Croatia is a land of dreams, beauty and adventure. The country is an amalgamation of beautiful landscape, sea and huge cultural impact on food. In this part of the world, the summers are summery and the winters are not so cold.
Tourists are attracted towards this country due to its famous blue water beaches. The water is luminous and the beaches are generally covered in gravel. Croatia is every bit of a tourist’s delight due to its easygoing and mellow routine. This country has the feel and celebration of vacationing in its air.
The cafés and the delis are famous for their rich cultural food. A vast variety of food adds to your experience of vacation. The abundance of seafood, great wine and love for cheese is what Croatians are famous for.
The cultural heritage of Croatia shares the impressions of the Italians. Great historical places and contemporary and upbeat culture is what makes Croatia different from other popular tourist destinations.
To celebrate the beauty that this country has to offer, you have to know where to go, how to go, and what to see. And to make that happen, it would be ideal to have a car at your service at all times. Driving in a beautiful country like Croatia is such a delight.
Hiring a Car in Croatia
Even after high tourism turn over, the country has somehow managed to make business while not going all expensive for the tourists. The car hiring and rental services are acceptable and don’t put a dent in your wallet to get a car for the sake of travelling.
It is best if you go for a survey on the available car prices and other travelling services before you book online. In an ideal situation, you wouldn’t want to spend all your cash on renting a car over a trip of a week or two.
The car renting services are also available after you check in, but due to the heavy tourism rate in Croatia, most of the rental car service providers encourage you to make your reservation at an earlier time. Last minute reservations may leave you at the risk of not getting a booking at all or probably the car not being according to your needs.
Prices of Car Hiring
The car-hiring price in Croatia is relatively low from other countries in Europe. Once you start, you can get a good car according to your family and vacationing needs for as low as €11 per day or €70 to €100 a week for small cars and €115 to €475 a week for big cars with add-ons. This is considerably low and mostly depends upon the exchange rate of your currency.
Tourists are usually found complaining about extra or additional charges their car rental service provider might have charged them with. This kind of problem seldom arises due to tourists signing up for the services which they barely need from the rental services. If you think you would need something, you might as well carry it on you instead of renting it for more than its cost from your dealer.
Fuel Policy in Croatia
Fuel Policy by the Car Dealers
The car dealers in Croatia are no different from their counter parts in the other countries of the world. They offer you a number of services and options on fueling and refueling as per your convenience. Here are a couple of fueling and refueling options available with the car dealers offers in Croatia. In this, you don’t have to pay the dealer instead you get him the full tank.
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Full/Full Tank Policy
In this policy the car dealers offers you a full tank and you have to return him the same. In case you fail to do so, then you will be liable to pay for the charges of the remaining amount of fuel. The car dealers can charge you at the highest possible rate in the country. It is better to get the tank full on your own.
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Full/Empty Tank Policy
According to this policy, you will get a full tank from your car dealer and you will have to return him an empty tank. You will be charged for the fuel and your money is non-refundable, even if you haven’t used the entire fuel.
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Fuel up Front
In this, you buy the fuel from your car dealer before your trip. The hiring charges of the cars are excluding the fuel charges. It is ideal that you insist with your dealer to charge you according to the fuel rates in the area within this policy.
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Pay on Return
Pay on return is a lot like the Full/Full tank policy. The car dealer provides you a full tank before your trip and on return you have to only pay for the amount of fuel you have used.
Popular Destination in Croatia
For a country as beautiful as Croatia, one cannot simply miss to visit every nook and corner of it and experience the enthralling and breathtaking views. The country offers amazing food and wine as well. Among the many popular destinations, adding the following to your must-visit-places list would be ideal:
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Hvar
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Plitvice Lakes National Park
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Diocletian’s Palace
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Walls of Dubrovnik
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Pula Arena
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Euphrasian Basilica
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Gornji Grad – Medveščak
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Ban Jelačić Square
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Zlatni Rat
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Church of St. Donatus
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Northern Dalmatia
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Istria
Croatia Road Rules
Croatia follows the rules applicable in almost all of the European countries. Croatians are laidback, relaxed and calm-natured people. There hasn’t been a significant number of accidents reported in Croatia. This probably has to do something with the driving habits of the Croatians.
If you are a tourist in the country, then there are a couple of guidelines and traffic and road rules that you should keep in mind.
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Over-take towards the left whereas driving rule in Croatia is on the right.
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Wear a reflective jacket when you are outside of the car. The jacket should be in your car at all times.
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The roads and ways are represented by certain letters in the sign board, such as:
Rural/Country roads: Denoted by letter ‘Z’
Category/ State roads: Denoted by letter ‘D’
Highway/Underpasses: Denoted by letter ‘A’
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Wear a seat belt at all times.
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No mobile phone or calls allowed while driving.
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You cannot drive in a bad weather situation or at night without the headlights.
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Police can stop you at the checkpoints to check for the stolen cars and even to check for the viability of your paper work in Croatia.
Penalties & Fines
Compared to other European countries, Croatia has stricter rules resulting in a fine on breach.
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You can be fined up to €392 in case of reckless driving.
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There is no fortitude for the offence of drunk driving even if it is below 0.5g.
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Drivers with a driving license of below 2 years of age are not allowed to drive high power engines.
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You can be fined up to €40 for driving without headlights.
Speed Limit
Speed limits for driver in Croatia are as follows:
City/Urban: 60 km/h
Accessible/Open/Clear Roads: 100 km/h
Motorways/Underpass: 130km/h