If you are planning Croatia family holidays this comprehensive travel guide will help you find out why Croatia is the right place for your children vacations.
If you decide to travel to Croatia with a child or children you will find Croatia very child-friendly country.
From ecological point of view Croatia is one of the cleanest destinations in the world that will be another reason to choose this country for children.
It could happen you want find all conveniences like in your country but on the other hand you will find beautiful beaches, clean sea and a lot of fun for your child or children.
Make your children holidays special and memorable offering your kids some most interesting activities. Find fun activities to find out what your child is good at. During your summer holidays Croatia offers many children activities. Make an adventure as a holiday.
Croatia Family Holidays Entertainments
It is hard to imagine a family holiday at sea without good children entertainment, children playgrounds, children’s park with swimming pools with lot of facilities like trampoline, water slides, sandy playgrounds, evening animation for kids and so on.
Croatia Family Holidays – Water Parks
Various recreation options can be found in theme parks and water parks all over Croatia. There are many fascinating water parks that will be an ideal place for children’s summer adventures.
Over the last five years, Croatia has increased its tourist offerings, especially for families, with the opening of a number of water parks. Below I have listed some of the top water parks in Croatia:
Aquapark Aquacolors – Porec
It’s the largest and most fascinating water park Croatia ‘AquaColors’ near the city of Porec. Guests can enjoy more than 25 different slides, 12 of which are considered extreme.
There is also a long lazy river, ideal for small children. AquaColors also has trampolines, playgrounds, cafes and restaurants. It’s open from June to September. This aqua-park offers a free parking place with over 700 parking lots.
This park is only 3 km from the Porec city center. You can even walk to the aqua park or by car following signs to Zelena Laguna (Green Laguna). It’s considered a top pick for Croatia family holidays.
Aquapark Istralandia – located in Brtonigla, in the north-western part of Istria, in 2016 is reworded by European Star Award for Europe’s Best Water Parks. This Istria Croatia water park was named the 5th best in Europe out of 300 water parks.
Open only in high season (June to September) with over 20 attractions, hosts an average of 4,500 visitors on a daily basis.
Water sliding of various heights, with many light and sound effects, are delighting for all family members, offering dynamics, adrenaline, sensation and thrill in safe conditions with more than 1.6 km of tracks.
For more info about prices and the water park visit the website here.
Solaris Aquapark Sibenik – It’s the first water park in the heart of Dalmatia settled between Solaris Kids Hotel Andrija and Solaris Beach Hotel Jakov.
Solaris Aquapark has a number of attractions, including up to 6 different slides, of which some reach high up to 13,5 meters, jets, and waterfalls with numerous water effects.
There is a kids play zone at the Aquapark with shallow pools, sprinklers, and slides adapted to small children. If you are traveling with small kids this park is highly recommended for Croatia family holidays. More details and info you can find on their website here .
Aquapark Cikat Mali Losinj – located on the northern Adriatic island of Losinj, is first water park on a Croatian island.
The aqua park is located within the camping Cikat and it is surrounded by a pine forest. This is the first aqua park on Croatian islands and an ideal place for Croatia family holidays relaxation and entertainment for the whole family.
Aqua-park consists of 3 pools with 5 different depths, two children’s pools, a large swimming pool, three thematic recreational pools, and a variety of facilities for those who want to either relax or seek some more excitements.
The water park operates from mid May to mid September from 10:00 AM to 20:00 PM. For more information and entrance fee, check their website !
- Water & Amusement Parks in Omis – splashing, jumping, and sliding on one of the biggest and brand new inflatable aqua-park in Croatia. Read more here !
- FlipSea Aqua Park Kolovare Zadar – A water park on the beach Kolovare for all ages ! Unique fun with trampolines and a great water polygon!
- Water park in Dubrovnik – There aren’t large water parks in Dubrovnik area. However, children in Dubrovnik can have a great time at the inflatable water park on Copacabana beach .
- Aqua park Bacvice beach Split – sandy beach Bacvice in center of Split town is a favorite beach of the locals. A water-park is installed in summer period with floating trampolines and slides for the young ones.
Amusement and Theme Parks
Sometimes to make Croatia family holidays more interesting it’s important to vary your holiday days. Not all activities are closely connected with the sea. A visit to an theme park guarantees a great day.
