Thursday, 4 February 2021

RegioJet Announces Direct Train from Prague to Rijeka and Split

February the 4th, 2021 - RegioJet has announced a direct train line from the Czech capital of Prague to the Northern Adriatic city of Rijeka, and even further down to Split in Central Dalmatia.

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Sergej Novosel Vuckovic writes, if Croatia's tourist authorities and workers are still somehow in two minds about what kind of visitors we should encourage in order to save the summer season this year, the answer is already coming from the Czech Republic - by train. The local railway company RegioJet has announced that it will continue to directly connect Prague with the Adriatic, a route which it introduced last summer, but with an important twist - in addition to Rijeka, the company's trains will run down to Dalmatia, more precisely to Split.

According to the Czech portal Zdopravy, RegioJet will connect the Czech capital and the Dalmatian city by train for the first time since way back in 2009 - the starting point is Prague and after Zagreb the first station in Croatia is Ogulin, from where trains will split - one will continue to Rijeka and the other will go to Split. From there, there are buses available that can drive further, even to neighbouring countries such as Montenegro or Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The timetable hasn't changed when compared to last year, when from July the 1st, Czech (and even Slovak tourists) filled almost every train in order to reach their favourite Croatian shores. Departure is at 17:00 from Prague, then from Brno and Bratislava, it arrives in Rijeka in the early morning the next day, and in Split early in the afternoon the same day.

RegioJet's Prague-Rijeka-Split line will operate every day during the two main summer months (July and August), and in June and September it will be offered three times a week - on Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays.

RegioJet is already advertising a new service on its website, emphasising, with a red heart and the Croatian flag, that one can go to Split without the need for any transfers and that "a holiday by the sea has never been so easy".

The pre-sale of tickets starts this month, prices will be the same as last year, ie 590 Czech korunas for a one-way ticket in a compartment and 790 for the same journey but with sleeping arrangements included. The composition should consist of 15 wagons for a total of more than 650 seats, and the ticket price includes breakfast, WiFi access, bicycle transport, with the possibility to book the whole coupe for four people for the price of three.

"We're glad that we can lead people to positive ideas related to summer and a great summer holiday in Croatia," said Radim Jancura, the owner of RegioJet, as reported by the aforementioned Czech portal.

Last year, RegioJet transported more than 60,000 passengers in both directions in this way, ensuring that they could go to the Croatian coast relatively easily and without obstacles and border controls due to the pandemic. Only a negative coronavirus test is needed. The average occupancy of the lines was 90 percent, and it isn't unbelievable that this score will be exceeded this year.

In addition to coastal destinations, RegioJet will also offer direct connections to Zagreb from the summer, and will also bring guests from the Hungarian capital of Budapest to Croatia. For Czech tourists, rail transport also makes it easier to search for accommodation, offering half-board arrangements in some hotels, thanks to cooperation with agencies and tour operators.

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages.

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

Monday, 28 September 2020

Time To Reflect, As Loyalty Not Luxury Saves 2020 Croatia Tourist Season

September 28, 2020 – The tail end of 2020's unparalleled summer offers opportunity for pause, contemplation and appreciation, as it's loyal and not luxury guests that have saved this year's Croatia tourist season.

In this day and age, things always have to get better. There's no room to sit still. Life without improvement is deemed a failure. Nowhere is this more true than the Croatia tourist season.

The numbers of overnight stays in the Croatia tourist season sometimes seem to be the only measure by which its success is judged. Year after year, the numbers must rise. Any decrease is unthinkable. At the same time, hungry eyes still want more. Some want to reposition themselves. A new class of guest is wanted, from faraway nations. They must be of a better quality. They must stay longer, in more expensive dwellings. They must spend more.

Incredible initiatives are undertaken to turn this want into a reality. But, at the end of the 2020 Croatia tourist season, perhaps it's time to pause and reflect. For this year, it is undoubtedly loyalty and not luxury that's saved the Croatia tourist season.

In the year the coronavirus pandemic hit, arrivals by charter plane and cruise ship were seriously curtailed. So much for the flying visits of premium guests from far-flung lands. Instead, the tourists who came were from much closer to Croatia.

