Croatia is one of the simplest countries we travel to: nobody from the UK, the EU, the USA, Canada, Australia or New Zealand needs a visa for a holiday. This guide was checked in October 2026 against the UK Foreign Office advice, the EU's official Travel Europe site and Croatia's own foreign and interior ministries.
No visa needed: Croatia has applied the Schengen rules in full since 1 January 2023, so it uses the same short-stay rules as the other Schengen countries. Citizens of the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand can visit without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, for a holiday, to see friends or family, or for business meetings. That allowance is shared across the whole Schengen area: days spent in Italy, Slovenia or Greece in the previous 180 days count towards it.
EU citizens: you can travel on a valid passport or national identity card. The 90-day rule, the border registration and the authorisation described below are for non-EU visitors.
The Entry/Exit System (EES): since 12 October 2025, non-EU visitors are registered digitally at the Schengen border instead of having their passport stamped. On your first entry you may be asked to give fingerprints and a photo at a kiosk or desk. It is free, there is nothing to do before you travel, and the record lasts three years. Allow extra time at the airport, on the way in and on the way out.
ETIAS is not running yet: the EU's travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors is not in operation and no applications are being taken, so you do not need one for Croatia at the time of writing (October 2026). The EU says it will announce the start date several months before launch, when it will cost €20, and the UK government warns that any website selling ETIAS now is doing so fraudulently.
Other nationalities: if your passport is not on the EU's visa-exempt list, you need a Schengen short-stay visa from a Croatian embassy or consulate before you travel. The fee is €90 for adults at the time of writing (October 2026).
If you hold a UK, US, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand passport there is nothing to apply for in advance. Everything happens at passport control in Croatia, or wherever you first enter the Schengen area.
The quickest way to see the exact rules for your passport is to check your requirements with Sherpa, which keeps track of the latest entry changes for you.
Here is the 1 trip we run in Croatia.
Once you are in, Croatia has no internal permits and no checks between the islands. Two things to know if you roam further: Slovenia currently carries out checks on its border with Croatia, so keep your passport with you, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro are outside the Schengen area, so a day trip from Dubrovnik means a full exit and re-entry check. Our 10-day Backpacking Croatia: Sailing Adventure starts and finishes in Split and sails the islands on one boat, so the airport is your only border. If you are adding Greece, both trips come out of the same 90-day allowance: see our Greece visa guide and the wider Europe visa guide. For when to go, read our Croatia weather guide.
Check the latest visa requirements:
No. British citizens can visit Croatia without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, and so can US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passport holders. EU citizens need only a valid passport or national ID card.
Not at the time of writing (October 2026). ETIAS is not in operation and no applications are being taken. The EU will announce the start date several months in advance, and it will cost €20 when it begins. Any website selling ETIAS now is not the official one.
The Entry/Exit System replaced passport stamps for non-EU visitors on 12 October 2025. You may be asked for fingerprints and a photo at the border the first time you enter the Schengen area. It is free and there is nothing to do before you travel; just allow extra time at the airport.
Up to 90 days in any rolling 180-day period, shared across every Schengen country, so recent days in Italy, Slovenia or Greece count too. Our 10-day sailing trip uses ten of them.
It must have been issued less than 10 years before the day you arrive and be valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave the Schengen area. Check both dates: a British passport renewed before 1 October 2018 can be in date but still too old to use.
Overstaying the 90-day limit can lead to a ban from the whole Schengen area for up to three years. If something serious and unforeseen keeps you in Croatia, contact the local police about an extension before your 90 days run out.
Check the two dates in your passport, keep your booking and insurance on your phone, and the paperwork is done; the rest is deciding which island to swim off first. Check before you travel, as rules change. Check out our Croatia backpacking tours.
We run one trip in Croatia, and 31 more countries besides. Your next adventure is waiting.
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