Time Out Croatia news

Pula's annual festival of lights Visualia spectacularly reimagines the city using multi-coloured lighting, projections and video mapping. Dazzling displays of light transformed the city into electrifying alternate worlds - take a look at this gallery of our favourite 'grams from the event to see just what we mean.   View this post on Instagram A post shared by Simple Nature - Pure pictures (@general_fotomoe) on Sep 16, 2018 at 1:35am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Simple Nature - Pure pictures (@general_fotomoe) on Sep 16, 2018 at 11:13pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ale (@alejandrapagura) on Sep 17, 2018 at 12:11pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Visit Istria (@visitistria) on Sep 14, 2018 at 6:47am PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Richard Davies (@richdavies123) on Sep 13, 2018 at 2:02pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Christin Leopold (@leonorris_le) on Sep 15, 2018 at 4:44pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lanci (@lana_petrovicki) on Sep 13, 2018 at 2:07pm PDT View this post on Instagram A post shared by Irma Antunovic

Famous for its old city, one of the most famous in Croatia, Dubrovnik is a hugely popular tourist attraction, its streets full of life and people throughout the extended summer this southern coastal region experiences. Dubrovnik's streets are, of course, not only famous to its visitors. The city has famously acted as a backdrop to several famous movies and TV shows, not least Games Of Thrones. But such famous architecture is not the thing Dubrovnik and its surrounding area has to offer. In a new video produced by The Dubrovnik-Neretva County Tourist Board, we get to see a lot more to this unique region. Of course the video shows the impossibly beautiful old city of Dubrovnik itself, with visitors shown enjoying a casual stroll through narrow alleyways and along the old city walls. But it also shows just how varied a stay tourists can have here. From exciting adventure sports to relaxing by the tide, the video shows many contrasts such as mixing among the throngs of Dubrovnik's other visitors, to much more solitary and perhaps romantic pursuits. Perhaps the most intriguing section of the video occurs when the camera leaves Dubrovnik and ventures into the much less known Neretva valley area. Its stunning beauty may come as a complete surprise to viewers familiar only with coastal Croatia. The rivers of Neretva are incredibly picturesque, this hinterland region also offering its own ancient monuments and picturesque walks. The famous salt and wine production of the region is s

Some people don't get long for their lunch break. It can be a tough call to decide what to eat when you don't have much time; should you go for the classic American-influenced cheeseburger? Or should you choose the local option (and permanent reminder of the Turkish footprint left in the Balkans) of burek? Now that tough choice has been made easier, saving you time and worry on your lunch break. You can have both! A new burek burger has been unveiled at this week's Zagreb Burger Festival. The burger is a beef patty sandwiched between two mini bureks. The burger is Bosnian-friendly; both bureks are made of meat, because, as the famous saying from across the border goes burek je samo s mesom – burek is only with meat! You can find the burek burger at the stall run by local bistro legends Rougemarin for 58 kuna. A Frankenstein foodstuff or a Balkan meat lover's manna from Heaven? You decide.

A heatwave which is expected to last for much of next week is set to hit Croatia. Summer is about to officially end this weekend, but the next week's temperature spike, unusual for this time of year, will be extending the season for a few days more. While many Croatians have returned from their summer vacations and capital city Zagreb has lost some of the huge crowds of visitors who enjoyed the city over recent months, tourists are still enjoying the good weather on Croatia's coast. Next week will give them plenty of opportunities to sunbathe, laze around on the beach or swim in the sea. But it's not only the Croatian coast that will experience the heat. The high-temperature anomaly will push temperatures across the whole of the Pannonian basin upwards of 30 °C, meaning other areas such as Međimurje, Slavonia, Baranja, Zagreb, Sisak-Moslavina and Bjelovar-Bilogora will be affected.Predictions are that temperatures will be 8 to 10 °C higher than the average for mid to late-September across much of central, western, eastern and southeastern Europe. This means for many a return to temperatures in the upper 20s and low 30s. Enjoy it while it lasts! The heatwave is expected to end on Friday 21 September.

