October 10, 2021 - Offseason flights to Split Airport are running by KLM until the end of October, though the Dutch airline has also announced winter flights around the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

Dutch national airline KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will soon conclude its summer flight schedule and suspend traffic Split and Dubrovnik airports. 

Since the beginning of the summer flight schedule, KLM has operated flights between Split and Amsterdam, running up to three times a day on this route during the peak season. 

KLM also has several weekly rotations between Amsterdam and Split in October, with two flights a day still available with B737-800 and B737-700 aircraft. However, from October 30, KLM will conclude operations to Split Airport in this year's summer flight schedule and pick up again this winter.

Namely, KLM will not wait until next summer to service Split. Like last winter, the Dutch airline will briefly establish a line between Amsterdam and Split, at a time of greatest demand - around Christmas and New Year.

Eight return flights have been announced between December 23, 2021, and January 2, 2022, one flight more than last winter season. Last year, KLM operated on this line in the same period, using smaller capacity aircraft, type E190, while this winter, aircraft type B737-800 will be used.

During the Christmas and New Year holidays, KLM will offer a total of 2,880 seats between Amsterdam and Split, making it an excellent option for tourists to travel to Split during the holidays, as well as for those who want to travel from Split for holidays abroad.

Flights have been announced on December 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, and 31, and January 1 and 2.

KLM has only resumed traffic to Dubrovnik Airport this summer, so, as expected, there are no announced flights between Amsterdam and Dubrovnik in the upcoming winter flight schedule.

KLM continues to operate twice a day to Zagreb, which is the airline's only year-round route. However, after eight return flights to Split in December and January, this carrier will not return to Split until the end of April next year.

Source: Croatian Aviation

For more information about flights to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

To learn more about Osijek Airport, click here. 

October 8, 2021 - The IKEA Planning Studio has started operating in Split. IKEA Croatia wants to make its solutions and services even more accessible to as many customers in Croatia as possible.

IKEA Planning Studio is located in City Center One and is the first such studio in the IKEA Southeast Europe region (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine). On an area of ​​more than 730 m2, IKEA Planning Studio offers customers IKEA experts in planning and organizing space to help them respond as simply, quickly, and easily to the biggest challenges in decorating any home - a practical kitchen, bathroom, and storage, reports Dalmatinski Portal. 

"IKEA Planning Studio is a place where customers will be able to be inspired in a comfortable and quiet space, close to their home or the place where they work. IKEA Planning Studio is also a place where we will offer them the professional help of IKEA experts to ensure an even better life in their homes," said Ekaterina Egorova, CEO of IKEA Southeast Europe, at the opening. 

IKEA Planning Studio will also be an exhibition space where customers will be inspired by the presented IKEA solutions and order the entire IKEA range that is sold in the IKEA Croatia market.

"IKEA Planning Studio will provide support for planning customized IKEA solutions for all key areas of the home. At the same time, it is an exhibition space with a selected IKEA range, so that people can touch and try our products. Moreover, the offer is fully adapted to local needs and housing conditions," added Nikolaos Migkianis, Market Director of IKEA Croatia.

In addition to the expert advice of IKEA employees, users of the IKEA Planning Studio will see the most suitable solutions for the essential rooms in their home, get inspired in beautifully decorated showrooms, and then select and order the desired products with the support of employees.

The working hours of the IKEA Planning Studio will be like other stores in CC1 Split - 9 am to 9 pm every day. Still, for the planning itself, which can take up to 3 hours to carefully consider all factors, it is necessary to schedule an appointment in advance.

Zrinka Crnjak from Split was the first to use the new IKEA Planning Studio.

"I recently moved into a new apartment with my future husband, and we must model the kitchen - where we spend a lot of time because we both like to cook - as beautiful and functional as possible. That’s why the new IKEA Planning Studio came to me at the best time. The professional approach, care for details, and time that IKEA employees dedicated only to me and finally the proposed solution, but also a beautifully decorated space with many examples that you can see and touch, ensure a top service," said Zrinka Crnjak enthusiastically.

IKEA Planning Studio is located on the ground floor of City Center One. Customers also have at their disposal the IKEA delivery center Split, which has been operating at the same address for a long time, in CC1 at level -1. In the IKEA delivery center, customers will still pick up products previously ordered through the IKEA online store or ordered after planning in the new IKEA Planning Studio.

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

ZAGREB, 7 Oct 2021 - The rectors of six universities from coastal cities which are members of the European University of the Seas (SEA-EU) alliance met in Split on Thursday to discuss ways of advancing their cooperation.

Established in 2020, the SEA-EU alliance comprises six universities - the University of Cádiz (Spain), Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest (France), the University of Kiel (Germany), the University of Gdańsk (Poland), the University of Malta (Malta), and the University of Split (Croatia).