The English language that most on the coast are so familiar with was this year useless. On the beaches of Istria and northern Dalmatia, it was Slovenian, Polish, Czech, German, Slovakian and Italian that was heard. The packed bars of Makarska echoed with the familiar call of 'Đe si, bolan?' (where are you, bro? - in Bosnian dialect). Many of those who came drove to Croatia. And many do so every year.

1024px--Sharing-_Friday_night_pizza_(17405004226).jpg© Jeremy Segrott

Sighs and light-hearted jokes about some of these guests persist in some places. “That family come every year, but they only ever order one pizza to share between the four of them.” The choice of footwear of some German-speaking and Czech visitors frequently draws chuckles, in particular, the classic sock and sandal combo. But, just where would the 2020 Croatia tourist season have been without the 60,000 Czech and Slovak visitors who this year arrived by train?

Just two days ago, Jutarnji reported on phenomenal numbers of Polish visitors this year. Would anyone else really have taken the place of the returning family of four sharing a pizza? Just what would the season in Makarska have looked like without bolan?

Croatians are famously very appreciative hosts. On the ground, there's no doubt that such loyal guests are warmly welcomed and thanked each year by accommodation renters, restaurateurs and others. They greet returning visitors with smiles of familiarity and reserve for them their favourite place. In September 2020, gratitude to such guests was echoed by The Croatian National Tourist Board as they launched a new campaign 'Thank you', directed at the tourists who this year chose Croatia.

Perhaps it is time to ensure that this gratitude extends into any grand new initiatives for growth in the Croatia tourist season? Such loyal guests should not be taken for granted, nor forgotten.

Initiative within the Croatia tourist sector is vital. The unlocking of continental Croatia's potential is simply a must. That too of the Dalmatian hinterland and inland Istria. The exploitation of world-class Croatian assets such as nature, agriculture and health and wellness services are also perfectly on-point. The desire to attract a better class of bigger-spending visitor to luxury holidays on the Croatian coast should surely be a lower priority. After all, eyes that covet can all too frequently fail to appreciate that for which they should already be thankful.

SANDALS.jpg© Oddman47

Lead image adapted from an original photograph by © Marco Verch

For the latest travel info, bookmark our main travel info article, which is updated daily

Read the Croatian Travel Update in your language - now available in 24 languages

Join the Total Croatia Travel INFO Viber community.

Wednesday, 19 August 2020

Meet HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

August 19, 2020 – All weather, all terrain, all year round – meet HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service, amazing volunteers who will never let you down

They're never far from the news. For the last two weeks, members of HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service have yet again been on the TV news every night. They're leading the search for a summertime visitor, a Polish hiker missing on Biokovo mountain.

But, watch again this winter and, for sure, they'll be in the headlines once more. Whether, they're scaling mountain ranges in the unbearable heat of high summer, searching underwater caves, flooded rivers or the sea, breaking through wild forest or trudging through metres of snow, they undertake their search and rescue missions over every terrain, in every weather condition, in every month of the year, all across Croatia. And, they all volunteers.

Marc Rowlands meets the head of service for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service and three of its volunteers to find out who they are and what makes them do what they do.

IMG-20200818-WA0005.jpg
Josip Granić, head of service for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

My name is Josip Granić. I'm the Head Of Service for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. We've had an extremely busy couple of weeks. Being head of service for an organisation like this under such circumstances means you're always on the phone; co-ordinating, talking to outside organisations, members of the press. Communication. It's a 24/7 job, 365 days a year. If people need help, you can't take a holiday. Not at this level of the organisation.

We have around 1000 members. There are 11 paid positions in the main organisation and 25 people we pay to run the administration in each of the teams or stations we have. All of the members who perform the search and rescue are volunteers. We have pilots, surgeons, nurses, students, professors, every part of society.

I'm originally from Kaštela, but my home station is in Karlovac. I've been there for 15 years. I've been Head Of Service for two. Since I assumed the position, I've spent most of my time in the car. I travel all over Croatia.

28616535_1414640201979574_1002818566834803547_o.jpg
HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service missions can be hampered by extreme weather conditions © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

To get a certified position as a mountain rescuer in Croatia you all do the same training. It doesn't matter if you come from Slavonia, Dalmatia or Istria, you must have the knowledge and ability to deal with circumstances in any terrain; caves, pits, mountains, on snow, underwater.