Dubrovnik is brimming with cats, whether prowling Gruz harbour or sunbathing on polished slabs of pavement on Stradun. If you're a cat person, you need to follow the hashtag #catsofdubrovnik on Instagram. Heart-meltingly cute cats are backdropped by Dubrovnik's historic Old Town, with the blue Adriatic lapping the rocks below. The hashtag is also raising awareness for SOS Dubrovnik Cats, a charity helping the stray feline population of the city. A post shared by Diletta (@dida) on Aug 29, 2015 at 12:24am PDT A post shared by Miguel Hinojosa (@miguelhinojosa) on Aug 24, 2017 at 4:39am PDT A post shared by Jennifer Peacock (@jennypea) on Sep 25, 2016 at 1:31pm PDT A post shared by Arnel Manalang 🇵🇭 (@arnelmanalang_ph) on Oct 27, 2017 at 5:29pm PDT A post shared by i_little_bec (@i_little_bec) on Oct 5, 2017 at 5:47am PDT A post shared by Laura Natalie (@shesthesunset) on Jul 14, 2017 at 4:25am PDT A post shared by Živa Prelogar (@zivaprelogar) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:08pm PDT A post shared by Isabel M. (@kleine_aster) on Aug 10, 2016 at 1:49am PDT A post shared by Daria Marienko (@gospa.od.zmaja) on Feb 23, 2018 at 11:02am PST A post shared by M✧ (@xxhachikoxx) on Oct 1

It goes without saying that tourism is an essential part of Croatia's economy. Such is its importance, any perceived drop in growth causes near panicked reverberations within the country's media and institutions. Growth in this sector is pursued in Croatia with more determination than that with which the indefatigable Wile E. Coyote chases Road Runner. “Meep meep!” As the Croatian tourism industry looks to diversify, hoping to extend Croatia's tourist potential throughout all of its regions and seasons, it's nevertheless possible that improvements could yet still be made in the already popular summer months. It is vital that Croatia is viewed as a welcoming and accommodating holiday destination. Yet a 2018 survey places the country near the bottom of places that is good to visit if you are a vegetarian. The 2018 study, conducted by comparison site The Eco Experts, looked at how easy it is to maintain a vegetarian diet in 26 European countries. Croatia was marked as the sixth worst country in Europe for vegetarians, coming only ahead of Greece, Russia, Lithuania, Denmark and Portugal, which was the worst. Switzerland was officially marked as the best European country for vegetarians, with the Nordic countries of Finland, Norway and Sweden coming second, third and fourth respectively. To measure a country's vegetarian friendliness, the study compared three statistics; the number of vegetarian-friendly restaurants per 100,000 people, annual meat consumption per person, and th

The work of eight Croatian photographers is among the ranks of finalists in 2019's World Meteorological Organisation photography competition. Their awesome photos display a broad range of dramatic weather features experienced in the country. You can vote for the Croatian photographer's entries by following the links contained on this page.Perfect storm on the sea, taken over Mali Lošinj by Sandro Puncet Lubenice vortex by Ana RicovRed twilight cumulonimbus, taken over Vransko Lake, Drage by Šime BarešićRomeo Ibrišević, Sandro Puncet, Šime Barešić, Ana Ricov, Ivica Juresa, Danijel Palčić, Matej Štegari and Mirna Vidić are the eight Croatian finalists whose work is in the final 75 selections in the competition. Ibrišević and Barešić each have more than one entry in the final 75. The top 12 winning entries from the competition will be featured in the 2019 World Meteorological Organisation calendar.Shelf cloud approaching island Pag, taken by Danijel PalčićForce of bura wind captured on the island of Rab by Ivica JuresaSunrise in village of Rastoke by Romeo IbriševićStorm over the Sea, approaching Rovinj, captured by Matej ŠtegarAll of the 75 finalist photographs are displayed on the World Meteorological Organisation Facebook page. Members of the public will choose the winning 12 entries by the popularity of likes on each individual photograph. If you wish to vote for the stunning Croatian entries, direct links under each photograph depicted here will take you to the photographs

