Geography
Croatia has the shape of a horseshoe (or boomerang) — an unusual geography shaped by history. The country stretches from the Pannonian Plain in the northeast over the Dinaric Mountains to the 1,778 km long Adriatic coast.
Three Landscape Zones
- Pannonian Plain (Northeast): Flat, fertile, agricultural. Slavonia with its wheat fields, forests, and rivers (Drava, Sava, Danube). Croatia's "breadbasket".
- Dinaric Mountains (Center): Karst landscape — porous limestone, underground rivers, caves, gorges. The Plitvice Lakes and Krka Waterfalls are products of this karst. Highest mountain: Dinara (1,831 m).
- Adriatic Coast (West/South): 1,778 km mainland coast + 4,058 km island coast = 5,835 km total coast. 1,244 islands, reefs, and rocks. The water is extremely clear (up to 50 m visibility) because the karst filters sediments.
Islands
Of the 1,244 islands, only 47 are permanently inhabited. The largest: Krk and Cres (both about 406 km²), Brač (395 km²), Hvar (300 km²). The most populous: Krk (19,000 inhabitants, connected to the mainland by a bridge). The most remote inhabited: Vis (opened to tourists only in 1989, previously a Yugoslav military base).
Climate
The coast has a Mediterranean climate (hot, dry summers; mild, wet winters). The inland has a continental climate (cold winters with snow, hot summers). The Bora (Bura) is a cold, gusty northeast wind that whistles through the coastal valleys in winter at up to 250 km/h — the Pelješac Bridge and the Krk Bridge are then closed.