Croatia Online - Beaches

Croatia, quite understandably, takes its beach tourism very seriously. Known for its crystal clear waters, it's rightly proud of the number of Blue Flag beaches and marinas. Interestingly, though, the Blue Flag award does not require marinas to provide a waste pump-out service for boats even though government legislation (mostly ignored) does.

If a classic beach holiday is your thing, there are a number of websites that will help:

Follow Blue Flag for details of all Croatia's beaches and marinas with a Blue Flag award.

Link to Croatia Online - Beaches in Croatia - for an earlier posting with details of a great website that list beaches by category and provides lots of other useful information.

The Kastela Tourist Board site has an interactive map showing the sea quality in Kaštela Bay, near Split.

For those of a technical bent, the Croatian govenment commissioned a study on sea water quality in 2007 which can be found by following this link Sea Bathing Quality in Croatia in 2007

The increasing pressure of nautical and beach tourism will hopefully not put too much of a strain on the Croatian Adriatic's ecological systems. Beach tourists can do their bit by cleaning up after themselves; nautical tourists can make a bigger difference by putting pressure on marinas and charter companies to provide facilities for the environmentally safe disposal of marine waste. At the moment most of it is dumped at sea and, in such concentrated form, can do significant damage to the eco system. See our sister site Croatia Cruising Companion - Nautical Waste Pump Out Facilities for progress in this area - all to slow at the moment.

Today's picture is of Bačvice beach in Split - a lovely sloping sandy beach overlooked by a number of good restaurants, near to Hotel Park, and great for families.