You’re trying to work out where to go for your annual summer break, and you’re exhausted by the number of choices in front of you. We’re not surprised, and it happens to the best of us.
But, maybe you’ve whittled your choice down to a shortlist of two – Croatia or Greece.
So, which one should you choose?
So, let’s look at how you can choose between Croatia and Greece for your next summer break.
Keep reading below for our in-depth analysis on weighing up Greece vs. Croatia.Croatia Vs. Greece – The Argument For Greece
Ah, but where in Greece? Are you thinking about heading to Athens? Or are you planning to explore the mainland beaches? Of course, you might also be thinking about one of the amazing islands, or maybe more than one.
It’s not an easy choice.
History
You should choose Greece if you’re into history and ruins for sure. Athens is undoubtedly one of the best cities in the world for ancient ruins. After all, it is the center of Ancient Greece! The list goes on: the Acropolis, the Parthenon, the Temple of Apollo, and Olympia. So, if you’re all about the history and seeing the ruins with your own eyes, it has to be Greece.
Cuisine
While Croatian food is delicious, and you should try it, Greek food is up there with some of the best.
Moussaka, Greek salad, Gyros, papoutsakia, pastitsio, the list goes on.
Culture And More History
It’s wrong to assume that you should only go to Athens if you’re looking for history. Greece has 18 UNESCO World Heritage Sites to its name, so you can easily travel around and get your fill of history and culture during one stay. It’ll be tiring, but at least you’re seeing something amazing.
Countless Idyllic Islands
Croatia has many beautiful islands, too, but few can rival the fabulous Greek Islands. We all know about Mykonos, Rhodes, and Santorini, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. You can also island hop to your heart’s content, thanks to a well-organized ferry schedule that runs throughout the summer months between all main islands.
Do you Want To Travel Into October/November
If you want to travel during the later parts of the summer, into autumn, you’re best looking towards Greece. The main touristic season tends to last just a little bit longer in Greece, especially if you travel to the islands further east. You can also find some great deals at this time of year, reducing the cost of your holiday.
Croatia Vs. Greece – The Argument For Croatia
Now, you only have to Google Croatia, and you’ll find an excellent reason why you should go there – it’s stunningly beautiful. And, even though tourism in the country is very popular, especially in Dubrovnik, the country still feels extraordinarily authentic and untouched in many ways.
Game Of Thrones
The one thing which separates Greece and Croatia very clearly, without any doubt, is Game of Thrones. So, if you’re a show fan, you must head to Croatia. This is where many scenes were shot, particularly in Dubrovnik.
Easy To Travel Around
If you’re someone who gets itchy feet when they sit in one place for too long, Croatia is an excellent choice for you. Hire a car and head off on the open road to visit several places during your stay. The roads are of excellent quality and easy to follow. Road trip, anyone?
Nature Is Everywhere
Nature is literally everywhere. While Croatia is very blue, i.e., the sea, as is Greece, another color you’ll see a lot of in Croatia is green. It’s a stunningly beautiful country with many national parks and waterfalls to explore.
Check out UNESCO World Heritage Plitvice Lakes National Park, Krka National Park, and Paklenica National Park, Brijuni, the list goes on.
Combine Cities And Countryside
Of course, you can do this in Greece, but the Croatian cities tend to pack more of a picturesque punch. Split and Dubrovnik are very attractive cities and have some great photo opportunities. Zagreb is also a great spot to visit and will fill up your camera reel.
The Beaches Are Top Notch
For sure, Greece’s beaches are amazing, but then so are Croatia’s. Don’t assume that Croatia’s beaches are any less in quality, and you’ll find many secluded and even private spots to sunbathe and sun along Croatia’s coastline.
So, Who Is Your Winner – Greece Or Croatia
Choosing between Greece and Croatia trip is tough; honestly, you wouldn’t miss out by choosing either. It comes down to what you want to do during your break and what is important to you. But, if you choose one this time, select the other next time.
Do you want to visit Croatia and Greece? Great idea, here is how to travel from Greece to Croatia.
