Croatia is a diverse looking country. Almost the entire country is undulating and this is often mixed in with a Mediterranean vibe. The country is fairly dry and has a different type of flora to many of the previously mentioned countries. Croatia tends to have lower and bushier plants as part of its landscape and less trees. One of the easiest ways to recognise Croatia is via its license plates which are completely white- a rarity in Europe. Croatian signs with a red outline actually have a subtle white border. Croatian directional signs are yellow with black lettering, Croatian bollards have the red rectangle inside the black section on the front and look the same as Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Hungary’s bollards. Croatian houses are often two-storey. Other countries tend to have a more homogenous roof colouring in towns. For example, most houses will have one of two different roof colour shades. In Croatia, the roof colour shades are normally variants of the terracotta or brown colour however almost each house roof will have its own slightly different shade of these colours. Croatian house colours are also quite varied compared to other nearby countries. Some Croatian houses will display numbers on them which will be on a small blue sign with white lettering. Croatian street signs have this same colour scheme. The Croatian language has the small ‘v’ over the z, s and c and the apostrophe looking line over the letter c. It also has a fairly high number of j, i and z. The Croatian internet suffix is one of the rare unintuitive ones of Europe; it is ‘.hr’. Croatia is a country with a diverse landscape. Large parts of the country have a very Mediterranean feel and other parts of the country are mountainous. Overall, the country is very undulating. The Croatian flora tends to be lower and bushier than many of the aforementioned countries.mHouses in inland Croatia tend to come in more of a range of colours and styles than many of the previously mentioned countries. The roofs’ colours tend to be shades of terracotta with more of a range of these colours than some other countries. Croatian houses are commonly two-storey. Large chunks of Croatia had their Street View coverage taken in autumn. As a result, it’s common to see red and orange leaves in Croatia. Some of the time in Croatia, you will see a significantly blurred car if you pan down. The blurred car generally has a pointy outline. Croatian license plates are unique in Europe. Before 2016, Croatia had purely white license plates. In 2016 they adopted European style plates with the left, blue stripe. This is one of the best ways to distinguish the country. Signs in Croatia that have a red outline have a subtle white edge. Croatian utility poles come in a range of styles. The more common poles are cylindrical in shape and narrower near the top. Croatia have these bollards featuring a front with a black strip encasing a red, rectangle. Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Hungary have the same looking bollards. Croatian bollards tend to have a white rectangle in the black section. This is the same as Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Hungary. These narrow and distinctive looking blue fire hydrants are a common sight throughout Croatia. If you get flat landscape and winter coverage in Croatia, you should be in the far-eastern Croatian region of Slavonia (this area is shown on the below map). The purple part of this map shows the Croatian region of Slavonia. In this part of Croatia, there is winter coverage and a flat landscape. Many Croatian cars have the ‘HR’ sticker on their rear. Croatian street signs are blue in colour with white lettering. ULICA means street in Croatian (and some other languages). Croatian house numbers tend to be white with a blue backing. These are commonly found on the houses themself. Croatian directional signs are normally yellow and black coloured. These look similar to the Slovenian signs. Croatia’s large directional signs are green with white lettering. This is a Croatian guardrail. It is a B-profile guardrail which consists of 90-degree angles and a narrow central section. In Europe, this type of guardrail is only found in Croatia, Serbia, Poland and Denmark. It is also found in some parts of Turkey, North Macedonia, Ireland and Germany. The Street View car’s aerial is visible in Croatia if you pan down like much of Eastern Europe. Croatian is spoken in Croatia as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. This latter country has only a very small amount of Street View. Croatian has the small ‘v’ over z, s and c as well as the apostrophe looking line over c. There are a high occurrence of j, z and i in Croatian. 

Croatia has long, white licence plates. Some plates have a blue strip on the left, some are fully white. Most cars seen in Generation 3 will not feature a blue strip on their licence plates. In addition, there is a mix of cars with or without blue strips in Generation 4, with blue strips more common on newer cars.

Blue strips are more common along the coast due to travelling tourists from other EU countries such as Italy.

Croatian bollards are white with a black rectangle and red or white reflector. From the top, it is shaped like a triangle.

Hungarian and Lithuanian bollards look similar, but have more rounded edges compared to Croatia’s sharper edges. Lithuanian bollards will also have an orange reflector.

Croatian is a Slavic language. It is always written in the Latin alphabet. ‘IJE’ is common in Croatian whereas Serbian uses only ‘E’ instead.

The Slovene language also features a lot of ‘J’s. Serbian and Montenegrin are also very similar, but Serbia and Montenegro use both Latin and Cyrillic script.

Croatia features chevrons with a red arrow on a yellow or white background.

Croatia has square (B-type) guardrails.

Croatia is one of the few European countries that use B-type guardrails. For a good overview of European guardrails, see this infographic.

Croatia has direction signs with a yellow background and a black outline. They often have a pencil-shaped tip.

The other former Yugoslav countries of Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia have similar signs. A comparison can be seen here.

Croatian utility poles are cylindrical and made of concrete or wood, often with alternating hooks on the wooden poles (somewhat similar to Latvian poles).

Buildings in Croatia sometimes feature exposed red brick walls. This architecture is more common in inland areas.

This type of architecture can also be found in Slovenia and Serbia.

Croatia features blue fire hydrants with two diagonal protrusions on either side. Newer fire hydrants seen in Generation 4 have a smaller top but are still recognisable due to the blue paint.

Similar fire hydrants can be found in bordering countries, most commonly in Hungary.

Croatia’s pedestrian sign features a pedestrian with a belt and a zebra path with 5 stripes.

The pedestrian on Slovenia’s sign does not have a belt.

Karlovačko and Ožujsko are common Croatian beer companies, with advertisements seen around the country.

Konzum and Plodine are supermarket chains exclusive to Croatia, mostly found in big cities.

Most Helpful:

You will find a lot of stickers that have the letters HR. This is Croatia’s internet domain, and it is worth knowing.

While the white license plates are a good sign for now, they will eventually be replaced by a plate with the classic EU blue stripe.

Bollard:

Croatian bollards are white with a black rectangle containing a white reflector on the back, and red on the front.

These bollards are very similar, if not Identical to the Austrian / Slovenian bollards.

Unique Vehicle:

Police vehicles in Croatia are rather unique. They are made to stand out, and can be seen quite often in larger cities.

Road Lines:

Croatia features all white lines.

Road Signs:

Croatian settlement signs are yellow backed.

Croatian road info signs feature a slight white outline.

Along highways you will find green KM markers.

Croatian street signs are blue.

Electricity poles:

Croatia uses wooden and metal poles.

License plates:

While Croatia may use the EU styled plate, at the time coverage was taken they were still using the previous all white plate.
You can use the first two letters of an unblurred plate to figure out what area the vehicle is from.

Vegetation/Landscape:

Croatia is a very mountainous nation. Near the coast you will find very rocky mountains with some nice landscape shots.

Architecture:

Along the Dalmatian coast Croatia has many white painted villas with terracotta rooves.

Inland they will be more of a standard house design.

Croatia uses blue colored fire hydrants.
