HOW MUCH DOES A TRIP TO CROATIA COST?

The truth is that we expected Croatia to be a little cheaper: beware, we are not saying that it is very expensive (as there are always tricks and ways to reduce travel costs), however we thought there would be more differences compared to countries like Italy and Spain. Of course, if you follow our advice you can backpack in Croatia without having to take unpleasant surprises ... How much does a trip to Croatia cost? Here we tell you!

But first you have to present the currency used in Croatia: it is the Kuna and its exchange rate is € 1 = 7.55 Kunas (in September 2015). Having said that Let's see how much it costs to stay, eat and move around Croatia.

From Spain there are direct flights to different cities. These are the routes and the companies that operate:

• Madrid → Dubrovnik (Norwegian and Iberia)
• Barcelona → Dubrovnik (Norwegian and Vueling)
• Madrid → Split (Iberia)
• Barcelona → Split (Vueling)
• Barcelona → Zagreb (Vueling and Croatia Airlines)
• Barcelona → Zadar (Vueling)

There are all kinds of accommodation in Croatia: from luxury hotels to rooms in private homes (sobe). There is no shortage of bedrooms or apartments ... come on, there are options for all tastes pockets!

1. Sobe: It is the cheapest accommodation option (removing couchsurfing, obviously) and the rooms are usually clean, spacious (in some cases they include wifi, breakfast and more services). You can also live the experience of living like a local ... very authentic! Prices range from € 10-15 per person / day.
2. Bedrooms: in large cities it can be a good option if you travel alone (if you travel as a couple we believe it is worth staying in sobe). Prices range from € 13-20.
3. Hotels: a clean and correct double room can be between € 35-50
4. Apartments: Calculate about € 40-60 depending on the location. The good thing about staying in apartments is that by having a kitchen you can reduce the cost of food.

Travel with own transport:

We decided to rent a car to be as free as possible. We did it with the company Avant Car (through the Autoeurope website). The car (a Volkswagen UP that we call Lobster) cost us 670 Kunas (€ 88 approx) for the 5 days of rental, or about € 17.50 per day. To these we must add the € 12 of the optional all-risk insurance (if we are getting older!) So in total rent It cost us € 148. Some € 30 per day.

The gasoline Super 95 cost about 9Kunas (€ 1.19) / liter. We made a total of about 1,200 km and spent about 480 Kunas (about € 63), or about 40 kunas per 100 km (about € 5.20 per 100 km).

Is it worth moving around Croatia by car? Definitely yes: the freedom that this means gives you is priceless (besides that public transport is not cheap to be said!).

Eye: to get to Dubrovnik you have to cross the border with Bosnia, they are a few kilometers that however expensive, at least to us ... we had to pay an additional € 25 to the rental agency for the green card(Without which, supposedly, you cannot drive in Bosnia). At no time at the border did anyone ask us, besides that the green card came with the papers of the car ... what happens, that if we didn't pay it, they would take it away from us?

Travel with public transport:

If you prefer to travel with public transport we leave you the indicative prices of some popular routes:

• Zagreb-Split: € 20 - € 30.
• Zagreb-Pula: € 20 - € 25.
• Zagreb-Dubrovnik: € 25 - € 35.
• Split-Dubrovnik: € 15 - € 20.

Eating in a restaurant does not have to be expensive: there are quite a few daily specials (35-45Kunas) and pizzas are usually cheap (from 25Kunas in some places). A meal in an average restaurant should not cost more than 60-70Kunas, and can be reduced if you are looking for the cheapest places. The problem comes with drinking: beer aside ... drinking is expensive! Half-liter beers usually cost about 10-18 Kunas ... a coke costs between 12-20 kunas and water more than the same. Sometimes you will see that you spend more on drink than on food ... amazing!

Tips to save:

1. Buy a bottle of water in a supermarket and fill it up: the tap water in Croatia is very tasty (and free!).
2. If you have a kitchen in your sovere / apartment / hotel, do your shopping and cook at home: you will save a peak! We cook on many occasions, especially tortellini (12-20 Kunas) and cevapcici (20-25kunas). In this way a rich and abundant dish is left in about 10-15 Kunas per person!
3. There are many supermarkets (Lidl, Konzum, Despar, Billa ...) where you can buy bread and sausages: one sandwich per day is perhaps not the healthiest thing there is, but it is cheap!
4. Our biggest discovery has been bakeries (pekara) where you can eat burek (a kind of puff pastry pie stuffed with cheese / spinach / meat), pizzas, muffins, sweets for 5-15 Kunas.

• Avoid traveling in high season (especially July and August) as the prices are higher and there are many tourists!
• Stay in sobe (rooms in private homes) or in apartments (to cook your dishes).
• Avoid tolls on highways: they are not usually cheap (and secondary roads are more beautiful and interesting).
• Try to eat in non-tourist sites and always check how much the drink costs, sometimes they show you an affordable dish of the day but the drink is very expensive and they make up for it!
• Civitatis you have cheap tours in the main cities of Croatia. They also offer interesting excursions (such as to Mostar / Kotor from Dubrovnik) or day cruises. Come on, check out here.

• Margherita Pizza: 25-35 Kunas
• Pizza in bakery: 7-12 Kunas
• Pasta / risotto / lasagna dish: 45-60 Kunas
• Mc Donalds: 30-45 Kunas
• Half-liter beer: from 10 Kunas but you can go up to double in tourist places.
• Coca Cola: 12-20 Kunas
• Milk (liter): 6-7 Kunas
• Coffee: 7-12 Kunas
• Ice cream: 7 Kunas
• Crepes: 7-20 Kunas
• Marlboro: 25 Kunas
• Urban bus ticket: 12 Kunas
• Intercity bus ticket (per hour): 20-30 Kunas
• Shampoo: 8-14 Kunas
• Cocktail: 30-50 Kunas

Hopefully our guide to know how much does a trip to Croatia cost You have found it useful!