11 Mar2026
After spending 3 weeks in Croatia in summer 2024 and another almost 7 weeks in May and June 2025, I decided to write this post about Croatia vegan travel tips.
How is it to get vegan meals in Croatia?
Is it easy or not?
Is it expensive or not?
Which Croatian towns are more vegan-friendly?
Keep reading to find out the answers.
I’ve been vegan since July 2013.
In some countries it’s very easy to follow a plant-based diet, in others not so much. After all these years of traveling as a vegan, it’s easy for me to compare the posibilities of vegan food in different destinations.
Croatia vegan travel tips – a fresh salad
Vegan in Croatia
Let me start by saying that Croatia is still not a very vegan friendly country overall. Yes, in bigger cities you can find more vegan options in supermarkets and also restaurants. A handful of restaurants are even completely vegan. But that’s mostly in Zagreb, Split, Dubrovník, Zadar and Šibenik.
The rest of the country? Not very vegan friendly yet.
Croatia vegan travel tips – eating apricots on the beach
Vegan in Croatian restaurants
Traditional Croatian meals are usually not vegan which makes it even more complicated (unlikely to for example Greece where many traditional meals are vegan or can be made vegan easily).
Touristy restaurants across Croatia that are open in summer season don’t really offer many vegan meals, and if any at all, it’s just side dishes, small salads, rice, potatoes and grilled vegetables. And chips, of course. But personally, I don’t consider fast food as “food” and I do not go to restaurants to eat potato chips.
Croatia vegan travel tips – Croatia vegan glutenfree dinner
Vegan at Croatian markets and supermarkets
To get fresh fruit and veggies you can go to a local market. However, I’ve noticed that the prices there are usually a lot higher than at supermarkets. And I even heard that some market sellers get the fruit & veggies at supermarkets (instead of growing them themselves) and then sell them for a higher price at the local market. Sometimes it’s rather easy to guess at first sight; other times you have no idea where the market produce really comes from. And that is a shame!
If I go to a local market, I would really like to support local farmers. Ideally organic produce.
Supermarkets, such as Tommy and Konzum in Croatia do sell fresh fruit and veggies, plant-based milk, hummus, olives, ajvar, truffle paste, vegan gluten-free bread or tortillas etc.
International supermarkets, such as Kaufland and Lidl do sell more vegan ingredients in Croatia: e.g. tofu and other vegan cheese, tempeh, falafel, yoghurts etc. However, compared to the same supermarkets in my home country Slovakia or the UK or Germany, in Croatia you can find less vegan options.
I found the prices of vegan ingredients at Croatian supermarkets similar or a bit more expensive than in Slovakia. Local markets are always more expensive.
Croatia vegan travel tips – vegan glutenfree at Croatia supermarkets
Croatia vegan travel tips -vegan glutenfree at supermarkets Croatia
What to know when looking for vegan food in Croatia
In Croatia, many (and sometimes all) supermarkets are closed on Sundays off season. In touristy areas they can open on Sundays, too but in summer only. It really depends on the destination. Just don’t get surprised if you go to a supermarket on Sunday and end up without any food because it’s closed. Better to be prepared.
Remember that supermarkets are also closed on Croatian bank holidays.
Sometimes, when on sale, organic fruit and veggies at supermarkets were the same price or even cheaper than those non-organic. So I would always choose the organic ones, of course. They had organic bananas, peaches, nectarines, cucumbers, tomatoes etc.
Local markets are usually open from early morning to mid-day. In bigger towns they can be open until the sunset time. But it can vary on Sunday. Or they are closed completely, or they close earlier than on other days.
Croatia vegan travel tips – ajvar at Croatian supermarkets
Croatia vegan travel tips – organic bananas
TIP 1: Interested in health? Check my popular ebook How to be fit (not only) when traveling. It’s a collection of tips from different people on how they manage to stay fit on the road. A part of the ebook focuses on raw vegan diet – the diet I follow which has helped me to get rid of all my health problems.
TIP 2: After spending 3 weeks in Croatia in summer 2024, I wrote a blog post about Croatia travel budget. How much did I spend there and what on? What are the prices in Croatia?
TIP 3: Visiting the capital of Albania? Here’s top 5 vegan meals to get in Tirana.
I hope these Croatia vegan travel tips come in handy. I did not know anything about vegan meals in Croatia until I visited but this information would have been useful for me, for sure.
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