Tell us in the comments below which will you choose – Greece or Croatia?
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Hi guys. I was reading your article and I was a little bit surprised about it being fairly superficial and also doing Greece a lot of injustice. If you would actually do a research about Greece you will see how Greece’s nature is vastly richer, more spectacular than Croatia without any comparison. I want to friendly point out and inform you on things that will make you become more aware from here on.
Greece has 80% mountains, 20% of all of Europe’s Ultra peak mountains lies in Greece. While Croatia has 0 Ultra peak mountains, Greece has 19. For reference. Switzerland has 8, Austria has 12. It comes to show where Greece stands. Greece has 400 mountains, many of them rise 2500-3000 meters straight out of the sea. These mountains are snow-capped till June and leaves for a utter breathtaking view around every corner, vastly beyond what you will ever find in Croatia.
Greece has 16.000 km of the most crystal clear coastlines in the world. Croatia has really lovely coastlines too, but Greece has much more diversity of coastlines, with 3000 meter mountains rising out of the sea, or without, with virgin forests, volcano’s, even natural hotsprings. Also. While almost all coastlines in Croatia are rocky, Greece has every type. Massive cliff walls, rocks, pebbles, to very soft fine sands of any color. Truly any color. From white to black, from red to yellow, from pink to even blue, and other colors due to Greece’s very diverse geology
By the way. Greece has 800 natural hotsprings. Some of the most in the world
Also Greece has 15.000 caves. Many rare ones, like river caves and other truly wonderful cave systems all throughout the country.
Yet another 2 massive natural aspects of Greece’s prowess.
But Greece’s truly spectacular natural prowess does not end there. Greece has hundreds and hundreds of gorges. The Vikos gorge is one of the 3 deepest gorges in the entire world, and it’s the deepest gorge in the world when you take in the depth to width ratio.
Then the Samaria gorge in Crete is the longest gorge in Europe.
Then you have another massive natural splendor. Greece has 400 wetlands and marshlands in the country, and if you google earth all over Greece and it’s lands that meet the sea area, that there are so many wetlands areas like Messolonghi, Koronisia and so on. Then you have truly amazing lakes and mountain lakes all throughout the lands and exceptionally important ones like lake Kerkini which is 1 of the 2 most important birding places in Europe
Then you have a whole arc of volcano’s starting from the Peloponnese going to Milos, Santorini, Nissiros.
Then geological paradises like Meteora, Gyalos pumice island, and so on but also Milos. Milos has all the color of stones you can ever find. There are even rainbow mountain like mines in Milos that are absurd.
Then also. Croatia has 1000 islands, spanning over an area of 30.000 km2
Greece and it’s 6000 islands around the mainland lies on 4 tectonic earth plates (European, Asian, African and the 4th one crushed in-between). These 6000 islands lay on 550.000 km2 are full with mountains, valleys, each island unique in spectacular natural beauty in so many ways. Vastly more diverse than Croatia, let alone how it visually impacts the eye.
As an example. Most islands in Croatia look very similar. A significant percentage of Croatian islands also have very dull/boring shapes. 95% of the islands pf Croatia are 100-300 meters high, with the majority being more around 100-150 meters. If you want to double check this, go to google earth and hover with your mouse cursor over the highest point of each island.
Then when you go to Greece’s islands, they are much more mountainous in endless combinations. Crete has 5 mountain ranges with 2 of them having mountain chains rising 2500m out of the sea. Then Kefalonia and Samothraki 1600meters. Evia island 1750 meters and so on.
All in all if you truly want to compare the real Greece with Croatia, then Croatia falls all-round terribly short in nature compared to Greece. Yes Croatia is green. But Greece is very much the same. Croatia has 34% forest cover and Greece 31.5% and yet Greece with it’s 80% mountains, and much more diverse natures makes you seemingly be in forests forever.