Fun Park Mirnovec amusement theme park – This park is located 5 km from the Biograd-na-Moru city and 37 km from city of Zadar.
Amusement park covers the area of 45 000 m² including over 30 attractions: 30 meters high Ferris wheel called Adria Eye, roller-coaster, few extreme amusements, labyrinth, safari, water battles, and many more.
The whole area is divided into 3 theme zones: the Wild West, the City of Pirates and the Space (with all extreme amusements). During the high summer season, the amusement park is open daily, while during the lower season is open only on weekends.
To have more info and entrance fees for families, visit their website !
Glavani Park Adrenalin Park – If you are looking to enrich your Croatia family holidays, this adrenaline park in Istria offers entertainment where the whole family can participate, from the youngest to the oldest.
An amazing place to spend a day with the family. It’s adventures, highly educational for kids, well organized with highly professional staff. You are going to have a great time climbing, walking on rope, zip-lining.
Located in the very heart of Istria peninsula, in Glavani, a small picturesque village in the municipality of Barban town, is it unique park that offers a great fun adventure, thrilling adrenaline-filled but extremely safe.
Prices go from 240 KN (32 Euro) for 7 games for kids up to 10 years old to 300 KN (40 Euro) for adults. Single games range from 40 KN (5,30 Euro) to 50 KN. More info you can find here !
Dinopark Funtana – is the first Croatian theme and show park. Opened in 2009 this park in addition to dinosaurs, offers many other kinds of fun activities in which the whole family can enjoy during Croatia family holidays.
Beside Variate Circus with 1000 seats, park offers a variety of attractions for children: a mini amusement park, children’s train, trampolines, roundabouts, dino shooting range and a playground.
One of the most memorable experiences children can experience in Dinopark Funtana is riding on dinosaurs and ponies and watching daily performances of motors driving on wires at a height of 25 meters performed by the group FLYING DEVILS.
This park is located on the main road between Porec and Vrsar, 4 km from Porec and 2 km from Vrsar. It’s open from March 2018 to mid October 2018 from 10:00 AM to 18:00 PM.
Entrance fees are very acceptable and range from 80 KN (children from 4 to 14 years) to 100 KN for adults. Visiting their website you can find more information and 2018 programs.
The Sveta Ana Adrenalin Park – If you decide to spend your Croatia family holidays in Southern Dalmatia, this adrenaline park is a right place your you.
This park is located in the small village of Poljice in Konavle region, south of Dubrovnik, offering programs as a combination of socializing, relaxation and competition in the natural ambience of the park Sveta Ana.
There are different and fun activities for all ages at low prices.The personnel are nice and helpful and the ambience dominated by cypress trees and dalmatian pines is very quiet and relaxing.
The park offers a variety of activities: pentagon, zip line, balloons and inflatable trampolines, paintball, archery, motocross, quad and horse riding. More info and entrance fees you’ll find here !
Adrenalin Park Medulin – Istria has the largest selection of adrenaline parks for Croatia family holidays. One of these is Park Medulin situated only 9 Km from Pula, Croatia . If you don’t know how to reach it, check the map !
This park is a great place to spend time with your family offering polygon with 35 different elements. Their team of experts will advise you on your adventure and make sure you’re using your equipment properly.
Park offers different activities for children and their parents from zip-line, a 30 meters long for children and a 160 meters long for adults. Paintball and splat-master or a buggy rent are favorite hobby for children between 5 and 12 years of age.
Very recommendable park particularly the challenging long zip line but you always have the choice between middle and heavy passages what makes very adaptable for kids. Visit their website for more info !
Croatia Family Holidays
Cultural Sightseeing
Croatia is not only a trendy resort for beach holidays. Sometimes to make Croatia family holidays more interesting it’s important to vary your holiday days, choosing various museums and monuments, ancient castles and fortresses.
I’m sure that visiting some fascinating places, like museums and monuments can provide kids (and parents!) with the recognition and enjoyment of Croatia history and traditions.
Museums and Aquariums
Not all museums will be suitable for keeping children’s attention but I’m sure maritime museums and aquarium will be places of great interest for both children and adults. Here’s a list of some most interesting and most important:
Dubrovnik Maritime Museum and Aquarium – Located within the ancient fortress of St. John both museum and aquarium provide an endlessly fascinating and enjoyable experience for tourists and families.
