Page 267 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Croatia

PR A C TIC AL INFORM A TION  265

Tourist Information the afternoon (when visitors are restaurants, where a service
Every town and city has a tourist most likely to go to the beach) charge is normally included in
office, called Turistički Ured, but open in the evening. the price. When paying in bars
Turistička Zajednica or Turistički or in taxis it is expected that at
Informativni Centar. These state- least the sum will be rounded
run offices provide information Language up. It is also customary to tip
on sightseeing, excursions and Croatia is called Hrvatska in the the tourist or museum guides
transport and will often help national language, Croatian after a tour has ended.
visitors to find accommodation (hrvatski). It is a Slavic language In department stores, super-
in hotels or private rooms (see and is written in the Latin script. markets and shops, the prices
pp222–3). However, in smaller Croatian is not an easy tongue to for goods are fixed. Bargaining,
cities and towns, these offices learn, but since most people in especially aggressive haggling,
are open during summer only. the country have studied at least is not generally part of Croatian
Additionally, there are one other foreign language, street-market culture.
county and regional tourist visitors should be able to make
offices, managed by the them selves understood in most Travellers with
Ministry of Tourism. circumstances. Italian, German
Alternatively, you can contact and English are widely spoken Disabilities
the Croatian National Tourist while French is less common. In Croatia there is a great
Board in your home country Young Croatians generally speak awareness of the problems
before leaving. The Croatian very good English. faced by the disabled parti-
Ministry of Tourism has set up cularly because of the war of
information offices in all major independence which left many
countries to publi cize the Etiquette and Smoking people with disabilities. Stations,
attractions Croatia has to offer. Smoking is very common in airports, larger hotels and
The website of the Croatian Croatia (an estimated 30 per restaurants above a certain
National Tourist Board is cent of the population smokes), standard, and the main public
particularly helpful. but is officially banned in all offices in larger towns are
enclosed public spaces, except accessible to those in
for cafés that have approved air wheelchairs. However, facilities
Admission Prices conditioning systems. While at the ports are not so good.
Most state-run museums and most establishments in Zagreb Disabled visitors are entitled
historical sites charge an adhere to this law, it is frequently to a 50 per cent reduction in
entrance fee between 10 kn ignored in the south of the ticket prices at most state-run
and 70 kn. Children are nor mally country. All the same, in museums. For further inform-
entitled to a 50 per cent summer, you can sit at the ation, contact the Hrvatski
reduction in admission prices. outdoor tables to avoid the savez udruga tjelesnih invalida
Churches are usually free, smoke in closed spaces. (HSUTI), the Croatian organiz-
though if there is an adjoining ation for the disabled, which
bell-tower or treasury, you may Taxes and Tipping has its head quarters in
have to pay to visit them. Zagreb. Also useful is the
The practice of tipping, usually HUPT website, which pro vides
calculated at 10 per cent, is information on accessible
Opening Hours
widespread in Croatia, even in beaches and accommodation.
Public offices open from 8am
to 4pm or 9am to 5pm on
weekdays. While most other
office businesses more or less
follow these standard opening
times, these hours may vary for
other businesses, such as
pharmacies (see pp268–9), banks
(see pp270–71) and post offices
(see pp272–3), the bigger ones
of which are also open on
Saturdays. Shops are usually
open 8am–8pm (see p250), while
cafés tend to open quite early.
Note that many museums
and other cultural attractions
are closed on Mondays. During
summer, most have extended
daily opening hours, and in
coastal resorts, some close in Pedestrians walking on a stone bridge in Ploce Gate, Dubrovnik

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