Depending on where your station is, the type of call-outs you get could be very different. In Slavonia, 90% are for missing persons - searching forests, rivers, and in floods. We've had a big search on Biokovo mountain for the past 16 days. The stations from Split, Makarska, and Dubrovnik were at first involved, then teams from all over Croatia. It's not the same as Slavonia. The terrain is very different, so you have to be good at a particular set of skills. But, the largest percentage of call-outs is still missing persons. It's 70% of our work nationwide. The other 30% are rescues.

20643186_1238910656219197_6117453202038003641_o.jpg
HGSS volunteers are educated to use a wide range of technical equipment. They are trained to operate in all the different kinds of terrain found across Croatia © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

There are usually 800 – 1000 missions a year across the country. We get roughly the same amount of calls in colder months as in warmer months. Only, winter months can be busier. The terrain is more difficult. There are some villages in Croatia – usually where the front line of the fighting was, around Karlovac, Kordun, Lika – and when it snows, it can be almost impossible to reach those places. But, some older people still live there. It can take days to reach them on snowmobiles, then skis, to deliver food or medecine. The other busiest places in winter are the ski resorts - Platak, behind Rijeka, and in Zagreb, on Sljeme. There are teams stationed in those places throughout the snow season.

What's the greatest danger of the job? Almost everything. Nothing in this job is easy. The greatest dangers we face are the same facing those that we rescue - underestimating the environment, nature, the conditions. That's where our training comes in.

In mountain rescue, we separate dangers into subjective, objective and technical. Subjective is the stuff you're guilty of - lack of preparedness, knowledge or equipment. Objective dangers are the ones you can't control, like sudden changes in weather, or avalanche. If you're sensible and informed, there should be no objective danger.

hgssbergwacht625.jpg
HGSS on a mission, clinging to a steep incline in Paklenica © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service "People need to be aware at all times on the mountains. By the time most people think they may be in trouble, they've usually been in trouble for five or ten minutes already" Josip Granić.

80 – 85% of the people we rescue are Croatian. Only 15 – 20% are guests. People from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, (Austria and Slovenia too) tend to enjoy nature more. They like hiking. That's the reason there are typically more rescues for those nationalities than there are for British, Belgian, French, Italian, America, Canadian or Australian guests. I don't remember the specific year, but sometime between 15 and 20 years ago we had a season where 5 or 6 Czech nationals were being searched for or, sadly, turned up dead. The media covered it and ever since there's been this myth that all the people who get into difficulty are Czech.

The question about expensive helicopter rides - why don't you charge the people you rescue - has been here forever. It's like this - if you're a tourist and you have a car accident in Croatia, the fire service, police and an ambulance will come. You won't get charged. We are a tourist country. According to international agreements, we are obliged to make everything safe for residents and guests alike. We are here, just like the fire service and police, to do our part. The Croatian air force is responsible for the helicopter rides and I have to give credit to them - they are crazy good pilots. Amazing. Even if we did charge everyone we saved - and most of the 85% of Croatians we save would struggle to pay - it still wouldn't be anywhere near the money required to run this service.

267895_337408236369448_2132402432_n.jpg
The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service used specially trained dogs on their searches © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

In 2007, I got a new search dog. It came from the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue service in North Wales. We cooperate a lot. We were sent out on a job to look for a three-year-old male child who had gone missing near Požega at the beginning of January, wintertime. His grandma was watching him and they were in a house on the edge of the woods. Early in the morning, he was playing with a dog. It suddenly ran into the forest and the boy chased after him. The grandmother didn't see it happen. I found him using my new dog, just after 8 o'clock the next morning. He'd been alone in the freezing forest for almost 20 hours.

Time is really moving fast on a job like that, because it's a kid and because it's so cold. Survival rates in such conditions are not good after 24 hours. When I found him, saw that he was alive, those big eyes looking up at me, it's a crazy feeling. You can't describe it. You can't compare it. A lot of positive emotions.

Every mission is special. We meet them all with the same level of determination and professionalism. But, it's the ones where you know you've really saved someone that stand out in the memory. Not the broken leg, where you transported someone – sure, that's an excellent job. But, when you know you've saved someone's life, that they definitely wouldn't be here now if it weren't for you, that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Doris.jpg
Jana Mijailović, volunteer for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

My name is Jana Mijailović, I'm 48 years old and I'm from Zadar. I finished school to be a teacher, but I never did it. My husband and I run a company that does plastic and aluminium windows for houses.

