What to pack for Croatia

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Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: A hat and beach shoes are two essentials - the Adriatic sunshine can be fierce and that crystal clear water comes at a price - stony beaches! They may keep the water beautifully clear but they're hard underfoot, especially if you're coming from a place where the beaches are sandy and soft.

Toiletries and Medical Supplies: Don't forget the sunscreen -with a high SPF - and keep putting it on. All that sunshine, water and bright, white stone can translate into severe sunburns - neither a good look nor good for your skin. Don't forget to protect your feet if you're wearing sandals!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: During my stay in Croatia there were several rainy days, so don’t forget your umbrella! In addition there a plenty of pebble beaches so it’s reasonable to buy special shoes for swimming. They don’t cost much, but give comfort to your feet. And of course sunscreen, sunglasses, and hat are required!

Miscellaneous: Travelling around Croatia during summer 2006, we had both Lonely Planet and Rough Guide. As fans of Lonely Planet I would say it is a must, but this time Rough guide was better when it was question about accommodation, bars or restaurants. Btw, spending time in a bus or on a ferry, it is handy if You both have Your own guide books to find facts about next place!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Special shoes for swimming can be useful, cause the small sharp stones at the beach can hurt your feet.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: Beaches in Croatia are small sharp stones and concrete piers, and beach lounges are a rarity. So you better take some soft mat to lie on at the beach.

Miscellaneous: Sunscreen cream in summer and early autumn is a must.

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Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: If travelling any other time than summer waterproof boots are a MUST, especially in Dubrovnik where some of the roads just off of the main road in the old town are steps and in heavy rain literally turn into fast flowing waterfalls. No joke. Our room was situated on one of these roads and I honestly had to walk through a waterfall to get to it. The photos are a bit blurry but check them out anyway!

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: Yes, weather, that´s what I wanted to talk about. Maybe for you it won´t be a surprise, but I´ve lived in central Europe all my life... There must have been a big thunderstorm before we came, because the weather and water were pretty cold the first 4 days; it wasn´t very nice, since we couldn´t swim.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: You can stay on any beach; we found a bunker with a flat roof on one beach, which is also a good solution. People won´t have anything against it and if they say something, it will be:'How did you sleep?' or 'Isn´t it a nice morning?'. (this really happened - aren´t they great??)

Miscellaneous: The url is an actual weather forecast. :)

Clothing/Shoes/Weather Gear: In the summer, it can be scorching hot all over Croatia and if you're here at that time of the year, you've probably come for the islands and beaches, so wear appropriate clothing and bring plenty of sunscreen.

In the winter, especially inland, it can get pretty cold so bring a good winter coat. In February in Zagreb, I was pretty cold at times.

If you stay in a private home, it's possible that the owner may not heat the room at all. I froze my butt off in Dubrovnik on my first night in a private home.

Photo Equipment: Don't forget your camera equipment. Expect lots of sun in the summer and come prepared with all appropriate photo gear.

Photo Equipment: With Croatia becoming a popular destination there are many travel guides about the country now available.

One of the best, my personal favourite and in my opinion a must-have item for everyone coming to Croatia is The Rough Guide to Croatia. Ingeniously written by Jonathan Bousfield, who's been making regular visits to Croatia since 1975, this 460-page guidebook brings not only the comprehensive coverage of numerous destinations, informative and reliable info about transport possibilities and accommodation / restaurants / nightlife options but also a very authorative background on Croatia's history, culture and politics.

Camping/Beach/Outdoor Gear: It will give you a brief insight about different cuisines of Croatia's regions, tips where to have the best Saturday morning coffee or tips how to survive with names of streets that change in Croatian. Learn about Croatian history - from who was Diocletian and why he retired himself to the story of Uskoks, history of Hajduk soccer club or the facts about the creation of Non-Aligned Movement on Brijuni islands. There is also a lot of info about recent history, with background info of Serbian rebelion, details about siege of Vukovar and shelling of Dubrovnik as well as of the authorative Tudjman regime and its opponents, including the Radio 101 and Feral Tribune newspaper.

Miscellaneous: Travel part of the book covers many distant and less known destinations that you'll hardly find in other travel books - like Krapje, Krasic, Veli Drvenik, Vrboska or Prvic.

Shortly: get your copy of this great guidebook (currently the second edition, published in 2003 by Rough Guides and distributed by Penguin Books) before you board the plane / train / bus to Croatia and learn a lot even before you arrive!