The Rector of the University of Split, Dragan Ljutić, said that the purpose of the meeting was to launch a joint programme of studies and ensure the acquisition of a joint diploma.

"'Six universities, one diploma', that is our common denominator because we are all located by the sea. These are maritime universities and the education of our students is primarily related to the sea. Each of these universities is linked to the sea," Ljutić said.

He said that the six universities were expanding their influence and that many universities from cities by the sea, not just the Mediterranean, but the Atlantic and beyond, wanted to join this alliance.

The Mayor of Split, Ivica Puljak, said that this meeting was very important for the city because the modern scientific world would be characterised by the unification of and cooperation between universities.

For more news, CLICK HERE.

October 6, 2021 - A strong earthquake in Dalmatia north of Split shook residents of Split and the surrounding area around 22:00 this evening. Initial reports put the strength of the quake at 5.1, although this has now been revised to 4.6.

Initial reports placed the earthquake some 39 km from Split, the capital of Dalmatia, close to the town of Trilj, and 19 km south-west of the town of Livno.

Initial reports suggest the tremor lasted around 8 seconds. 

TCN colleagues in Split reported buildings rattling in Split, with the quake also felt on the islands of Brac and Hvar.

M5.1 #earthquake (#potres) strikes 40 km NE of #Split (#Croatia) 8 min ago. Effects reported by eyewitnesses: pic.twitter.com/zYRPmOBq2K

— EMSC (@LastQuake) October 6, 2021

22:24 - The Croatian Seismology Service has reported that the quake was 4.6 in strength, and its location was on the border with Bosnia and Hercegovina near Lake Busko.

#potres (#earthquake) 06.10. u 21:57 na granici s BiH kod Buškog jezera, M4.6. Ako ste osjetili potres, molimo javite na https://t.co/RJDaIJlwpM
Link na službeno izvješće dat ćemo u komentaru kad nam stranica bude u funkciji.

22:40 - Index reports that there have been so far no reports of casualties or major damage. 

23:00 - The Trilj Fire Brigade, located in the town close to the epicentre, posted an update and a request: "Reduce calls to the emergency line, we understand that you are upset. You take the line if someone really needs help. Over 200 calls in a short time. So far we have no reports of any damage, except for a minor landslide on the Trilj-Bisko section. The road is busy."

This story will be updated as we get more information.  

October 6, 2021 - As part of the Taste of the Mediterranean Festival, Split Restuarant Nights will be held for the first time this weekend!

As part of the Taste of the Mediterranean Festival, Split Restuarant Nights will be held for the first time on Friday, October 8, and Saturday, October 9, in which 15 restaurants will offer unique 3-course Mediterranean menus and wines at promotional prices.

Participating restaurants include Atlantida, Bajamonti, Brasserie on 7, Bokeria, Corto Maltese, Dujkin dvor, Fantažija, Konoba Fetivi, Konoba Marul, Mazgoon, Laganini, Pandora Greenbox, Portofino, Sidi bar, and Šug.

Split restaurants have already started sharing the 3-course menus they'll be offering to guests this weekend in anticipation of the new event. 

Konoba Marul, for example, will offer a 3-course menu featuring:

1. Orzotta with shrimp and smoked mussels
2. Octopus tentacles with creamy puree and šalsa
3. Split cake for dessert

Two glasses of wine of your choice (Posip and Plavac mali) are also included, for a total price of 210 kuna.

Dujkin Dvor, on the other hand, is offering:

1. Risotto with Adriatic shrimps, sun-dried tomatoes, and cheese ice cream
2. Tuna pasticada 'a la Dujka'
3. Split cake

This menu includes Posip Smokvica (Korcula) or Plavac Lucic (Peljesac) wines for a total price of 195 kuna. 

Finally, the Šug menu features:

1. Šug plate - pate of shrimp, tuna, shrimps with pistachio, and smoked swordfish

2. Tećada - with white fish, shells, scampi, octopus, and macaroni

3. Split cake

This offer includes Cosseto Malvazija Prima Luce (0,125l) for a total of 210 kuna.

This is just part of the 9th Taste the Mediterranean Festival, which brings together international and Croatian chefs from Michelin restaurants and Gault & Millau accolades.

In addition to this weekend's event, the Split restaurants Dvor, Kadena, Kinoteka, Hotel Park, Zora Bila, and Zrno Soli will host chefs from seven countries who will organize six-course gala dinners together with Croatian chefs, and Noštromo will turn the entire Split Fish Market into a restaurant for one dinner. The festival also includes many workshops and panels at Briig Boutique Hotel in Bačvice, which you can read about here. 

For the second year in a row, the festival partner country is Spain, which will present its delicacies, wines, and olive oils in Split. Chef Maria Jimenez Latorre and chef Goran Šikić will offer Spanish gastronomic products at a gala dinner at the Briig Hotel, while Dr. Mirella Žanetić will lead a Spanish olive oil tasting.