I started to go into the mountains when I was at high school. I never had the ambition to be part of mountain rescue services – people just noticed me on the mountains. They said I'd be good at it and asked me to join. I met my husband on the mountains. We are both volunteers for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. I've been doing it for 16 years.

I was a member of the first and second all-female Croatian expeditions to the Himalayas. We first climbed Cho Oyu in 2007, then Mount Everest in 2009. Croatia is the only country in the world that has only one successful male climber of Mount Everest, but four successful female climbers. I sometimes work as a guide too. I guess you could say I'm all about the mountains.

Being a climber, an Alpinist, I know that if I get into trouble, it's only my HGSS colleagues who can help. I feel this instinctively. I cannot be in the house, safe and warm, knowing that maybe someone needs help that only I can provide.

23415598_1313751732068422_5774034072348252441_o.jpg
HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service members entering Paklenica under foreboding skies © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

I've really been on so many expeditions with HGSS. My station are on duty in the season at National Park Paklenica and I'm now the coordinator. Climbers from all around the world come and so there are many interventions. None of them are easy because the terrain is incredibly difficult. You really have to be in shape and know the techniques inside out.

I'm very proud of my statistics. Everyone I've rescued, who was alive when I reached them, is still living today. Unfortunately, not everyone we reach is alive when we arrive.

I remember one time, my husband and I were having dinner. We were arguing about the techniques and knots for moving a stretcher down a vertical climb. The training is so intense, you really have to know it well, and I guess that's just the kind of people that we are, that we would be arguing about it in our free time. Ha! He told me, "Why do you care? You'll never have to do that," because usually, it's really strong guys who do that specific job. If you're on a 400-metre-high section of rock, it really takes a lot of muscle.

88273548_2525310700912513_4296229531053719552_o.jpg
Ascending from a valley floor or descending from a mountain peak with a stretcher is a technically difficult operation, often hindered by darkness and adverse weather conditions. It requires a lot of training and a lot of muscle © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

In the evening, just two days later, we were called out to rescue an Italian guy who broke his leg on Anića Kuk. It's a really mighty part of the stone. And the leader of the expedition asked me to go on the stretcher. They pull you down on the ropes and you have to push very hard to keep the stretcher, the person you're carrying and yourself away from the rock, while balancing the weight of all three. It was dark, raining and with lots of Bura, the incredibly strong wind that sometimes hits us. That's probably my most memorable rescue.

IMG-20200818-WA0023.jpg
Petar Prpić, firefighter and volunteer for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

My name is Petar Prpić, I'm 25 years old and I'm from Hrvatska Kostajnica, just on the Croatian-Bosnian border. My station is in Novska. In my full-time job I'm a professional firefighter. I guess I have two dangerous jobs. Well, one job and one hobby.

I've always been interested in the outdoors – mountaineering, hiking, canoeing. But, that's not why I joined HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. I just wanted to help people. I don't know, I guess it's just something in me.

We have a lot of rivers in our area. During the times of flood, we get a lot of call-outs. Our part of the country has a high percentage of elderly people in the population. A lot of them live in small villages, on the edge of the forest. We get a lot of call-outs for searches. Especially in the autumn when people go out looking for chestnuts or mushrooms. But, like all the stations in Croatia, we are here year-round if there are any actions in other parts of the country that need us.

tn_gallery_large_1400399359-img_20140517_092219.jpg
In some areas, HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service are frequently called out in response to flooding. This picture shows HGSS members on operation during the 2014 floods. In that year, flooding across the whole region was so bad that HGSS members operated not only in Croatia, but also donated their services to neighbouring Bosnia and Serbia © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

I was just on the search in Biokovo. The head of service called me and asked me to go. I first had to get some free days from my job. I called my boss, Zvonimir Ljubičić, chief of the fire department. He's great, very understanding, and he gave me permission. Two years ago I was called to Rab. Very hard operation, very difficult terrain.

Late last summer, we were called out to look for an older man near Glina. It was around 11 o'clock in the evening. He'd gone to look for mushrooms in the afternoon and never came back. Police were there and they sent for us.

The man had a cell phone on him, but there was no signal. There was no location given off the phone. We were a team of four, split into two teams. We went up into the woods above Glina and concentrated our search on areas where we could see there was no telephone signal on our phones. We were yelling in the dark. After an hour of search, someone answered. He'd been missing since 2pm. We found him at 2am. He was just lying there, uninjured but unwell, unable to move.

