General Info

Geographical position
Croatia extends from the farthest eastern edges of the Alps in the north-west to the Pannonian lowlands and the banks of the Danube in the east. Its central region is covered by the Dinara mountain range and its southern part reaches the coast on the Adriatic Sea.

Climate
Northern Croatia has a continental climate. The central part of the country is predominantly mountain or alpine and the coast is Mediterranean. The Croatian Adriatic has an average of 2,600 hours of sunshine per year and an average sea temperature of 25 to 27 °C. It is indeed one of the sunniest and warmest coasts in Europe. The ideal summer wardrobe consists of light summer clothes and something warmer for the evenings. It rains more often in spring and autumn, and winters can be quite harsh in central and northern areas, with considerable amounts of snow. For exact data for your destination please consult your travel agency.

See also: Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service

Independence
Though the first independent Croatian kingdom was recognised in 925, the Republic of Croatia is a young democratic European state. The Croatian Parliament declared independence in 1991 (having previously broken off all state and legal ties with the former Yugoslavia). On 15 January 1992. the member states of the European Union recognized Croatia as an independent state, and the country was admitted to the UN on 22 May 1992.


Area
56,542 square kilometres of land and 31,067 square kilometres of sea.

Length of the coast
5,835 kilometres, with 4,058 kilometres of the island coastline, reefs and cliffs.

Islands, reefs and cliffs
1,185 (718 islands, 389 cliffs and 78 reefs). Out of 67 inhabited islands with 130.000 inhabitants, the biggest are Krk and Cres.

Population
4,381,352 (according to the 2001 census). Most of the population are Croats. The ethnical minorities include Serbs, Bosnians, Italians, Hungarians, Albanians, Slovenians , Czechs, Romanies and others.

Capital
Zagreb - 779,145 inhabitants (according to 2001 census) - the cultural, academic, administrative, economic and transportation center of the country.

Official language and alphabet
The Croatian language and Latin alphabet.

See also: Croatian for Travellers

Religion
The majority are Roman Catholics. There are some of the Orthodox, Muslim and other Christian denomination followers.

State system
Multiparty parliamentary republic.

Time zone
GMT + one hour from Saturday before last Sunday in October to last Saturday in March,
GMT + two hours from last Saturday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October.


Electricity voltage
220 V; 50 Hz.

Water
Tap water is safe for drinking in all parts of Croatia.

Currency
Kuna (1 Kuna = 100 Lipa). There are 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 Lipa coins, 1, 2, 5 and 25 Kuna coins and 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 Kuna banknotes.

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