Islands of Croatia

The Croatian coast and islands lie in an area with the Adriatic type of Mediterranean climate. Summers are hot and dry, winters are mild and moist, and insolation is significant. Special climate characteristics differ, though, from one island to the next, depending on position, altitude or exposure to winds. The main factor influencing the island climate and flora is the Adriatic , which is considered a warm sea. Surface sea temperatures usually do not drop below 10C in winter and do not exceed 25C in summer. Apart from larger ports, the waters surrounding the islands are clean, as is the entire part of the Adriatic belonging to Croatia .

The Croatian islands encompass almost all of the islands on the eastern Adriatic coast and its middle area, forming the second largest archipelago in the Mediterranean . There are 1185 of them, geographically divided into 718 islands, 389 cliffs and 78 reefs.

The accommodation offer on Croatian islands is diverse you can choose among hotel accommodation, private accommodation in apartments or holiday houses, while accommodation in rural households (rural tourism) is especially attractive.

You can book accommodation in old authentic stone houses, as well as in lighthouses.

In recent years, summer holidays in lighthouses are, thanks to their originality and the specific experience and ambience, an absolute hit within Croatia s tourist offer. Sometimes in the tourism industry, this kind of holiday is also categorized as "Robinson Crusoe Tourism". Due to high interest, we recommend early booking of the desired time period.

Croatia s islands can be reached by regular and additional ferry lines from Split , Rijeka (June September) or as part of interesting cruise itineraries on the Croatian Adriatic.

A hundred years ago, some 20 000 people lived on these islands; the decline in the number inhabitants is still continuing. Although the islands take up some 3 300 km2, that is 5,8% of the Croatian mainland, they define the territorial sea, which makes up almost 37% of the entire Croatian territory (without the islands the territorial sea would be two-thirds smaller). The largest island is Krk (410 km2), 77 of them are over 1 km2, and only 20 of them are over 20 km2. Being well indented, the coast of Croatia s islands is longer than that of the mainland. Croatia 's entire seacoast amounts to 5 835 km, with the coasts of islands making up 4 057 km (69,5%). All inhabited islands in the eastern and central parts of the Adriatic belong to Croatia . There are fifty of them and they take up an area of 3 000 km2. Some 15 islands, which are inhabited temporarily (during the season), could also be added to this total.

Materials used: Generalturist and www.hr