Part of the festival will be held in the vicinity of Split, as participants will visit Omis, the Cetina River Canyon, Radman's mills, and Arsan Tasting House in Omiš. 

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

October 5, 2021 - Less than a year away, the 2022 European Water Polo Championships in Split have been announced with a standout video destined to tempt visitors to Croatia next September. 

At the LEN Congress held in Budapest not so long ago, the Croatian Water Polo Federation presented Split as the host of the next senior European Water Polo Championships in 2022. Along with a presentation by Renato Živković, Secretary-General of the Croatian Water Polo Federation, a promotional short film was presented showcasing the best of Split. 

"The whole idea behind our project, from idea to realization, is our famous water polo player and former national team member Ivan Buljubašić with his wife Marina, done through the story of a little boy Ivo or ‘Ivo, the water polo player,’ and in an amusing, affirmative and interesting way," writes the Croatian Water Polo Federation.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s best to watch this incredibly well-done short film about what Split has in store for the 2022 European Water Polo Championships. 

The 35th European Water Polo Championships will be held from August 27 to September 10, 2022, in Split. 

While the event was supposed to be held in early or mid-summer, the European Champs were moved to late summer since the World Championships were moved to May 2022.

“To have our top water polo event in July 2022 would mean an unbearable load for our great water polo players who will need to enjoy a substantial recovery period after an unprecedentedly busy spring. Athletes’ welfare has always been at the core of LEN’s policies, and we shall never move away from our principles. Therefore, the Croatian Water Polo Federation and the local organizers were all very supportive of holding the championships at the end of the summer," said LEN President Paolo Barelli when announcing the dates. 

The European Championships will be held at Spaladium Arena, which has a capacity of 10,000 spectators. 

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

To learn more about sport in Croatia, CLICK HERE.

October 5, 2021 - Croatia's busiest airport will not be in the capital city this year, as Split Airport is set to transport the most travelers in 2021.

In September 2021, Split Airport accepted and dispatched more than 328 thousand passengers, which is 253 thousand more passengers than last year, and only 141 thousand fewer passengers compared to the record-breaking September 2019!

A few months ago, it was clear that Split will be the champion in the number of passengers transported in the Republic of Croatia this year, and this was confirmed on Monday by the publication of Zagreb airport statistics, which, despite the introduction of 15 Ryanair routes, remained below 200,000 passengers.

From January to the end of September, Split accepted and dispatched 1,363,413 passengers, which Zagreb is unlikely to achieve in the whole of 2021. However, given the number of weekly operations and available lines, a significant number of passengers in Split is expected in October.

Split Airport will deservedly take the title of the busiest Croatian airport at the end of the year after Zagreb Airport carried it for years.

By the end of 2021, Split will probably accept and dispatch more than 1.5 million passengers, which is less than in 2019, when there were 3.3 million, but there is no doubt that Split is on the right path to recovery and that will cross 2 million passengers again next year.

In other news, Dubrovnik Airport had more than 200,000 passengers in September this year. 

Namely, 207,558 passengers passed through Dubrovnik Airport in September, as many as 166,000 more passengers compared to the same month in 2021. On the other hand, compared to September 2019, there were 50% fewer passengers (405,924 at the time). The largest share in traffic is made up of passengers from traditionally dominant markets - Great Britain, the United States of America, and France.

From January 1 to September 30, a total of 787,590 passengers traveled through Dubrovnik Airport, while in the same period last year, there were only 306,949. 

Given that Dubrovnik will be well connected to several European destinations in October, a significant increase in the number of monthly passengers is expected to continue. Dubrovnik Airport will thus reach one million passengers by the end of this year. 

Source: Croatian Aviation

For more information about flights to Croatia, follow the dedicated TCN section.

To learn more about Osijek Airport, click here. 

ZAGREB, 4 Oct 2019 - Unvaccinated employees of the KBC Split hospital and members of the public on Monday staged a protest outside the hospital in that coastal city, shouting insults at members of the hospital management.

As of today, employees in the healthcare and welfare systems, visitors, and persons accompanying patients have to have digital COVID-19 certificates. All health workers coming to work have to present their COVID-19 certificate showing that they have either been vaccinated or have recovered from the coronavirus infection while others have to undergo testing two times a week.

The protesters outside the KBC Split hospital shouted insults at members of the hospital management, and some started pulling at them. They also shouted insults at reporters in an attempt to prevent them from taking statements from the hospital management.

The protesters said that they were not against vaccination but against being forced to get vaccinated.

One of the emergency medical service employees said the new rules were a form of pressure and that everyone should have the right to choose while one doctor blamed COVID-19 fatalities on the media which, she said, "kept feeding the public such information, and that hospitalized patients were dying of fear, not of coronavirus."