The aquarium itself occupies three floors, with thousands of marine animals and plants spread out over 31 sea water tanks. It displays marine life that includes moray eels, sea horses, octopuses, scorpion fish, lobsters, green and brown wrasse, mullets, gilthead sea bream, common sea bream, and more.
The Maritime Museum is one of the important museums of Dubrovnik, founded in 1949. Dubrovnik’s maritime past is shown through more than 5000 objects categorized into 15 collections.
Ticket price: adult 60,00 Kuna / 6,33 euro, children 20,00 Kuna / 2,66 euro. Group ticket for 3 museums which includes Maritime Museum is 50,00 Kuna / 6,66 euro for adults and 25,00 Kuna /3,33 for children.
If Split Croatia is on your Croatia family holidays bucket list, Split Maritime museum will be interesting place to spend with your children.
The Croatian Maritime Museum is situated in the courtyard of the Gripe Fortress. The fortress played a crucial part in Split’s history, especially during the Cretan war (1645-1669). Find it on the map .
For a modest price of 20 Kn (10 Kn for children and students), you can admire an interesting collections of images, flags, diving equipment, fisheries collections, underwater archaeology collection, armor and weapons and vessels collection.
Split Live Museum – presents some of the most interesting scenes from daily life of Roman citizens. More than 50 artists are working on authenticity and sets so that visitors can have pure Roman experience.
Living museum consists of authentic ancient Roman scenery and actors dressed in authentic costumes. You can see and learn about the emperor, senators, patricians, plebeians, soldiers, slaves and gladiators.
Located in the city center in the bastion “Cornaro” near the Statue of Gregory of Nin and Art Gallery, 50 meters from the Golden Gate of Diocletian’s Palace, will be a great place to enrich the knowledge of glorious Split town Diocletian emperor history during your Croatia family holidays.
Opening hours: In summer period from 10Am to 09 PM.
Sibenik aquarium – This is a well-kept and accessible little aquarium in the center of town. A cool and calm oasis right in the middle of the town , only 50 meters from Cathedral of St James. Very good value for money for a family ticket, and plenty of exhibits to see.
The price of a ticket for adults is 37 Kuna while children (4 to 13 years old) will pay 27 Kuna. During the tourist season, between June and September, the Sibenik Aquarium is open to visitors between 10 AM and 10 PM. Important note : This museum will be closed for renovation until 01 May 2018.
Crikvenica aquarium – If you’d like to discover what is hidden below the surface of the sea, visit the Crikvenica Aquarium. It’s is located right in the Crikvenica town center.
This small aquarium hosts more than 100 species of fish from the Adriatic Sea and around 50 fish species from tropical seas, all housed in 30 pools.
It’s open from 10:00 AM to 19:00 PM from June to September. Ticket price range from 20 Kn to 30 Kn. (children under 3 years have free entrance).
Museum of illusions – Zadar Croatia and its archipelago is one of the top destinations for your Croatia family holidays. If you are looking for some unique museums, this one a spacial place to visit.
Visit this unusual museum and you will be amazed, because nothing is as it seems, especially not at the Museum of illusion! Come, explore the world of illusion and experience the impossible!. Just do not forget to bring your camera with you, the cell phone will do!
Museum is opened every day from 10:00 AM to 08:00. Entrance fee ranges from 60 Kuna for adults to 40 Kuna for children 5-15 years. There is also a special family ticket for 150 Kuna. Find more info before you enter in the world of illusions!
If you happen to start your Croatia family holidays in Zagreb Croatia’s capital, don’t miss to visit Museum of Broken Relationships. I found it to be one of the most fascinating museums in the world!
This museum is exactly what it name says. All objects exposed here are remnants of broken relationships. Each item is accompanied with a story, some funny, others sad.
You never know to find a case similar to your! It will take you an hour to explore it. Visit their website for more info!
The museum is located in Cirilometodska street. 2 , very close to St.Mark Church. It’s open from 09:00 AM to 09:00 PM and the entrance fee is 25 Kuna. Students and seniors pay 20 Kuna.