July the 31st, 2022 - Rijeka cruise ships arrived this weekend carrying thousands of passengers into the formerly industrial Northern Adriatic city. Tourists have been becoming more and more of a frequent sight in this part of Kvarner over more recent years, as more people discover the Croatia outside of Dalmatia and the islands.

As Morski writes, on Saturday morning, two large cruise ships, "Mein Schiff 5" and "Marella Explorer 2", and more than ten smaller cruise ships-sailboats belonging to ID Riva Tours, carrying more than 4,500 passengers and 1,600 crew members, arrived in the City of Rijeka, the Tourist Board of the City of Rijeka reported.

The Rijeka Tourist Board and the Kvarner Tourist Board, together with the Port Authority of Rijeka, welcomed the guests from the cruise ship by presenting them with welcome gifts and informative brochures so that they could spend their time in Rijeka as well as possible.

Numerous excursions have been organised for these cruise ship guests, and the most interesting of which are excursions to Rijeka itself and its surroundings, as well as to the nearby island of Krk, Istria County and the City of Zagreb, as was reported by Index. Most of the guests who are set to stay in Rijeka visit Trsat and enjoy organised tours of the city centre, taking in cultural and historical sights, markets and local museums.

"By the end of the year, we expect several more cruise ships to enter Rijeka's waters''

With the arrival of Rijeka cruise ships, which were until recently a far more common sight docked in the ports of various Dalmatian cities much further south down the Croatian coastline, the City of Rijeka is being promoted as a tourist destination of its own, as well as a recognisable cruise destination.

Rijeka is resting and breathing easily owing to the fact that it has fully recovered after the global coronavirus pandemic and has now returned in an even better state than it was in back during the pre-pandemic, record-breaking year of 2019.

''By the end of the year, we expect several more Rijeka cruise ships, two in August, September and October and one in November, which is certainly a good announcement for an excellent post-season and a complete recovery of that segment of the market,'' they pointed out from the Tourist Board of the City of Rijeka.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated travel section.