Split-Dalmatia County Assembly deputy head Mate Šimundić was also among the protesters.

Hospital head Julije Meštrović toured the locations on the hospital premises where employees were being tested for COVID-19, noting that everything was well organized and that there was no queuing.

Asked to comment on the protest, he said that protesters had the right to express their opinion and that most of them were not hospital staff but members of the public.

No protests in Rijeka 

The first day of the new epidemiological regime for healthcare and welfare system workers in Rijeka was without problems or protests, with the testing of unvaccinated staff having started over the weekend.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language.

For more on politics, follow TCN's dedicated page.

October 2, 2021 - The 2021 Split Advent event will be held from November 27, 2021, to January 6, 2022. 

The 'Žnjan' company invites all natural and legal persons interested in exhibiting at the 2021 Split Advent event to submit offers for exhibiting, presenting, and selling their products and services. The event will take place from November 27 to January 6 on the Riva, in Đardin, on the Cornaro ramparts, and from December 3 to January 3, in the Mertojak park, reports Dalmatinski Portal.

"Exhibition, sale, and presentation include the following: Christmas products, books, and multimedia, designed souvenirs and gifts, indigenous products, gastronomic offer, presentations of tourist boards, counties, cities, municipalities, and chambers of crafts. Interested bidders are required to download the documentation to submit offers at Žnjan d.o.o. www.znjan.hr or the Split Tourist Board www.visitsplit.com as of October 11, 2021," reports the company.

Offers are submitted from October 1 to 11 and must have the accepted general and special conditions organized by 2021/2022 Split Advent, with the required documentation in person at the premises of Žnjan d.o.o. at Kralja Zvonimira 14. (11th floor), from 9.00 to 14.00 on weekdays.

"The offer must be received by the specified hour and day, regardless of the method of delivery. All natural and legal persons have the right to submit offers and participate in the event and must submit proof of registered activity, duly fill out and submit an offer to join with a description of the content, accept the general and special conditions organized by 2021/2022 Split Advent and submit the required documentation to the premises of Žnjan doo, by the above deadline," they added.

The offers will be opened in public at the company's premises on October 11 at 2 pm, and all offers must be submitted by then.

"The Commission selects the Split Advent participants. The criterion for selecting the best offers will be the highest amount, and the decision will be published on October 12 on the website of the company and the Tourist Board," they concluded.

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page. 

October 2, 2021 - The countdown has begun, and everything is ready for the 8th edition of the Split Street Art Festival - xSTatic 2021!

Graffiti art, skateboarding (skate park Kolo), breakdance (Underground Society), street basketball (Unisport ST), stand-up comedy (SplickaScena), and a live radio program (KLFM) - the best of the Split street art scene with strong international reinforcements will gather on Saturday at Gripe and Koteks.

The 8th xSTatic will host as many as 24 domestic and 4 international graffiti artists, and drawing in city locations has already begun. The unfinished concrete surfaces of the Spaladium Arena will be painted by graffiti artists Lonac and Jarus, probably also known to a broader audience.

"The fact that this is the only event that promotes urban culture and is intended mainly for young people speaks volumes about the importance of the festival. In addition, I am glad that at a time when everything is online, and interactions take place almost in a robotic form, we organize a festival that makes you go out, look, perceive, cheer, get inspired, and in the end - enjoy. For me personally, xSTatic is the pinnacle of everything you either do/create or try to make/create throughout the year," said the organizer of the graffiti section and one of the first graffiti artists in Split, Pero Rančić, ahead of the Festival.

The all-day program starts in the morning when graffiti artists begin drawing and continues with afternoon competitions. The skate competition organized by the Split skateboard club Kolo will begin at 1 pm, and the competitors will measure their strength and skills 'one on one', modeled on the Game of skate. A street basketball competition will follow at 2 pm, followed by an "All style battles" dance competition at 3 pm. Participants' dance skills will be assessed by famous dancers Kamilla (LT), Leksa (BiH), and Lux ​​de Lux (HR). Announcements of winners in all categories will begin at 6 pm.

The all-day program does not end there. From 8 pm, stand-up comedians "SplickeScene" will make everyone laugh, and Split hip-hop musicians Alejuandro Buendija and Sons, Banana Zvuk, Krešo Bengalka, Žuvi, Magellano, Lil Bear, and Phlagma will make everyone dance.

The all-day program will be accompanied by KLFM radio behind the scenes, which will move its studio to Gripe for the weekend, broadcast shows, and provide an all-day electric music backdrop to the festival.

Admission to the entire festival program is free and follows all applicable epidemiological measures. Covid certificates are required to enter the evening concert.

This year's xSTatic coincides with the International Day of Nonviolence, so it is a great opportunity for young people to celebrate good vibes, socializing, and have fun.

For more on lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.