State Meteorological Institute issued this morning a warning for the low temperatures that are expected in the next couple of days. In Dubrovnik, 21 and 22 December, a moderate risk of cold that could affect health is expected – State Meteorological Institute and the Public Health Institute of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County warned.

The Public Health Institute warns everybody to avoid exposure to low temperatures during the early morning and night hours, especially if you suffer from heart and respiratory diseases. Layers are the key, with an outer layer that is impermeable to wind and moisture, preferably wool, polypropylene and silk that retain more heat in the inner layers of cotton.

If you are visiting Dubrovnik during this cold, protect your head with a hat, put some gloves on and cover your mouth with a scarf, to prevent direct cold air inhalation.

Do not ignore the shivers when staying outdoors, too long exposure to the cold with a shivering sign is a sign for immediate return to the interior – the Public Health Institute warns.

The Dubrovnik Winter Festival is proving to be a real hit this winter, with countless decorations and events happening throughout the whole city. And it isn’t only the Old City of Dubrovnik that has got into the Christmas spirit; the suburbs of Lapad, Babin Kuk and Gruz are also wearing their festive colours.

And this year in the Lapad region of Dubrovnik there are a few extra special attractions for children. On the beach of the bay of Lapad there is funfair which includes rollercoasters, trampolines and of course everyone’s favourite bumper cars. Jump into a specially designed festive “train” and you will be whisked to the other hit attraction for children this winter – the ice-rink.

 Located on the tennis courts in Lapad the ice-rink is traditionally a very popular attraction and it only costs 20 Kunas for an hour’s skating. And with disco lights and pop music your children will love it. Also in the promenade of Lapad this year there are a selection of colourful Christmas decorations that will light up your holiday album with your children.

 Closer to the Old City the park on Pile has been renamed “Bear” park this year and along with the iconic Dubrovnik Teddy Bear you’ll also find a whole selection of colourful characters that light up the park and your children’s Christmas.

The Croatian Camping Union (KUH) has released a new brochure Croatia’s Best Campsites 2018.

The new brochure was printed in 26,400 copies in five basic language versions – English, Italian, German, Dutch and Slovenian. In 2018, it will be distributed at all tourist fairs attended by the Croatian Tourist Board (HTZ) and KUH, at selected HTZ representative offices, as well as at fairs in Utrecht, Vienna, Stuttgart, Leeuwarden, Herning, Düsseldorf, Parma, Padova and Munich.

The new edition of the brochure also contains a new road map showing camp locations, all important traffic routes and border crossings as well as most important natural sights in Croatia.

The Croatia’s Best Campsites 2018 brochures can also be found on the KUH’s official camping site www.camping.hr, along with the latest and updated section Best Croatian Camps.

One of the most influential gastronomic guides with a list of the 100 best restaurants in Croatia is to be released in the spring of 2018.

Gault & Millau is a French gastronomic guide which is considered the ''gastronomy Bible'' in the culinary world. Two gastro journalists Gault and Millau established the famous guide 60 years ago. After visiting numerous restaurants in Paris, they began to write about their gastronomic experiences. However, their gastro adventures spread outside Paris to restaurants all over France and led to one of the most influential gastronomic guides in the world.

Today, Gault & Millau guide rates restaurants in all price categories following their slogan ''Luxury is in quality, not in price''.
‘’We are honoured to present the Croatian edition of the Gault & Millau guide which will be released in 2018 and include the 100 best Croatian restaurants according to the choice of inspectors who work in the same way as their colleagues in other 27 world countries’’, announced Ingrid Badurina Danielsson, the director of Gault & Millau Croatia.

It is important to note that rating criteria are the same in all 27 countries where this guide exists, which means that the rating of a restaurant in Croatia is as valuable as in Austria, Germany, Japan or Canada.

This popular guide will surely be a great promotion for all Croatian restaurants and their chefs who managed to enter the prestigious list. The Croatian edition of the Gault & Millau guide and a mobile app in English will be available to numerous visitors to Croatia.

In addition, apart from the 100 best restaurants, this guide will also include 50 most popular pastry shops, bars and bistros in Croatia.

When it comes to German travellers and their tourism preferences, they consider only five world destinations safe for them to visit.

Even though they are traditionally the most numerous tourists in Croatia, only a third of Germans claimed that they feel safe while in the country.

