Croatia in Camping-Car: advice, areas, routes

How do I visit Croatia by motorhome or furnished van?

Visit Croatia camping-car or as a fitted van, the Adriatic coast, its torn coastline and its hundreds of islands, its national parks, its lakes and mountains, gateway from South Europe to the Balkans and at the junction of Western Europe, do you like it?

A sunny country with Mediterranean influences, with a very rich historical, cultural and natural heritage, of tourist destinations dreamed for 10 million tourists who go there every year: Croatia offers a sublime territory near the Italy and sharing its borders with Slovenia Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia Hungary and Montenegro.

Visiting Croatia by camping-car or furnished van will confer the feeling of travelling freely, without being forced to check the availability of hotels, but it will be necessary to stop in dedicated spaces. By blossoming the sublime sites of the coast between Istria (the peninsula of Pula , Rijeka), to the historic province of Dalmatia (from Zadar to Dubrovnik ) or by visiting Eastern Croatia, you will probably be charmed by this country whose growing rise in fact the new European French Riviera.

Are you planning to go there in 2019? Here is our complete guide to visit Croatia by motorhome, van or van.

Idea of itineraries in Croatia by motorhome

We went there twice in 2015 and 2017, and can attest that Croatia is a destination not to be missed in Europe. If the territory is relatively small – only 56 594 km2, three times the Gironde and the Landes – for a European country, it will nevertheless be necessary to think about what you want to do according to your dates.

Croatia is a crossroads between history, culture and nature. On the coast of the coastline, beautiful panoramas are surrounded by beautiful beaches at the foot of majestic cliffs, wet with hot and crystalline water, a coastline dotted by nearly 700 islands. The interior of the land is mountainous, which offers great swimming spots (in the lakes) and hiking.

The typical fishermen’s villages where tourists and locals gather a singular contrast between mass tourism and the popular soul of a life rhythmed by the sea and agriculture. The main entrance door in Croatia if you come from Italy and Slovenia is Rijeka in Istria or in Obrežje, direction Zagreb . From Bosnia and Sarajevo, you will enter Croatia after Busko Lake, Kamensko Border Station (there are many others).

Here are some ideas of possible routes according to dates and season:

• 5-7 days: Istria, with the Pula Peninsula and Rijeka, the Roman ruins of Pula, the old town of Rovinj, Opatija, Zagreb

Photo credit: Caramaps

• 10 days: Istria, Starigrad and Paklenica National Park, Plitvice National Park, Zadar and the surrounding islands (Pag, Rab, Krk, Kornati)

Photo credit: Caramaps

• 15 days: same course, more Split, the island of Hvar, the town of Sibenik, the national park of Krka, Dubrovnik, the mouths of Kotor (scapade in Montenegro)

Photo credit: Caramaps

• 30 days: the same steps, staying longer, more Primosten, Trogir, the national park of Blokovo, Mount Svilaja, the beaches (Sunj, Uvala Blace, Saharun, Paradise beach in Lopar

Photo credit: Caramaps

If you are not visiting Croatia on a motorhome that you 5 to 7 days in the spring or summer, you are advised to limit your route so as not to miss the must-see sites. A greater amplitude is offered to you if you come for 15, 20 days or even a month.

These steps are indicative and say that a road trip never happens as expected: on the road you will certainly find places to stop you, although they are not present in this list, far from being exhaustive.

For to visit Croatia in a fully-fledged camper, there should be several trips and several years! In any case, it is always a pleasure to find the Mediterranean landscapes, the sea lined with a deep azure and the coves with turquoise waters!

How and where to rent a motorhome in France?

It is now easy to rent a motorhome in France. How? By passing through interrelationship platforms between tenants ( yourself) and particular camper owners as Yescapa For example.

How does it work?

• Start by choose the motorhome in your city (For example Bordeaux, Nantes, Toulouse, Paris, Montpellier or Marseille).

• Careful choose unlimited mileage, to check the number of beds available and if it is possible to travel abroad.

• Perform one online rental request and share your travel information (dates, rental options, mileage, etc.) to the owner.

• If your application is accepted, you will have after payment access to the owner's contact information to set up a First meeting.

• On the day of departure, present your driver's license and pour the bail.

• L’status of premises is executed and a lease is signed between the two parties. On return, after having made an unforgettable road trip, sign the state of the return places and the tour is played!

How and where to rent a motorhome in Croatia?

Before arriving to visit Croatia on a motorhome, it is recommended to make an online reservation. And yes, it would be a shame to arrive in Split or Dubrovnik and to discover that there is no vehicle available in any agency, or worse, that the rates have climbed up.

To have a camping-car, we recommend you go through a rental platform for motorhomes and vans arranged online. These sites are now numerous on the road-trip and wild camping market. The principle is simple: you choose the desired vehicle – depending on the daily price, the type of camper/van/van fitted, the equipment of the vehicle -, you send an inquiry to the owner.

Last step: after the online payment, you receive a confirmation email and here you go to visit Croatia on a motorhome!