Grate news! Croatian cheeses scored highly at the recent Global Cheese Awards, with cheeses from Istria and island Pag performing brie-lantly. The prestigious annual awards, which have taken place in the English town of Frome for 160 years, are one of the oldest and best respected within the cheese industry. More than 20,000 visitors attended this year's awards. Coincidentally, Frome is only two letters away from spelling fromage, the French word for cheese.Špin cheese, which comes from Istria and is owned by Agrolaguna, won two awards for its cheeses. In the category of hard sheep cheese, Sheep Sir Špin won a silver medal, while Gran Istrian was awarded the bronze. Its Sheep Sir Špin is made from the milk of indigenous Istrian sheep and its Gran Istrian is an extra hard cheese which lasts for at least 12 months. The milk used contains no additives and no fats are removed in the production so that the taste of the cheese is subject to the seasonal variations of the pasture. This is the real specialty of Špin cheese.In the Special Category for sheep's milk cheese, Paški sir from Paška Sirana won a bronze medal. This famous hard cheese has won many awards previously and is produced from a unique breed of small sheep, Paska Ovca, known for their salty milk which comes in small yields. Paški sir is matured for at least 4 months, although can be matured for anything up to one and a half years.  In addition to the awards they won for their hard cheeses, Špin also received a specia

Following a successful debut year in 2017, Zagreb is set to host Croatia's second conference on year-round tourism. The Croatian Tourism 365 event will take place on Tuesday 25th September. Croatian tourism is one of the country's great success stories, with numbers of visitors rising year upon year. But these successes occur only during 80 summer days. For the rest of the year, most tourist facilities remain unused. In the coastal area of Croatia, 86 million overnight stays happen, but only 4.8% of overnight stays occur in the whole of continental Croatia, with 2% of that taking place in the city of Zagreb. This second year for the conference aims to present and discuss potentials, opportunities, positive practices and solutions for the development of year-round tourism across the whole of Croatia and to develop suggestions on how to stimulate and develop it. The sponsors of the conference are the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia and the Croatian Chamber of Economy, and the conference is supported by almost all Croatian tourist associations. It will address the director of the Croatian National Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, and Minister of Economic Development and Technology of the Republic of Slovenia, Zdravko Počivalšek, director of Tourist Board Zagreb, Martina Bienenfeld, director of the Croatian Tourism Association, Veljko Ostojić, executive director of the European Tourism Health Summit, Lejla Krešić-Jurić, President of SLO CRO Business Club, Saša M

Tui UK (formerly Thompson Holidays) is the latest airline to announce an expansion of their flights to Croatia. From summer 2019 they will be offering flights to Rijeka airport. They will be the only UK carrier with routes between Rijeka and the UK airports of Gatwick (London) and Manchester. The weekly flights will begin from May 23 2019. Rijeka airport is actually located on the island of Krk, a short bus ride from Rijeka, which is Croatia's third largest city. Island Krk is connected to the mainland by a bridge. Flying to the airport of Rijeka holds many advantages for visitors, not least because of the city's unique location. The city of Rijeka lies at the very beginning of the peninsula of Istria; heading west out of the city allows quick and easy access to famous seaside destinations such as Opatija, Pula, Umag, Rovinj and Poreč. Rijeka is also the nearest coastal city in Croatia to Zagreb, the Croatian capital lying only one and a half hours away by car. Between the two cities lies the beautiful region of Lika, which holds several national parks, including Croatia's most famous, Plitvice Lakes. Heading south from Rijeka, the next major city along the coast is Zadar, which marks the start of the coast of Dalmatia. So, within easy reach of Rijeka are some of Croatia's most famous destinations, including some of the country's best islands Cres, Lošinj and Krk and Pag. A ferry service to the nearby island of Rab will be included in the price of holidays of those flying