Croatia

The Country

Croatia was a lot more relaxing than I expected it to be. Having only visited Zagreb and the surrounding area I was suitably impressed by how clean the place is and just how many old buildings there are gracing the roadways with their stylish look. Even the Railway stations have a very impressive architectural stance to them.

Train Travel

Hrvatske Zeljeznice (HZ) operate the national rail service, throughout Croatia; also offering many cross border trains into neighbouring countries. Croatia Railways timetables are available on their site to download as PDF’s. You can also plan your trip online.

A comprehensive list of both passenger and freight operators in Croatia can be found on the helpful Railfan Europe websites’ Croatia page.

Train times and Tickets

Booking tickets for travel within Croatia can be done at most HZ stations. If you only require reservations for either Interrail, Eurail or railway staff passes then this can be done via phone to the DB office in London.

If choosing to use an Interrail pass, either for just within Croatia, or to pass through Croatia, all the relevant details on the passes, including the different types/lengths of validity available, can be found on the InterRail website.

For those travelling from outside Europe then the Eurail Pass is your ticket to Europe, details of which can be found on EU Rail’s website.

Finally travel in Europe can be made a lot simpler by using the very, very, helpful smartphone app courtesy of Eurail. This app is available both online and offline and is always up to date (well it has been for the countries I’ve used it in; including for any planned engineering works); for me it was an essential part of my travel in Europe. This app is linked to the Hafas system, which countries like Germany, Austria & Switzerland use for their train planning online tool. Eurail has done what the individual countries haven’t though and made it available offline.

For the Rail Enthusiast

A comprehensive list of Croatian Locomotives by their respective railway system can be found on the Railfaneurope website’s Croatia page. This also explains a bit the various operators of the network and how they have amalgamated over the years.

A detailed map/atlas of the Croatian Railway System is available from European Railway Atlas.