Can tourists visit Croatia? Rules to enter you need to know

Dubrovnik (Photo by Marko Obrvan from Pexels)

New rules at the Croatian border came into in April, detailing what tourists require in order to visit the country, which is welcoming tourists. 

According to the Croatian Tourist Board, tourists are asked to fulfil and evidence 1 of the following 5 criteria to be allowed access to Croatia.

Rules for coming to Croatia – EU / EEA member states / regions

1. A negative PCR or antigen test taken 48 hours before arrival at the border. 

2. A vaccination certificate showing final dose taken more than 14 days ago.

3. Proof of recovery from Covid more than 11 days and less than 180 days ago.

4. Proof of recovery and first dose of vaccination more than 11 days and less than 5 months ago.

5. Certificate declaring: 10 days self- isolation in Croatia with option to test to release.

Visiting from outside the EU

Don’t forget, as well as the above, you will also need to show evidence that you own property in Croatia or have paid for accommodation, be that in a hotel, camp site, private rental, boat or other tourism provider.

Exceptions 

Third-country nationals not covered by the abovementioned points may enter the Republic of Croatia from third countries if they are:

1. healthcare workers, health researchers and caregivers for the elderly;
2. frontier workers (as well as e.g. athletes as stated in the exceptions for passengers within the EU / EEA);
3. workers in the transport sector;
4. diplomats, staff of international organizations and persons invited by international organizations whose physical presence is necessary for the good functioning of those organizations, military personnel and police officers, as well as humanitarian and civil protection personnel in the performance of their duties;
5. passengers in transit;
6. persons travelling for schooling purposes 
7. seafarers
8. persons who travel for tourist reasons and have confirmation of paid accommodation in a hotel, camp, private renter or rented vessel and other form of tourist accommodation or are owners of houses or vessels in the Republic of Croatia;
9. persons travelling for urgent personal / family reasons, business reasons or other economic interest
10. persons who have applied for residence and work, including digital nomads, provided that the competent authority has received a positive decision on the basis of their application.

Important notes

All tests taken and used as supporting evidence of a positive or negative result must be recognised by European Union.

All children under the age of 7 are exempt from providing test results should their parent or guardian fulfil the requirements.

Certain epidemiological measures are in place in Croatian counties – more information can be found on the official GovernmentCovid-19: www.koronavirus.hr.

The Croatian Tourism Association (HUT) has created a useful interactive map with marked active Covid-19 cases that may be found here.

Enter Croatia form 

The EnterCroatia online form allows visitors to enter all the necessary information and data prior to travelling to Croatia to ease border crossing upon entry. All travellers are advised to fill out the form before arrival. More about the exceptions and the possibilities of entering the country may be found here.

EnterCroatia may be accessed here: https://entercroatia.mup.hr/

The online form includes the same data requests that would normally be provided at border control along with the simple presentation of a passport or identity document to a police officer at the border, the number or code from the identity card or passport is automatically linked to all pre-entered data so that the entire procedure of data entry at the border for each individual person in any given vehicle is reduced to a minimum and traffic flow is increased.

All visitors who fill out the online form will receive email instructions that will include epidemiological guidelines and information on the measures that are currently in place for visitors to Croatia.

The page is available in eleven languages including English, Croatian, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Slovenian, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Czech.

Please note that for organized travel via bus, the forms can be filled out in advance by the agency organizing the travel, whereas individuals traveling on regularly scheduled bus routes are required to complete the form individually.

The form is also available in a mobile-responsive format that may be accessed via the same link and completed on a mobile device. Should there be any issues or questions with regard to the form, please contact:  [email protected]

More details about visiting Croatia can be found on the Tourist Board website.