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We are planning to travel to fairly rural Croatia for 2 weeks staying in Plitvice lakes then Pula. We had to pay for the accommodation in Pula with Euros and as such was wondering weather it would be worth primarily bringing Euros in Croatia instead of Kuna. Online research seemed to suggest that we are better with Kuna and some people seemed to be seemed to be saying it would be best to bring sterling and change it to Kuna when we arrive, we land into Rijeka airport and it appears that the facilities there are limited - as we are getting a coach transfer we wont get chance to visit the city after the flight.

Question:

How frequently is the Euro accepted and what sort of rate would I generally expect to achieve? And how frequently are debit/credit cards accepted?

JoErNanO
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skifans
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1 Answers1

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You need cash for many small transactions in Croatia (most kiosks/independent bakeries, some fast food), but not for most hotels, international chain stores, and restaurants. I'd normally recommend just using a credit/debit card with a low foreign transaction fee to withdraw cash from ATM's as needed. This is true in general, not just in Croatia: except in situations where you specifically need to bring lots of cash from abroad (such as in countries with special financial situations like Iran), you almost always come out ahead just using ATM's.

If you're sure you'll need cash immediately and won't be able to visit an ATM early on, I'd suggest bringing Croatian kuna (HRK). Euros are widely accepted for things like guided tours and hotels, as you'd expect in a small EU country with lots of tourism; as you'd also expect, the rates usually aren't the fairest. The kuna is the national currency, and, in countries with highly developed financial infrastructure (like Croatia), you want to use the national currency as a tourist. Some prices (such as for hotels) are quoted in euros to protect against currency volatility and/or save tourists from having to do mental math, but they should accept kuna at the market rate.

Urbana
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