Best Time To Travel To: Croatia

Croatia is characterized by several climate zones. There is not one particular climate for the whole of Croatia. The north and the east (Slavonia) of the country have a typical continental climate, i.e. a climate often found in Central Europe.

The winters can be really cold here and the summers can be nice and warm. Most of the time it does not rain extremely. Also the transitions between the seasons are climatically nicely pronounced.

In the mountainous regions, the climate is generally cooler, usually a temperate mountain climate. The popular Plitvice Lakes National Park, for example, is located in such a climatic region under the influence of the Velebit Mountains. In January the average temperature here is around 2 degrees, in July it rises to an average of 17.5 degrees. Snow can be here well from the end of November to the end of March. In addition, Plitvice Lakes are often covered by a layer of ice in December and January. The most rainfall occurs here in spring and August.

The coastal region of the Adriatic Sea (Dalmatia, Kvarner Bay and Istria) and the offshore islands in the Adriatic Sea are again in a somewhat different climatic zone. There the climate is very mild and partly Mediterranean. That means: the summers are mostly pleasantly warm, the winters very mild. Overall, the coastal regions are quite popular with sun lovers. The beaches are beautiful, the water is very clean. In the Croatian part of Istria, there are about 2,400 hours of sunshine per year. Here, too, the summers are not too hot, and the winters are mild. The coldest month there is February with temperatures around 6 degrees, the warmest month is July with temperatures around 23 degrees in average.

Rijeka, which is located on the Kvarner Bay, for example, brings it to just over 2,100 hours of sunshine a year. The temperatures are similar to those in Istria. In January it averages 6 degrees Celsius, in July just over 23 degrees Celsius. The amount of precipitation per year here is about 1,500mm with just under 86 rainy days/Mn per year. As a representative of the climate of the Dalmatian coast you could see the climate table of Dubrovnik below.

The best travel time for Croatia is mainly in the summer months or in the period from May to September.

Climatetable Dubrovnik

(*rainy days/M = days > 0.25mm Niederschlag.)