A survey conducted by the British American Tobacco (BAT) company released a few days ago, shows that German tourists feel safe only in their homeland, as well as in Austria, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries and Italy. On the other hand, only 49 percent of respondents consider Spain, as the most popular destination for tourists, a safe destination.

When it comes to Croatia, only 33 percent of Germans consider the country a safe place to visit. Even though Croatia is among the five most popular tourist destinations for German tourists, the country found its place in the middle of the list together with Greece and the UK.

Among the 30 most popular tourist destinations for Germans, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt hit the bottom of the list.

‘’Instead of the sun, beach and sea, safety has become one of the most crucial elements in choosing a vacation spot’’, commented Ulrich Reinhardt, a research scientist from the Gfk Institute who carried out the research for British American Tobacco Foundation for the Future of the Company.

It seems that an Icelandic singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, and DJ Björk will perform in Croatia for the first time next year! 

A web site www.bjorkincroatia.com appeared, but it doesn’t give a lot information.

- In Croatia for the first time, the Icelandic icon will perform live in Pula Arena as part of her Utopia tour – it’s written on the website where they offer you to register for the tickets.

Pula, Arena, summer 2018 – it’s also written in the top corner of the website. And nothing else! But for Björk fans this was more than enough information to start celebrating.

We hope that the details will be available soon, but we’re sure that many people will be more than happy to visit the first concert of this amazing artist in Croatia.

Jarolinija, Croatia’s largest liner shipping company, made a great achivement this year – the company welcomed their 12 millionth passenger in 2017! This number was reached for the first time in history yesterday in the Split City Port, which at the same time celebrated the number of 5 million passengers in 2017. 

-We have a record number of passengers. We drove 12 million passengers and three million vehicles, and we are grateful that all this has been done in accordance with the highest safety standards - said David Sopta, managing director of Jadrolinija, as Tportal reports.

State Secretary at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure Maja Markovcic Kostelac recalled that about ten years ago in Split Port there was only 1.6 million passengers a year, while Jadrolinija with three million passengers a year jumped to 12 million. She believes that this is proof of need to go ahead with fleet strengthening and infrastructure development.

Split City Port Director Vice Mihanovic pointed out that in the last 20 years, the Port of Split has an increase of more than 300 percent.

Vesna Kurtic as the five millionth passenger of the Split City Port and Alfredo Dominis as the 12 millionth Jadrolinija passenger won prizes. They arrived to Split from Brač.

One special music event will complete the Christmas atmosphere of the fourth Dubrovnik Winter Festival. Dubrovnik Christmas Concert will delight many and it's prepared by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (DSO), in cooperation with the City of Dubrovnik and the Valamar group. The event will take place at the Hotel Valamar Lacroma Dubrovnik, on Friday, December 22nd at 8 pm.

Dubrovnik Christmas Concert was presented yesterday at the press conference by the Deputy Mayor Jelka Tepsic, the director of Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra Damir Milat and the conductors – Delo Jusic and Marc Tardue.

An American conductor of Italian-French roots, Marc Tardue, is an internationally acclaimed conductor who has conducted leading world orchestras and has won prestigious awards such as the title of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French government, one of the greatest artistic acknowledgments in Portugal - Medal for Merit in Culture and many others. Also, the orchestra will be conducted by the famous Dubrovnik composer, conductor and author of numerous well-known songs, Delo Jusic, who, along with numerous acknowledgments, recently became a member of the Bosnian Academy of Science and Art.

The orchestra will be joined by well-known performers: tenors Dani Stipanicev and Stijepo Gled Markos, and the award-winning soprano Marija Kuhar Sos, who was loved by the Dubrovnik audience this year after performing the Orlando Opera at the 68th Dubrovnik Summer Festival. But that’s not all – they will be joined by the renowned jazz vocalist from Dubrovnik Maja Grgic and the vocal groups: Ragusa, Subrenum and Kase, accompanied by the young Lapad rockers - Dapal band. The whole program will be enriched with the short stories about the Christmas in the town of the art historian Maja Nodari.

Compositions that will be performed at the big Dubrovnik Christmas Concert are well known to everyone! The program will include famous Christmas songs such White Christmas, Ave Maria, Silent Night and many more.