The reason it sticks in my mind is that the next day, in the morning, his daughter called me. She was so thankful, so emotional. For sure we saved his life. None of the other emergency services who were present could find him. It was down to us. We finished the operation at about 6am and then all four of us had to go immediately to our regular jobs.

IMG-20200818-WA0018.jpg
Mario Franolić, physician, ex-commando and volunteer for HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

My name is Mario Franolić and I'm 60 years old. I'm the chief of the mountain rescue service in Istria. I travel throughout Croatia because I'm also an instructor for the medical commission of HGSS. I was born on island Krk. I'm based in Pula although I work in Rijeka. I travel a lot between the two. I've been with HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service for 18 years.

In my day job, I'm a physician. I am a senior mentor at the Institute for Underwater and Hyperbaric Medecine in the Clinical Hospital Rijeka. I'm an expert in my field of emergency medecine. I've been doing it for almost 30 years.

When I was young, I trained to be a physician in Belgrade. It was then the best medical faculty in Yugoslavia. At the same time, I also started spelunking (cave exploration). I've been doing it since 1978. Later, I was a physician in the military underwater commando unit. I lived in Austria for five years, but when I came to Pula, they were just starting the HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service station here. They asked me for help because they didn't have any medical professional on the team. I accepted. It would be a waste not to use all these skills I have.

tn_gallery_large_1391543481-11.jpg
Specialist teams from HGSS are trained in underwater rescue from caves. Such caves exist all over Croatia in the karst rock, and also on some islands © HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

Sometimes, our status as volunteers can give us problems. Although we have official duties, we are more like an NGO than something like the police. There can be legal implications. I remember one situation, very acute because a paraglider fell from the sky. None of his colleagues saw him fall. Paragliders go into the air together, but then they each branch off to do their own thing.

We had no idea about the location. We started from the last point of sighting, knowing that it could be very far from the place where he actually fell. But, we had to start somewhere. We had one mobile phone signal direction. But, you need three in order to locate someone. We only had a line on the map.

In the past, HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service sometimes had difficulties because the telephone companies wouldn't give us the information we needed in order to triangulate the position of a missing person. They would only give it to the police. But, it's a race against time. We searched for this man all day and all night. In the morning, some Croatian paragliders made private contact with a guy from the phone company. They begged him to release the information we needed. Although he could lose his job, giving such information to private citizens, he did it.

We found the man about 150 metres from where we were. Sadly, he was already dead. It was very small comfort to see that he had died instantly, on impact. It's unbearable when you reach someone you could have saved if only you had got there quicker, especially in an instance such as this, where we were hindered by a lack of information that was available. I think it moves more quickly now, but still we have to go through the police.

1052839_389112337865704_1353003964_o.jpg
© HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

One of the most emotional operations I went on was around five years ago, the rescue of a young girl - maybe two and a half to three years old – who got lost in the woods in a small place in central Istria. She chased into the forest after some dogs around 10 or 11 in the morning. The family saw immediately that she had disappeared and started to search. About two hours later, we were called out. It was impossible for the family to find her.

About 300 people came – my station, the Rijeka station, hunters, firemen, police and volunteers. In such an operation, the police are the lead service. But, 99% of the time they leave the organisation of the search to HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. We are the only organisation who is very well educated in organising searches. When other people do searches, they use intuition. But, people all have different intuition. It can be chaotic. We are highly trained for this. There are procedures, recognised internationally, that we follow. We found her early in the morning, at around 7 o'clock. The dogs were lying on each side of her, giving her warmth.

All photos courtesy volunteers and HGSS The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service

Thursday, 2 July 2020

Reuters Reports on Prague-Rijeka Train, Mayor Obersnel Awaited Tourists

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of July, 2020, Reuters (and TCN) writes that more than 30,000 tickets have been sold for the Prague-Rijeka train, and the line will run until September. They also note that the direct train line was cancelled two years ago because it wasn't profitable.

Reuters recently published an article about the arrival of thousands of Czechs who arrived to the Adriatic coast by train following a 15-hour ride.

Thousands of Czechs have bought train tickets to Croatia, Reuters writes in an article about the Czechs' arrival in Croatia, who, as this publication writes, arrived in Rijeka the ''old way''.

