From the Austrian-Hungarian Empire onwards travelling by train has been important in Croatia. I have collected some interesting facts and sites you can visit or have an active day out with the train as main theme!
The Croatian National Railways
HŽ Putnički prijevoz (HŽPP) is the name of the Croatian Railway, on their website you can find all kind of information about train travel in and to Croatia. Furthermore, you can find more information about actions and price reductions.
- You can take the night train and travel in a couchette and take your car or motorbike on the train, this way you rested arrive at your destination.
- There are direct international train connections between the Croatian capital Zagreb and the German towns Frankfurt and München.
- 1. A 50% family discount is applied if in the travelling family there are an equal number or more children in the age between 6 and 15 then there are adults (between min 3 – max 10 persons).
2. A 40% family discount is applied if in the travelling family there are more adults than children (between min 3 – max 10 persons).
Cycling on an old railway track in Istria
- In Croatia you can bike along the so-called Parenzana railway track, it is a narrow gauge railway line which passes through three countries. It used to be of vital importance in connecting people and the local economy – operating in the years from 1902 until 1935, between Trieste and Poreč, in present day Italy, Slovenia and Croatia.
- In 2002 the Parenzana railway track has been developed into a cycling and hiking route, the Croatian track is 78km long, connecting the towns Buje, Grožnjan, Oprtalj, Motovun, Vižinada and Nova Vas between Poreč and the Slovenian border.
- Today it is an interesting tourist destination telling its own story, you can go on organised train rides, walk around and visit the old railway stations that have been transformed, or you can go on a beautiful cycling route – See more at Parenzana Cycling and Istria Cycling.
Sleeping in converted train coupé/ sleeper car
You can sleep in a converted train coupé/sleeping car from Adriatic Train Hostels which opened in the spring of 2016. You can sleep at the main railway stations of Croatian towns – like the capital Zagreb, and great holiday destinations along the Croatian coast like the towns Split, Šibenik, Zadar, Rijeka, and Pula.
The oldest railway track in Croatia
The oldest railroad tracks in Croatia run from Čakovec – Pragersko – Maribor and dates from 1860, you can visit the village of Dunjkovec in the region Medimurje to see these tracks. There is a small museum at the station, which is open on Saturdays from 10:00 to 13:00, a beautiful old train locomotive is drawn on the station wall by artist Danijel Drvenkar. A cycling route (Međimurje on Bike — R1 – MDB Cestovna via ČK) passes through Dunjkovec and crosses this oldest part of the Croatian railway twice, see here for more information about cycling in Medimurje.
Croatian Railway Museum in Zagreb – Hrvatski Željeznicki Muzej
Visitors can view the temporary exhibition featuring a part of the material consisting of 20 railway vehicles. Entrance to the museum is free and the museum is opened only on Tuedays from 09.00 – 11.00. Another 15 steam locomotives have been set up for display at railway stations across Croatia.
