looking for a unique accommodation in nature, it is also worthwhile to look at the website of Nature House.
- Don’t forget your travel insurance! Insubuy has many good options for a fair price.
Read more about Croatia
A Croatia vacation is even more fun with a little preparation. These travel guides can help you with that:
You can also find a lot of information about a trip to Croatia on this website. For example, also read these articles:
- Fun 3-week Croatia itinerary
- The most beautiful places in Croatia | Bucket List
- 18 Most beautiful cities in Croatia
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