On Tuesday, the first Czechs headed to their holiday destination that has long been a favourite for that country. From July the 11th, 2020, the train will run every day and carry up to 560 passengers at a time who will be able to buy tickets in a sleeping or sitting car. The starting ticket price is just 24.95 euros.

"I've come this way by car several times... And this is a very comfortable option for me and even sort of an adventure. I like to think of it as a new way to see the sea," Jan Vrana told Reuters about travelling on the Prague-Rijeka line with his wife and son, N1 reports.

The Czechs also gravitated towards Croatia during the Cold War, when Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, according to Reuters. Reuters also writes that the Adriatic coast has traditionally been a favourite destination for Czech tourists who have been coming here since the early 20th century.

To briefly recall, the very first tourist train of the Czech company RegioJet arrived in Rijeka just after 10:00 yesterday. According to the company running the brand new Prague-Rijeka line, there were over 500 passengers on the train.

An official announcement on the arrival of Czech tourists was issued by the Croatian Tourist Board, and senior officials were present to receive the first train on the Prague-Rijeka line.

''The first train of the Czech carrier RegioJet, which will run from July to the end of August on the route Prague-Brno-Bratislava-Ljubljana-Rijeka, successfully arrived at the railway station in Rijeka together with more than 500 Czech, Slovak and Slovenian tourists who were part of of this premiere trip. The train was welcomed by a Croatian delegation led by CNTB Director Kristjan Stanicic, Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli, Rijeka Mayor Vojko Obersnel, CNTB Representation Director in Prague Dubravko Miholic and Rijeka Tourist Board Director Petar Skarp,'' the statement said.

"We're proud to be able to cooperate with RegioJet, which has recognised the importance of connecting the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and also Slovenia with Croatia, which enjoys the status of one of the most popular foreign tourist destinations for these markets. This railway route will significantly contribute to tourist flows between our countries, and this has been confirmed by the data on the sale of more than 30,000 tickets in the first ten days of it being on sale. At the moment, the Czech Republic is in an excellent third place in foreign markets from which we realise the largest tourist traffic, while Slovakia is in eighth place,'' said CNTB Director Kristjan Stanicic, adding that the announcement of this event was even published in The New York Times, which additionally drew more attention to Croatia.

For more on the Prague-Rijeka train and travel to Croatia in the coronavirus era, follow our travel page.

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Croatian Tourism: 30,000 Tickets Sold for Prague-Rijeka Train

The Prague-Rijeka train line has been wildly popular with Czech tourists itching to get away and get a taste of the Croatian Adriatic, with an amazing 30,000 tickets sold in just the first two weeks of them being available for purchase.

As Marija Crnjak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of June, 2020, the new line will operate on the route Prague-Brno-Bratislava-Ljubljana-Rijeka every day until the end of August.

The first train belonging to the private Czech company RegioJet which runs the new Prague-Rijeka line departs this afternoon from Prague and will arrive in the Croatian city of Rijeka tomorrow at around 08:45. The ceremonial celebration of the beginning of this new railway programme will take place in the almost completed new Hilton Costabella hotel in Rijeka, which was invested in by Czech investor JTH Holding.

As stated, the new Prague-Rijeka line will operate on the route Prague-Brno-Bratislava-Ljubljana-Rijeka every day until the end of August, and the fact that as many as 30,000 tickets were sold in the first two weeks speaks volumes about the interest in this offer, the Croatian National Tourist Board (HTZ) has rightly pointed out.

RegioJet a.s. is a private Czech provider of rail and bus passenger transport and a leading long-distance railway company in Central Europe. They record 20 million passengers a year, 11 million on the railways and 9 million in bus transport. In intensive cooperation with the Croatian Embassy in the Czech Republic and the CNTB Office in Prague, the RegioJet Management recognised this opportunity and offered a new option to connect Central European countries with the Adriatic sea through a night service with modern and quality trains.

The starting ticket price of 22 euros for the Prague-Rijeka line refers to securing a place in the train's compartment. Additionally, you can buy a ticket for a coupe with a bed at a price of just 30 euros. For tourists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, transportation from Rijeka to their final destinations on the Croatian Adriatic will be organised following their arrival.

For more on Croatian tourism in the coronavirus era, follow our dedicated section.

Search