Now. For some names of mountains and nature to check if you want know ofcourse you can and do a proper 1 hour of google earth scanning to see how wonderful Greece actually truly is with it’s immensely diverse geography, topography, geology, mountains, forests, delta’s, rivers, lakes, etc etc etc and so on is.
But for even a fraction of things to check even just for mountains Epirus, Zagori, Pindus mountains, Vikos gorge, Tzoumerka mountains, Timfristos mountain, Aoos gorge, Aoos river, Acheron river, Mount Olympus, Tymfi mountain, Taygetus mountain, Kremasta lake, Rhodope mountains, Koronisia, Plastira lake, Smolikas mountain, Acheloos valley, Voidomatis river, Prespes lakes, Mount Giona, Mount Vardousia, Evrytania, Meteora, Mornos lake, Kerkini lake, Amvraikos gulf, Methana and Methana volcano, Parnassos mountain, Dirfi mountain, Aoos lake, Mesolonghi, Lake Doxa, Mount Chelidona, Pelion, Lichadonisia, Mount Aroania, and so on and so on.
Hello there,
I don’t understand why you want to make it some sort of competition. Instead of appreciating the attraction that both countries can offer, you try to make look greece better by degrading the “richness” of Croatian nature and diversity. Seems really weird and shows some sort of complex, that you had to satisfy, by writing a whole essay on why Greece’s nature is better. This would be fine, if you were able to make it a non-biased comparison and didn’t blatantly misrepresent the existing circumstances.
Your main arguement is that greece is somehow “richer” in nature and overall more diverese. Sure Greece might have more and bigger Mountains and Islands, but – as you stated – 80% of Greece is mountains, that seems hardly diverse. Croatia is small and has a lot of what Europe has to offer concentrated in one small place:
Diverse Islands (e.g. Pag and Kornati archipel have a quite unique appearence as they have virtually no vegetation, this is due to the strong kabatic winds known as Bora, thus they look totaly different to for example Cres or Krk) Coast (Yes, they are rocky and mostly pebble beaches, though there do exist sandy beaches and also cliffsides facing the water like Dugi Otok’s Telašćica Nemzeti and Zmajevo Oko), Mountains (Dinara, Risnjak and Velebit mountain range – especially Paklenica, where parts of Winnetou were filmed -, are some of the noteworthy ones).
Croatia also has many caves (7,000), due to the Karst topography, inhabited by the Olm, a species found only in cave systems along the northern parts of the Dinaric Alps. Some notable caves are Jama, Modrič Cave, Pazin Cave, Barać Caves and Vranjača Cave.
Another highlighe of Croatian nature are their national parks. There aren’t many countries that have national parks that can compare to the likes of Plitivice Lakes or Krka. Plitivice Lakes Natur Park, with its 16 lakes connected via waterfalls, is one of the most recognizable nature parks in all of Europe.
All this has been mostly the Adriatic/Mediterranean part of the country. Croatia has both mediterranean climate as wells as continental Climate. The Croatian coast and its hinterland are very much different from the continental part, which in the eastern region is mostly within the Greater Hungarian/Pannonian Plain, through which the Danube and its tributary rivers flow (most notably Sava, Drava, Kupa.
To the north you can find lofty and willowy landscapes of lush green hills in the regions of Zagorje, Varazdin and Međimurje, which are again different from the rest of the country.
You mentioned wetlands? Croatia has with Kopački Rit, located in eastern Slavonia along the mighty Danube, one of the best preserved marshlands in europe. Some additional wetlands are Lonjsko Polje, Lake Vranja and Neretva Delta.
I personally am still amazed of the difference of landscapes you get in a couple of hours of driving from the Karlovac to the Adriatic, passing the the Dinaric Alps. Objectively speaking, Croatia has actually much more diverese landscapes and claiming anything else just displays one’s ignorance about the matter.
Greece on the otherhand has vast archipelagos of beautiful islands and a lot of mountain ranges, all in the mediterranean climate, flora and fauna. Diversity looks different.
Cheers.
I imagine you are talking loudly here. I have a sister looking for a husband. I prefer a Greek man for her. Send a message.