Driving in Croatia by motorhome: traffic rules to be known

Is it difficult to drive to Croatia? No. Are there specific Croatian rules to learn different from France? Yes. Any other questions? Yes.

As in France, the driving is on the right but the highway signs indicating the cities are green. In Croatia, it is necessary to turn on daytime passing lamps between late October and late March. It is imperative that the driver’s license be made available, the grey card and the green vehicle insurance card (the police presence in order to determine the finding is mandatory in the event of a collision or accident). We're dialing 020092 to call the police with a French phone. The fitted van or van must also be equipped with a yellow vest . Note that the Croatian road network is from good quality , and the highway allows to cross the north coast to the south, from east to west to 100 kilometers north of Dubrovnik.

Some Croats can ride much faster than tourists who, unfamiliar with the winding roads of the steep coastline, slow down by prudence or to admire the landscape. We recommend you Let the premises pass if it is possible to park on the side so that you can ride safely. Careful, the roads inside the country can be too much narrow for a motorhome .

The speed limits are almost the same as in France, with the exception of off-road roads:

• In agglomeration: 50 km/h
• Out of town: 90 km/h
• On the fast track: 110 km/h
• On the highways: 130 km/h

♪ service station are open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and up to 10 p.m. in the summer, although some stations are open 24/7 in large cities.

Motorway to Croatia: what fare for your motorhome category?

Croatia has a excellent motorway network , especially since its entry in 2013 in the European Union: the country has strongly relied on its comparative advantages related to mass tourism. And when you come to Croatia by camping-car or van, you will soon be put to the perfume: there are some of them tolls Croatia!

Attention : en camping-car et en van modifié, vous entrez dans la Category 2 tolls, but by visiting Croatia in a fitted van (type Renault Kangoo or Peugeot Partner), you stay in the Category 1 vehicles not exceeding 1.90 metres in height.

By car, the cost is much lower than in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal: count 46 to 77 HRK per 100 kilometers, or 6,21 € to 10,39 € . But in camping-car, the addition climbs much faster, alas. The payment method is similar to France: a ticket is delivered to you at the entrance on the highway, then you pay according to the mileage travelled at the exit toll. Payments are possible in cash and bank card, as in France.

Many automatons indicate the price in Croatian kuna as well as in euros (the exchange rate is 7.41 HRK for 1 € to 7 May 2019). Here are some toll rates collected on the net:

• Zagreb – Durbovnik (Vrgorac): 347 HRK (46,83 €)
• Zagreb – Split (Bisko): 292 HRK (39,40 €)
• Rijeka – Zadar: 204 HRK (27,53 €)
• Rijeka – Dubrovnik (Vrgorac): 358 HRK (48,31 €)
• Zadar – Split (Bisko): 99 HRK (13,36 €)
• Brinje – Vrgorac (Dubrovnik): 267 HRK (36,03 €
• Brinje – Split (Bisko): 199 HRK (26,85 €)

Visiting Croatia by motorhome or fitted van, if the vehicle is in the second category, it can cost expensive on the highway. On the other hand, it is not expensive when you do not exceed 1.90 meters high : count 13,63 € (101 HRK) to cross the country from north to south in van and van fitted in class 1.

Camping-car areas in Croatia: where to park?

Just tell you right away: Croatian police don't joke with wild campers. On the one hand, the camping wild is strictly forbidden and the controls are numerous. On the other hand, fines can rain, and reach until 1 500 € payable immediately.

We had spent a night with a minibus and 3 tents in a vineyard on a wild camping site in the countryside of Zadar: in the early morning we were woke up aggressively by a Croat, although he had the kindness of not preventing the police. Campsite wild forbidden does not mean impossible. To stop sleeping somewhere by visiting Croatia by camping-car or by fitted van, there are nevertheless several possible choices: camping or autocamp. The autocamp – or autokamp – means a campsite area in an individual and/or a camper area.

These areas are systematically paid, but not expensive. Sleeping by itinerant without paying the campsites in Croatia, even with the permission of a landlord, must be the subject of a statement in police station closest to the campsite: it is not simple!

As usual for the road-trips, we decorate our favorite weapon of the travelling journey: the site and mobile application Park4night . Not happy to indicate the spots in the middle of nature (which will be forgotten for Croatia), Park4night also indicates, by research on an interactive map, the campsites and the camper areas.

Of course, other options exist to effectively locate and find a perfect place, such as websites Campercontact or Caramaps .

What is the best time to travel by motorhome in Croatia?

To visit Croatia by camping-car or in fitted van, the best period is certainly the summer season, which runs from May to September . But in the summer, there are a lot of tourists in Croatia. It is recommended, if you can, to leave in the spring between mid-May and late June, to avoid very high-season and swelling prices.

Also in September, temperatures are ideal ( 13°C to 27°C ). In August, it averages 19°C at night and 32°C the day: it is best month but more needs to be sought to find the sheltered areas of mass tourism!